A trip back in time to the 1958 Golden State Arms Store

Status
Not open for further replies.

indy1919a4

Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2019
Messages
1,706
Location
Orlando Fl
Golden State Arms was one of the great surplus companies. They sold straight surplus as well as did a fair amount of sporter rifles. :(

Guns-Feb-1957-P67-Golden-State-Arms-Pasadena-California.png


1958-GOLDEN-STATE-ARMS-British-Rifles-2-pg-AD.jpg

pix994342367.jpg

In 1957 Golden State Arms will move to its new location a mansion house at
386 Green St., Pasadena, CA

There is a 1958 movie called "Contract for Murder" which does a wonderful walk through the new store, please note the 124.95 Vickers Machine Gun.. (They cannot invent time travel soon enough)

You can watch the whole movie or skip to 43.30 to walk though the store.







For more Golden State Arms history,,

http://www.m1carbinesinc.com/carbine_santafe.html
 

Attachments

  • upload_2019-8-16_13-42-32.png
    upload_2019-8-16_13-42-32.png
    1.2 MB · Views: 21
Looks like I was born a few years too late... :( BTW, does anyone know where I can pick up a decent C96 for $30 locally?
 
Before these ads bring tears to our eyes, we have to think what those prices would equal today, adjusting for inflation.

Sure would like a new Colt Gov't for $45, or a Broomhandle for $30 in today's money! lol
 
In 1956 i purchased five SMLE rifles, including a Jungle Carbine, for $100. All those rifles were in excellent condition.
 
I remember these...Field and Stream, Outdoor Life, Shooting Times, Guns, almost any "man's" magazine in the drug store and grocery. Even then, in jr. high. $30 or $100, could have been the same. At that time I was building and flying control line models...Fox .15 engine was $5, .35 was $10.
 
It always interests me to compare prices to wages at that time.

At that time, union scale for a journeyman carpenter (the highest wage a carpenter could hope for) was $3.39 an hour, with most non-union work falling down as low as $2.00.

So when you're looking at a $34 price tag, you're looking at ten hours of union labor or two full days for non-union.

What do you earn in a day? What is ten hours, or two days? That would be a comparable price today.
 
It always interests me to compare prices to wages at that time.

At that time, union scale for a journeyman carpenter (the highest wage a carpenter could hope for) was $3.39 an hour, with most non-union work falling down as low as $2.00.

So when you're looking at a $34 price tag, you're looking at ten hours of union labor or two full days for non-union.

What do you earn in a day? What is ten hours, or two days? That would be a comparable price today.
Well, that Brand New .45 Colt Automatic for $44.50 Is now $749.95, and I doubt the quality is there anymore ...
At $15 an hour it'd still take over 6 days to pay for it.
 
Last edited:
It always interests me to compare prices to wages at that time.

At that time, union scale for a journeyman carpenter (the highest wage a carpenter could hope for) was $3.39 an hour, with most non-union work falling down as low as $2.00.

So when you're looking at a $34 price tag, you're looking at ten hours of union labor or two full days for non-union.

What do you earn in a day? What is ten hours, or two days? That would be a comparable price today.

You are right. When you compare the wages and prices it is comparable to what thing are today.

It is fun to look and fantasize about having a time machine though. Here are some other ads

sears 1908.jpg sears cheap guns.jpg sears gun.jpg
 
Yeah, those are fun, but more for availability than price. Inflation calculation tells us the $1 in 1958 is equivalent to almost $9 today. (Actually 8.88.)

http://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1958?amount=1

So your brand-new Colt 1911 for $44.50 in 1958 would cost you $395.00 today. Hmmm ... Not bad! Or I might go for the "British Army Rifle" for $29.95: roughly $266 in today's money.
 
I picked up a No. 1 Mk III Ishy in 1984 that had been "sportorized" into a Jungle Carbine like the one near the bottom of post 12. I think I paid $100.00 for it. Among the many fun features of that rifle are the occasional comments I get from other shooters who ask if it is a Golden State Arms product. When I say "yes" it seems like many have stories of a firearm they bought through the mail from Golden State.

Outfits like this were responsible for butchering thousands of milsurp rifles. :(

While companies like this did repurpose many milsurp rifles, they also introduced many shooters to affordable centerfire rifles. In my experience, the quality of the work done by Golden State Arms was reasonably high.
 
There a world of Bubba jobs out there also. I'd say 10,000 to one. Also how many 1917 revolvers and Webley's were desecrated to allow 45 ACP w/half moon clips. This gave many shooters affordable centerfire revolvers:eek:.
 
Last edited:
I picked up a No. 1 Mk III Ishy in 1984 that had been "sportorized" into a Jungle Carbine like the one near the bottom of post 12. I think I paid $100.00 for it. Among the many fun features of that rifle are the occasional comments I get from other shooters who ask if it is a Golden State Arms product. When I say "yes" it seems like many have stories of a firearm they bought through the mail from Golden State..

Golden state is almost the Younger cooler cousin to Bannerman in the surplus world.
Bannerman had a Castle, Golden State had a mansion.
Bannerman converted some rifles, But Golden State made and art of converting rifles by proudly putting their names on them.

Heck Bannerman gets a lot of bad press for their conversions. But there is not alot of documentation out there on what they converted.
In fact I would go so far as saying the NRA may have converted more then Bannerman.
 
There a world of Bubba jobs out there also. I'd say 10,000 to one. Also how many 1917 revolvers and Webley's were desecrated to allow 45 ACP w/half moon clips. This gave many shooters affordable centerfire revolvers:eek:.
I do not know about the 1917s but per the Webleys, at least you can still shoot 455 rimmed rounds out of them if you want.

Never heard of the 1917s, What happen there..??
 
Well never heard of that.. is there any danger in shooting 45 ACP in them like there is in the Webleys?

Same caliber gun. You are too young to remember nail kegs full of handguns including 1911's. I think you mean 45 Auto Rim not 455 rimmed. Actually, with the British, as the legend goes, that S&W lost the under lug. Under Lug would jam from the mud in the trenches. The triple lock feature lock was also discontinued due to complication. The Colt's were also beautifully finished in the nail kegs. I'm sure collector will come along to correct my errors.
 
That was before Kalifornica was so communist. Don't care about what they sold you can't do it now. California has the worst guns.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top