Customer Reviews

Big Tex Pistol

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Simply, the Big Tex pistol (and likely any pistol or rifle made by this company) is awesome! As a 40 something who grew up on Westerns, I recently introduced my nine and six year olds to several old Western classics (they love Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) and based on their positive response, I set out to find some quality Western toys for them to play with. Sadly, the Western genre no longer has cultural currency and finding any cowboy related toy, book, or other is frustrating as there is little to select from.

I found the Big Tex (Parris) on an amazon search and was pleasantly surprised. These guns remind me of the quality you would expect from a product made in the 1950's/60's. It is heavy duty and very well made with a nice heft and action. The fit and finish is flawless and very accurately detailed. The plastic wood grip looks like wood. The antiquing of the metal is perfect, too. The gun has a release lever to open the barrel allowing the 12 round cap cylinder to be removed for pretend reload or for use with the related 12 round caps (which also worked perfectly). The action on the gun is very sound. Your children can fire this over and over with no fear of internal parts coming uncoiled or breaking. For $13, this toy is a great, great value. The only issue I have is trying to track down a quality gun belt to match the guns.

Lastly, and this is clearly a polarizing discussion point (and probably illegal), I must confess that I'm not a fan of the orange barrel end caps. They are OK on a Star Wars gun, but I didn't grow up with them on my cowboy guns and I feel they ruin the look gun and as such, I prefer to remove them (again, cowboy guns only). The orange end cap on these guns are very well attached (again - great quality). Should you be inclined to remove them, I suggest screwing a sheetrock screw directly into the center of the cap to create a small opening. Then, in a well ventilated area, use a BBQ grill lighter to hold an open flame to the orange cap with the flame directed at the small opening. The plastic will smoke and begin to melt away, and after a couple minutes, will render the small opening in the center of the cap soft enough to insert a flathead screwdriver so that you can easily pry the cap housing from the barrel end. You may have to whittle way from the inside a bit, reheat and repeat this process a couple of times until the core housing comes out. There will be a good smudge of black soot on the barrel, but it rubs off completely with zero discoloration or damage to the antiqued finish.

If you are looking for a classic, good ole cowboy gun for your kids that reminds you of a toy you would have grown up with - - this is the one to buy.

This toy gun has a great look & feel to it, it's got some weight like a real gun. But like some of the other reviewers mentioned, part of it doesn't hold up to even light play. There is a plastic retaining clip that holds the barrel up in place. After firing 3 shots, on our gun, the clip no longer held the barrel up, it falls face down instead of firing the caps when the trigger is pulled.
Here's what will happen...the "child" playing with the gun will be tempted to flip the barrel into place. Let's face it, that's a cool cowboy thing to do. This will weaken the plastic clip, which should be a stronger metal clip, and the barrel will not stay in place anymore.

I am shocked sometimes when I pick this toy up off the floor how heavy it is. It is a heavy toy and has stood up to many hours of play, and being dropped on the floor from 'dying' hands. If you have small toddler hands this pistol may be too big and bulky for them. If you have a four or five year old who needs Cowboy Props, this is the gun for you. I don't know how educational this toy is but it is a great prop for pretend play.

Based on all the reviews, I went ahead and ordered 2 of these Big Tex Pistols sold by Parris Toys for my 5-year old son and myself. My son loves them and we have a fun time playing cowboys with them. They are some of the best quality toys I have seen in a long time and Made in Italy.

As Director of a stage production that required a fairly authentic looking pistol I was very pleased with this product. It worked perfectly as a stage prop. The stage setting was intimately intertwined with the audience so the weapon needed to appear real. "Big Tex" worked very well. Thanks.

All in all this toy gun COULD be a great toy. It looks really nice, the detail is excellent, it has a nice weight and most of it is very well made...HOWEVER (and I'm disappointed to have to give it one star for this reason), there is a small, fragile, poorly made black plastic piece that has the potential for quickly ruining the toy's value. The latch that you use to open the gun is made of flimsy black plastic which will likely break or come loose with minimal usage. When this happens the toy gun will no longer stay together.

My 10 year old son purchased this with his own money - he enjoys the old TV westerns... (The Rifleman, Bonanza, Wild, Wild West). He takes good care of his toys. He only had it a few weeks and the gun has not been banged up, but this black latch is just ever so slightly loose (it's not even broken or worn, just ever so slightly loose) and the gun will no longer stay together. Each time he pulls the trigger, the gun opens. And, right now, I can't see a way to fix it. I may work on it and if I find a fix I'll amend this post to share how to fix it.

So, be warned, there is much about the gun that is nice, but this one flaw could quickly ruin the toy's usefulness entirely. It's a fatal flaw which makes an otherwise great toy potentially useless. If your child actually plans on using it (even carefully), our experience tells me that it will (sooner than later) fail and no longer work as it is designed.

To the manufacturer: Just fix this ONE PART and your one star toy will become a five star toy in my book.

We purchased this gun for my son to use as a prop in his upcoming western show.While the gun is a solid toy, we purchased it because it supposedly came with the holster pictured, a definite requirement for his costume. Nowhere in the product description does it mention that the holster is not included, so were very surprised to discover the gun on it's own when we opened the package. I think the manufacturer should be required to be more accurate in the description, we feel duped.

Gun was great, grandsons was excited. Dissapointment for them as well as me, was no holster was included. I was led to believe that it was included. If it had said holster not included I would had made sure I had purchased them.

Great gun. Very realistic and made very well. But note, though pictured, this gun DOES NOT come with the holster.

I purchased this gun for my husband's Sheriff Halloween costume after reading really good reviews on it. It is heavy and solid--the wooden handle looks like real wood, and the metal and metal detailing is of impressive quality (for a toy). Then I got my piece of plastic junk gun in the mail for my costume--it was the matching Leg Avenue accessory pack for my Sheriff costume. It is truly pathetic! So I ordered another Big Tex Pistol and I am very happy about the guns and to not be "outdone" by my husband. LOL