Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Hunting related antique store finds...

Last week I found and bought, for $7.00, a mint condition First Edition paperback of Hunter's Guide to Long-Range Shooting by Wayne van Zwoll. I passed on the Mountain House big cans of survival food.

Ive seen some awesome taxidermy mounts in antique stores but never bought any

I scored a Swedish hults bruks axe with a loose handle fo $23. An hour of time and some linseed oil had the handle back on tight.

I'm always looking, but I rarely find anything interesting. Old hunting/camping things are hard to come across in antique stores. Boy Scout canteens and mess kits sometimes, but I have plenty of old canteens and stuff. Backpacks are almost nonexistent. Only rarely do I see wool blankets of any kind (I have to order those). NOBODY around here has any wool anything. I probably have more wool blankets and clothing than the entire rest of the state. I have gotten a pistol holster or two at antique stores.

The VAST majority of the inventory of pretty much every antique store I have ever been in consists of china, glassware, porcelain knick knacks, dishes, plates, cups, dinner sets... all the big family dining table stuff that almost NOBODY uses anymore. Antique stores are practically busting at the seams with china and glassware.

Now, if they have any tools, then I'm happy. Drawknives, hammers, braces and bits, whetstones, axes...I am always on the lookout for small belt axes.

I’ve seen some hilariously terrible taxidermy in antique stores. Cross eyed deer and a bear with a cleft palette, or at least it looked like it, just for starters. 😂

I do enjoy browsing them occasionally and I have found some cool things. I bought a new (in the box) Penn 320GTI spooled up with several hundred yards of Power Pro braid 6 months ago for $20 and a wooden WWII OD green wooden “trunk” for $15….I usually can find something that I can’t live without even though I likely have 6 of them already but every once in awhile you can find the needle in the haystack and a real gem.

Ok, I have one. I was in a store August 29, 2019 and this guy has everything. I told him I could spend hours in a store like this. He has antiques of all kinds. He also has reloading supplies and guns. I got into a conversation with him and asked if he had any pre 64 model 70's hidden away. He said, "yes, I do, it has not been out of the safe in a long time. Waiting for the right person to sell it to". I asked what it was chambered in. He said, "300 magnum". I was intrigued. I said 300 win mag? "Nope", he says. 300 H&H, "no, I don't think that is what it is". Hmm, 300 Weatherby? "Yes, I think that is what it is", he replies. He wanted me to look it over and give him my best evaluation. I said, ok. He hands it to me and I say that is a shame, the recoil pad has been replaced. That reduces the value quite a bit. Basically turns a $400 stock into a $150 stock, I tell him. And you know the rechamber hurts the value because it takes away from its originality. I looked the rifle over with a fine toothed comb. The chamber was very clean and professionally done. The bore looked great: Barely used. The shop owner said he's had the rifle for 20 years, and he knew it was not original. He asked if I've seen any like it elsewhere. I told him I've seen some on gunbroker and one in particular I almost bought because it was $800.00. The guy had that rifle listed for months with no luck, so I almost drove 120 miles to check it out. The shop owner told me he appreciated my honesty. He also said he would make me a hell of a good deal on the rifle, if I wanted it. I asked, what is a "hell of a good deal". He said how about $499? I think I ripped my back pocket getting to my wallet!!!


I took it home and right away glass bedded it and installed a red pachmayr^:




Checked it to make sure it shot well enough (sub moa):



Good enough for me. Then about a year later I worked on a load for an elk hunt, didn't use the 300WBY in 2019 because I used my pre 64 338wm on a bull. Decided to try some Barnes mono metals in 2020:


That 175 LRX shoots pretty good, so that is what I decided to use in 2020, but no elk that year!! I carried that rifle in 2021, but it was pretty heavy in the wood stock. I carried it every day except for the last day of the hunt, where I switched it out in favor of my Tikka 7mm08, which is nice and light and well balanced. Using 140gr TTSX, I dropped a spike bull with that rifle on the last day of the hunt. Damn it, I really wanted to use my pre 64 300WBY!!

Now, realizing the rifle is a bit heavy for hunts where you are packing the rifle all day long, such as an elk hunt, I had been thinking if I could find another Brown precision poundR, like what my 338 has, I'd jump at that opportunity. As luck would have it, I found one on Ebay earlier this year and bought it for $400 and some change ($457 or something like that). One of my favorite rifle purchases and now it is in a damn good stock. Perfect balance and lightweight. One hell of a good package now:

........and still shooting that 175 LRX load damn well:


I still go into that "antique" shop/gunshop and the owner knows me by name now, even though it is in a different sate than where I lived. I've taken my girlfriend, my mom and my sister to that shop and they always seem to find some treasure in there. I was in there and being short on pistol primers, I asked if he had a stash. He said, "for you I do. How much do you need". I said, just a brick and he said, "you sure you don't want a case?" I said, I don't shoot pistol much, I think 1,000 will last me a long time. He sold them to me for $50. I should have bought a case for $150!!!

“Antique Malls” and shops have been a bust for me. Stopped at them frequently when traveling and still do on occasion. See lots of unique items. Some outdoors related. The owner of the item is rarely there and the marked prices are typically higher than seen on an eBay auction including shipping.

Only purchase I can remember making was about 5 years ago somewhere in SW Virginia. Guy had a large collection of pewter cars. Old models made Of pewter about 4x’s the size of a Matchbox car. Anyway, I guessed the weight and made an offer. The clerk called the seller who actually arrived 10 minutes later. We dickered a bit and settled on a price. He then told my what great collectibles I just bought, certificates and all. Dude was verbally and visibly shaken when I explained all would be melted in lead pot for bullet production.

