I wish I could go back…

[Demi-human]

@igotta40 ’s thread about not so great shops, found here Ever regretted going to a LGS? , brought back a memory, a nice one.

To that end I’d like to “flip the script”.

“Has there ever been a Local-Smalltown Gun Shop that you’ve visited that has wowed you, but you’ve never gotten a chance to go back?”

A bit lazy on my part, scarfing another’s thread...

But, it reminded me of a time…

I was looking around online for some LGSs to visit, as they seem to be sparse here in this part of the woods. I had a list for G Rap as we go there often for appointments. Making the rounds, many were very modern, normal shops. Silver Bullet being one of the good ones.
The last loop brought me through an industrial part of town to what looked like a manufacturing office. Commercial space is space, whatever. So my son, who was like five, and needed to get out of the truck, and I walked up to the tinted windows and went inside.
I think I was looking for shops to transfer suppressors.
Anyway, on the other side of the tinted aluminum storefront was one of the nicest shops I’ve ever been in. For anything!
The tile floor was so clean I was afraid to walk upon it! We step inside and I look around, my eyes glaze over.
A counter man is there and smiles at me as I take it in.
I turn to LittleBear and say, “Do. Not. Touch anything in here with your hands. Okay, buddy? Put your hands in your coat pockets. Their Dadi just washed all the glass, okay?”

The clerk smiled, it may not have been the first time he’s heard that.

I’ll describe it first. Past the spotless tile was a center rack of mirror polished walnut. On this rack were some of the most beautiful over/unders and double rifles I’ve ever seen!
Wood that paled the green felt covered rack it sat in. Engraved scenes that jump from the steel. Gold, like actual gold wire that is pounded in, not paint, inlay. The walls were paneled in solid oak. I could tell, I’m a carpenter. And the oak cabinets that circled the room, ducking down to a felt countertop every so often, were glistening with halogen lights. Every pool of polished blue steel in the cabinets shone with a thousand little stars. Beautiful and strange looking pistols randomly adorned the case shelves, displayed with their specific accoutrements and tiny wood holders of cartridges.
They had an oldetimey brass cash machine too, but it was digital on the other side.

I explained that I was in the wrong place but we had driven a lot today, and while we weren’t really going to buy anything, would it be okay for us to look? I wasn’t interrupting an appointment or anything?

The counterman looked quizzed and I heard a laugh from around the corner.
“Of course you can look! You don’t need an appointment.”

(But could I afford to look?!)

Littlebear and I perused a bit as I heard papers shuffle to their places.

Bachelder! Sorry, I just remembered the shop.
(Sometimes my posts are weird because it’s just me talking into a mic and making corrections. It literally is just what flows out of my brains when I speak on here.)

So the gentleman behind the corner comes out and starts to show LB, and me as well but I think it was really for Little Bear, all sorts of firearms that sound like beer. In chamberings only the Germans know. Each more special than the last.
LittleBear likes, ta daa, bears. He had one! A rifle, for shooting bears, with bears on it!
Scenes are nice, but I just loved all the perfectly symmetrical scrollwork.
I’m sure I could have fumbled at least a couple thousand dollars to the floor at a time. So I refused to hold any. I’m glad he didn’t insist.

“These are the nicest things I’ve ever seen.” I stammered.

“Oh, I can’t show you the nice ones. I don’t own those.” A sly grin crept his face.

I admit to learning very little. Awe struck makes me forgetful.


I enjoyed formal conversation, a scarcity, and he was nothing but pleasant. The counter clerk watched the entire time. I couldn’t help but think he was seeing a master working. But then, he saw him perform magic in the back as well, so, smart kid.

He was more than happy to transfer any suppressor I may buy and could help me do it if needed. (Turns out I make my own.)


In all, the most emotionally rewarding gun shop visit ever. It was nice to be treated like the same kind of high class connoisseur that would normally frequent a shop like this, kid in tow even.


Now, I actually can go back. I don’t know whatever for. It isn’t me to fingerprint up things I could never actually procure. But I guess I could go dream some more.

So, how’s about y’all? Ever been traveling and come across a shop you’ll never get to see again but you wish you could?
What was the best visit you had that didn’t end in a purchase?

I need some good stories! We may need to reminisce a bit here!

https://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/search?IncludeSellers=594178

I took a second to find this. At first blush there isn’t any of the wonderful rifles I saw back then. But there is a reasonable sample. A p-38, a numbers matching Luger, a government marked M-12 for 16k.
But if anyone grabs the 50 year commemorative Ruger Mark II, I will end you.

