Remembering the Older Days of Reloading/Shooting

When I was 14 years old, I rode my bike down to the LGS and bought my first gun. It was a Browning T bolt. The store owner asked me if it would be OK to call my parents, because if I had to bring it back, he would have to give me used price and he didn't want to see a youngster lose money on a gun.

He called my mom, and I plopped down my $52.50 paper route money, threw the box over the handle bars and pedaled home. He also threw in a brick of Super X .22 in the yellow box with the big red x on it.

And since you asked, yes, it is still in the gun safe.
$52.50. Wow!
 
I did something similar.
I was 10 in 1960 and the corner gas station that also sold guns and auto parts had the .22 Remington Nylon 66 semi-auto for sale for $49 bucks. We bought all our gas and dad's cigarettes there and they knew us because I was always hanging out looking at the gun display. My dad had bought me a single shot Mossberg bolt action .22 when I was 7 and I asked him if I could have the Remington. He said I could get it if I worked for it. I mowed lawns (push mower) and clean up for one dollar per lawn all around the neighborhood. It took about a month to make enough to buy it. I walked down to the gas station and bought the rifle and walked home with it downtown Greenleaf Ave. in Whittier, California.
Try doing that now...lol. That's also why I live in Idaho.
 
If you want to go to a gun shop where it feels like... Elmer Keith, who has been there many times, and Jack O'Connor could walk in at any moment, well it's LoLo Gun Shop in Lewiston ID. The last time I was in there the floor still had that late 1940s wood squeak to them, and you never forget that real gun shop smell. You older guys will know what I mean, you younger guys, well... sorry you missed a real treat as nostalgia goes. Gentlemen, crack a smile too those days we walked in the sun! 🥹;) Cheers.

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Looks like a nice place for a road trip, to utilize my vacation time. I will have to give this some more thought.
 
I did something similar.
I was 10 in 1960 and the corner gas station that also sold guns and auto parts had the .22 Remington Nylon 66 semi-auto for sale for $49 bucks. We bought all our gas and dad's cigarettes there and they knew us because I was always hanging out looking at the gun display. My dad had bought me a single shot Mossberg bolt action .22 when I was 7 and I asked him if I could have the Remington. He said I could get it if I worked for it. I mowed lawns (push mower) and clean up for one dollar per lawn all around the neighborhood. It took about a month to make enough to buy it. I walked down to the gas station and bought the rifle and walked home with it downtown Greenleaf Ave. in Whittier, California.
Try doing that now...lol. That's also why I live in Idaho.
I just gifted my old Nylon 66 to one of my girls. Got it in '74
 
Those old Remington 66's were some accurate 22 rifles.I bought one and my brother shot all of one box in a weekend killing crows.
We all shot the heck out of that rifle.That was the beginning of plastic stocks.
Couldn't agree more, back when... I've owned them in Bolt Mod 12, Semi 66, and one Lever Mod 76 that was crazy accurate, just handling one brings back some great times. Cheers
 
Those old Remington 66's were some accurate 22 rifles.I bought one and my brother shot all of one box in a weekend killing crows.
We all shot the heck out of that rifle.That was the beginning of plastic stocks.

A 66 was the first firearm that I "partially" bought, split the price with my Dad. It was for my 10 th birthday. Since that time…..2 more have joined the family! I still have mine from that 10 th birthday…..and now have my Dad's as well! memtb
 
Those old Remington 66's were some accurate 22 rifles.I bought one and my brother shot all of one box in a weekend killing crows.
We all shot the heck out of that rifle.That was the beginning of plastic stocks.
Yes, it was pretty accurate and super fun. I had a 4x Weaver scope on it and could pull up on Jackrabbits hunting every weekend in the Mojave Desert up by Victorville before there were any houses. Taught me how to acquire my target super quick. I wore out one barrel and got a new one about 10 years ago. All the grandkids love that old gun and now it's time for the great-grandkids to use it.
 
Speaking of M1 Carbines, my Dad and older brother bought surplus M1's for $16 each...wow.
I wasn't allowed to buy a surplus M1 when they were that cheap (or the surplus Jeep that I wanted). I have a couple M1's now, each over $1,000, but I never did get that Jeep! Funny enough, one of my neighbors does have one!
 
When my Dad, Army... came back from the Korean War he was stationed in Alaska for a while, when he came home he brought me a Winchester M67 single shot that you had to manually cock, he saw it in a hardware store in some outpost, way up North. I still have that rifle, I was 8 going on 9 when he gave it to me... A lot of hunts have come and gone since then and I still have it and enjoy shooting it to this day, it's still very accurate .22 LR, Iron only, no serial number. Man, where has all the time gone???


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Speaking of M1 Carbines, my Dad and older brother bought surplus M1's for $16 each...wow.
Yep, I did the same thing myself... mine wasn't $16 but... it was cheap, cheap enough that I could afford it and shoot in as a younger hunter. It's got two Idaho whitetails to its credit and a metric ton of Yotes, and I didn't even use the bayonet, fair chase. 🤫 😂

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