Pre Internet old Gun Guys
- Thread starter OIF/OEF
- Start date
TheOtherZilla
Pull my finger
Newspaper.. or word of mouth
Erik Cortina
Team Lapua Brux Borden Captain
OIF/OEF said:
Google it!
Used to set by the mailbox and wait for the Shotgun News to show up. Then came "Gun List" which was alphabetized and not all strewn together like Shotgun News was. Loved the adventure of finding something I wanted at a price I could afford only to find it gone by the time I phoned the guy. Serious buyers/sellers would pay for Next Day Air or UPS Overnight to get the bargains. Cost for that was about $150/yr. Us poor guys could only afford the regular subscription at about $20/yr and usually about a week from WI to here in western SD. I remember at times that a guy in a town 40 miles away would get his 4-5 days before me when it was only a day difference as far as mail goes. Whole different ball game in the early 80's etc when Gun List was the only real game in town. Shotgun news was more of a junk mag for the likes of Sarco, J&G Sales, CDNN etc.
Oh, those were the gun nuts stressfull days. Now someone lists something for sale and everyone has pretty much the info immediately. Where it took phone calls, mailed correspondence and 2 weeks or more sometimes to complete a deal now with CC and Paypal etc and cell phones you can do a deal anywhere in a matter of minutes. Sure miss walking to school up hill both ways in a blizzard and Gun List!!!
Wait......what was the question????
Oh, those were the gun nuts stressfull days. Now someone lists something for sale and everyone has pretty much the info immediately. Where it took phone calls, mailed correspondence and 2 weeks or more sometimes to complete a deal now with CC and Paypal etc and cell phones you can do a deal anywhere in a matter of minutes. Sure miss walking to school up hill both ways in a blizzard and Gun List!!!
Wait......what was the question????
riverwolf1
Silver $$ Contributor
Ever heard of telephones, we used to call each othe and discuss problems and solutions, I'm talking about the old phones, you know that had actual wires with touch tone pads or for some of us oldsters rotary dialed phones! Lol
A friend of mine who who has been in to guns and benchrest as long as I've know him doesn't even have a computer but he never ceases to amaze me with the stuff he finds. He has a close network of friends plus hits the gunshows I guess.
Every time I think I have found something special and take it to show him, he always produces at least one of whatever I have, that is even nicer or rarer.
Every time I think I have found something special and take it to show him, he always produces at least one of whatever I have, that is even nicer or rarer.
I can remember Dad and Mom having a "party line"!riverwolf1 said:
I read Jack O'Connor -Outdoor Life, Jim Carmichael- Shooting Times, and John Wooters - Guns and Ammo. I took these writers pet loads and tweaked them. But that was before I got into competition. I would always struggle to come up with loads for those hunting rifles ( and there were many .....most traded away because "they don't shoot") that would be consistent accuracy-wise. Then in the early 70"s , Lester Bruno and Gary O"Cock began showing up at the local club, with fat barreled rifles with painted stocks, to practice and it was like taking an Accuracy 101 course.
The magazines, gun list, gun shows, hardware store, shootin range (not club), school (rotc), friends of my father, grandfather, and their friends who hunted, shot competitive,
a few buddies from school I was on the rifle team with hunting with them and beginning to reload when ammo was short in WWII.
walking to school talking about yesterdays hunt, or this afternoon match, snow, sleet, rain, up hill -- yea!
Bob
a few buddies from school I was on the rifle team with hunting with them and beginning to reload when ammo was short in WWII.
walking to school talking about yesterdays hunt, or this afternoon match, snow, sleet, rain, up hill -- yea!
Bob
shortgrass
Silver $$ Contributor
Gunshows?! There's as much misinformation there as there is on the internet!
I am only a few years older than you and I just got a computer 3 1/2 years ago.I guess I am really behind.I got a lot of my info from magizines and books. Also the local gun stores, ranges, and check in stations. You can learn a lot if you put out the effort.
OIF -
Howdy !
In the more " analogue " days, we read printed matter.
Homer Powley's " Powley Papers " and his benchmark " Powley Computer " pre-saged
the digi ballistics programs of today ( most are based off his work ).
