This story just goes to show how mightily things have changed from the 1950s to the world we live in today.
I was in fourth grade, and it was nearing the end of the year. For eight months we had been doing Show and Tell every Monday morning, and now we were truly running out of good ideas. One kid brought in a comb with a few teeth missing he had found in a trash can and that was the most interesting item for the day.
I was determined to do something unique, so I asked Daddy if he had any ideas, maybe FBI stuff?
“Why don’t you take them a wadcutter bullet?” he said. Daddy was an FBI agent and he explained that when they went to Quantico to practice shooting, they used .38 special handguns known as wadcutters. The .38 caliber bullets they used were also called wadcutters. Daddy had boxes and boxes of them from practice. So, he gave me one. I put it in my pocket and took it to school.
At the given time, I stood proudly, displayed my wadcutter and explained that this was a flat fronted bullet designed specifically for shooting paper targets, usually at close range. But I also added that because it splatted, it would knock down a criminal on impact.
The class and the teacher were most impressed at my display. I got tons of kudos during our marble’s competition at recess, but I lost all my marbles. I was better at speaking than shooting steelies.
Can you even imagine if today a fourth grader brought a bullet to school? He would probably have to explain to the Swat Team that wrestled him down that this was a good cartridge to practice with on the range.