See you tomorrow when I get back from GR!

 

[CapnMac]

Those were the shops I frequented, back in the day.

Not so much gleaming tile and fancy cases, as old rustic barn cedar lank walls, and clearly second-hand display cases. A central wooden post with a 60-70" racked moose upon it (a 16' tall fibreglass moose on the roof, too ). And old iron stove (not connected, not much needed in Central Texas) to gather the regulars around. Inside the cases--marvels. Racked on the walls, more marvels (like a minty K-31 rifle).

Was another store, wedged into a strip shopping center, ever so vanilla white and bland. But, the glamor was the stock. Opened in '93, so square in the glory days of milsurps. At least on or more of the three owners would drive the gun show circuit finding treasures, several of which came home with me.

Ah, if only the way-back machine were real . . . (even for the potental temporal paradox of taking 15 y/o whisky back to before it was distilled )

 

[buck460XVR]

Back in the 60's and 70's, every hardware store you went into had a good sized gun/ammo dept. Most had a barrel somewhere with Military Surplus guns in 'em. A lot of gas stations sold ammo. Now, I go "wow" whenever I walk into a LGS and see ammo/reloading components on the shelves.

 

[redneck2]

Used to have Fetla’s in Valparaiso, IN. it was the old Army surplus, general store, hardware store, gun shop, grocery store, clothing. They literally had shotguns displayed on the wall above the milk cooler. They had the bins piled with all kinds of odd bits. Everyone would rummage through hoping to find that odd item that somehow had been overlooked by everyone else. They had old Browning and Weatherby guns that were way overpriced simply as a draw to bring buyers from long distances.

Our small town implement dealer and hardware store also had guns.

 

[hso]

“Has there ever been a Local-Smalltown Gun Shop that you’ve visited that has wowed you, but you’ve never gotten a chance to go back?”

Yep

Near the airport in Oklahoma City. WOW, what a collection of Colts! Sigh.

 

[red rick]

We had a little small LGS that barely 6 people could walk around in . They had the best prices , inventory and service around . Gander Mountain closed a new location that they built only 2 miles from the little LGS . They couldn’t complete with the LGS and didn’t last long before they closed . The little LGS moved into that big building and the customer service and prices have both gone downhill since . It makes me not minding buying from internet stores now . The last time that I bought a gun there ( about 10 months ago ) I almost walked out the service was so bad and I went in there knowing what I wanted and that they had it in stock .

 

[Scout21]

There's an old school shop about an hour and a half away from where I used to live. I've only been there once, and I'd love to go back. The only problem is that I can't remember where the heck it is. I'd never been through the area before and so I didn't know it well. I've searched Google endlessly to no avail and nobody seems to know which one I'm talking about when I ask about it. I'd conclude that I dreamed about it if it weren't for having a buddy with me who can corroborate that it was a real place. The owner had Garands galore on display; a whole wall full of 'em. Even had an old Johnson rifle in his personal collection that he let me put my grubby fingers on. Really cool dude!

 

[Speedo66]

Abercrombie & Fitch, the high end sporting goods purveyor, not the ersatz clothing brand, had an 8 or 9 story building on Madison Ave. in Manhattan that took up most of the entire block. Abercrombie had originally opened a sporting goods store in NY in 1892, Fitch joined later. Hemingway and Teddy Roosevelt were customers. They could outfit you with everything you needed, from a South Sea voyage, to an African safari, to an arctic journey of exploration, and often did.

Two 13 or 14 year old ragamuffins, myself and my cousin, would take two buses and a train to get down there from an outer borough to visit the store, and especially the gun floor, an entire floor of just guns. We were always treated like we were wealthy sportsman wearing fancy suits, Sir this and sir that. The first time an elevator operator asked "what floor, sir", I looked around to see if someone else had gotten in while I wasn't looking. "You mean me"?

The gun floor had open racks of custom guns lined up, everything from fancy target .22's to high end British double rifles. Their onsite gunsmiths were Griffin & Howe. We would ask if we could pick some up and were always told yes.

Amazing store, sadly I was never able to afford a gun there before they closed in 1977. I still lament their closing to this day.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

On old 101 going into Petaluma from the north was Anderson's Gunsmithing.It had a big carved rifle hanging on the front of the building and Mr Anderson sold guns and was also a Gunsmith. The place was small and smelled of pipe smoke and linseed oil. Bought my first gun, a 22 rifle, from him and later a shotgun.Sometime in the mid-70's while home on leave from the Navy, I dropped in to say hello.
Long gone now but it would be nice to go back in time to say "Hello" again...

