Shootems "I'm so old" thread on the CampFire forum got me to thinking about an incident that occurred this last Friday here at my local gunshop.
The owner of the shop had gotten in a small shipment of reloading powders and it was selling FAST!
Including a powder that was on a "want list" of one of my Hunting partners.
It was H 4831 SC - at $50.00 a pound!
All five pounds of that pricey stuff on the shelf sold while I was there trying to get my partner on the phone. Including the last 3 pounds going to a woman who was buying this H 4831 SC for her husband and sons.
Anyway as I was still waiting for a return call I noticed some good old H 4831 (standard stuff - normal cut) and it was priced at $50.00 as well.
Anyway back in 1959 at age 12 I taught myself to reload centerfire ammunition and back then I bought H 4831 (surplus?) for 99 CENTS a pound!
You had to bring your own container and they scooped it out of a large keg of the stuff - but it worked well for me.
In other words I am so old I remember when some reloading components cost 1/50th of what they cost today!
I'm so old I can also remember many decades when primers were ALWAYS on shelves and "shortages" were extremely rare.
Anything you are old enough to remember?
Times they are a changin.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Lawn darts.

Not that old, but do remember the smell of the REAL Hoppes No 9.

What's really disturbing is that the same pound of powder was $22. just a few years ago.

I remember when the Kimber 82 rimfire was a brand new thing.

I can remember when 100 primers were just over a buck.

I’m so old, I can remember…….ah……uh……..now what was that I remembered?
😁

And if I wanted to get fancy the benchrest ones were about twenty cents more.

TeeBone: My VarmintDaughter always puzzled at the aroma of Hoppes #9 and even as a child noticed when I had been cleaning my guns.
Anyway some years ago I bought a Hoppe's #9 "air freshener" tree for my VarmintTruck.
She noticed it was losing its aroma and bought me a "six-pack" of Hoppes #9 air fresheners for my vehicles.
I now have a lifetime supply.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Mathman: I have always opted for the "Benchrest" quality primers - I don't know why.
I am just thankful, I had in the past, the foresight to buy a lifetime supply of Federal Benchrest 205M's.
By coincidence a gun-nut friend of mine who is in the retail firearms industry reported that NO Federal Rifle primers will be available at retail for at least the rest of this year - I don't know and I don't know why?
"Something" is goin on.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I ordered a Herters model perfect 357 in the mail. I sent a check and said I was 18. The pistol came in short order.

Very pleasing to your VarmintNose, I'm sure. Must get some. What a magnificent idea. God bless America...where else would someone think of that?

I remember (because I saved the boxes):

100 ct of .243” 100 grain Hornady bullets for $4.99.

One pound of IMR4350 for $4.79.

100 CCI large rifle primers for $1.79

Purchased a Remington M700ADL in 6 mm Remington for $119.99

But in perspective, these were ca. 1970 prices. $10 then is worth $74.51 today, making the rifle above worth $886.70 today….all due to inflation, not price gouging. Let’s go Brandon….and a host of other administrations.




.

I'm so old that my farts smell like Hoppes.

One thing I can remember is Remington 700 BDL rifles NIB for $379 and as I remember an ADL NIB was $299.....Hb

DR I bought an adl .222 for that price. I remember used model 70's pre 64 for 60 to 75$ Most were open sights once in a while a peep. Krags were $15-25.. Model 12s $50. The .222 was brand new. The others were used prices. If I had only known.

I remember buying a new Remington 788 for $89 bucks. Think it was about 1979.

I bought a new BDL in 270, got to go through and pick the nicest wood out of 20 rifles for $134. from a Gibsons.

Yep. I bought the above mentioned 788 at Gibson’s Discount Center.

I still have the metal can that I bought surplus 4831 I bought for 52 cents a pound in that 50 pound can. I used it all up about 10 years ago.

I bought some H335 that came in plastic lined paper sacks for less than $1 /pound. My Model 88 Winchester was $126 back in 1965 shipped to my door. Later a 6.5 Swede for $69. I walked into Montgomery Wards and paid $12 for a 1903 Springfield.

