Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Remember when you could buy guns at department stores like Sears & JCPenny?

I've read, Federal ammunition was sold in barber shops.

Gibson’s Discount Center had the best & biggest Sporting Goods Dept in my home town. Huge hunting and fishing department. Bought the 2nd or 3rd pistol I had ever owned there in HS. A Ruger BlackHawk.

We also had Sears, Wards, Western Auto, and JC Penny’s that all had small Gun departments and a little bit of fishing gear.
I bought a Ted Williams Model 70 in 30-06 from Sears in HS.
And we also had the TX based Grocery Chain, Furr’s Super Markets that I worked for in HS that had a great Gun Dept. Bought a new Colt Python there my Senior year for $375.

We also had a K-Mart that had a crappy sporting goods section with a few guns but mostly fishing tackle.
We didn’t get a Service Merchandise until they built the new Mall, the year after I graduated HS. They had a small Gun Dept with not much of a selection of guns & ammo.

Still miss the old Gibson’s Discount Center. I think they’re only 2 stores left in TX. One in Weatherford and one in Kerrville. I don’t believe they’re owned by the Gibson Family, but they look the same. Not much of a Sporting Goods Dept, either, like in the 60’s and 70’s when I was a kid. 😬

Worst shotgun I ever shot was a Ted Williams 12g that had an adjustable choke contraption on end of barrel that you could screw tighten or loosen like a collet. It weighted a freaking ton, yet kicked like a rented mule. It was my father’s, I traded that POS for $140 at a gun show, added $100 at another table and walked away with a Browning bl-22 lever action. Still have that rifle and consider that the best series of transactions I have ever done at a gun show

They were ahead of their time with mail order. Had it been today, they could've been the substitute for Amazon. Receiptless returns is some of what killed them in the 90s offer by Wal-Mart and later Target. They were on life support in the 90s. I always remember looking through their catalogs as a kid and seeing Winchester 70 XTRs advertised as well as the Marlin Camp 9.

I was 14 years old in 1966 and dad was lamenting his unsuccessful attempts at acquiring a Winchesters Centennial 1866-1966 rifle or carbine limited run and what may have been their first of a series of Commemorative Models of the venerable Model 94. The Centennial was built on the '94 frame and had a couple of features that brought back memories of the older days of the company most notably an octagon barrel. The receiver and furniture were gold plated to be reminiscent of Mr. Henry's brass designed contribution to the Winchester Company's fame in the early years. Dad had tried the area gun shops and was always told the factory was sold out and these mementos of Winchesters 100 years of operation were no longer available.

It was getting late in the year and I was paging through the Montgomery Ward Mail Order Catalog's outdoor sporting section and there it was, a two page spread advertising Winchester's Centennials for sale. I interrupted mom as she was consoling dad in his failed quest. Dad didn't collect guns, his arsenal was a 12 gauge Winchester Model 1912 with a Herter's Ventilated Rib installed on the barrel by a friend that worked in nearby Waseca, MN., this Model 1912 frequented duck hunting blinds and cornfields here on the Southern Minnesota Prairie hunting Ring-necked Pheasants that seemed plentiful during those drought years of the 1960s. An old Remington Model 14 pump deer rifle in .32 Remington that headed Up-North every fall, a Mossberg .22 semi-automatic that loaded through a port on the right side of the walnut buttstock that took rabbits and squirrels and a Colt 1903 Pocket Model in .32 acp that he kept in a drawer at his place of business. I found myself uncharacteristically interrupting their conversation when my teenage mind realized this two page advertisement was the very firearm they were talking about. "Dad, why don't you buy one from the Montgomery Ward Catalog?" That question and my interruption did not bring the chaos that I feared might happen, rather, it brought questions as to what I was talking about, I got up off the floor and took the catalog over to dad sitting in his favorite chair. It was Sunday night and we had been watching Bonanza. Surely Montgomery Ward's was sold out too! A very valuable lesson was learned that day, mom spoke up and said, "I will call them tomorrow morning and see if they still have any left?" They did, but, only the long barreled rifle. The buying pubic had scooped up all the Carbine Models the folks at Montgomery Ward had gotten in stock. The next day by the time dad had the Cities Service gas station he ran closed and was home for supper mom also had the order form filled out and a check written, the envelope's return address area filled in and a 5¢ stamp placed on the upper right hand corner. After supper she gave dad the envelope with order and check inside to review and make sure she had written in what he wanted to buy. He looked it over, put the order and check inside, sealed the envelope and my little brother and I got in the tu-tone 1958 Ford two door station wagon and we all went to the Post Office where dad got out, walked over and put the order in the slot of the outside drop box. Three weeks later mom called #52 and told dad that a somewhat long box arrived and that he might know what is inside it. Needless to say, when the gas station was closed for the day he didn't stop off for a beer at his usual watering hole before supper and we all sat around watching the package get opened. There was a special box and a heavy cardboard display inside with the Centennial. The Centennial was something to be admired to dad and he never fired it, although, there was always a full box of Super-X brand with the big red X .30-30 ammo in a nearby dresser drawer if a need arose. Seeing how much dad liked that rifle the Christmas of 1966 still to this day is one of my favorite childhood memories!

As for that lesson: You do not know someone else's mind or his inventory until after you ask your question, and only then if the person is honest!