Reminiscing. Anyone remember more?

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Lavan

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I can remember when:

A high capacity handgun was anything over 6 shots
Tenifer was a misspelled girl’s name
The MOST lusted after gun was a Python
We DREAMED of centerfire handguns with 10 shot mags
We liked the idea of a HiPower with 13 but it was ONLY a 9mm
.38 specials were considered deadly weapons
NOTHING smelled as good as a fired paper shotshell
You could have any gun in your car as long as it was visible
4 guns was considered a BUNCH
Reloading was something you did with your camera
Doves flew slower
 
I can remember when just about anything from H&K was under $500 ( HK91 $425) AR15's were in the same range and there were hi-cap magazines as far as the eye could see. Come to think of it, we also had a Republican President.
 
I can remember when .22 shells were less than a penney a piece and the rifles to shoot them were under $30 and you could buy them both at the corner Western Auto store.
 
If one could have bottled the smell of a Western Auto store, I would dearly like a sample. They smelled like America in my memory. Everything in the store was so inviting and useful.
 
I remember being able to buy .22's at the town hardware store as a kid and no one having any thoughts about it. Being able to tie my .22 rifle to my bike [used an old military signal flag case as a scabbard for the rifle] and no one thinking there was anything strange or dangerous about a kid with a .22.

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Ne Conjuge Nobiscum
"If there be treachery, let there be jehad!"
 
Driving my '65 Mustang (when it was only a year old) to school (yep, I wuz a stud) w/a shotgun in the back & I didn't have to lock the doors or get hassled (& yes, doves were much slower in those far-off days).

I could shoot anything I saw. What I'd give for the steady hands & eye sight that once was. Sucks being "old(er)."

$10 bought a brick o' .22s & enough gas to get whereever (& back & around for awhile too boot).

Rock 'n Roll was.

& the days when I trusted everyone.

I miss the last the most.
 
And I remember being eight years old, alone and defenseless at the apartment, and terrified of home invasions that were pretty popular back in Russia. I remember when my neighbor, a college student, got beaten to near death by thugs who were just having fun. I also remember that my mother is named after my grandmother's sister who probably choked on 8mm ball sometime in 1941. And that I did not get to see my paternal grandfather...something about Soviet gulags being bad for his health.

For me, being in America now is an improvement. Think of me as getting fresh reinforcements while retreating. Having seen the commies in charge once, I certainly won't go along with the program now that I have a chance to stop them with boxes one through four, their choice.

I have access to the greatest publishing tools ever made. Spreading the word may slow the retreat. And if all else fails...
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Oleg "cornered rat" Volk (JPFO,NRA)

http://dd-b.net/RKBA

[This message has been edited by Oleg Volk (edited February 10, 2000).]
 
I remember when no savvy shooter would trust his life to anything but a revolver or maybe a 1911.

Every chain store in town had a gun department and you could lay down your cash and walk out the door with one.

Surplus military rifles could be bought mail order for $20.

Nobody locked their doors at night and neighbors could be depended upon.

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Strength is the outcome of need; security sets a premium on feebleness. H.G. Wells The Time Machine
 
I'm not that old, and I can remember some good stuff, even though the first Republican President I knew was Nixon (who seems pretty good now). Like...
Guns for sale in the hardware store. And right out in the open on the shelves, too.

Never hearing about the "guns in the school" problem, even though you knew half the cars in the high school parking lot had .22's or Wingmasters in them from before-school rabbit hunting.

I remember when hi-cap mags were NOT as far as the eye could see because nobody had anything they fit in except M1 carbines.

I remember the "economy" guns that even the big companies made like the Remington 788 ($194.95 retail), and Winchester 670.

My older brother giving my dad the money to pick up a Winchester 9422Magnum (and a 3/4" tube 3-9x scope)at Monkey Wards one fall, then being drafted a couple of months later and thinking that was odd.

A friend of my brothers' going to shoot barn pigeons the night before he went in the Army. But he didn't because the store owner thought he looked like a troublemaker and too young to be buying BB's so he sent him home and thinking that was not that odd.