Not bad for a dollar.

I've had better luck at garage and estate sales. Mid Michigan estate sale prices for long guns are out of sight, but you better be one of the first three in the door if you even want to just look at what's for sale.

I've found some nice fly rods(Sage, Fenwick) and reels (Ross, Abel), Penn and Daiwa trolling reels, cleaning rods, Redding dies, Browning factory stocks, B&L spotting scope, Leupold red dot, working decoys, , bore sighting kit, Most vendors don't know much about hunting and fishing stuff, and less about reloading items. Yesterday I picked up a pair of Savage 4-tenner inserts, a Lyman hand held press, couple dozen old Precision ?Shooting magazines, 2 Rapala lures, and a nice home made COAL to lands measuring set....$7.50 IIRC.

My most recent antique shop acquisitions were part of a French WW1 mortar sight, an ice axe (for harvesting ice from pond, not a climbing ice axe), and a fireman's pike pole head...all from shops in SE PA. Most Michigan "antique" shops/malls are second hand shops with a smattering of interesting and less interesting collectables.
'

Bought a Colt ace conversion kit in the box for $75 does that count

Back in the 60's, I was on the high school cross country team. One of the guys brought in a full body mount of a coyote that was clearly a DIY job by a blind man. It was terrible. We started taking it to meets as our mascot. We called it Frobisher. It was the 1st year for a brand new high school and we didn't have an official mascot yet so nobody objected.

A Buck knife for a dollar

Not much luck in antique stores with hinting hunting gear.....BUT....I've had some luck in "chain" paen shops.
Privately held pawn shops are in the business to make money. The folks who work there know their business and the value of their holdings. I've never found a "deal" in a pawn shop.
"Chain" pawn shops, on the other hand, hire "off the street" clerks who really have no skin in the game.

Bought a really ratty looking Win M12 in 16 gauge for a slick $100 bill, out the door! Cleaned up and a couple of parts and it's good as new. Even had a Cutts on it.

Found a Redding "Powder & Bullet" scale in the original box. It was marked $34.95. On a whim, I offered the scuzzy looking clerk $20. He never said a word, just scooped up the scale and walked off! 🤷‍♂️ Then I realized he was headed for the checkout! TT&L $22.+ change!
Inside the box was an 8×10, folded piece of paper. It was the "instruction manual".
My wife opened up the folded paper and something fluttered to the floor.
"What's this?", she asked, handing me a 1959 unsigned Federal Duck stamp.
The scale is actually worth +/- $35. The duck stamp, unsigned, is worth $80! 🤯
Just checked "ebay"! That stamp is worth $135!!!! 🤯

The shotgun barrel looked a bit small. The clerk said, "It's a sixteen gauge." and handed me a Remington "Sportsman". Used but still in great shape. Out the door for $185.
At home, research showed that Remington started making the "Sportsman" in 1932, beginning with serial number 200000.
This gun was one of the first 500 manufactured.

That's been my "big" finds so far.

"Privately held pawn shops are in the business to make money. The folks who work there know their business and the value of their holdings. I've never found a "deal" in a pawn shop."

When I got my first real job back in 1957, it was situated on top of a pawn shop. Guy that ran is was a pretty friendly dude and would cash our paychecks for us on payday. Naturally, the a chitpot full of guns and that's where a lot of my pay went. I got pretty friendly with him and the owners of the other five pawn shops and it wasn't long before some really good deals popped up. I bought so much stuff from them that they would cut prices for me on some very high priced firearms. I haven't been back to San Francisco in many years but friends have told me those old pawn shops are now long gone and fancy botique shops have taken their place. I guess they disappeared when the old guys that ran them passed on.
PJ

^^^^THIS!^^^^

He's closed down now, but got to know one shop owner very well.
Did a LOT of business with him.
He cut me a few killer deals too!
One was a 4" S&W M10 with about 400 rounds of ammo for $200!

The one "chain" store where I got my best gun deals hired a dude who doesn't know beans about guns, but is astute with a computer. He looks up everything and prices just above value.
Must be paying the guy more than minimum wage with a commission! 😖

Found this in a pawn shop a couple years ago:





Paid $600 for it..

Found this scope at a pawn shop for $200. I figured if I didn't like it, I could make money on it:



I'm hanging on to it though, as it's priceless. One of the only Leupold rifle scopes that actually tracks decent.. In the last 3 months, I've had it on 4 different new rifles to test it and the rifles. It's holding up and staying on one of my 7mm rem mags. It seems to be a perfect match for that rifle, that I found at a very small mom and pop shop about 4 months ago. Have $350 in the rifle alone:


There are all kinds of good deals to be found at pawn shops, antique shops, estate sales, etc. etc...

BSA a buddy bought a pre 64 model 70 a a gun show in the 90s. It was a 300 H&H that made 300 Weatherby brass ever time he pulled the trigger. He was a little disappointed but the rifle shot well so he kept it. The smith didn’t bother to stamp the barrel 300 Wby.

You just gotta stop and look! If I stopped at every one I spotted, I'd never get anywhere! LOL!
Prolly why the Mrs. won't let me carry cash! 😉

Not sports related, but, I bought a Smith's torch set for $85, and Ping golf clubs for $32.50, and a 3/4 drive socket set for under forty dollars.

I have a nice little collection of small powder horns. Some are just small rifle horns some are priming horns and a few are probably early American version of Tupperware. Just a convenient container. For years I never paid more that $5 for one. It was fun looking.