$50 for a 1949 Plymouth Coupe.

Gibsons. That was the Cabelas for me in the 60's

Gibson's and Howard's

Drooling over a S&W 29 at a Montgomery Wards.

Klein’s Sporting Goods catalogs lying around the house when I was a kid.

I bought my first center fire LH 700 Rem 270 win at Gibsons in Albuquerque. $169. They had 5 of them all 270 so I got to choose. All fence post but boy was I proud. Shot the barrel out and put on a 24”. It’s about shot out . Man times have changed . In 73 I bought my F150 4x4 extended cab for $4100. We are of a fine group!

When Gibson went out of buisness I bought all of their bullets , all calibers that I wanted Spent over $2000. In todays market they are worth about $10,000. Still have a bunch of them

Bought my first rifle a Stevens Model 10 .22 brand new for $19.00 then a few years later bought a brand new Golden 39A for $89.95.

Remington 700 ADL, 243 for $101.89 worth of yard cutting funds in about ‘66. R-P factory loads were $3.40 per 20. I once hd two full boxes and felt rich. 😊

Well lets get up with the times...

in 30 to 40 years, our children and grand children will be telling others, that they remember when their dad actually owned guns and loaded ammo for them.. that you could just buy it at the store or over the internet....

that people were able to legally own firearms, load their own ammo, and actually had freedoms...

and it wasn't illegal to defend your family, you home and your possessions....

and most people will hear that, and laugh, and respond... "yeah Right!... I bet... ya friggin Liar!"

I can remember when places that sold ammo, gun shops and hardware stores mainly, would sell shotgun and centerfire rifles shells individually. Around here we called it "broken box" buying. I can remember buying a few that way back in the mid 1960's, when I was a teen and didn't have much money.

I remember buying CCI standard vel 22 ammo for $1 for 100 count box.
First rifle I ever loaded for was my 444 Marlin. I loaded 100 rounds of ammo for $20. That was for a 1lb can of IMR4198, 100 Speer 240gr Flat Nose Soft Points, and 100 primers (I had the brass).

Oh yes, I remember this too. When I was a early teen I would buy 5 to 8 shotgun shells at My local Western Auto before My next squirrel hunting trip but occasionally I was able to buy an entire box and damn! I felt rich when I had a whole box of shells for my Winchester Mod 37A Single shot 12ga 😁.....Hb

The Howard's near me had a fish bowl full of odds and ends shotgun shells sitting on the counter of the gun section. It's where I got most of my 12 gauge ammo in those days.

Seems like I recall buying 22LR for 50 cents a box and a brick was $5.00 at the grocery/hardware store in our town, but then again my memory is a little fuzzy.
I got a brick for Christmas one year. Man was I rich!

K-mart would sell bricks of 22 LR for $5/ brick.

I remember the fish bowls with loose ammo as well.

I bought a brick of Winchester 22 LR HP's when I was about 16, and I could not have felt any richer than if I'd had a million dollars in the bank.

I remember when.....
In 1963 I bought (and still have) a used Winchester model 63 for $65 bucks in Downtown Indianapolis and
carried it unsheathed to the circle and up the monument without a second glance from anyone.
Couple years later a used Ruger 357 with leather for $50.
Colt 22 pistols for $35 used.
Rebuilt 56 Chevy 3 speed tranny for $35 with trade in.
My Mother bought $1 of gas each week whether she needed it or not.
Cigarettes were $.25 a pack.
I could get 4 coney dogs and a large root beer and 3 cents change back from a dollar.

I remember when...........
That Savage 99 Featherweight cost me $95 in 1960 ..... through a wholesale catalog.

And that canoe outfitter wouldnt sell me a pistol because i was 'too young.'

A few years later the Savage 99 ( 300 Sav ) acquired a Weaver K4 scope [post n cross hair] mounted in a Pachmayr Lo-Swing mount. The scope cost about 45. That rig accounted for quite a few whitetails. Is still in my rifle cabinet. Has aged a lot better than i have.

