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Old February 18, 2016, 11:14 AM   #1
4V50 Gary
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Flour sack pistols

This was asked by a member at TheHighRoad website at this Link. So far no definitive answer to the question below:

Quote:
Has anyone heard of an Iver Johnson Break Action .38 being given as promotion with the purchase of a 50-100 sack of flour during the 1920's - 1930's? I was told this was done, but I can find not references to it.
Anyone here have any insights?
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Old February 18, 2016, 12:58 PM   #2
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Daisy Red Ryders were used as give aways back in time.
With windmills, if memory serves.
Giving a revolver seems like a stretch, though.
Although there's a bank in Texas that once gave guns away with substantial new depositors and investors.
And guns have been included as a bonus with new car sales.
Maybe so.
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Old February 18, 2016, 08:53 PM   #3
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I remember back in the late '70s or early '80s when some bank in Colorado gave Weatherby rifles in lieu of interest. I think it was a $10k deposit for ten years.
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Old February 18, 2016, 08:59 PM   #4
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Never heard of a revolver giveaway, but there were lots of gun giveaways back then. One of the most famous was a 22 single shot rifle in a sack of animal feed. Can't remember the make right now, but that was the only way to get one, and they were quite common years ago, but with the 10" barrels they had, it would be frowned upon nowadays,
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Old February 19, 2016, 12:25 AM   #5
hartcreek
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Evidently the spur trigger models were a prize in some flour sacks.

http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/ind...;topic=24910.0
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Old February 19, 2016, 03:57 AM   #6
gyvel
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Quote:
Flour sack pistols
This was asked by a member at TheHighRoad website at this Link. So far no definitive answer to the question below:
Quote:
Has anyone heard of an Iver Johnson Break Action .38 being given as promotion with the purchase of a 50-100 sack of flour during the 1920's - 1930's? I was told this was done, but I can find not references to it.
Anyone here have any insights?
Semi educated guess, but, as others have pointed out, gun giveaways weren't that uncommon in the depression. An IJ revolver wasn't worth all that much anyway, so I suppose if you bought 50-100 sacks of flour from a mercantile, it was no big deal for them to give you a $7.00 revolver.

One notable example is Marlin giving away a lever action .410 shotgun ca. 1929 with stock purchases in the company.
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Old February 19, 2016, 09:16 AM   #7
4V50 Gary
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From that link I found two relevant posts:

Quote:
Title: Re: 32 S&W Pocket Pistol Questions
Post by: Tjackstephens on February 25, 2009, 06:10:15 pm
I believe I read somewhere that those guns were given away with the purchase of flour. I have had some of the owl heads and they were fine little pocket pistol. My My how times have changed. St. George take care and enjoy that little part of history. TJ
Quote:
Title: Re: 32 S&W Pocket Pistol Questions
Post by: St. George on February 25, 2009, 10:57:11 pm
Actually, these revolvers were over-the-shelf purchases.

The one found in the Flour bags were the little spur-trigger 'Suicide Specials'.,

I did a 'Note' on those and it also appeared in 'The Shootist' not too long ago - complete with manufacturers Trade Names.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!
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Old February 19, 2016, 01:17 PM   #8
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Quote:
I remember back in the late '70s or early '80s when some bank in Colorado gave Weatherby rifles in lieu of interest. I think it was a $10k deposit for ten years.
That is the Bank of Boulder, my sister used to work for them. They still offer the program but do not advertise it much anymore. When my sister worked for them they were the largest Weatherby dealer in the country.

EDIT: At least they still offered it a few years ago. I have not checked lately.

EDIT 2: Did some checking. Looks like they stopped this program several years ago.
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Seams like once we the people give what, at the time, seams like a reasonable inch and "they" take the unreasonable mile we can only get that mile back one inch at a time.

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Last edited by Chaz88; February 19, 2016 at 01:36 PM.
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Old February 22, 2016, 08:48 AM   #9
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Yep, Bank of Boulder.

When I was with American Rifleman the president of the bank and his son, VERY nice people, came into town and stopped by... Can't remember their names right now...

I took them to lunch and wrote an article on the program that appeared in either an issue in 1992 or 1993, IIRC.

They offered me, at their cost, any Weatherby I wanted, and boy I'll tell you that their cost was a LOT less than what I could have gotten it for anywhere else.

But, I was living in Washington, DC, proper, and wasn't making much at at all (NRA paid for crap).
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Old February 22, 2016, 10:32 AM   #10
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They still pay crap

Mike - my classmate works for the En-R-AY at Fairfax and is taking a part time range master job to help make ends meet. Two other classmates work at the En-R-AY's Whittington Center where they receive the princely sum of about $8 an hour. One works there for health insurance (he's a pensioner) and the other uses it to get gunsmithing gigs.
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