[DugwayDuke]

When I was a youth, 1950’s, one could purchase these by mail. Every Popular Mechanics, etc, had an ad. You could also buy the 50 cal.

[dljordan]

“When I was a youth, 1950’s, one could purchase these by mail. Every Popular Mechanics, etc, had an ad. You could also buy the 50 cal.”

I remember those ads. I remember the local Army-Navy store having barrels of 06’ Springfields for $15. Doh!!!

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I remember what changed that. A criminal gang bought one and had it sent to a P O box. The seller notified the law, who said “send it” and they would arrest the men when they came to pick it up at the post office.
No one showed up so everyone went home. That night, the gang broke into the post office, grabbed their rifle and proceeded to blast their way into a bank vault.
The new media promptly blamed the seller and the government changed the laws on what could be sent through the mails.

[glorgau]

Sounds perfect for home self-defense. Are they still available to the general public?

[TonyM]

Hot Damn! I want one!

[Oatka]

When I was a youth, 1950’s, one could purchase these by mail.

Back in the '50s I received a .310 Australian Martini and later a 7.35 Carcano carbine wrapped in newspaper and wired to a thin plank being delivered by the Post Office to my folk's apartment in NYC.)

Read 'em and weep (keep in mind that in those days, $50-$60 a week was good money):


(I remember seeing an ad by Ye Olde Hunter(?) showing a guy picking off cars on the then-new freeways. It was tongue-in-cheek, but it had the liberals clutching their pearls. (Note that Californians had to add 3% sales taxe.)).

and finally . . .

(Wipes tear from eye.)