 

[Jeff62]

Cornwell Arms Pine Bluff Arkansas in the 1980’s. Mr. Jim Cornwell was my older mentor/friend. I still have the Sako Finnbear he sold me. He heavily discounted the rifle because he knew I wanted badly. I remember Mr. Jim every time I see that rifle.

 

[Jim Watson]

I wasted time from my studies at Georgia Tech hanging around Atlanta gun stores. Sad to say, I do not recall the names of the friendlier places, just the higher end shop, Dean's.
At home, there were Aeromarine Supply and Birmingham Loan.

Anecdote Alert:
Birmingham Loan was a pawn shop but with a large part of its business in guns, new, used, and out of pawn, plus a reasonable selection of reloading gear for the day.
It was owned by a man named Cooley and operated by him and an elderly clerk. He did not seem to trust the clerk, because every time the clerk made a sale, he would call out "Cash, Mr Cooley" and the boss would take the money to the till. Turned out that the old clerk was his Father.

 

[Jimbo80]

I’ve been to a ton of LGS that wowed me but can’t think of one that I haven’t been back to. Those are the type of shops I make it a point to revisit.

 

[rust collector]

I remember, but only dimly, a tiny shed off an alley down by the river, where we would buy bait. Dad would take me there once in awhile to look at the small selection of mostly used guns. The proprietor went by OM Brancel, and was a grizzled old guy that lived in the main house but often napped in the back room. Hoppes #9, minnow tank and sweeping compound aromas often trigger memories of that little old shack with outboard motors clamped to boards on the trees, where time meant nothing and a kid could marvel at the old Winchester and Remington posters on the knotty pine walls, a few old deer mounts, and the wooden fishing lures in the cases. It was nothing fancy, but we were always welcome. When I discovered Corey Ford's writings about the Lower 40, I wondered if he might have met OM Brancel once upon a time.

 

[Demi-human]

Now that’s what I’m talking about, @rust collector .

Those are the type of shops I make it a point to revisit.

Oh, I definitely would, if only to visit.
One of his other wares is a $7,000 Engraved Python…
Just another one I can barely afford to look at, let alone fondle!


Once I was sent to Beulah, to retrieve a load of steel panels from an Amish family manufacturer. It was quite the sight to see a load of modern steel raised to the truck with horses and tackle.
Another perk was stopping in a shop I saw on the way through.
I stopped the full trailer on the road and walked up to a house, whose garage had been turned into a small little storefront. Full was not the word. Rat-packed may have been. If you needed it, it was there. Somewhere. Mostly oldletimey looking, yet new and dust free tackle, but several old traps, a pigeon thrower, waders of all sizes and degrees of dust coverage. And fabric, for making duck blinds. Bolts of camouflage grass, some tan, many newer mossy oak breakups swampy bottoms whatever.
I can’t remember the brand, but the yellow and green label, camping supply company? Campo? Their entire line, on one shelf. Mostly. Yikes.
I side-shuffled to the single case in this single stall garage. In it were a few used revolvers and a box of 38Spc. Also in there was another one of my weaknesses. A Ruger MKII.
Perhaps why I remember it.
An unremarkable man smiled a hello. I asked if he had anything else hanging about.

“Just those.” He replied, pointing behind me.

I had to laugh a bit when I turned around to realize in this ten by fourteen room I didn’t see a floor to ceiling rack of every double barrel Browning shotgun made in that year. Man they were gorgeous! What can I say, I like gold.
There must have been two dozen Citoris, Cynergys and a couple of A5s sitting there. One Maxxus, and another one that had a single barrel. That one was expensive. Must be like diet food, pay more to get half the amount of barrels…

I looked for a few minutes before he asked if I wanted to, you know, actually see one. I declined as I wasn’t Looking for a shotgun, but knew a group of good ones when I saw it. When I told him I was kind of looking for a rifle to futz with he looked disappointed.

“I can sell these nice shotguns to the farmers around here every five years or so. But no one wants a rifle or a pistol. Deer every year and all without a rifle.” And he shrugged.

At least they have him! A foolish man would stock something else!

So there you have it. Another shop I wish I could patron. With all this talk of places going down hill, it’s nice to think of, and patronize if one is able, the shops that don’t suck.

 

[Riomouse911]

There were two shops that I frequently went to, but haven’t been inside in quite a while.

The first was Bucksport Sporting Goods in Eureka, Ca. Hunting, shooting, fishing, crabbing. Alan and Greg Rice had it all. Best part is they were nice people who didn’t chase off or talk down to a scrawny college geek who loved to look at guns and stuff. (I bought my first two handguns there. One, an Iver Johnson TP-22, I still have 34 years later.)

