And there were no school shootings then. Chicago did not have over 1300 shootings I a year. My dad had his loaded shot gun by the door on the back porch. We kids ever touched it. On our farm, we saw animals killed by guns, and we knew that dead is dead, not cartoon “dead”.
A few of them I remember and some I don’t.
The Weatherby, Remington nylon 66, and the Mattel are all familiar. I have seen some of the others in reprints etc.
Start him off right!
My uncle would bicycle to school with his rifle for target practice after school on the school’s shooting team.
My daughter’s middle school recently went under renovation. Part of it was converting an indoor shooting range in the basement.
I’ve got my Dad’s Remington Model 41 bolt action .22. It’s a single shot that he got in the late 30s when he was about 14. He was expected to help put food on the table, it wasn’t for fun. He shot a lot of .22 shorts because the .22 Long Rifle were too expensive to shoot all the time.
I was 8 when I put a M16 on my Christmas list. That Matell ad would have been out right around then. However, I wanted a real one with ammo. My liberal aunt was horrified.
I remember those days well, but you have to understand that even though they were 24.95, we were lucky to make $40 a week. No Swedish Mausers, no 98Ks? The Swedish models were there but they brought $34.95. I don’t ever recall seeing 98Ks back in those days, nor do I recall the Mosin at $9. I use to find them in the Dept stores in barrels (Garbage cans), no one seemed to care what condition they were in. I finally bought one, a Carcano 6.5 for $19.95 at what was a E.J.Korvett store. I had the rifle about 3 months and then got a free M-1 to use for 2 years. I gave the Carcano away to a friend before I was given the M-1. The main point I’m trying to bring up is the price of one in today’s economy, is about the same as it was back in the late 50’s with inflation factor tied in. $10 then = $120 today.
Where is the ad for the Sturm and Ruger .22 cal pistol that began to appear in Field & Stream and Sports Afield a little while after the war? I wistfully dreamed of one because it was so German-looking Luger-like, and my grandpa’s name was Sturm, but I knew that Dad would not ever get one or want me to have one. We’re talking now of the mindset of the 1940s in New York State, where the Sullivan law prevailed and nobody but the cops were likely to own—let alone carry—one.
Geez, $125 for a Colt Python. That was a chunk of change back then, no doubt. Even with inflation, what an investment a few of those would have been.
Remember this. Back in 1962, Thomas J Dodd and Emanuel Cellar proposed a ban on 5 shot bolt action army surplus rifles and handguns to “prevent crime”. The REAL reason was they wanted to protect Winchester, Remington and Savage from cheap competition. All they wanted was an excuse and the murder of John Kennedy gave them that excuse.
For the next five years we were hounded with calls to ban “evil army surplus rifles till they got their ban in 1968.
Soon was added the “evil” Foreign Saturday Night Special pistol!
Now get this! ARMY SURPLUS rifles were banned, but POLICE RIFLES which came from the same factory were still legal to import.
Meanwhile handguns were still the primary target. First they wanted to register ONLY handguns, then ALL Guns.
Then they wanted to ban and confiscate ONLY Saturday Night Specials.
Then ban and confiscate ALL handguns.
The promise was rifles were not to be banned!
SURPRISE, SURPRISE! Back around 1984 came the first calls for American produced semi-auto rifles!
They NEVER give up.