The pistol, a Colt Frontier Scout, was finally purchased by my father with my cash for $49. The pistol still works well. Still have the original box and bill of sale.

Remember that back in 1969 i acquired an Ambassadeur 5000 fishing reel for $24,and met a young lady who was well worth having around.

Still have the reel, and that lady and I well celebrate our 50th wedding Anniversary next month.

Things ain't really changed that much when you think about it. :-)

In August of 1977 my younger brother and I were invited to go squirrel hunting in Sugar Creek State Forest outside of Kirksville MO. My oldest brother was going to college there and said hop on Amtrak and come on down. So my my Mom drove us to the Amtrak station in Galesburg, IL and said have fun. My younger brother (he was 14, I had just turned 16) and i hopped on board that train with a duffel bag holding clothes, hunting knives and shotgun shells. Brother carried his cased Savage 20ga SxS; me my trusty 20ga Remington 870 Wingmaster.

We threw everything in the overhead as the conductor stood and watched us. Finally he said "what are you boys doing?". We joyfully replied that we were going squirrel hunting in Missouri. He just smiled and said "Well have fun". I think he wanted to join us.

As a side note. Elvis died while we were on that trip.

The point of my story was that you could never do that today, especially at that age. And that conductor was genuinely happy for us.

My brother ordered an FN Musketeer .270 from Gander Mountain. $145 IIRC. First thing he did was replace the alloy floorplate. He was 18 in 1967.

Blacktailer: My father was born in 1922 and he and his two brothers would Hunt Ground Squirrels for the one cent bounty on them in Baker County, Oregon at the time.
The 3 of them would shoot VERY carefully and quickly retrieve the Gophers for the penny a tail bounty.
Back then (1932'ish) dad said that a box of 50 22 L.R. cartridges was 22 cents and it was touch and go all summer if the collected tails bounties would keep up with their shooting.
As an aside one day they were near the Baker City (Oregon) town and county dump and the three of them came across several intentionally hacked up "One Armed Bandits" (slot machines) there in the dump. They had obviously been taken and destroyed by law enforcement then left at the dump.
Upon inspection a few nickel coins were found and they started further disassembling the one armed bandits and found that the coin route to the coin boxes (which were empty of course) held several nickels in each mechanism.
They jingled all the way to the hardware store and bought four or five boxes of 22 ammo - he also relayed each time he told this story how he and his brothers felt like they were on cloud nine with their found treasure.
In my Ground Squirrel Hunting of today the bounty would have to be 25 cents (or more!) per tail for me to stay even in that game.
Yep - times are a changin.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Bella1: I bought a new Ford 4x4 V-8 pickup truck every two years from 1970 to 1974 - If I recall correctly that 1974 Ford F-250 4x4 with heavy duty axles and oil bath air cleaner was right at $4,000.00 then - out in "taxington" $4,000.00 wouldn't even cover the sales tax on a new Ford F-250 4x4 V-8 today!
Yep times are changed and our money is not anywhere near as worthful as it was in the 1970's.
Aaaahhhh..... for the good old days.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Seafire: You are bringing me down!
You are right of course in your contention but I was enjoying myself so much daydreaming of times (prices!) gone by.
Oh well day-dreams come and go.
Back to day-dreaming - I have been racking my brain trying to remember how much I paid for my first "real" reloading press which was an R.C.B.S A-2?
I think it was priced at $39.00 back in about 1962?
Still have one but not that original one purchased, it went away in an unfortunate manner - and was later replaced.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Buying Remington SR primers for $2.00 a thousand .Buying off the shelf 2 9/16" 16 gauge shotgun shells that actually fit and functioned correctly in my pre war A5 Browning. Austin pistol Black Powder for $1.75 a can. Buying powder in a brown paper sack. When all wheel weights were lead and didn't need sorting. When the old Black Ideal lube was The Lube. RWS #11 percussion caps for $4 per 1000 roll and Dupont FFFG for a hair less than $2.00 a pound. Buying tins of RWS CB caps for less than $2.00 . I could go on but it's kinda making me sick thinking about it.


