In 1964 Topper Toys introduced the Johnny Seven One Man Army and it was the best selling toy of the year! Tons of them were produced and sold to kids who eagerly waited to obtain one to rule supreme over their backyard battles! Topper Toys was a division of its parent company Deluxe Reading Corporation. Topper Toys sold its line of toys in toy and department stores while Deluxe Reading sold its line of toys in grocery stores and drug stores and had fancy full sized displays of their toys atop the shelves out of the reach of grubby little hands like mine!!! I used to bug the heck out of my parents to purchase those wonderful Deluxe Reading Toys!

The Johnny Seven One Man Army (JSOMA) is a military styled rifle that had 7 functions and is about 3 feet long when fully assembled and Politically Incorrect. I will explain the functions and give you some tips on purchasing one. I decided to learn how the internal functions worked after buying a JSOMA on Ebay and getting burned. I really can't blame the seller because all of the flaws were pictured but not described and I didn't study the pictures well enough and I wasn't familiar with the details of the rifle, after all, I hadn't seen one since childhood. The JSOMA arrived and it was broken, missing parts, filthy, full of funk and crud and the functions didn't work. I was stinging because it wasn't cheap! So, by trial and lots of errors, I began to understand the inner workings and I began to buy junk JSOMA's to refurbish them to put together a nice one for myself and then I started offering refurbished JSOMA's to ebay bidders. Perhaps this guide can help you to avoid pitfalls in purchasing one of these and spare yourself some heartburn.

The Functions

1. Grenade Launcher

Extend the Grenade Launcher and upon firing, a plastic Grenade is sent sailing through the air from the tension of a powerful spring. It is quite common for the Grenade to be chewed up where it attaches to the launcher. The Grenade is launched by depressing a button on the side of the rifle. I suggest you fire the Grenade once to see how it works and refrain from doing so afterwards to prevent further chews on the Grenade. Reproduction Grenades are available but don't fire them because the paint will wear off where it attaches to the launcher.

2. The Anti-Tank Missile

This is commonly referred to as the "Red Missile". It is fired from a lancher located on the side of rifle and the firing button is located underneath the side launcher. No other missile will fit into this spring loaded launcher. The missile itself is pretty sturdy but inspect the missile for cracks in the red plastic and inspect the missile shaft (as with all missiles) to see if they've been reglued. The missile shafts quite often are snapped off and reglued and they will probably break off again and possibly break off inside of the launcher and that is no fun! Reproductions shafts are available on ebay but replacing them requires "surgery" and it is tricky.

3. The Armor Piercing and Anti-Bunker Missiles

These missiles are launched from the front of the rifle directly underneath the front sight of the rifle. You insert the missiles into the opening and a powerful spring will be depressed. The firing button is located on the left side of the rifle. These missiles are sturdy too but inspect the shafts to see if they've been reglued.  If they've been reglude, refrain from inserting them into the launcher. You may be sorry! If the shaft breaks off inside of the launcher then this can be a real bummer because it requires that both of the front launching assemblies be removed, and the front launcher has a circular piece that is glued to the launcher and you can't always get them off with out damaging the launcher and that will ruin your day.

4. Folding Bi-Pod

The JSOMA comes with a folding Bi-Pod and when retracted fits into a slot on the rifle held in by a copper strip. You can carefully bend the strip a bit outward if the Bi-pod fits loose. Quite often, one leg of the Bi-pod is broken or both are missing. Reproduction Bi-pods can be purchased on ebay but they are not as sturdy as the originals but they work fine and I suggest you don't display your JSOMA on the reproduction Bi-pod for long periods of time. The reproduction looks good and is recommended by me if you want to complete the cosmetic appearance of your JSOMA.

5. Cap Firing Removable Pistol

The JSOMA comes with a Cap Firing Pistol that has a front sight, rear sight (the rear sight is often missing but usually breaks off clean), a chrome plate on one side of the pistol and a knob on top of the metal mechanism that you pull up to place a roll of caps inside. The mechanism has a wedge shaped cap striking hammer that hits the caps when you pull the trigger. Quite often, the wedge is missing and the pistol will not click when the trigger is pulled if the wedge is missing. Cheap metal was used in the mechanism and was easily corroded by time/elements and from caps being fired. I suggest you don't fire caps to prevent further corrosion. It is a good idea to put a few drops of oil on the moving parts of the mechanism. A non working Cap Pistol does not detract from the cosmetic appearance of the rifle and it will still display well. The cap pistol inserts underneath the gun and is removed by moving the release lever. Quite often, the release lever is missing.

