Back in the day

[waksupi]

Just thinking back to when I was a kid. Probably nearly 60 years ago now.

An old man named Sammy Slate had a gas station in a small town of around 200 people. He had barrels full of original longrifles, just jammed full. They cost between $10-15 each. Sure wish I had the money and knowledge back then. I begged dad to buy me one every time we were there, but back then 10-15 bucks was a lot of money.

Sammy closed the station, and opened a trading post in the same town. He displayed the long rifles, and also had many Sharps, Trapdoor Springfields, muskets of various types. Many old traps, probably all quite collectable now. Also many Indian artifacts.

I know when he died, there was an auction, and the collection dispersed. There was some good stuff there.

Too soon old, too late smart.

[abunaitoo]

There used to be a store here that had barrel guns.
I think it was Gibson's.
A big wooden barrel, with rifles stuck in it.
Can't remember how much they were, but they were all the same price.
Never had the chance to buy one. To young.
I've been told that the Schmidt Rubin 1889 I have, was from the barrel sale.
Back then, you pay and take it with you.
No ID, permit, background check, nothing.
Those were the good old days.

[Walks]

That's how I ended up with my MAUSER 1893 Carbine in 7X57.
BIG 5 Sporting Goods had barrels of 1888 "Commission " Mauser's for $45.00 (1976) there was a short rifle stuck in the back of the barrel. I recognized it immediately as a '93/95 Carbine. It was CLEAN, the s/n on the bolt didn't match and the crest was machined off, very cleanly too. I bought it for $40.00 Plus tax. I had the OLD PACHMAYR GUN SHOP check headspace. They said the headspace was perfect.

And BOY HOWDY did it shoot. With 22yr old eyes from the bench it put 5 rds of W-W 175gr factory into less than an inch. It shot the LYMAN #287405 almost as well. I swapped out the upside down "V" front sight with a 1/8" brass bead. Used a tiny round file on the rear "V" Notch. It made it easier to shoot.

Best $40 bucks I ever spent.

[Messy bear]

We could still get some decent deals on unmatching number battle rifles in the late 90's and early 00's IIRC. I think the select swedes were $65 and the others were $40 or $45. I saved some of those Turks that were mostly used for actions and stuff. I paid $29.95 for those. Love shootin those old rifles. In fact we may be having a battle rifle shoot this fall.

[birch]

I remember going to shows in Cadillac Michigan in the mid eighties with my ol' man. There were barrels of SKS rifle at many vendor tables. They were all in the 50 dollar range. They were covered thick, and I mean thick, in cosmoline. I wanted one badly, buy my dad would never own a Russian rifle.

I know time has a way of making things grander than they actually were, but in my mind, there were barrels of SKSs everywhere

[pworley1]

Back before all the gun control laws started up in the 60's you could order most surplus rifles for $5.00 or less.

[GhostHawk]

Sure wish I had been smart enough to buy some of those rifles I saw back then.

Local hardware store had them. Barrel of Enfields, barrel of Mausers. I think there were some Martini's in with the enfields. What I'd give for one of them now.

I had several chances to buy nice M1 carbines in the 70's. 100$ with mags, stripper clips and ammo. Sigh.

You fool, you stupid fool. Had very little interest in milsurp back then. Thankfully I got my pair of Mosin's before they went crazy on prices.

[starnbar]

monkey wards had barrel rifles had a mauser 8 mm and got an arisaka with a broke stock both for 30 bucks dont have either one now but still have my red ryder that was for christmas from my uncle I was 8 at the time.

[KCSO]

I remember Turner Kirkland paying 10 for every trapdoor he could get and folks thought he was crazy. My first trapdoor cost $25 with a cigar box of FA brass and ammo a bullet mould and an old tong tool. Dad thought I got skinned.

[RED BEAR]

I remember the first gun i ever bought on my own saved money from cutting grass and doing chores around the neighborhood . Had to take a note from my mom to gun store saying it was ok after all i was maybe 12 years old. It was a double barrel 12 gauge store brand that had been shortened to 22 inches. It was maybe 1/2 mile from our house to the woods where i hunted and used to walk through town with that gun on my way to go hunting .and the only thing anyone ever said was good luck. And now when i hear people say that we just want to go back to the way things used to be well you betcha. I really wish my kids and grandkids could grow up in the world i did. And i do still have a couple Swedish mauser that cost me all of 35 dollars a piece. Bought a carcano for a whopping 19 dollars. Of course that was a lot of money back then.

[Wheelguns 1961]

There was an army- navy store near my house. You could buy anything military surplus including barrels and barrels of rifles.

[Tatume]

Relatively recently, the 1980's, Roses Department Store had barrels of SMLE, M1903, and M1917 rifles for about $25. They were in pretty decent shape too. I declined to buy one and got a NEW 30-06 Savage M110 for about $60. My brother got a SMLE though, and shoots it still, to this day.

[Iowa Fox]

Yep! Same here. Old one arm man running a bait and tackle shop with lots of old guns. I wasn't old enough to drive and the ones I remember the most were the 30 carbines for $17.50. My dad said no one needs anything bigger than a 22 LR in the state of Iowa.

[Rick Hodges]

Late 60's at KMart….a barrel of '93 Mausers in 7x57. My buddy and I hand picked through the barrel for the best ones.....even swapping bolts to get ones that were not pitted with rust...Mine worked just fine, Bob's had horrible headspace blowing cases every time he fired it. Those rifles were $12 @....Bob ended up having his rebarreled, restocked and completely sporterized. Mine went down the road and I bought a new 788 Rem. in .308.
Funny I forgot all about that until this thread.