One more, I remember when you could buy a baby Alligator at the W.T. Grants store in Nashville for $2.00 . $2.00 used to be a significant amount of money , now it will almost buy the same 1/2 gallon of gas that I bought many times as a kid for 14 cents. By the time I started driving gas had gone up to .37 a gallon for Sinclair Regular.

Not fighting amongst ourselves about choice of huntin' irons. Lively debate? Yes. But not the snotty, snobbery of today.
Never did understand how one person's choice of hunting rifle/ muzzleloader/ bow effected anyone else...

I'm so old I just barely remember when Hodgdon was selling surplus powder to farmers for fertilizer. I did not understand what was going on, since I was about 5, but I remember a vigorous discussion between my dad and an uncle who had bought some. Uncle was vigorously claiming it was safe as long as you wet it properly. Dad was sure he would blow himself up. Both made it into their 90s.

here’s something to make you cringe…had 2 boxes of primers buried in the reloading storage drawer that I bought in 1993 when a local gunshop went out of business. Yes the price sticker on the right was what I paid for them! $1.60!!!!!

I remember the surplus 4831. We just called it 4831, and it was $0.98/pound you-scoop into a paper sack or your own container. I had a couple of 1 gallon wine jugs my neighbor gave me and scooped away.

I used the last of my good sized supply of the 4831 a dozen years ago. I was 12 in 1959, also.

I don’t understand this myself. For the most part there are good people on the fire. Often I see people helping each other, lately people bash and belittle people over petty choices . To each his own but it seams some are just negative about anything others have or use. All of the choices are what have made the gun industry thrive

Preach it brother

40 cent gasoline and Farms costing less than a tractor nowadays.

I’m so old I can remember used, fair condition lever action 3030’s goin for under $250

When a new Corvette Stingray cost less than $6k.

Yeah
My mother bought my dad a new one for $60.00
before I was born. They were still less than
two hundred used good condition in this area
not quite 2 decades ago. Nobody wanted a
dirty thirty lever action


Remember when plain donuts cooked that
morning weren't 50 - 75 cents apiece?r

Bought a Sako Deluxe .375 for 350.00.

Heck I remember gas prices at 29.9 cents a gallon for the three summers I worked at Ames motors in Rochester 69-71.

Remember buying a Shakespeare wonderrod flyrod in 1960 for $14 at Naums (still have it) and a Schwinn 10 speed "racing" bike for $70 in 1963.

Bought a used car every summer to get to my summer job as I worked through college. Mom sold me her 1960 chevy impala convertible 283 for $75, sold it that fall sold it to John Horn, a 62 chevy impala 283 $175, sold that fall to Harvey Holderle, and a 62 chevy II with a inline 6 for $100 which ended up with a cracked block sold it for $5 and watched it get destroyed at a demolition derby. Bought a 1963 Ford econoline van for $300 and used it to move to Az. I get frequent reminders of what they were like when I watch Roadkill garage. Rusty worn out but functional transportation that often needed work. BUT inexpensive.

Bought a 72 for 6,000, brand new

I remember when

Hardware and Western Auto stores sold guns. In the small towns too.

Had access to guns 24/7. No child protection back then.

We would take our rifles to school in the truck to go shooting after school and the swat team wasn’t called and it didn’t make the 6 o’clock news.

As 11 year olds, dad would drop off me and a friend on the railroad tracks with our high power centerfires to hunt and pick us up at dark.

We would ride in the back of the truck. We would drink from the hose. We would ride bikes without a helmet.

We would see frogs, horny toads and prairie dogs on a regular basis.

I am so old, I can't remember

Shorty after coming to this country, I was introduced to the joy that is the Browning SA 22. Went to Ace hardware, and found that 500 rounds of bulk 22’s were less expensive than I used to pay for .17 cal air rifle pellets in the old country. Joy upon joy, tempered only by the ability of that little Browning to digest ammo while shooting ground squirrels.

I picked up a replacement a couple of years ago for the one that wandered off into the mists of time. Just looking at it makes me smile. It’ll go to the first grand kid in due time.

