The Good Ole Days!

[alamogunr]

I was going through my bookmarks to clean out some that I never use any more and ran across one for a collection of .44 Spec. articles. Several of the articles preceded the .44 Mag. One in particular was from the American Rifleman, February 1953. Interesting list of loads. Lots of powder I never heard of and old cast boolet molds.

Most interesting was an ad listing several guns available for easy payment. Among those listed were:

Colt Target Woodsman $75
High Standard Field King $59
Colt .45 Government $65
Sako Short Mauser Rifle .222 $117.50

List of articles is here:

http://www.goodrichfamilyassoc.org/44_Special_Articles/


Most interesting was the shop was located in Washington, D.C.

[Freightman]

Every one of the prices you show was more than I was making in a hard week in the earl 60's and I couldn't have afforded a one of them, so what is different?

[Blacksmith]

Lots of cast boolits listed. Thanks for the links.

[alamogunr]

Every one of the prices you show was more than I was making in a hard week in the earl 60's and I couldn't have afforded a one of them, so what is different?

Not Much! I just couldn't think of an appropriate title for the thread. I was only 11 years old in Feb, 1953. I wasn't interested in guns or girls then. I wish I had paid more attention to guns a few years later.

[starmac]

11 years old and no interest in guns, hmmm just unheard of in the good old days.
I have to agree with Freightman, all things considered guns are cheaper now than than they were in the good old days.

[Bad Water Bill]

How times AND companies change.

In the mid 60s Sears Roebuck offered a SPORTERIZED Mauser 98 action with a new 30-05 barrel fitted to a new sports model walnut stock in their catalog for $29.99.

And they would deliver it to your front door for FREE.

[10-x]

Makes one sick to look in the back of The American Rifleman up to ~1968.......not to mention The Shotgun News......Bannerman's.......Robert Ables.......on and on.

[Smitty's Retired]

I love reading some of the old American Rifleman issues. I have nearly a complete set from 1943 through 1957. Really love looking at some of the ads also. I wish one of you guys would hurry up and invent the Way Back Machine, so we could go pick up a couple of deals. [smilie=w:

[shooterg]

Last year is now the GOOD OLE DAYS ! Pricewise...

[blackthorn]

Those who pine for the long ago, should remember the outhouse at forty below!!----Just sayin---

[Bad Water Bill]

Those who pine for the long ago, should remember the outhouse at forty below!!----Just sayin---

Most folks had something called a HONEY BUCKET under their bed just for that reason. Or perhaps you knew it as a CHAMBER POT.:bigsmyl2:

[BruceB]

Most folks had something called a HONEY BUCKET under their bed just for that reason. Or perhaps you knew it as a CHAMBER POT.:bigsmyl2:

.... or a "thunder mug"

[blackthorn]

There was a square box with a seat and a bucket in a small unheated room for Mother to use in winter but Dad and I went out to the barn. The outhouse was about 30 yards in back of the house and in winter there were several feet of snow over the trail.

[Smitty's Retired]

Most folks had something called a HONEY BUCKET under their bed just for that reason. Or perhaps you knew it as a CHAMBER POT.:bigsmyl2:

Down south a lot of people called them "Slop Jars" others just referred to them as P-Pots. Chamber Pots were owned by the rich.

[MtGun44]

Great prices in today's wages, but I think a degreed engineer was earning about $8000 per year in those days,
so that is about $650 per month. So the take home was probably about $500 a month. So a $65 Gov't Model
was about 12% of the entire month's take home for a professional. I knew a Fish and Game Officer in the mid
60s that was earning $4000/year, so I think the average working man in 1953 would be making something like
that or less.

I'd love to have those prices again, but not those wages! :-)

Bill

[felix]

Your salary figures are right on, MtGun! I know. However, guns were not on the agenda for me during those years, but the next job and only next job after that was. Also, I did not care one iota where the job took me either as long as it was a career advancement! It's a whole different ball game today, obviously. Folks are dreamers today, not doers. ... felix

[44man]

Yeah, $37.50 for my first Mark I, $315 for my first Weatherby Mark V, $300 for my Superposed that I still have.
I actually bought guns with paper route money and my first $1.75 an hour jobs.
I would walk into Avon Hardware, 16 years old, buy a gun on store credit, no interest.
A 25# bag of shot was $5. Powder was dirt cheap.
My first Blackhawk was $96, came in the mail from Kleins Sporting Goods in Chicago.
Single, no expenses. That was why they were the good old days!
We would go fishing, chuck hunting at Resthaven wildlife area near Sandusky, swing south to Delaware and wind up at Pymatuning lake, all in one day. Gas was cheap.
Swing into the Hot Dog Inn for a huge bag of hot dogs with the works, even chili, 25 cents apiece.
No matter how much is earned today, they were still the good old days.

