[Just Terry]

we live in the Golden age of Guns. What is available today we couldnt dream of years ago.I well remember ,as I used to visit larger gun shops every weekend,the situation. The only 1911 guns that I had seen in the years 1974-75 were a Colt in 9mm,and a Llama in 45.This was also the years of the drought of the Model 29. I recall seeing two,both 8 3/8 inch,advertised at $400,nearly double the list price. The only Smiths I saw were Model 10`s,though I did see (and bought! ) a 6 inch Model 19.Colt single actions were everywhere,and nobody wanted them.Same with trapdoor springfields. I had a friend from work who took me into his house one evening,and showed me a new Colt Peacemaker in the wooden box,I think he asked $200 for it. I passed. He also had loads of Trapdoors,100 bucks each. I passed on them ,too. You see, I was probably a little short on brains back then. ( not much has changed ).What I am trying to say is that our selection of firearms today is outstanding. I wanted to say "phnemonal",but I dont know how to spell it. Thanks for listening

 

[WhoIsJohnGalt?]

Indeed, it wasn’t that long ago that “what you saw is ALL you got” in terms of viewing the goods at your local gun store. Of course, there was “Shotgun News” and the classified ad section of the newspaper with some listings, but who knew the selection and options that would one day arrive thanks to the Internet?

I do miss what, for me, are the “old days” of one of the local outfits in my area that is sadly now defunct. The Gun Cellar (“Prices are always lower in the Cellar!”) was a shop in a strip-mall when I was an impressionable lad not yet of legal age for gun-buying. Wooden flooring that creaked just like you were in an Old West saloon and an assortment of guns and accouterments second to none.

It’s where I first beheld the (then, to-me) glory of an old-school MAC-10, for sale for something like maybe $300 (plus the tax stamp, of course) - or the $180 semi-auto Chinese AKs (not MAK-90s - the “real deals” minus the fun switch) when they first hit the market. Smith & Wesson Model 27 with the fabled 5-inch barrel - how about $225? Wow - the times, the times.

I did manage to score some nice t-shirts as well as my first “real” M-65 field jacket there until I was finally old enough to engage in some more significant commerce with them ha-ha!

Sorry, good sir - I enjoyed your reminiscing and now it’s gotten me to rambling. I do agree with you - times are indeed good for us gun-folk. As I ponder it, most of the firearms I consider my “on-duty” guns did NOT come from a brick-and-mortar store - they were discovered electronically as they then-resided in far-flung ZIP codes.

 

[BennyAdeline]

I’m youngish (37) but have been shooting my whole life. My buddies newer to guns have no idea how good and easy things are these days. I remember when wonder nine meant a BHP

 

[k38]

Well. . . I bought my first good handgun, a Smith & Wesson K22 (Model 17-2) brand new for 81 bucks at Ritz Sporting Goods in Sheridan, Wyoming when I was 17. In Wyoming you could buy any handgun (we called 'em all "pistols") at age 16. Talk about the good old days! Still have that revolver and it's as good as ever. They don't make them like that anymore!

 

[Scaramouche]

Me, I remember this "golden age of guns" being when rifles and shotguns where made by Winchester, or say Marlin, in America, when you went into a gun store and everything wasn't black. When walnut was a common theme. When gun racks were common in trucks. Me and the other kids bicycling down a country road with our rifles slung on our backs. When a box of .22 was 25 cents and a kid could buy them cause he was going to shoot a rabbit and take it home. When a gun was part of the tool box in every farm, ranch and rural home in America.

 

[BennyAdeline]

Me, I remember this "golden age of guns" being when rifles and shotguns where made by Winchester, or say Marlin, in America, when you went into a gun store and everything wasn't black. When walnut was a common theme. When gun racks were common in trucks. Me and the other kids bicycling down a country road with our rifles slung on our backs. When a box of .22 was 25 cents and a kid could buy them cause he was going to shoot a rabbit and take it home. When a gun was part of the tool box in every farm, ranch and rural home in America.

I remember going to the hardware store for .22 and .38 all the time when I was 8-9 years old. I’d also have a note from dad so I could bring him home some cigarettes. I never got denied either

 

[jaydoc]

I’m 52 but got into guns late. I remember some of the old brick and mortar stores and the few places you could find a good selection of knives. I even remember a sales rep from Case knives coming to my dad’s office to try to sell us knives to use as gifts to business associates.
The internet has changed the game and we truly are in the golden era of gun buying.
I just hope I don’t live long enough to see what I believe to be the inevitable end to it all. We are the only developed country in the world that allows personal firearms ownership as we know it. “Liberal think” is advancing like the plague in our younger generations. We they get in charge, I’m afraid our rights will be gone.