I bought a brand new 6" blue Colt Python in 1978 for $350. In 1962 as a junior shooter the gun club sold us .22 ammo for .50/bx. When I got old enough for a .44 Magnum I bought ammo in the Rexall drug store. Starting to reload in 1973 powder was $7.00 a #, K-mart sold .22RF for $10. a brick.

I remember when ALL Winchester Model 70's were pre-64.

I was born way too danged late!

I remember when my Remington 1100 broke while duck hunting on Sunday morning before church and I called the gunsmith after church and he had it fixed in time to go out hunting in the afternoon.

And I remember back then most of the players on the high school football team had a shotgun or .22 in the trunk of the car or stuck behind the seat of the pickup so we could get out for a little hunting after practice. And nobody had ever heard of a school shooting.

Sometimes it feels like I was just born yesterday.

I enjoyed bringing all sorts of weaponry in my pick-up to school, depending on what season was open, to go hunting directly after school. Again, no one ever got shot or held hostage. If anything, I made more friends and learned more about hunting, guns and loads and game.

$8 for a pound of powder

Zero shortages of nothing, more surpluses of anything

Gas less than a dollar per gallon.

A gold box of federal premium featuring nosler partitions was cheap, less than blue box stuff today. Only bullets offered in federal premium center fire line was sierra and nosler.

Copper pipe elk bugles

Oh yeah, nobody thought a thing about all gun racks in the back window's of pick-ups at the school parking lot, usually loaded with an old 870 pump and a .22lr of some flavor, lots of Marlin Mod 60's and Ruger 10/22's......We would go hunting straight after school....I am so thankful that I was raised in that era, it was a fantastic time to grow up 👍.....Hb

I remember those old Western Auto stores and even feed stores having reload supplies and firearms for sale. We had a grocery store in town called Buttery's that sold firearms and 4831 powder out of 50# barrel containers. They'd also sell it in a bag and scout it out by the pound.

When I was a kid I mowed lawns, chopped wood, and dig shovel work and one summer purchased an carbine at an garage sale. Nobody cared.

Skipping study hall in the spring to go out and shoot gophers.

WildHare: Indeed time has flown by - I am approaching 3/4 of a century on earth here in a week or so and it seems like its been just a wonderful but short dream.
Time flies.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Gunswizard: As a young policeman I can clearly remember "pining" for many years for a Colt Python for duty use.
I had to qualify "Expert" (which I eventually did in a couple of years) first and then have the pistol inspected by our departments armorer.
I just could never get together the monies needed back in 1971 - 1972'ish ($325.00 as I recall).
Eventually our department allowed for issuing Smith & Wesson Model 66's which I "settled" for! Still have that pistol to this day - but never did get my duty Python!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I remember military 03-A3’s for less than $10.

I'm so old that I remember Remington's advertisement that said, "The 7mm Express - it bridges the gap between the .270 and 30/06, and out performs both." Neither was really true, but I still wanted one for about the next 40 years! I believe a brick of .22lr was $9.99 back then too.

My memory isn't as good as it used to be, but it seems like I could buy .22 LRs for 25 cents a box, and .22 Longs were a nickel cheaper. That extra 5 cents seemed like a real extravagance to a nine-year old. It may have actually been 50/45 cents, hell I dunno. Too long ago.

There was a burger place in my neighborhood that sold burgers for 24 cents, and a milk shake was 24 cents. I think the place was called "Wolfy Burger."

When gasoline actually hit a buck per gallon I felt devastated. It seemed surreal. 1974-ish, it seems? Or was that when it hit 50 cents??

Bugger: When I was 7 or 8 years old (1954 - 1955) I distinctly remember my father and my uncles (his two brothers all three of whom were WW-II veterans) sitting around the kitchen table getting their $23.00 together to send off for a military surplus 1911 pistol!
The pistol eventually arrived and was in great shape - and I watched my dad and uncles shoot it into the huge Cedar stumps on our property in Puget Sound country.
That pistol would be worth about 60 (sixty!) times that amount today.
A few years later when I was 11 or 12 my neighborhood friends and I got our monies together and bought a surplus Lee-Enfield Jungle Carbine and some ammo - IIRC on that one we paid in the high thirty dollar range for it.
Thank goodness none of us were injured nor that we injured anyone else!
Yeah those days are long gone - in so many ways.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I remember my first batch of reloading components for my new .22-250 in 1972. I bought a pound of IMR 4064 for $5.86, a box of Hornady 55 grain softs for $3.12, and a pack of CCI LR primers for $.99. At the time I was starving my way through college and the components were enough to last the year. The powder lasted two years.