[Blackwater]

Wow, Waksupi! You have me wistfully remembering going to Athens, GA. to Franklin's some 30+ years ago. In one spot, he had an old wooden barrel of about 50 gal. size, and in it were all the old, classic single shots he had at the time. They were mostly brown guns, and not in great shape. Some needed small parts or a firing pin or something. I could not pass that old barrel without pulling out at least 3 of them (usually more) and bringing them to my shoulder. I always got the thought "Wow! I believe I could SHOOT this thing!" when I did that. Some barrels were pitted, and some were pretty darn smooth. I just loved those old guns, with those clean, slender, sexy lines! Some of the wood would have cleaned up VERY nicely and had very nice figure in the butts. They went for a song, too, but I never brought one home to play with and fix up. I always had "higher priorities" and little money above those priorities, so now ...... well, all I have is a memory of an opportunity I OUGHT to have taken advantage of. And yep ..... "too soon old, too late smart." Ain't life interestin'?

[GOPHER SLAYER]

I remember a rather strange old guy in my home town who had a junk store with lots of old guns in it. His name was Bone and he was kinda like us. There was a story going around that he had a stash of gold hidden in the store. One night a person, or persons unknown killed him and ransacked the store. They were not interested in the guns, nobody was, it was the depression and only two guns were worth anything, a shotgun or 22 rifle. The doors of his shop stayed open and no one cared if you took any of the old guns. I have no idea what happened to them. To show how little old guns were worth at the time. A friend of mine's father helped a man move. They were looking thru the house for anything missed. They went into the basement and my friend's father saw a rifle leaning against the wall and asked if the man was going to take it. He said no but if you want it you can take it. He brought it home and gave it to his son to play with. The rifle was an 1876 Winchester carbine in 38-40. I know because I traded him a knife for it and I remember it said 38 cal on the brass cartridge carrier. I kept the rifle for some time and played cowboys and Indians with it. I hate to tell you the rest of the story but here goes. The war was over and I was about 11 years old. My father came home from California where he worked in the ship yard. On one of the ships in for repair he found a box of ammo. He brought it home. I found one of the cartridges that would fit in the chamber of the old rifle, with a little force. I took it out back and being young and stupid, as all little boys are, I pulled the trigger. Well, the guardian angle that is assigned to all stupid little boys was on duty. The cartridge failed to fire. I don't know if the rifle had a broken firing pin or if the Jap ammo was no good. In either case I am eternally grateful to my guardian angle. I later traded off the rifle with the cartridge still in it. I did learn something by owning the carbine. Billy The Kid was right handed. In 1950 I came to California with my brother and his wife. We happened to pass thru Fort Sumner, New Mexico where I bought a post card with Billy's picture on it. He was holding a Winchester Carbine against his leg and I noticed the loading gate was on the wrong side of the rifle, which meant the picture was reversed. It took the rest of the world sixty some years to see what I saw when I was fourteen.

[dale2242]

I remember barrels of M1 carbines and showcases of 1911s for $50 each at Hills Surplus in Grants Pass, Or. in the early 50s.
Mausers and foreign milsurps were $10-415...

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Lots of memories here. I think it was about 1958 when my dad took me to San Francisco just to look around. On Market St. there was a surplus store that had a large hogshead barrel full of M-38 Carcano rifles with a sign, "Your choice-- $8.50". I was already a budding gunnut, but just didn't have the money at the time. Also, I had been prejudiced against the Carcano by some of the early gun writers that had more words than knowledge-- "They're a weak action and likely to blow up." Today you can't find a gun store in San Francisco.

The last great "deal" that I can remember was the Turk '98 long rifles (M-1935?). At that point, having become older, maybe wiser, and better funded I bought about a dozen of them. Haven't seen any really good surplus deals since, although the current influx of Star Mod. BM pistols is worth some attention.

[koehn,jim]

In 1976 I bought a no 5 jungle carbine from Western Surplus, for 45 dollars. Filled out the 4473 form and took it home. It turned out to be a late 1945 production with a .312 bore and 5 groove. I use it for cast now.

[Reverend Al]

When I first started working in the sporting goods trade in the mid 70's we dealt with a surplus distributor out in Montreal and bought lots of milsurps to sell in our store. They had Israeli 98 Mausers that had been rebarreled into 7.62 Nato and 98 Mausers with Remington marked barrels that were converted into .22 LR training rifles. They had French MAS rifles, Lee Enfield No. 1's and No. 4's, and a few other milsurp bolt actions. The one deal that really stands out in my mind is that they had '96 Swede Mausers in 6.5x55 available in 3 grades. "Good" (good bores, decent stocks), "Very Good" (very good bores with better wood), and "Excellent" (excellent bores, very nice wood, and all matching serial numbers). The prices? $69.99 ... $79.99 ... and $89.99! I bought one in "Very Good" grade and gifted it to my brother for Christmas. When he passed away 4 years ago and we cleaned out his house there was the rifle carefully tucked away ... complete with the bandolier of Swedish surplus ammo that I gave him with the rifle. He'd never shot it. I still have it and have since shot all of the milsurp ammo, so now I reload for it ...
I wish I'd bought a truckload of the surplus guns that were available at the time for those prices.