 

[BennyAdeline]

I’m 52 but got into guns late. I remember some of the old brick and mortar stores and the few places you could find a good selection of knives. I even remember a sales rep from Case knives coming to my dad’s office to try to sell us knives to use as gifts to business associates.
The internet has changed the game and we truly are in the golden era of gun buying.
I just hope I don’t live long enough to see what I believe to be the inevitable end to it all. We are the only developed country in the world that allows personal firearms ownership as we know it. “Liberal think” is advancing like the plague in our younger generations. We they get in charge, I’m afraid our rights will be gone.

Spooky times for sure. My girls are very young (2.8 yrs and 5 months), but they will be shooting at 4 like I was and will be taught the same respect for firearms, the Constitution, and freedom that I was.

The younger generation currently panders for less freedom and big government. Hopefully they mellow out with age and get with reality.

 

[B81]

“Liberal think” is advancing like the plague in our younger generations.

I hear what you're saying, and I worry about it too. On the bright side, liberal gun clubs are on the rise (albeit slowly). They may not be conservative, but they wholly support the 2A and the ownership of firearms for self defense.

Having gone through more years of college than I care to admit (and I'm still chipping away at a PhD part time), I still manage to come out as a strong supporter of the 2A. However, I have to be careful about voicing my views on guns in public. A lot of people that I work with are very anti-gun.

 

[isialk]

I always had guns as a kid. My cousins and I grew up about a block away from some deep timber and the Vermillion river in small town Illinois. It was great! Always hunting, fishing, plinking, swimming and ice skating. No one thought anything of us walking to the corner store with our plinkers to buy .22. We didn’t even need a note to by my grandpa quarts of beer and mail pouch. Everyone knew him and knew us.
But the selection and availability of all manner of firearms and ammunition was un thought of back then. It’s a great time now too in my opinion.
I do agree with scaramouche though I do like the woods vs all the black. Just old fashioned I guess.


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[Old Sea Dragon]

I always had guns as a kid. My cousins and I grew up about a block away from some deep timber and the Vermillion river in small town Illinois. It was great! Always hunting, fishing, plinking, swimming and ice skating. No one thought anything of us walking to the corner store with our plinkers to buy .22. We didn’t even need a note to by my grandpa quarts of beer and mail pouch. Everyone knew him and knew us.
But the selection and availability of all manner of firearms and ammunition was un thought of back then. It’s a great time now too in my opinion.
I do agree with scaramouche though I do like the woods vs all the black. Just old fashioned I guess.


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I know this Vermillion river, though not as well as you.

 

[Karsten]

Yeppers....Way back when you could order a firearms from Sears and Roebuck and have it shipped to your door. You could walk into Ben Franklin or any hardware store and buy a 1903, M1 Garand out of a Barrel and walk out the door with it. As a kid I bought .22 LF and they logged the purchase into a journal (later they kept a journal for Model Glue, Styrene Glue.....Cause people start sniffing if to get high)

1st revolver I bought was a High Standard MK4 Sentinel .22LF/.22 Mag 2.75 inch barrel for $175 and the next one was a New in Box pawn Shop find S&W Model 39-7 for $225.

I had never really heard of a Gun Store as you could buy what ever you needed at the Five and Dime.

High Quality hunting rifles were pricey so you just bought a $30.00 surplus 1903 out of a barrel and bubba'ed it.

1st time I ran across a Colt 1911 in .38 Super was years ago.....Ugly flat black and the Guy described it as "Close to Useless.......38 Super is just for killing people" I didn't like that or the price $375.

My 1st pump shotgun I bought new from a Pawn Shop on 25th Street in Ogden, Utah, walked out the door with it and 5 blocks up the Street to the Sporting Goods store....(They now had stores that sold guns, ammo, fishing stuff, camping stuff....Pretty cool place back then) So walking 5 blocks, then right into the store and ask the Gun Counter if he could put a recoil pad on it.....He took it, measured LOP took it to the back and installed the pad, ground it down and done in 15 minutes....Pad. walked out the front door onto Washington Blvd (main Street in Ogden) and 5 blocks back to my car carrying a 12 Gauge Shotgun and no one even batted an eye at me, no police, no one yelling, just people doing what they did every day back then.

