The Buffalo Bill Gun was one of the first toys made by the

Milton Bradley Company Milton Bradley Company or simply Milton Bradley (MB) was an American board game manufacturer established by Milton Bradley (1836-1911) in Springfield, Massachusetts, Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1860. In 1920, it absorbed the game production o ...

. The toy was based on the popular ''

Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), better known as Buffalo Bill, was an American soldier, Bison hunting, bison hunter, and showman. One of the most famous figures of the American Old West, Cody started his legend at t ...

''. The strenuous life, so widely favored as the century drew to its close, was reflected in many games that Americans played at home. The Milton Bradley Company, like many other game manufacturers, was alert to the trend. As soon as ''

'' had proved to be popular, company

technician A technician is a worker in a field of technology who is proficient in the relevant skill and technique, with a relatively practical understanding of the theoretical principles. Specialisation The term technician covers many different special ...

s devised the Buffalo Bill Gun, a wooden model that shot wooden pellets.

Overview

The Buffalo Bill Gun was the most popular

toy A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and p ...

the company had produced to date. Appearing in 1884, it was immediately sold out and the Company could not keep up with the re-orders. Company space was enlarged for this high demand for Buffalo Bill Guns, yet the production could still barely keep up with the demand. ''The American Bookseller'' called it "a wonderful demand for the 'Buffalo Bill' gun," and said, "The beauty of the gun is that it will shoot accurately almost any kind of missile: arrow, heavy shot, marbles, pebbles, beans, and, as was discovered last

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, cannon torpedoes." The expansion of the factory allowed the Company to produce other products that would not have been possible before expansion, such as the

lawn game A lawn game is an outdoor game that can be played on a lawn. Many types and variations of lawn games exist, which includes games that use balls and the throwing of objects as their primary means of gameplay. Some lawn games are historical in natu ...

Enchantment, Pitch-a-Ring,

Ring Toss Ring toss is a game where rings are tossed around a peg. It is common at amusement parks. A variant, sometimes referred to as "ring-a-bottle", replaces pegs with bottles, where the thrower may keep the bottle (and its contents) if successful. R ...

, or Jackstraws. The popularity of the toy led to the production of inexpensive competitors; to compete with the knockoffs, Milton Bradley produced its own "cheap gun", the Springfield.

References

{{Milton Bradley 1884 introductions 1880s toys Toy weapons Milton Bradley Company Cultural depictions of Buffalo Bill