Middle-aged guys with manly jawlines clenching their pipes and looking pleased with whatever the hell happens to be going on, even if they are probably experiencing hypothermia in their impeccable "Fudd" outfits. Think Mitt Romney with a Dr. Grabow and a Winchester Model 12.
Kids either wistfully hoping for a new first gun or doing the "WOW!" thing having received one. Low-end arms for the young 'uns... who in another couple of years will be sneaking the old man's Anschutz 64 out to shoot with his friends because he is embarrassed by his "kid's" gun.
"Grandpa" yarning about the good old days... or amazed past dignity by some recent offering that makes everything else obsolete (until next season). He often resorts to "dadgummit"," "new-fangled" and the like.
No-nonsense, B&W ads taking up large blocks of space hawking surplus and/or closeout guns at ridiculously low prices ("Genuine Ruritanian bolt-action rifles as used by the feared special commando security units" - $10.00; collector grade - $12.00; bayonet - add $5.00; 500 rounds of surplus* ammunition - $9.95
Mr. niteowl77
*steel jacketed, berdan-primed and waiting to corrode as only Ruritanian wartime ammo can; retrieved from the dank, damp, crumbling building where it had been hastily stockpiled in the Summer of 1945… ads never pointed out these attractive features
Back in the day - when Liberals didn’t wet themselves over firearms.
Was 8 (1941) when I got my first bolt-action .22 and 10 (1943) when I got a 410/22 over/under...
The .22 was purchased in the corner drugstore for my 8th birthday...
Grew up with a lot of them - always had a subscription of American Rifleman and a few others coming to the house because Dad was a true enthusiast and lifetime NRA Member, and he brought me under his wing.