Remembering the Older Days of Reloading/Shooting

[del2les]

While taking count of the remaining bricks of LR and LRM primers on my shelves, I began to pay extra attention to various price labels on some of my older supplies, and while we all know how much our sport has inflated in recent years, these old price tags brought back memories and a sting of the current state of things. The box of 215 magnum primers I bought several years back from the LGS in a clearance sale, and yes, I paid $3 for 1,000 (original was $7.99) and it is still full. I bought similar bricks of older primers in SP, SR and LR, and they were all like new and have worked without issue. However, I decided to save several of those to keep in my collection.

There were many, many more items with price stickers that today make me laugh, so I thought I would just post a few so the younger crowd can see how it used to be once.

Part 2: Added a few powders and 338 bullets. The $5 can is an unopened 1lb of WW 540 and the $7.95 is a can of W 452AA. The Sierra 338 bullets really made me laugh at $5.69. Was I ever that young?

 

[Frog4aday]

Yeah...the good old days. But you had to walk several miles to & from school...uphill both ways...in the snow. So there's that...

 

[dustbag]

Yeah...the good old days. But you had to walk several miles to & from school...uphill both ways...in the snow. So there's that...

Small price to pay to get pay those small prices.

 

[xsn10s]

I remember when match bullets were much less expensive than "hunting" bullets. Back in the days when reloading really did saved you a ton of money, or allowed you to shoot a bunch more. Getting slimmer margins these days.

 

[Orange Dust]

I can remember when we could load 12ga for $.75 a box and could load 220 swift for less per box of 20 than we were paying at the time for 22 mag rimfire. Those things were expensive and we didn't waste them. I bought a brand new rem 700 varmint for $125 and Daddy threw a fit for me buying such an expensive rifle. I am old....

 

[BillLarson]

Same way with guns..... I have guns I paid 85$ for back in the 60`s....

 

[tigerrose01]

I remember when match bullets were much less expensive than "hunting" bullets. Back in the days when reloading really did saved you a ton of money, or allowed you to shoot a bunch more. Getting slimmer margins these days.

Ain't that the truth! But there's still the satisfaction of "rolling your own" and being able to tailor each round to the individual weapon that you have or for results at the target. Some need more than others but I have never hunted without my own reloads.

 

[tysonmax]

What's even more eye opening is that True-Value Hardware used to sell reloading supplies! . Man, times have changed.

 

[Orange Dust]

One thing that has also changed is I used to be able to half the group size at 100 yds with handloads with any rifle vs factory. Not the case anymore at 100. Don't even shoot groups that close anymore with rifles.

 

[Bang4theBuck]

When I was a 19 year old Lad, and enlisted in the USCG, I had a part time job at a gun club pulling trap and skeet. All the guys there were also hunters and reloaders of shotgun and rifles. My wife bought me a Rem 700 BDL in 7 RM (best wife ever, still have it, and still have her). My excitement to have the rifle was fairly quickly extinguished when I realized that it was almost $15.00 box to shoot it. When I told the guys at the club that I wasnt really able to shoot much, (enlisted wages) they were quick to invite me over to reload the 7mm. The components were so cheap that the nice guy actually let me reload a box of 7mm RM, for every box of 25 Winch AA shotgun hulls I picked up for him. Once he had a good inventory of hulls that I picked up, the deal moved to I can load one box of 7mm for every box of 12 gauge shotgun shells I loaded for him. They were all his components. They were all readily available, and they were all cheap.
I eventually reshingled his roof in trade for his rock chucker kit and the small balance of components he had for my 7mm. I was the great deal that week. I still load on that press today and I think of the old guy, still, everything I use it. If he was alive and knew how much it cost me to reload for that rifle , he would roll over in his grave.

 

[tigerrose01]

Same way with guns..... I have guns I paid 85$ for back in the 60`s....

I missed out on those days as I was born in '64. However, I did get the opportunity to buy 2 Mosin-nagant rifles from Rose's department store while I was stationed in Charleston, S.C. I paid $39.95 each! used them to learn to glass bed, free float barrels, and customize stocks in general. Making stocks for my rifles has been enjoyable ever since.
I also was in a gun store one day in PA, when a guy walked in wanting to sell an old Stevens single-shot, 20 gauge shotgun but the owner wouldn't buy it. I did buy it for $26 and learned to shoot that shotgun using 40 to 50 year old paper shells that my grandfather gave me.

 

[tigerrose01]

I can remember when we could load 12ga for $.75 a box and could load 220 swift for less per box of 20 than we were paying at the time for 22 mag rimfire. Those things were expensive and we didn't waste them. I bought a brand new rem 700 varmint for $125 and Daddy threw a fit for me buying such an expensive rifle. I am old....

Lol! Not "old", just more experienced!

 

[Allen Lone wolf]

What's even more eye opening is that True-Value Hardware used to sell reloading supplies! . Man, times have changed.

Out local Fred's sold Federal 30-06 ammo for $5.00 a box!

 

[Lenny Foffa]

This is so great!! I still have Sierra 30 cal bullets from Service Merchandising discount store, with prices of $5.99 and $6.99. Back in those days of the 1970's maybe one in twenty shooters had any interest in reloading. You could buy a box of Rem 30-30 for about $6 or $7 dollars. Every year that store ran a pre deer season special. Win model 94 in 30-30 or Marlin 336 in 35 Rem, for $69.95. The gun shop I worked in sold them for $99.00 , so all the guys would go purchase the rifle in the discount store, then come into our store with it to ask how it works and how you clean it, and what ammo to use. " so wait a second!! "How do mount a scope on the Win 94 ??? " " On the side ??? Oh No!!!! Thanks for the walk down memory lane , Len