British/Australian Rifle Ranges

[chrisfabz]

My name is Chris I live in Buffalo, NY, USA. I have found an early rifle range that is supposedly English.
It is quite similar to the Automatic Target Machine Company- Automatic Rifle circa 1900.
However, it does have several differences to that machine. My friend swears it is an English made game. Is anyone familiar with this type of game? A separate target and a tall pyramid like gun stand with the rifle mounted on top. A set of wires connected the two. Here is a link to the Automatic Rifle Patent :
TARGET APPARATUS - John L. McCullough
My game is very similar, but not exact. Any info is greatly appreciated! Thanks a lot! -
Chris.

[badpenny]

Hi there chrisfabz and welcome to the clan ..........

You will be elevated to full member as soon as you have done your voluntary fortnight opening the clubhouse and vacuuming the previous night's biscuit crumbs.

Your machine sounds exciting .......... guess what we're all saying as we tuck into our kipper pancakes and porridge sandwiches ?

[pennymachines]

Hi Chris and welcome.

I used to have something like this and recall seeing several of them years ago. I'm afraid I can't tell you anything about its origins, except that I supposed it to be British-made. The full-sized rifle was mounted, as you say, on a tall, wooden, painted, pyramid-shaped base and pivoted in all directions. There was a coin slot at the front. The target, connected, as you say, by a cable, was in a glass-fronted wooden cabinet and consisted, I think, of a donkey with the bull's eye on his flank. The poor beast bucked, to the accompaniment of a ringing bell, when you hit him. Behind him was a painted scene and, around him, some fauna and foliage (a bit like a stuffed, mounted fish).

It seems like I dreamed it, considering how little I know or remember... I owned it for several years, but didn't take a photo or note down any badges on it. I guess I was intimidated by the size and weight. To operate effectively, you had to place the target box a good few yards from the rifle and accurately line it up with the gun sight. Definitely an arcade piece, I haven't seen one for years, but would take more interest now.

[john t peterson]

Pictures, please, Chris. You will be surprised at the repository of knowledge hiding behind these screens. First though, we need more information. " Pictures are worth..."you know the rest.

J Peterson
Fellow Yank

[gameswat]

Hi Chris, could this be what you're talking about? These are 1920s or '30s Aussie made copies of the earlier English Electric Rifle/pistol ranges. There is a highly restored red example floating around in the US somewhere after having come out of New Zealand in the 2000s (shown here in old red paint while still in NZ). Originally these models had a token/coin payout for a bullseye, something the original 1899 machine never had, finally a rip-off with an improvement!! These Aussie versions use real circa 1900 Enfield rifles converted for the job to take a penny. I have two of these machines awaiting restoration and both the rifles are ex-Aussie government arms issue. I have two different targets as well, the round version shown (with incorrect hand painted glass) plus another, slightly later I think, rectangular target with lovely hand painted Deco style artwork.

[chrisfabz]

Well.....Gameswat has solved the mystery!! Thanks to all for your help. Gameswat, please email me through the forum if you can. I would love to hear more about these games and your examples!!! THANKS GUYS!! - Chris

Email address removed in order to confound trawling bots. Mod

[badpenny]

So how does the scoring work .........

Photo electric cells?
Stylus?
.303 rounds?

BP

[gameswat]

Chris, Glad to help.
BP, after inserting a Penny into the side of the rifle you reset the mech much like a Winchester Repeater, by cocking the lever action down, think John Wayne in any western. This lifts up a rod with a hinged plate at the bottom of the cabinet. There is a spring pointer under that hinged plate (see pic). When you aim and fire at the target the pointer drops into one of a number of small tapered chambers (small circle below the pointer) . These each create a different electrical contact and show up as a bullet hole in the target, plus lighting up whatever score you attained shown on the outside of the target rings. There is a dashpot in there I think to turn the lights off after maybe 10 seconds or so. My two examples have E/M payout mechs with a slide to award a 3D size coin for a bullseye, plus a bell to let everyone know. Haven't been able to find any tokens for these machines so I imagine they prob did payout coins instead of tokens making them possibly a real gambling machine.

[gameswat]

Chris, is this the machine you bought?

[chrisfabz]

No, Thats not the machine. It is in almost the same exact condition as the first red machine that you said came out of N.Z. Plus... it is missing the rifle, but I saw some on the internet for $400-$600. VERY VERY COOL. THANKS FOR THE INFO!

[gameswat]

Was talking to super collector Bob Klepner the other day and he tells me these rifles were operated and probably also manufactured by the Atlas Scale & Machine Co in Aust. He got the info many years ago from a surviving employee.

[pennymachines]

The rifle shooters I encountered were a little different from the above, although they operated on the same principle. The rifle bases were large and wooden, not metal, and although pyramid-shaped, somewhat longer than they were wide. The automata targets, as I described, were quite different.

The Electric Ray Rifle looks like an early example.

[sweetmeats]

Topic split moved & merged - Site Admin.

Some photos of Bollands machines that I don't think have come to light yet. If anyone knows better, I would love to know. I have seen the enamel cover only from the Electric Ray rifle.

[bob]

I used to have one of the pistols (see photo) and know of another one in Australia.

[gameswat]

Bob's old pistol is the same actual machine as photographed in the Bolland black and white photo posted by Sweatmeats! Small world. I discovered this years ago when looking through one of Bollands old scrap books. There are several reasons, Bob's machine has been altered in a particular way that matches up exactly. The cast iron bullseye target was originally mounted on the other side of a room attached by a thick cable loom. Each shot would show up as a lit globe simulating a bullet home in the target. It was later converted so they didn't need to run the messing wiring on this particular machine to the wall target, instead the target was bolted straight onto the pistol stand to still show your shot. And then they would just use a simple painted bullseye on the wall across from the machine. Bob's machine was just missing the little marquee topper on the remounted bullseye that obviously got lost in the last 80 years. I've seen another example of this pistol machine in the USA that is un-converted and original. So that would count at least 3 examples surviving of the pistol. Also the stunning original enamel sign Sweetmeat mentioned earlier is missing from both examples I've seen, but the artwork on Bob's former machine is hand painted and even though I'm sure it's been touched a few times in the last 80+ years it's a total match for the Bolland black and white photo!

There are Aussie made copies from the 1930's I guess that were based on the Electric Rifle models. Talked about on PM a few years ago. (Now merged above - Site Admin.)

[gameswat]

Awesome awesome awesome! While researching machines for other collectors just now I totally stumbled onto the Patent for this Aussie classic dating 1930, a rip off from the 1901 British Electric Pistol and Rifle. GB363373 (A)
Can't say how thrilled I am to find this as I own two of the machines and fill in a lot of blank history for me!

Mr PM, I think I proved my case and we can change this heading to "Aussie Electric Rifle Range"....please?

[pennymachines]

You're on a roll Gameswat.
If you don't mind, I'll change the title by quoting you: "a rip off from the 1901 British Electric Pistol and Rifle."
OK, let's compromise.

[bob]

The Electric Pistol that I had is as Rory says a version of the Electric Rifle/Pistol patent machine that was modified to show the result on a target mounted on the machine rather than the target mounted some distance away. This eliminated the need for expensive to replace multi stranded cables that were very vulnerable, a fault perpetuated years later by the Seeburg rifle machines. However the original patent is Thomas Linforth Jones British patent no 7733 of 11th May 1905 not 1901.

[gameswat]

Here is the link to partial patent for the 1905 Auto-Electric Rifle: GB190507733

And full patent attached.