Austin Magic Pistol

The Austin Magical Pistol is one of the most sought antique toy collections, but it was also one of the most deadly toys ever marketed to children. On the surface, the gun appears to be firing ping pong balls, which isn't really deadly, is it? It all depends on how you fire them off. In today's world, you might find a spring-loaded rifle to fire these harmless balls across a room, but in the 1940s, kids were given calcium carbide and told to have fun.

Because calcium carbide and water don't mix well, kids would spit into the barrel and throw a ball in, culminating in a spectacular fireball and the launch of a ping pong ball straight at your little sister's face (nobody really aims for those paper targets when they have a kid brother or sister).Aside from the obvious issues about giving a child dangerous and explosive chemicals, the gun's breech was barely screwed on and would fly off, searing the poor kid who fired it with acetylene gas.

Because that's probably not what toy manufacturers were looking for back then, the toys didn't last long on the market, making them more difficult to find for collectors (that was partly due to them exploding all the time). Because the Austin Magic Pistol employs a chemical explosion to launch a bullet, most states now classify it as a firearm, therefore collecting them may require a background check depending on where you live.