pistolas de petardos

English translation: cap gun/cap pistol

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Spanish term or phrase:pistolas de petardos
English translation:cap gun/cap pistol
Entered by: James Arthur Williamson

15:34 Feb 6, 2009
Spanish to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature / modern novel
Spanish term or phrase: pistolas de petardos
Qué veranos aquellos de tebeos de la Marvel en las caóticas y entrañables Ediciones Vértice, de sobres ilustrados con cruentas batallas repletos de ejércitos de plástico, de réplicas miniaturizadas de pistolas de petardos.

Hi Guys. I´m back with an old question which I have just got some clarification on. Valencianos, pyros, and big kids, help me find a term to describe these fireworks in the shape of pistols. Perhaps they used to exist in other countries too? Not quite the same as a cap gun, I think, as you put a little firecracker inside. I think I would´ve liked this game.

Here is the new info from the author, who is Valencian:
Aquí me refiero a que un juguete muy típico de los 70 –como los sobres con soldaditos de plástico- eran las réplicas de pistolas. Es decir, una Colt o una Magnum en miniatura y de hierro a la que le ponías dentro un petardo y que explotaba al apretar el gatillo.
By the way, previous question can be found at:
http://www.proz.com/kudoz/spanish_to_english/poetry_literatu...

UK English please. TIA.
Kate Major Patience
Spain
Local time: 14:57
cap gun/cap pistol
Explanation:
This is personal experience: we used to call them "cap guns". But they themselves were small replicas of real guns. They used a contact cracker that exploded when hit with the hammer.

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Note added at 21 mins (2009-02-06 15:55:57 GMT)
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Here's a website where you can see some: http://www.nicholscapguns.com/

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Note added at 27 mins (2009-02-06 16:02:41 GMT)
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Well, a gun in which you could stick a firecracker would work like a real gun and would be extremely dangerous: I would probably have loved one but I am sure they were never allowed in the two countries, England and New Zealand, where I spent my boyhood. Cap guns sounded good, were reapeaters and smelt good too.
Selected response from:

James Arthur Williamson
Spain
Local time: 14:57
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +9cap gun/cap pistol
James Arthur Williamson
4 +1firecracker guns
Eileen Banks
2(toy) air pistols
Carol Gullidge
Summary of reference entries provided
Mar Brotons
pistolas de petardos
Tarik Boussetta

  

Answers


8 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
firecracker guns


Explanation:
A home-made Firecracker Gun shooting a hole through a soda pop can.. Watch Video about Fireworks,Firecrackers,Guns by Metacafe.com.
www.metacafe.com/watch/455294/cool_home_made_firecracker_gu...

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Note added at 8 mins (2009-02-06 15:43:45 GMT)
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petard guns are too powerful and dangerous ... I think hmmm

Eileen Banks
Argentina
Local time: 09:57
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Spanish
PRO pts in category: 28

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Henry Hinds: De niño también hacía dichos artefactos; no se vendían, en efecto son peligrosos.
12 mins
  -> :) gracias por comentar :) !

agree  Eneida Gonzalez
3 days 9 hrs
  -> Muchas gracias Eneida :)
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20 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5
(toy) air pistols


Explanation:
as you're steering clear of "cap guns" this time

Have a look at: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4848307.html

but perhaps they might even just be miniature air pistols/guns

Carol Gullidge
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:57
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 315
Notes to answerer
Asker: Hi Carol... I´m asking again because I am so ignorant of this subject and the author sems to doubt they are the same. I still think your answer might well have been the correct one...

Asker: Looking at the link posted by James, it looks like you were spot on in the first place.

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15 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +9
cap gun/cap pistol


Explanation:
This is personal experience: we used to call them "cap guns". But they themselves were small replicas of real guns. They used a contact cracker that exploded when hit with the hammer.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 21 mins (2009-02-06 15:55:57 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Here's a website where you can see some: http://www.nicholscapguns.com/

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 27 mins (2009-02-06 16:02:41 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Well, a gun in which you could stick a firecracker would work like a real gun and would be extremely dangerous: I would probably have loved one but I am sure they were never allowed in the two countries, England and New Zealand, where I spent my boyhood. Cap guns sounded good, were reapeaters and smelt good too.

James Arthur Williamson
Spain
Local time: 14:57
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 12
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
Notes to answerer
Asker: Interesting. I mean, I was a tomboy, but I never had a cap gun or anything similar. Is this the same thing? I assumed that this item would contain some kind of substantial banger, while a cap gun just contained a little "cap" that make a snapping noise. Are they the same thing then? Sorry to be so dense, but I don´t remember seeing one. They were probably already banned for being too much fun before my friends and I were old enough to have one!

Asker: Great link: I hadn't found this one. Thanks so much.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Henry Hinds: One of my favorite toys when I was a kid.
1 min
  -> Thanks Henry

agree  margaret caulfield: Great link!
13 mins
  -> Thanks Margaret

agree  Mar Brotons: Yep, those are the ones.
41 mins
  -> Gracias Mar

agree  Gilberto Diaz Castro: Cap Gun...
1 hr
  -> Gracias Gilberto

agree  Marcelo González: cap gun // As a kid in the US, I played with them, too :-)
1 hr
  -> Gracias Marcelo

agree  Noni Gilbert Riley: Yes. Happy memories! Just recently looked for the blue paper rolls of caps we used to put into them but now they come in plastic disks.
3 hrs
  -> Thanks aceavila-Noni

agree  Rachel Fell: yes, nice smell ;-) (+ checked with gun-knowledgeable son...)
5 hrs
  -> Thanks Rachel

agree  Carol Gullidge: this was the very answer I provided last time! (if you do a term search, you'll find it)
6 hrs
  -> Hi Carol. I just searched that post: right on!

agree  Tarik Boussetta: Don't shoot plz;) lol
1 day 26 mins
  -> Tarik, thank you!
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Reference comments


1 hr
Reference

Reference information:
Hi Kate,

You should show the author some pictures of the "ammo" the cap guns use. They´re called "ring caps". If that´s not what his petardo guns used, then you´ll know.

They look like the ones I played with in the 80s, but it could be that they had more "hardcore" ones in the 70s.

Mar Brotons
Spain
Native speaker of: Native in SpanishSpanish, Native in CatalanCatalan
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1 day 41 mins peer agreement (net): +1
Reference: pistolas de petardos

Reference information:
Have a look at the pic plz:)
In French it's called pistolet à pétards

http://www.magiclight.net/francais/proddetail.asp?prod=SM-CA...

Tarik Boussetta
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Arabic

Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
agree  James Arthur Williamson: Very nice explicit link
20 mins
  -> thx James:)
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