I remember having an opportunity to purchase NIN Colt Python or Annaconda for 395$. Should have purchased a suitcase full of them. Also remember when there were no soda or beer cans.

Doesn't seem that long ago pulling Fnta bottles out of the Firehouse soda machine for 15 cents or a quarter.

I remember the vending machines offering a bottle of Coke for a dime. I thought it was highway robbery when it went up to 15 cents. Candy bars were a nickel and the jumbo candy bars were a dime. A paper kite was a dime, and the premium quality kite was 15 cents. A new VW Beetle was $995 around 1969.

The Gunning-Casteel drugstore at the end of my street had Smith & Wesson revolvers in the showcase along with electric razors and such. I don't recall the price but I'm sure it would have been shockingly low by today's standards. I'll guess that they went for about $129 or so.

Just remembered my ‘70s vintage Sierra load book. Now I know how to get 2800 FPS with a .30-30.

I’m not all that old. But I remember when I was a kid, my friends grandpa was a feverish trap shooter. I remember going in their basement one time and seeing kegs upon kegs of red and green dot powder, tens of thousands of 209
primers, and probably 30K wads.

Bought a nib 700 ADL for $139.99 at Kmart.

A 30-30 Marlin with cartridge belt, leather sling , and cleaning kit was $79.95 and a model 60 with the same accessories was $39.95 at the H. Brown furniture company in Nashville when I was a teenager. They were a Marlin dealer in those days, you won't see a furniture store in Nashville stocking guns now days but there is a drug store in Pulaski Tennessee that has guns and ammo both. It is Suttons Drugs.

I am so old that I remember going on a picnic with my dad and went swimming along time coming home with mom. How much older can you remember than that? ..mb

Manglum Bob: You are a sick puppy!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Was in service in 1968-69 in Germany and bought a VW Beetle for $100 and pulled a motor out of a junk yard and replaced it to mine….wife and I and a couple from Missouri drove it over the Alps to Italy and Austria on a 2 week leave…never opened the quart of oil I put under the front seat for a spare …sold the VW for $200 when I got out. Soon as I got home bought a new Bug for $1000…drove it till 1978. Bought a new GTO in 1966 for $3300…saw one this week on the auto auction site sell for over $60,000. Sold mine for $800 in 1980 with 130 thousand miles on it. If I had kept that car and restored it at todays prices could have made…. a killing.

I can remember dad complaining to a cousin from Oklahoma that a recent gas delivery to the farm was 8 cents a gallon! Cousin said they were in the process of switching to propane tractors cause they got it for 3 cents.

I remember watching Annette Funicello and the other Mickey Mouse Club members on a black and white TV wishing that I was a big kid too.

Primers on the shelves

Bought a Remington 1100 12 gauge from Kmart for 120 bucks with grass cutting money. Model 60 Glenfields were 29 bucks with 4x scopes at Western Auto. Gas wars in 1970 with regular at 19.9 a gallon.

I remember selling my 1971 Chevy in 1978 because it would not run on anything but High test and it went to $.78 a gallon! I could not afford to drive it anymore.... That and the fact that high test was going away and every station was switching over to unleaded.

I also remember the cent key (as in $ and cents) instead of having to type $.78!

Cent key? Still around but one has to do a little extra typing. Hold down the alt key and enter 0162 with the number pad keys. Does not work with the number keys above the letters.

¢

Go here if one wants to fully exploit his keyboards potential

Alt Keycodes

☺

¢
Son of a gun, thanks

Crown filling stations. Their three gas grades were Gold, Silver and Bronze.