Things were short on supply and selection was iffy at best....No one had a Display Model and 35 more in the box in the back room....You bought the one off the rack and the next guy could wait weeks to get another one.

Way back when it was a Much Simpler Time.....Anyone remember The High School Parking Lot and the Gun Racks in the back window of trucks (Full of Guns)and no one cared.

Karsten

 

[Mike A]

I am 67 & remember what to me were the good Ol days of Firearms. I bought Guns & reloading supplies for what would seem like pennies today. Guys & Gals could build a fine Firearms collection with what they could save from working pay checks.
Yes while we have more choices today, we also have less money to spend on Firearms & Ammo.

I'm also one of those Dinosaurs who love the look of Wood Stocks & Polished blue steel. Just remember those wooden cabinets filled with furniture grade stocks adorning your friends dads guns .

Call me old fashioned but I long for those days gone by, over black plastic Stocks & plastic pistol frames. Just a 1911 addict longing for a way of life, I once loved very much.

 

[Blue Ridge]

The younger generation currently panders for less freedom and big government. Hopefully they mellow out with age and get with reality.

I know this is a new level, but I tend to think most will. Most everyone is an idealist when they are young. Life has a way of bringing you to your senses though, at least for attentive people. Lots of former liberals out there no longer are just because they got mugged, tried to run a business, build something on their own property, etc. I took my niece to get her driver's license a few years back and took her to a fancy ice cream place afterwards. After a very unpleasant experience with the worker at the DMV, I said "That's government run service for ya." The ice cream people were friendly and let her make a sundae that wasn't on the menu and I said, "and that is service when there is competition for your dollars."

 

[switchback]

Quoting someone here, don't recall who, " younger folks are idealist and liberal minded, as a person ages and becomes wiser he becomes more conservative"

I'm in the blued steel , walnut and leather holster crowd. I have a ss pistol, I have a polymer pistol and I have an evil black rifle, yep rifle, everything else is blued (or patina, ha) and walnut, just the way I like it.

Me and my brother could ride our peddle bikes to the billiard hall and buy a 16oz bottle of RC cola (new stuff) and a snickers together for 15 cents. Get a giant cylinder of BBs for 25cent and off we would go, all set for a bit. dirt roads, before all the hormonal changes; playing hardball, baling hay, walking beanfields endlessly, tassling corn, no care of womens or sex. just sunshine , dirt roads and all the talk between boys. I'd give all the crazy nights of my life for one day of that inocense. But, needless to say, that ain't gonna happen

 

[Dave Jessee]

I am a blued steel, leather, and walnut fan. I remember the times before the 1968 gun laws. I remember when I belonged to the NRA and it stood for other reasons than fighting gun laws. I remember going to flea markets that had huge barns full of milsurp guns. I remember when buying a gun was no more hassle than buying a 8 track player at the same store.

Maybe in some ways it is better now that it was then. But I sure wouldn't hesitate to trade back.

 

[BigJimP]

I'm in my late 60's now....and yes I prefer Nickel or blued revolvers ( some stainless steel is ok too )....and my 1911's in all steel...-- with wood grips on everything ../ and walnut stocks on all my rifles and shotguns...

Life was simpler in the 50's and 60's in many ways...but I don't want to go back to those days .../ I enjoy the convenience and knowledge the internet brings ..and the variety in guns ( even if I don't want to own any of them )...

1911's today ...are much higher quality than in the old days / with greater options and features that make them better guns. The series of videos by Bill Wilson and Ken Hackathorn discuss a lot of those innovations...and I agree with their approach.

( many of the older revolvers from S&W and Colt are far superior in quality to what is available now...in double action guns / but in the single action world, Freedom Arms makes some guns that are every bit as good as some of the old Colts..and maybe better ---- but the double action revolver world is not progressing too well in my view.) So to me its a mix of issues...some old..some new.../ I try to appreciate things for what they are...

 

[johnb62]

I am 56 and guns have been about my only steady hobby since I was 15. Growing up in southern Indiana it was not unusual at all to see guns in back window racks in pickup trucks parked at the high school. With coal mines all around it was easy to find a place to shoot and the property owners did not mind you being there. Times have changed. Still a lot of stripper pits around but shooting/fishing will end up costing you a lot of money in fines. My first gun was a JC Higgens 12 ga pump. Bought it from my dentist for $40. Still have the 870 Wingmaster I bought the day I turned 18 and the Golden 39A my dad gave me for HS graduation. They don't make them like that anymore.