The little clear plastic Daisy BB envelopes with the yellow and black bullseyes.

Getting my first gun and being allowed to follow my dad through the woods, action open, carrying one round in my hand. And still making sure it was completely empty before entering the yard.

I remember .22 ammo was only a couple of pennies per round, but you had to make every shot count because you only had 17 rounds left, and had seen them so much you could almost recognize each individual round.
 
I remember when people put lift kits on jeeps instead of drop kits on hondas and I remember when there were no stereos in cars that shook all the windows in your house.
 
Hmmm...I remember when no one took semi-autos seriously and .38 special ammo was $33.00 a thousand.

Then again, I still don't take semi-autos very seriously. :)
 
Ah, being a young boy and teen in California in the 50's and 60's.

I bought an M1 Carbine at Montgomery Ward.

A "hi-cap" magazine was unheard of... they were defined by round capacity only.

Carrying a rifle down the street into the woods and nobody cared.

Hanging out at the local gun store as a teenager and being treated as an equal.

Having what could be considered by any definition an idyllic childhood and upbringing. My parents were fair, but I was
no stranger to the belt, either.

Oleg - I can't begin to imagine.... glad you're here now.

Best of all - I can remember when CA wasn't overrun with all of these %$*&^%@ modern liberals!!!!

*sigh* If only we had known and could have purchased tags. :mad:

Cliff
 
Jim V and Cliff, man you guys bring up good old memories of taking my .22 rifle on my bike and riding down the street and even along Rt. 1 to the woods for some shooting. If we did that today there would be 20 police cars chasing us, a chopper in the air and later our parents would have to post bail so we could await trial at home since we would have been expelled from school.
 
I remember in he mid-60s, driving home to northern Ohio from New York city and back on the weekends for less than $30 gas money. And flying military stand-by from Newark, New Jersey to Cleveland Hopkins for $18 each way and that included bus fair from Bayonne to Newark.

I bought my first 10/22 for full retail in a hardware store for $49.95 in 1968.

In the 50's I could get a box of .22 lrhp for about $.45 a box, and making them last for an afternoon of plinking out of my Winchester 69.

But I can't remember where I filed that budget report yesterday for my Project Manager.

Neil Casper
 
I remember the day my family heard my Uncle Danny died in Vietnam. My mother was sobbing early in the summer morning in my parents bedroom. I got up and ran there,and found my father consoling my mother. My father said, "Your Uncle Danny was killed. Go to your room." I spent that day reading the pile of letters Uncle Danny wrote me from Vietnam, letters I have to this day.

I remember the day a president let the cowards come home from Canada. My grandfather lectured my uncle when he said he would rather take his wife and 2 kids to Canada than die in Vietnam. My grandfather gave quite the speech to anyone who would listen regarding duty, honor and country. He died ashamed to be an American after president Carter, and a proponent of "Nothing the suits do is worth dying for."

I remember nothing good about guns, growing up in an urban Detroit home. They were tools of last effort defense, revenge and murder. When you used one, you threw it all away, unless it was under the cover of night or anonymity of a crowd.

The glass pop bottles were something, though, huh guys? They kept the pop cold and were fun to drink from.
 
When, if the local copper caught you doing something wrong, he'd clip you round the ear'ole and kick your bum -- then tell your Dad who'd do the same -- and whatever you'd done wrong, you didn't do it again.

When if you ran away from home at 13, the authorities would bring you home again, instead of paying you money to set up "house" with a junkie mate.

When K-Mart sold .22 magnum ammo for $5 for 50. And actually had a "gun" section!!

When being on the dole (welfare) was a last resort in dire straits, and not the first option 'cause "hey, man, we don't wanna work in your stinkin' world and you owe us, right??"

When teachers were "Sir" or "Miss" -- not "Yo! You!".

When I could take Dad's .22 to school on the school bus because I had target shooting for afternoon sport.

When we didn't lock our doors or windows at night.

When we could walk anywhere in Perth at night without fear or danger.

When people came home proud of having done a full day's work, rather than having "ripped off" the boss for a few hours.

Awww, look --- don't get this old fart started .......

B
 
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