Strykervet
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Yeah, but they were nicer too. Nobody was looking under tables for the junk boxes yet.
The Good Old Mail Order Days
- Thread starter Clermont
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I believe the prices of mail order military surplus firearms in the 1960s were bargains, regardless of one's earnings, when compared to buying a commercially manufactured firearm. In 1960, I purchased a Number 4 British .303 Short Magazine Lee Enfield(SMLE) for $19.95. The following year, I purchased a discounted new Winchester Model 70 standard rifle in 30-06 for $101.00. In 1964 or 65, I purchased an unfired 8 mm Iranian Mauser carbine for $50.00. The military rifles being a fraction of the cost of the Winchester Model 70.
Cluster Bomb
Member
every time i see ads like this, i think to my self. I wish i had a time machine. lol.
but you need to remember. People didnt make alot of money then. Things wer cheaper in retrospect than many things are now.
but you need to remember. People didnt make alot of money then. Things wer cheaper in retrospect than many things are now.
Ingsoc75
Member
What? No AK/SKS rifles????? 
The first two page, side by side, advertisement for Hunters Lodge appeared in the December 1960 American Rifleman.
Winfield Arms' advertisement was from the January 1960 American Rifleman.
N.F. Strebe's advertisement appeared in the December 1960 American Rifleman.
Klein's advertisement came out of the January 1960 American Rifleman. I believe Lee Harvey Oswald purchased mail order, from Klein's, the Mannlicher Carcano used in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963.
Winfield Arms' advertisement was from the January 1960 American Rifleman.
N.F. Strebe's advertisement appeared in the December 1960 American Rifleman.
Klein's advertisement came out of the January 1960 American Rifleman. I believe Lee Harvey Oswald purchased mail order, from Klein's, the Mannlicher Carcano used in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963.
Batty67
Member
Great thread, I'd love to have several USGI M1 carbines in excellent shape for those prices, adjusted for inflation and they'd still be 50% or so cheaper than they go for these days.
351 WINCHESTER
Member
Those were the days. When I started working full time I was bringing home just north of $100. a week in 1969 which wasn't bad considering I was still living with my partents. You could buy a brand new corolla for less than 2K, gas was 19 cents, krystal burgers were 10 cents.
Perforate
Member
This is totally awesome! It must have been great to live back then!
Reminds me of the ads for this one Philly Gun Shop in the last issues of The Bulletin except instead of cheap surplus...full auto. Looking over that as a kid (who grew up in a no gun house hold)...it was like looking at the coolest thing ever.
wally
Member
Did I read it right? 20 rounds of 7.62x39 for $5
A Johnson .30-'06 for $60!!!! these have done way better than inflation!
A Johnson .30-'06 for $60!!!! these have done way better than inflation!
mdauben
Member
Cool! Its loads of fun browsing those old ads. I can vaguely remember seeing those sorts of things back when I was a pre-GCA kid.
Kind of makes me sad. lolCool! Its loads of fun browsing those old ads. I can vaguely remember seeing those sorts of things back when I was a pre-GCA kid.
Clermont thanks for posting these!
I guess with C&R this kind of lives on.
kimbershot
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full size autos--top line pontiacs, buicks--less than 4k. corvettes--5-6k. my only regrets are that i woulda, coulda, shoulda got a tommy gun:banghead:-oh well
BullfrogKen
Moderator Emeritus
Very cool ads.
Considering that one can buy one box of 20 rounds of Wolf for $5.99 today (on sale) . . . those are some pretty expensive AK rounds "back in the day".
See, the things is that with a lot of these old surplus guns, you couldn't get ammo for them, and the rifle reflected that price. So . . . imagine I offered a big batch of surplus K31 Swiss rifles in 7.5 x 55 for $150.00. And . . . reloading is not as common as it is today. The tools needed easily exceed the cost of the rifle.
Is it still a great bargain?
That's the situation many of these surplus rifles sold in. The ammo was of foreign manufacture, and supply was unreliable. The cost to buy tools to reload it was prohibitive. Say . . . $120.00 to buy the dies for it. And you still needed to come up with the brass.
It's not hard to see why some of these rifles sold for such a "bargain". For all practical purposes they were not being bought as shooters, except for the rare few who reloaded and would shoot them enough to justify buying dies that cost just as much as the rifle.
Given a choice between living then and living now, I'll choose now thank you very much.
wally said:
Considering that one can buy one box of 20 rounds of Wolf for $5.99 today (on sale) . . . those are some pretty expensive AK rounds "back in the day".
See, the things is that with a lot of these old surplus guns, you couldn't get ammo for them, and the rifle reflected that price. So . . . imagine I offered a big batch of surplus K31 Swiss rifles in 7.5 x 55 for $150.00. And . . . reloading is not as common as it is today. The tools needed easily exceed the cost of the rifle.
Is it still a great bargain?
That's the situation many of these surplus rifles sold in. The ammo was of foreign manufacture, and supply was unreliable. The cost to buy tools to reload it was prohibitive. Say . . . $120.00 to buy the dies for it. And you still needed to come up with the brass.
It's not hard to see why some of these rifles sold for such a "bargain". For all practical purposes they were not being bought as shooters, except for the rare few who reloaded and would shoot them enough to justify buying dies that cost just as much as the rifle.
Given a choice between living then and living now, I'll choose now thank you very much.
Deltaboy1984
Member
It saddens me that we can't still do this today.
I got one of those "NRA Good" condition $59 Walther P-38 pistols from that Hunter's Lodge ad just before the GCA of 1968 closed down mail-order sales. It functioned okay, and had the WWII Mauser manufacturers' markings, but the barrel was almost shot smooth, and it shot 18" groups at 25 yards. I sold it a couple of years later for $100, and didn't get another Walther until just a couple of years ago when the German police turn-ins started showing up. My new one is in considerably better shape, with sharp rifling, and came with two spare mags and a police holster for about $300. Comparatively speaking, I think my new one was the better deal, and it keeps everything in about 4" at 25 yards.
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