P.O. Ackley's 2 volumne treatise was/is a veritable font of knowledge. To ask his opinion on a new .224" cal wildcat of my own design; I wrote Ackley a " letter ".
And, I got a very nice letter back from him; in response.
For a fornunate few, you had a knowledgeable shooter close at-hand.
For me, it was Fred Sinclair... just a scant 6mi up the road.
Even today, I don't consider that I was every at a disadvantage; vis-a-vis the new age electronics.
Those things that worked back then.... still work today !
With regards,
357Mag
Howdy !
In the more " analogue " days, we read printed matter.
Homer Powley's " Powley Papers " and his benchmark " Powley Computer " pre-saged
the digi ballistics programs of today ( most are based off his work ).
P.O. Ackley's 2 volumne treatise was/is a veritable font of knowledge. To ask his opinion on a new .224" cal wildcat of my own design; I wrote Ackley a " letter ".
And, I got a very nice letter back from him; in response.
For a fornunate few, you had a knowledgeable shooter close at-hand.
For me, it was Fred Sinclair... just a scant 6mi up the road.
Even today, I don't consider that I was every at a disadvantage; vis-a-vis the new age electronics.
Those things that worked back then.... still work today !
With regards,
357Mag
Lapua40X
California Hunter Education Instructor
Started with American Rifleman, advanced to Guns and Ammo Magazine (circa 1958) and haunted the magazine racks at the local shops (even bought a few :
) and spent lots of time at the range meeting and networking with other shooters. I think it was better then because if you hooked up with an idiot who was trying to impress you it was something you recognized almost immediately. Today, they hide amongst the knowledgeable experienced people and they're more difficult to sort out - they just repeat something they've found on some other internet site don't know when to stop adding powder until their rifle blows up.
CMP had a lot of surplus stuff. I remember a friend of mine buying three barrelled M1 actions for less than twenty bucks delivered to his door; still in cosmoline. A complete 1903 Springfield could be had for ten bucks. Just about every downtown area had an "Army Surplus" store and you could often find crates of European manufactured rifles real cheap. Of course, circa 1960, things got more expensive. But a Smith and Wesson Chief's Special revolver was still less than fifty bucks and you could buy a K38 for about $75.
Those were the good old days ..... gone now :'(
) and spent lots of time at the range meeting and networking with other shooters. I think it was better then because if you hooked up with an idiot who was trying to impress you it was something you recognized almost immediately. Today, they hide amongst the knowledgeable experienced people and they're more difficult to sort out - they just repeat something they've found on some other internet site don't know when to stop adding powder until their rifle blows up.CMP had a lot of surplus stuff. I remember a friend of mine buying three barrelled M1 actions for less than twenty bucks delivered to his door; still in cosmoline. A complete 1903 Springfield could be had for ten bucks. Just about every downtown area had an "Army Surplus" store and you could often find crates of European manufactured rifles real cheap. Of course, circa 1960, things got more expensive. But a Smith and Wesson Chief's Special revolver was still less than fifty bucks and you could buy a K38 for about $75.
Those were the good old days ..... gone now :'(
gun shows today are not a good comparison to those of 50 -60 years ago.
today you have too many hucksters with lots of cheep stuff and very little quality.
The early shows had a lot of 1930's-1950's Win, Rem browning, mil surplus 06's enfields, and guns brought home from Europe and Asia.
Also the beginning of reloading stuff, books, like Ackley, Howe's modern gun smithing, Barnes etc.- Keiths books, -- they are here on my shelf. heavily reviewed.
Bob
today you have too many hucksters with lots of cheep stuff and very little quality.
The early shows had a lot of 1930's-1950's Win, Rem browning, mil surplus 06's enfields, and guns brought home from Europe and Asia.
Also the beginning of reloading stuff, books, like Ackley, Howe's modern gun smithing, Barnes etc.- Keiths books, -- they are here on my shelf. heavily reviewed.
Bob
I think the Egyptians were way ahead of theyre time, I heard a story on History channel an archeologist found hieroglyphic wring in a tomb that King Tutankhamun he was looking for a 6mm Brux 1-8 twist that would finish ay 30".....so this could be the earliest signs of how the old guys got it done....
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