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Maggie’s Waxing Nostalgic

Rio2019

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Minuteman
Jul 10, 2020
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Taos, NM
In these difficult COVID-19 times, when many things are in short supply, particularly guns and ammo, I was thinking back this morning to the good old days of buying all my guns and ammo at K-Mart (circa 1962-1968). As a young kid, it was great to ride my bike down to K-Mart for all my hunting and plinking needs. Bought my first shotgun, a H&R 410 for about $40-$50. Also, my first pistol, a Ruger Bearcat .22 single action, and cases of .22 and 410 ammo. Anyone else out there have such happy memories of being a kid and honing your shooting skills courtesy of discount stores like K-Mart?
 
The local hardware store. They always had shotguns, rifles and tons of ammo. When I was a kid that place was cavernous since it was one of the old-school southern stores with high ceilings and tin tiles. Lots of fishing lures too for a boy to drool over.

Sears was also a great catalog to dream over firearms.
 
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Caribou's, a sort of department store/outfitter store in Anchorage in 1960. All the rifles were on an open rack in the center of an aisle.
No locks, no cable, bordered on one side by an overflowing table of jeans, and on the other by a stack of coveralls.
Wools shirts, boots, heavy socks, outfitted all three of my brothers and myself, for about 20 bucks each.
 
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I remember the K-Mart and BB guns in the toy section with the other toy guns. BBs too.
 
I felt like a kid finding ammo at Scheels this morning.....does that count?
 
I felt like a kid finding ammo at Scheels this morning.....does that count?
You bet it does, my friend. Unfortunately, they do not ship an 80 round "bulk" order selling for about $1.55/round. Believe it was ELD-X, 143g. Thanks for post!
 
I remember the Gambels hardware store always had an old wooden barrel full of M1 carbines for $50 each. Just about everyone in town had one in their pickup. They had the Winchester Super X .22lr ammo for 30 cents per box or $2.50 a brick. I bought my first 10/22 at Snappy's Sporting Goods in Kalispell on sale for $49.
 
Early 80's Oshmans in the mall. Had rifles, shot guns, camping crap, box of .22 for less than a buck. Walk through the mall with a rifle on your shoulder to get a scope mounted and bore sighted, no one said a word.
 
Bought my first shot gun when I was 10 years old. Couldn't afford a full box of shells, so coast to coast hardware would let me buy a few rounds at a time. 1963.
 
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Hey folks, thanks very much for all of your comments. It certainly turned out to be a great thread to help me appreciate long gone hardware stores and 60’s department stores that were a haven for many of us to find our guns and ammo. Sure put a smile on my face!
 
K-MART First rifle. Remington Nylon 77; magazine fed Nylon 66; $39.95 KM special, 3/4 Bushnell 4X scope.
Still have it. Horrible trigger, meh accuracy but it was mine!
 
That Nylon 66 brings back memories as does Western Auto. I know a couple guys now that collect the Nylon 66s. Mine ended up with a cracked then broken butt stock from the hundreds of times 10 year old me dropped it climbing down a hill to the creek following a dog chasing a rabbit or a fox. I remember there being a stack of boxes of the SuperX 22 or .410 shot shells setting next to the register at western auto and usually an open box with a few left in it just in case you just needed a couple.

ss
 
Caribou's, a sort of department store/outfitter store in Anchorage in 1960. All the rifles were on an open rack in the center of an aisle.
No locks, no cable, bordered on one side by an overflowing table of jeans, and on the other by a stack of coveralls.
Wools shirts, boots, heavy socks, outfitted all three of my brothers and myself, for about 20 bucks each.
Interesting - Thanks for posting -a store in Anchorage I wasn't aware of. I wonder when it went out of business. I was picturing the days of the old Long's Drugs store, Gary Kings and a few others for outdoor equipment.
 
True Value Hardware and Western Auto. First gun was a Savage-Stevens 12GA single shot; $37.50. Shotshells were about $2.00 or so. 22LR $0.49 per fifty.
 
Ah... Police auctions, where they sold confiscated guns. Honestly, I don't REMEMBER where I got shotgun shells & .22s when I was a kid. Now it's gonna bother me...