The Good Old Days are Gone

[Keg]

2ndsojourn, I used to buy mauser's and arisaka's out of 55 gallon drums for 15.00 at Gibson's.

I remember seeing barrels full of mil surplus rifles at Gibsons....

[Picher]

Thanks for commenting on this post. I expected it to provoke strong feelings. It was an expression of what is happening in the market today and what may happen to our gun rights.

We're at a watershed in our favorite pastime. I hope everything comes out well, but regardless, we need to stick together to defend and promote responsible gun ownership and use. Contact your Representatives and Senators today, but be civil about it. Remember that it's okay to object, as long as we're not objectionable.

John

[Meeteetse]

It is interesting to read what others think of the "good ole days" and what they mean to each of us. For me growing up in the 50's and 60's the "good ole days" means having the time and a place to shoot. Growing up in Wyoming you didn't have to go far out of any town to find open space to target shoot or hunt small game. I don't know how to make the inflationary comparison between then and now, but even at $1.25/hr wages, we bought .22 for 50 cents for 50 shorts, 60 cents for longs and 70 cents for LR. A brick of 500 was $5, so was a pair of blue jeans and a case of beer. We sold the rabbits we shot to a mink farmer for 50 or 60 cents each and had a great time. We bought gas for $0.29/gal. and got the oil checked and the windshield washed while someone else pumped the gas. Gun shops were well stocked with things I couldn't afford, but Dad had a 30/30 and a Remington 12ga pump and I had Mossberg .22 rifle and a Ruger MK I .22 pistol. What more did you need?

People were nicer to each other and no one I knew locked their house or their car or truck. Most pickup trucks had a 30/30 in the window and everyone stopped to help if someone had trouble on the road. People opened doors for each other and said please and thank you. We liked to talk with people face to face or on the phone. We didn't text or email cause it didn't exist. Things were more personal. We worked Monday thru Friday and sometimes Saturday, but we played Friday and Sat. night. Most went to church on Sunday and almost all stores were closed. Small corner grocery stores rotated so that someone was open on Sunday, but that was about it. We did things as a family or a group of friends, hunting, fishing, BBQ, picnics or playing baseball in the summer. Many of you will say it sounds boring or "corny", but people liked each other. We didn't hide behind high fences or double locked doors. We didn't have the choices available now and we didn't know we missed anything. After all these years I've found that accumulating stuff isn't as much fun as appreciating what little we may have. For me the good ole days are more about the life style we had without interference from Big Brother. I used to know my neighbors, but they don't want to talk these days, especially when they find out I hunt and fish. They are vegans you know. Ba hum bug. Keep your new world, it ain't worth a da**.

[JWT]

To me the good old days definitely were the 50's. Went down to the local hardware store, looked in a catalog and told the owner to order a .22 semi auto for me. He called me when it came in and I paid him with money from my paper route and walked home carrying it. I was 12 at the time. Times have changed.

[xtphreak]

Just got me thinking about .22's
Back in 1990-91, Roses in Martinez was selling Winchester Super-X $1.09 / box or Wildcat $0.99 / box. Every Friday I stopped and grabbed a brick or 2, tossed it in a .50cal ammo can (6 bricks + 10 boxes / can).
I'm still shooting it, even though this past summer I was stocking up on CCI MiniMags $5.99/100.
Back in the 80's a bunch of us bought MiniMags in 50 ct paper boxes w/ plastic trays, a case of 5000 was $105.
I think this will pass again, prices will be a bit higher, but will settle down some soon.
I've always kept a good supply of ammo, not hoarding or prepping, for convenience.
If I wanted to go plink, I'd grab a brick or so and go.

[SIGSHR]

The "Good Old Days" of milsurps probably are gone since semiautomatic/selective fire rifles have replaced bolt actions as military standard and there will have to be major legislative changes to make them readily available.

[xtphreak]

I have a 7X57 Mauser in the safe that I bought my Dad some 40+ years ago for his birthday. Well I had my Mom buy it, I wasn't quite old enough.
Woolco across from the high school had the K-31's in a cardboard barrel for $19.99 with a box of 7.5mm, but I asked the guy if you could get ammo easily and opted instead for the 7X57 "sporterized" for $27 since he had Remington and Winchester ammo on the shelf for it.

[Mausermolt]

I would just like to say that the good ol' days are not gone. when i was in high school my principal told me "ya know ya cant have a gun in your truck on school grounds right? so if i cant see it, say maybe you put it behind the seat in a scabbard so it doesn't get scratched, i wouldnt know its there." My woodshop teacher helped me build my first gun rack for my bedroom. i would step onto my back porch and shoot sage Canadian geese as they fly in and out of our alfalfa field. when i was 14 i started buying 12ga, gunpowder, primers, and 22 shells from the local gunstore. the owner would call up may Dad and ask if i was ok to buy them. it just seems to me that yall are staying in the wrong places! the town i grew up in has 3000 people in it....and i graduated high school in 2008. there is a country song out by Justin Moore that reminds me alot of home. "I wouldn't trade one single day, Here in small town USA"

[eastbank]

the good old days only look good because you are looking thru eyes at todays pay check. making 1.25 a hour and a brick of .22,s at 5.00 is not good,you have to work 4 hours for them. yeasterday i bought a 500 round bulk pack of winchester,s for 24.00 at wally world, making 12.00 a hour means working only two hours for them today. and around here not many make less than 12.00 a hour. in 1962 you could buy a new win. pre-64 model 70 for 110-120 dollars and at that time i made 2.19 dollars a hour so i had to work 52.5 hours to buy a 115.00 dollar model 70, when i retired in 2005 from heavy highway construction i was making 27.50 a hour and a new model 70 with CRF like the pre-64,s was 700.00,meaning i had to work about 25.5 hours to buy it. it may have been a slower and better time to raise a familey, but you were no better off then than now. eastbank.

[kutz]

In the USMC, the new "boots" get told about the "Old Corps" by some " Senior" Pfc.

[SR420]

Good old days..........it's relative.

Agreed, and getting older beats the alternative.

[eastbank]

i did like the selection of milsurps in the late 50,s and sixies, but their were no sks,cz-52,ak rebuilds plus a whole host of others that have been comming in as of late. are their many new milsurps going to come in? its any bodies guess,but oboma will try to end it all. however its all depends on your finances at the time you refere to,no money no fun. eastbank.

[Picher]

Back in the 50's a gun shop owner told me that most people buy hunting rifles for about a week's pay and won't pay more than that. In the 50's most people around here made about $75-90 a week. You could buy a Win 94 for that, but a Mod. 70 Was around $120, without scope. More people bought 94s, perhaps for that reason, but also because they tended to hunt more in the woods and not in places where it took a scope to shoot one.

A lot of guys weren't very savvy about guns or accuracy. Many used guns handed-down by their fathers and grandfathers. They may have had more hunting experience than shooting experience...many hunted with the same box of ammo for about 15 years or more. (How many of us can say that.) I've seen many bullets pushed back into 30-30, 32 Spl., or .35 rem cases by so many loadings/unloadings and being in the magazine when others were fired.

Yes, the good old days may be threatened by shortages these days, but firearms technology, quality firearm costs and ammo improvements have been pretty nice, compared with my old days.

Back then, stores would break ammo boxes, so you could buy one or several rounds. A buddy of mine went deer hunting with only 5 rounds. He shot them all right over a nice buck because he was looking over the open rear sight, just putting the front sight on it. The deer just stood there and looked at him!!!

We had to go home because he was done for the day. My '06 rounds obviously didn't fit his .30-30 Win.

[shafter]

Out of curiosity, what's the variety spread between the 50s and now?

I could be more than happy with just the firearms available in the 50's. All of my favorites were around long before that.

[dayman]

You can still - or could until recently - get Mosens for <$100. And I suspect 15 1950's dollars were worth at least 99 2011 dollars.
If you want to spend 2 weeks pay on a rifle you can still get a beautiful combination of blued metal and walnut. But now we have the option to spend a couple days pay and get something that will function about the same.
Some of the specific milsurp deals are gone, but that's the nature of discontinued products - there's a finite supply.
Ammo is cheap, and most people are pretty accepting of guns. It's certainly possible to intentionally make people uncomfortable, but I've never noticed a reaction when I travel with a gun case. But maybe that's more prevalent in rural areas.

Personally I'm glad you can no longer order a gun through the mail and have it left on the porch if you're not there to collect it. I'm also glad that people convicted of domestic abuse can't buy guns. And - in part due to the fact that one of my moms cousins accidentally killed one of his friend as a child - I'm glad that we've become aware enough about gun safety that's it's no longer culturally acceptable to leave loaded guns where children can get them.

The current shortage has nothing to do with government interference, or political heat from the con control crowd. It's entirely the result of all or us buying up everything we can. It's a vicious cycle - there's no ammo because we've bought it all, so when a shipment does come in we buy it fast (before someone else does), so there's no ammo.

If we all stopped buying ammo so obsessively the supply would normalize. SO I agree that - if we want to see prices come back down - we should take it easy and try to conserve for awhile. Preferably before the big national chains mark their prices up and extend how long the local shops can keep their prices up after the supply comes back.
The trick is everyone has to do it, and that seems unlikely.

[TheNatureBoy]

You guys are killin' me with this (old mans voice) "back in my day" stuff.

[5.56RifleGuy]

There were never any good old days
They are today, they are tomorrow
It's a stupid thing we say
Cursing tomorrow with sorrow

[Justice06RR]

The good old days for me is when ammo was plentiful, rifles like AK's and SKS were $300 (Mosins for around $89) or less , parts are cheap and in stock, and people enjoyed shooting because we didn't worry about AWB's and gun control B.S.

[TX Hunter]

I think the best days are ahead of us. There are more US Gun owners now than ever before. We were able to defeat the Asault Weapons ban because We stuck together. I am proud that our Country stood up for its Rights and Won ! It will get better because We wont have it any other way !

[g.willikers]

For a lot of us, if we were our present age, back in the good old days.....
Well, we wouldn't be our present age.

[tobnpr]

I used to throw my money away at boats...
If I had discovered the hobby of firearms and long-range shooting back then, I'd have a collection of ranging from an M82A1 to an AIAW and everything in between, and still be ahead of the $$ game

But seems to me, that current shortages aside (and this too, will pass) there has never been a better time for firearms enthusiasts.

Precision CNC machining has brought prices down- and reliability and quality up- to levels that have never been seen in the past.

IMO, the "good old days", are now (or rather, when I can buy reloading supplies again!).

[SR420]

May the best days of our past be the worst days of our future.