6. Repeating Rifle

The JSOMA came with 12 white and gray marbled bullets that you feed into a fixed magazine on the rifle. The bullets are then feed into the chamber by the bolt with a spring on the end of it. Push the bolt forward to chamber a round but do not dry fire the rifle. Dry firing can cause the spring to bend up inside the rifle and if that happens, if requires complete disassembly to rectify. Sometimes the rifle will fire the bullets automatically while pushing the bolt before you pull the trigger and that also requires disassembly to rectify. I suggest you live with it if it happens because opening up the rifle can cause you other problems if you've never done it before. Reproduction bullets are available on ebay and they work well. You can put a minute amount of wax on the bullets for smoother firing.

7. The Tommy Gun

One of the coolest features of the rifle. Pull back the Tommy Gun Handle and the Tommy Gun should lock in place. Push on the Tommy Gun Release Lever and the the Tommy Gun Lever will move and you'll hear that "Rat-ta-Tat" sound. If the lever is stuck, don't force it. You might break the internal rod that holds it in place and there are other factors that contribute to the Tommy Gun not working. The Tommy Gun mechanism is quite a piece of engineering. Sometimes, all you'll hear is a "whirrrrrrrrrrrrrr" as you fire the Tommy Gun and its cause is internal and requires full disassembly to rectify assuming internal parts are not missing.

 Factors to Consider

The rifle is held together by a series of screws that insert into screw tabs on the back side (left side) of the rifle. It is quite common for one or both of the screw tabs to be broken on the end of the rifle on the top and bottom where the stock inserts into the rifle. If these two tabs are broken, the gun may not fit together snug. You may be able to glue a support dowel into the hollow support rods underneath the gun to help get a snug fit. Other tabs may be broken too in the area near the Bi-pod.

The stock is held into the rifle by a plastic spring loaded block that holds the rifle stock into place. If the spring is missing from the block your stock won't fit snug. The stock is also removable.

If you see the Tommy Gun Handle in the middle posistion in a picture then the Tommy Gun Mechanism probably has some problems and it doesn't work.

There seems to be some confusion as to the correct names of the missiles. The instruction sheet calls the missiles by different names and identifed differently on the box art. The JSOMA comes with three different missiles, one of which is red, a grenade and bullets. As you can imagine, most of the time the missiles and bullets are missing and in order to have a complete JSOMA it may be necessary to obtain reproduction accessories. That is ok as long as the seller identifies them as such. You can tell if you have a reproduction because the original missiles are hollow and the reproductions are heavier and solid.  The original bullets are white with gray marbling through them.

The Grenade Launcher is held inside the rifle by two protruding knobs attached to the launcher and quite often they are broken inside the rifle. If you depress the Grenade Launching Button, the metal grenader holder on top of the laucher should move outward to release the spring holding the grenade. If it doesn't move, then the laucher is broken inside the rifle.

Ask if the chrome has been repainted, especially the lettering on the stock. Pictures can fool you and you may receive a stock with repainted chrome lettering and most of the time they don't do a good job. Most stocks do have some of the chrome lettering missing.

I've seen different box variations. The common yellow box, the open faced reddish shadow box, and the rare Combat Set Box. There are also foreign variations. Deluxe Reading had factories in the USA, Canada, UK.  The Canadian box has French and English writing on it. There is also an all French version made by Triang/Topper and possibly an Austrailian version too. I've also seen variations of the Bi-pod, Grenade Laucher and Grenade. Topper/Deluxe also offered some accessories such as the Microhelmet Phone Set, Combat Phone Set. The Combat Set Box offered a JSOMA with double ammo and missiles, Combat Phone Set, Binoculars and a Rubber Knife.  

A good rule of thumb is to ask the seller if any of the conditions described above exist on the JSOMA you are bidding on. Please remember that many sellers of these rifles may not really know the rifle well but perhaps they can inspect the rifle from the questions you ask to see if any of those conditions exist. The conditions I've described above are the common problems I've encountered and be sure to ask if there are any cracks or breaks elsewhere on the rifle. Avoid sellers who give vague answers or show fuzzy pictures. They may be hiding something. A seller should offer supersized pictures and offer full detailed descriptions describing all flaws (if any). Ask questions because you have a right to know if anything is wrong, after all, many of these go for big bucks. Keep in mind that these rifles were made well but they are old and almost every one I've ever had has had some sort of problem or another. They where played with rough and provided backyard warriors with hours of fun. Study all pictures carefully and ask questions Don't be too hasty on bidding, you may be sorry. You get what you pay for! I hoped this has helped you in your quest for a Johnny Seven One Man Army.

If you want to see a Johnny Seven One Man Army go to youtube dot com  and search dezurtdude. I have three videos of the toy for you to view.