The second gun store was called Jerry Berman & Sons. It was a little brick building in the yard between a residence and chicken coops on 4th street in San Bernardino,Ca. That shop was like the one described above; about a 15x25 foot bunker with a U shaped pistol counter in the middle and ammo and guns on three walls that you could walk right up to and touch. It was the only place where ammo for just about every caliber from 17 Mach II to 505 Gibbs was on the shelves, pounds of powder was in stock and some very, very nice Brownings, Winchesters and other nice guns graced the racks. Like at Bucksport, I always felt welcome when I walked through the door.

I bought lots of ammo, some powder and a S&W handgun there, too. These folks closed up shop and moved to Arizona.

These are the shops I never forgot. Maybe someday I will find another one I can’t forget.

Stay safe.

 

[hemiram]

There was a place in Toledo, Ohio that had a ton of Dan Wesson guns in the early 80's. I don't remember the name, but it was a father and son place. Lots of parts, but it was expensive. A place in Vegas called El Cid was pretty loaded up a couple of years before. I bought a DW15-2 from him about 1979.

 

[lightman]

Cornwell Arms Pine Bluff Arkansas in the 1980’s. Mr. Jim Cornwell was my older mentor/friend. I still have the Sako Finnbear he sold me. He heavily discounted the rifle because he knew I wanted badly. I remember Mr. Jim every time I see that rifle.

I had forgot about that one. It was between the Sears store and the Telephone company if I remember correctly. A couple of my shooting buddies bought quite a bit of his tooling and reloading stuff after he closed.

But I only wish I could go back to some of those old shops. The smell of gun oil, Cosmoline, old canvas, leather, Hoppes.....................um!

 

[JohnKSa]

There was a little pawn shop I used to visit. Neither the shop nor the firearm stock were unusual, only the deals. The guy quit selling firearms and then finally went out of business. I miss that place.

 

[Mark_Mark]

back in the days. Ed’s Gun Shop off US1 near Pinehurst North Carolina.

Great Prices, NEVER an attitude, don’t see it -they can get it and at a discount price!

 

[Armored farmer]

Oh great stuff!
Now I must tell you about our hometown gunshop.
It was owned by a surly old man that had lost most of his hand to a corn picker. Hus name was Fuller...everone called him Fud. His son actually ran the store. He was going to med school when WW2 broke out and he enlisted. He never returned to school after the war. He was called Fuddie.
The shop had a soda counter where you could buy milkshakes, soda, hot dogs, chips etc. Further back was the gun shop.
The family had some money and owned a big farm, so the shelves were all stocked well. Browning, Winchester Ruger Marlin. Fuddie and my dad were friends and shot trap together. Everyone knew fuddie and if you wanted a gun....this was the place. He had a huge rack of used guns. He sold Buck knives. Every young man's right of passage when he got into high school was to go into Fud's and buy a Buck 110 and sheath.
The back of the store...through swinging doors was four pool tables.. it was dark and smoky back there. When your parents told you to 'stay out of the pool hall"....this was the place they were talking about!. Fuddie was a rough old Cob. I have seen him escort more than one tough guy out the front door. Everyone knew he carried a gun usually a 1911.
Most of the guns of my youth came from Fud's...it was located on the square in Newton Illinois.

Fud bought, sold, and traded all kinds of guns until about 1980 when the ATF started getting serious about paperwork and records and such...fuddie wasn't much into that as you can imagine...a rough old vet. His health was catching up to him ..probably all the cartons of cigarettes he smoked. (Fuds also sold cigarettes). The ATF was hounding him...Everyone knew it....the store would be closed for weeks at a time. Then came the day the ATF raided Fuddies shop and found two Tommy guns.....yeah the auto kind. That was about it for Fud's. He got in serious trouble over that. He didn't go to prison but there was talk. The shop closed for good.
Too bad...it was a favorite hangout for my dad and me.
Yes, I wish I could go back to that smoky gunshop/pool room one more time!

 

[roval]

there's s a shop in Albuquerque called Los Ranchos that has a lot of old stuff that i would like to look over but i can't stand being inside. seems everybody working there smokes inside the store and as a non smoker, i get enough second hand smoke where my heart rate starts racing and i get slightly dizzy after a few minutes.

 

[WheelBear]

@rust collector - shades of Robert Rurark there.

 

[grampster]

LGS from the OP . I've been to Bachelders a number of times over the years. Best reputation for gunsmithing around town...at least several years ago when I needed his talents.