Old Gun Magazines

[Blacksmith]

Here is a link for your reading pleasure. Guns Magazine has a page full of links to PDF copies of there older back issues, from January 1955 to December 1961. They make some great reading and you will kick yourself for not buying that gun back then when you see the prices in the advertisements.

Here is the link:
http://www.gunsmagazine.com/classic-guns-magazine-editions/

Blacksmith

[DCM]

Thank you!

[Olevern]

Never knew that existed. Thanks for the link, some good readin there.

[cgtreml]

Great Stuff Thanks

[Blacksmith]

Here are links to three of the articles worth reading.

Guns Magazine
January 1959
On page 31 "Tomorrow's Minutemen?"
http://www.gunsmagazine.com/1959issues/G0159.pdf

Guns Magazine
April 1959
On Page 38 "The Rifleman in Civil Defense."
http://www.gunsmagazine.com/1959issues/G0459.pdf

Guns Magazine
August 1958
On Page 34 ".22s For Survival"
http://www.gunsmagazine.com/1958issues/G0858.pdf

Blacksmith

[50-170-700 sharps]

Makes for very good reading. Thank-you very much for the useful links!

[leadman]

Thanks for the links. I actually have a couple of these magazines, plus American Rifleman starting in the mid 1930s. Go back to the late 60s on the Rifle and Handloader IIRC.

Tell me about the prices! 1903 and 03a3 barrels, new, $2.99!

[JeffinNZ]

I have a stack of old American Rifleman going back to the late forties. Still good reading.

Thanks

[3006guns]

Check out the November 1955 article on casting your own bullets. Oh, my.....how far we've come.

I remember many of those old ads from when I was a kid. Ah, the surplus stuff and not a nickle to my name!!! Russian anti tank rifles, 1911's, S&W, Colts......all at "popular prices" and through the mail!

Dang it! Will somebody please build a time machine????

[LUBEDUDE]

Thanks!

I enjoyed the ads. As a renowned gunsmith told me once - "there is not very much new stuff anymore; most of it has already been done, usually by the Germans."

For example, what I just saw - fiber optic front sights on Ithaca shotguns - ad Jan 1955

50 cal BMG rifle $79 Jan 1955 - Barrett is not so new.

Bore scopes for the price of a Ruger Blackhawk of it's day - 1958 I believe- and 10 years ago, we thought that was Hi-tech!

[alamogunr]

I had most of those issues. Bought them in high school mostly. My mother got rid of them while I was away at college. Couldn't blame her. I had other things on my mind then. I didn't really get back into guns until both sons were in college.

Thanks for posting the link.

[MtGun44]

Interesting stuff. Some of the "history" articles are pretty much BS from front to back, but
I'm not too surprised. Lots of old west stuff was written up in the dime novels as gospel
and it has taken a lot of scholarship to even partially sort the BS from the facts. The gun
articles do show how far we have come.

Still really enjoyed one article by Elmer Keith on hunting in Africa. I have to laugh at him
shooting a tommy with a .333 OKH or something. This little gazelle might weigh in around
40-50 lbs or so (I never shot one, so not certain) but I think a .257 Roberts might be a bit
overgunned, so I think the boomer he used should work. I love Elmer's writing, and think
he has huge insights on pistols, but I think the really crummy bullets of the day plus their
willingness to fling shots at long range where they could not really place them particularly well
with iron sights left him with the idea that a .45-70 was a pretty reasonable caliber for whitetails
(and it is) and a .30-06 is a bit marginal for an elk (which it isn't - with good modern bullets).

Great reading so far, I'm sure I'll spend hours reading the old magazines.

Bill