History, Value to be Found in Gun Seller’s Stockpile

Am Shooting Journal ^ | 6/11/2019 | J Dickson

[w1n1]

Hunters Lodge's 'warehouses are like a time machine back to the glory days of the surplus mail order gun.'
Those of you old enough to remember the glory days of mail order guns in the 1960s cannot forget Ye Old Hunter. This was the company that Interarms, the largest international arms dealer in the world at that time, used to dispose of the obsolete surplus military weapons it had acquired.
Prices were cheap, as low as $9.95 for whole columns of advertised guns, and the U.S. Mail delivered them directly to your door without you having to pay a dealer to be an unnecessary middleman. Customers could purchase rifles from British .577 Snyder conversions of muzzleloaders and Remington rolling blocks to every type of bolt-action rifle imaginable. M1 carbines and M1 Garand rifles were available and even the futuristic and still unsurpassed Johnson semiauto rifle could be had. If a pistol had ever been in any government's service, it would be represented here.

In those days, Sam Cummings, the head of Interarms, ran Ye Old Hunter along with Val Forgett and Meyer Reiswerg. Reiswerg was the one who wrote the unforgettable comic ads for the rifles. Ads like: "Original Winchester Model 95 Cal. 7.62 Russian. Some with Trotsky's fingernail marks and a few with Nikita finger prints – none with Stalin’s teeth marks."
"6.5 Italia deluxa! A custom supremo at a giveaway price. Provided just to please you Carcano fanatics who doggedly refuse to accept anything less – or anything better. The rifle that blazed its way to inglorious defeat on mountain, plain, and beach retired at last so the victory can still be yours."
"M93 Mauser long rifle with long barrel that brings you closer to the target for sure fire hits."

Whatever happened to all the treasures of Ye Old Hunter? Val Forgett sold the remaining stock in Virginia to the owner of what became Hunters Lodge, who also bought much of the rest from Numrich Arms and other sources.

THE STORY OF what became Hunters Lodge began in World War II when John Batewell, Sr. and his two Irish-born brothers ran a small trucking company with three trucks. Business improved after the war and John Jr. would often ride in the truck with his father. They commonly hauled excess Japanese rifles and surplus to the scrap metal yards and smelters in Brooklyn, New York. Fascinated by it all, John Batewell, Jr. – known as Jack – started buying small parts and things that he could afford, printed a catalog on a mimeograph machine and began selling them. He bought a firearms dealers license in 1957 for the princely sum of $1 and ordered his first gun from Golden State Arms, a .303 Enfield.
Jack was a tough inner-city kid who really just dreamed of being a cowboy. But without much call for cowboys in the concrete jungle of Brooklyn, eventually Detective Friday on the Dragnet TV show inspired him to join the New York Police Department in 1961 with the goal of becoming a detective. He maintained his small gun business during the next few years as a beat cop, followed by a stint as a patrolman in a radio car. The gun business kept growing and it had to move out of the house to its first location, where it would be known as Southwestern Sales. Read the rest of sell guns online.

[Sasparilla]

I bought an M1 carbine from them in the early 1960’s for about $15.00.

[yarddog]

I ordered quite a few when I was young. I had little money but you didn’t need a lot. One of the first was a Chilean 95 Mauser. Workmanship was superb. It was stamped, “Mauser Chileno, Deutsch Waffen Und Muntions Fabriken Berlin” I may have misspelled one of those words as I am going on memory.

Also a Polish Radom, an Astra 400 which may have had the best finish of any gun I have ever owned. Also an Astra 600 with holster and spare mag. A Swedish Mauser. Probably a lot of other ones I can’t recall.

Those were the days.

[mylife]

And somehow mass shootings never occurred.

[mylife]

Circle 11 factory made good stuff.

[norwaypinesavage]

"And somehow mass shootings never occurred."

Of course not. There were too many people around who would shoot back.

[mylife]

Numrich and RobertRTG are great.

[yarddog]

I had to look up “Circle 11 Factory”. Yes they did indeed make some good stuff tho it was marked “VIS” on the early pistol I had.

An interesting design with elements of the Browning Hi-Power, Colt 1911 and Walther P-38.

[mylife]

You could get a 20mm anti tank gun for the price of a mini bike LOL

[afsnco]

I, too, remember the days of mail order guns.

[mylife]

I am sad Bricklee imports burned and all records were lost in the 80’s

[mylife]

VIS is correct.

[knarf]

Is DIXIE still around ?

[mylife]

https://www.robertrtg.com/store/pc/home.asp

[bruoz]

Yep. I bought an M-1 carbine for $17.50 + 2.50 shipping through the DCM that was shipped from the Army directly to me. The good old days (except for Vietnam).

[gundog]

Score one for The Blind Hog Gazette. Love me some milsurps.

[gundog]

Score one for The Blind Hog Gazette. Love me some milsurps.

[gundog]

Score two, then.

[hanamizu]

Is DIXIE still around ?

---

Yes they are. But you won’t find $12 Belgian smoothbores...

https://www.dixiegunworks.com

[hanamizu]

There were too many people around who would shoot back.

---

While there were lots of firearms for sale and freely available, I don’t remember very many people carrying handguns on a regular basis. In most states concealed carry was very highly regulated. Police had handguns, of course, but not the average guy on the street.