[cbrick]

my first $1.75 an hour jobs. That was why they were the good old days!

Dang Jim, $1.75 an hour! My first few jobs were minimum wage at 0.90 an hour and I was glad to get it. Worked my hieny off for it too.

$1.75 an hour, no wonder they were the good ole days. :mrgreen:

Rick

[Bad Water Bill]

My first newspaper job was delivering SUNDAY papers. 1 1/2 hours putting the comics and adds in the paper then bundling the 3 1/2 # papers into my basket and pedalling 2 1/2 miles before reaching the first house waiting for theirs.

PAY? Try .015 per paper delivered WITHOUT A COMPLAINT.

Yes we did this winter and summer. Roads were not plowed nor sidewalks shoveled when we were delivering them. We did learn how to EARN our money.

[44man]

Yep, I was an auto mechanic by training. Then went to work at United Airlines.
There might have been a $1.25 job in there somewhere.
King and Lambert Desoto- Plymouth, A motor freight company I don't remember, Freight Inc., Gordon Automotive, pouring concrete basements, building roof trusses, concrete sidewalks, selling motor homes, repairing TV's and radios, ( I refused to pay a crooked TV repairman, took a course and made a ton of money without cheating or over charging.) roofing, plumbing, Electric, construction and UAL for 42 years. All the time I did gun smithing.
Guns and my love for them made me work and stay out of trouble. That is lost from the new generations.
Now listen up! Fix what breaks or needs done at home. You will save millions over your lifetime. If you don't know, ask or learn it because you CAN do it.
Want to hear something funny? All the aircraft mechanics come to me to fix stuff for them.
I even bought a cheap Smithy and learned to make my own molds.
Same as casting and loading when I say you must think for yourself and never, ever give up. I have trust in you fellas. Never stare at anything, get the tools out.
I am not any smarter, don't go there. Just refused to pay someone else. You REALLY CAN fix a leaky pipe.

[Charlie Two Tracks]

When I was 15, my dad sold me to a neighbor farmer for $5.00 per day. That was in 67. It wasn't much then at all. That guy worked me hard but I was able to make some money. There were four of us boys, so dad could spare one of them. We didn't get inside plumbing until I was in the 4th grade. That was really something to be able to go to the can and be able to stay in the house. Two channels on the TV and we thought that was really a big deal. Having a TV was quite the thing back then. Watching Disney on Sunday evening was not to be missed. I guess it's like most things. You remember the good times. When I think back, I had a real good time in the Army. Then I really think back and ........... it wasn't that much fun.

[scarry scarney]

I'm not as "dated" as others, but I remember buying gas for 17 cents a gallon. And I remember buying a New 1974 3/4ton Chevy Pickup with a 454 V8, for just under $5,000. That Truck could pass anything but a gas station! I was a young Airman in the USAF then, and my monthly paycheck barely made the $148.50 payment for that truck.

I also remember watching the one or two channels on tv, saturday cartoons, and sunday morning super man, and flash gordon. I remember when Batman came on, it was televised in color! I would go over next door to a friends house to watch it, they had a color tv.

Yup, those were the "good ole days"

[44man]

How about radio with the Inner Sanctom and the Shadow---the Shadow knows.

[Bad Water Bill]

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?

The Shadow knows huhuhuhu.

[jaysouth]

Those who pine for the long ago, should remember the outhouse at forty below!!----Just sayin---

I remember the smell of an outhouse in August! Enough rhapsodizing about the good ol' days. My best day will be tomorrow.

[alamogunr]

Down south a lot of people called them "Slop Jars" others just referred to them as P-Pots. Chamber Pots were owned by the rich.

My maternal grandparents lived on a small farm in Southern Illinois and called them "Slop Jars". I guess that qualifies as "Down South".

[TXGunNut]

My first job was $1.40/hour and all the popcorn I wanted. Most previous hires had come in @ $1.25 so I was really fortunate.
Always had indoor plumbing but I take a whiz off the back porch now and then. :wink: