Are you old enough to remember when firearms were proudly displayed?

I have my dad’s glass front gun cabinet that he had rifles and shotguns displayed in for years.

it is in my garage. All of my guns are stored out of sight in safes (x2). Unless you are a close friend you wouldn’t know that I even own a gun.

Yes I do...

I remember the cases. Pine frames with paper-thin veneer and single-strength (3/32") glass. The upscale cabinets with hardwood construction and double-strength (1/4") glass, occasionally etched and then tempered.

Helped custom-make some cases, 10mm polycarbonate and wood-veneered metal framed monsters with concealed hinges and hardware.

A long time ago my grandfather had what I think was a .32 S&W ... with a lanyard ring and a leather bootlace tied through it ... hanging from a nail in the wall of the dining room. He said it was just in case he wanted it, but I don’t think I ever saw him touch it. It disappeared at some point, so I assume he gave it to one of my cousins.

On my great-uncle’s farm there was a rack with a single-shot shotgun, some kind of lever-action rifle, and another rifle I never learned anything about. As others have said, they were working tools and they were stored where they were handy.

My parents' house had a gun rack when I was growing up. I built it as a woodworking project. It held the Marlin .22 my Dad bought for pest control, and the the single-shot 12ga that came from Grandpa. Nobody thought it was unusual for such a thing to be in a 12-year-old's bedroom.

At the time it wasn't greatly unusual to see pickup trucks with rifle racks in the back window. Usually a shotgun or .22. I wanted a pickup truck with an AK-47 in the rear window. Now I have the pickup truck and the AK-47, but given the number of skeeves around here now, I wouldn't care to tempt them.

Solomonson said:

I'm curious, are any of you old enough to remember when firearms were proudly displayed? I think the tradition goes far back in the US.

Two of my uncles displayed some of their guns on racks in their dens. Some friends of the family had large gun cases either in their front rooms/parlors or their family rooms/dens.

Not much later I had a two-bit gun rack in my bedroom that held an old Nagant (a gift from one of my above uncles that had always been around the house), an old SxS .410 shotgun that had been my grandfathers, my brother's Marlin single shot .22 and my Daisy BB gun. I was so proud that they hung in my room!

Later one of my uncles gave me their gun rack (after they began keeping their guns in a safe) and I ultimately had 8 long guns on display. Even years ago it shocked some of my friends to see them.

Now talking about one's gun safes has almost become a fetish for some it seems. I suppose it has to do with the days we are living in? Security? At least to some degree. I see large/beautiful gun cabinets for sale for next to nothing now and then on the used market here locally.

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Yes, for my 30th birthday in '93 my Mother hired a cabinetmaker to craft a 8gun oak gun cabinet with 2 storage areas. It was beautiful and was proudly displayed in our livingroom. I used it for just over 23yrs and sold it after she passed as I no longer would keep guns in it and saw no other future use. We had bought an expensive 30 gun fireproof safe due to the real world we live in. Damn shame but it is what it is..

Go back to 1984 I was meeting a girls family in rural Windsor Virginia for the 1st time taking her on a date. I could tell her Dad was suspect of me as I lived in the "city". I glanced at his large gun cabinet and peeled off the make/model of several guns real quick and his demeanor changed instantly. He was obviously both proud of his displayed guns and impressed that I knew anything about them. We then talked guns and hunting long enough that his daughter had to remind us I came to pick her up. The good old days.

Mohican1 said:

We then talked guns and hunting long enough that his daughter had to remind us I came to pick her up.

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Hahaha!
I've told this story several times - 10 years ago (when I turned 62) I ordered a custom 308 Norma Magnum as my retirement gift to myself. And the reason why I wanted it was because when I was 16, my then girlfriend's dad had a custom 308 Norma Magnum that I loved. He even let me shoot it a couple of times. So when that girlfriend broke up with me, I was broken-hearted because I knew I'd never see that rifle again.
BTW, that girl's name was Margaret, not Norma. And I had my wife (of 50 years next June), Barbara's full approval and understanding when I ordered my custom 308 Norma from Montana Rifle Company. Besides, Barb is prettier and nicer to me than Margie ever was anyway.

I`m old enough to remember when, at my high school, it was common to see rifles in the back window of pickup trucks! Only concern was whether they may get stolen.
Nobody even batted an eye. My oh my, how things have changed. Kids can and do now get suspended for even drawing a gun

Solomonson said:

I'm curious, are any of you old enough to remember when firearms were proudly displayed? I think the tradition goes far back in the US.

Two of my uncles displayed some of their guns on racks in their dens. Some friends of the family had large gun cases either in their front rooms/parlors or their family rooms/dens.

Not much later I had a two-bit gun rack in my bedroom that held an old Nagant (a gift from one of my above uncles that had always been around the house), an old SxS .410 shotgun that had been my grandfathers, my brother's Marlin single shot .22 and my Daisy BB gun. I was so proud that they hung in my room!

Later one of my uncles gave me their gun rack (after they began keeping their guns in a safe) and I ultimately had 8 long guns on display. Even years ago it shocked some of my friends to see them.

Now talking about one's gun safes has almost become a fetish for some it seems. I suppose it has to do with the days we are living in? Security? At least to some degree. I see large/beautiful gun cabinets for sale for next to nothing now and then on the used market here locally.

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I have been wanting to get one cheap for my sons toy guns. I guess I just like the memory of them.

Yes I do. A friend of mine who has a beautiful log cabin has one on each side of his fireplace, cut into the logs and it looks fantastic. I would not do that in today’s world.

I keep my safe open when I'm in my work/reload area so I can admire my humble collection. I come away feeling happy that I am able to view and touch what I have worked hard for. Then I sadly seal the vault for another day.

I am old enough to still have a Krico over my fireplace today.

I still do, in my case no longer in the living or family room but down in my gun room hobby work shop area of a walk out basement.

Yep, like others I remember buddy’s that had rifles in the back windows of their pick up trucks in high school. I remember every weekend me and my best friend walking through the neighborhood with our air guns to assist in sparrow control under a local bridge.... With the exception of a few comments from people outside like have fun, you boys be careful and don’t shoot each other etc...etc.. no one have a second thought about it.

whughett said:

I still do, in my case no longer in the living or family room but down in my gun room hobby work shop area of a walk out basement. View attachment 968091

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Beautiful collection and display! Thank you for sharing this.

I had two uncles in Lancaster, County, PA (Nolt) who each had museum quality collections in their houses. One collected flinters/ PA Long Rifles, etc. and the other collected most of what came after that period. He had the Eli Whitney Colt SN #1. Gold plated cylinder, etc. Amazing stuff. I think their collections went to a museum. Those collections would have been worth many millions. But they kept them in their houses.

PzGren said:

I am old enough to still have a Krico over my fireplace today.

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I had to look up what a Krico was and I'm 57. A .22rimfire model? I read very well made and accurate.

godale said:

I remember sears and western auto

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I remember Hipp's hardware store. Where I bought my first gun. A 410 single shot break open. $20 After taxes. That was when you could walk in most any hardware and buy a long gun or handgun no problem. Gun shops were not needed much back in them days because so many department stores sold guns. Them good old days have long gone, sad to say.

Mohican1 said:

I had to look up what a Krico was and I'm 57. A .22rimfire model? I read very well made and accurate.

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Yes, it is a Krico 300 L in .22 l.r. It is a relatively simple repeating rifle that only locks on the lug of the bolt handle. It is fairly well made but by far not as nice as an Anschutz 54 sporter.

The gun over the fireplace has the firing pin removed ... just for safeties sake. Before the Krico I had a Pedersoli Plainsman rifle hanging in its place.



In a china cabinet there are two cap and ball revolvers and three muzzle loader pistols and I had thought about putting a Sauer & Sohn Trophy in there, too, also with the firing pin removed.

tws3b2 said:

I remember Hipp's hardware store. Where I bought my first gun. A 410 single shot break open. $20 After taxes. That was when you could walk in most any hardware and buy a long gun or handgun no problem. Gun shops were not needed much back in them days because so many department stores sold guns. Them good old days have long gone, sad to say.

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That was the same in Germany until 1972. Rifles were sold to anyone over 18 years old, or who looked old enough and had the money.

I also remember going to the Woolworth on 163rd Street in Miami Beach to buy a stroller for my oldest son and while my wife chose the stroller, I walked over to the rack with dozens and dozens of surplus M1 Carbines for sale. That was barely 30 years ago and society has changed a lot in that time!

Probably a very regional thing. Growing up and living in the Northeast, fewer pickup trucks, shorter hunting seasons, plus people living closer together, cities, larger towns, suburbs, there has always been a gun culture here but we tend to be more discrete, low keyed-No Need To Know. No bumper stickers or decals on any of my cars, e.g. Plus with changing family arrangements, both parents working, growth of single parent homes, kids left unsupervised-Home Alone-displaying firearms, allowing them to be too easily accessible...kids brag to their friends, etc.

4v50 Gary said:

Wood and glass gun cabinets were popular in the '60-'70s. Then in the '80s RSC took over.

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What is *RSC*?

Todd.

Most of us were freaked when one of the adult leaders of our youth group around 1970 complained that the senior adult leader decided to display a large sword (popular claymore design) over his mantle in the room where ten or twelve of us mid to late teens hung out. He as it turned out was also very anti gun.

At the senior adult's urging the younger man provided us an oppertunity to gather at his house after an evening meeting. The boys were sharring a bowl of pop corn on the coffee table when the advisors wife asked me to go to the front broom closet and bring her a broom and dust pan to deal with the detritus. Imagine my shock at opening said unlocked closet to find (as it turned out) a loaded 12 gauge single shot! Later when I mentioned it in private his responcs to a loaded shotgun in the unlocked closet of a family with a child just stating to cruise was "OH that's different" and refusal to discuss it further.

A can not remember any of my Dad's golf buddies or racing buddies that did not have either a gun on the wall or a glass fronted gun case in a living room or front hall around that time. My preacher had one. My next door neighbor had an old Beaumont Boltaction on a velvet lined plaque over the sofa. Oddly by this time our house had no open display of firearms, not even in my room, unless you count my my carbine on the floor just under the edge of my bed and it usually had a towel draped over it to keep off dust.

also common was the shotgun or rifle on the hinge side of the door ( front or back) leaning into the corner or some such. Not really on display but right there.

I do wonder what happened to things like the gun cases in the home of a local legend of a medical doctor that was left to the state and made into something of a museum in downtown Tallahassee a few blocks from the capital. Beautiful gun cabinet filled with beautiful shotguns. Neat pictures of hunting in the 1930's including a cart before the horse quail hunting rig with the good doctor and shotgun on the seat. Funny thing was while the state guide had us in the master bedroom I asked what had been done with what was in the top drawer of the night stand. Imagine my surprise when the lady said "oh that was just a cheap old .32 top break and it went over to the state museum. The .38 like it from the dresser, too." I bet that is no longer part of the tour!

-kBob