The good ol days of 1959...

I was only 7 years old when that was published in 1959. I lived by Ft Bragg . I had all kinds of Army gear. No guns though, but lots of blanks in 30 06 and those old zinc wash tubs full of 45 ACP to play with. My dad had the contract to haul the garbage at Ft Bragg and some of that stuff came home in the trucks.

I have a Klein's catalog from the late 1950s. I have spent many an hour pipe dream ordering firearms/ammunition with my 2019 salary. Lots of fun. And you don't end up spending a penny.

Summer of '64 I worked 50 hours a week (Mon-fri 10 hour days) for 30 cents an hour in tobacco fields or barns.

I thought I was doing great for a kid as Dad in 1960 had been working 55 hour weeks at $45 a week.

I fired a Johnson the last time in about 1990 and the guy that let me shoot it said the previous owner had bought it as a 7x57 mm Mauser caliber and changed the barrel for a .30-06 but could not recall what had become of the 7mm barrel.

-kBob

1919a4,

re weird gas operated revolver auto.

I think it is in that catalog and I did have it and have spent some time looking. I will try to keep a look out for it

No doubt I had the catalog out day dreaming and failed to return it properly to the stacks....

-kBob

My uncle used to give my father his read issues of The American Rifleman in the '58 to '60 era, and I would study them diligently.

I couldn't yet read, but I would look at the pictures, and I got a scrapbook that I would fill with my favorite photos from the magazines. I do remember really liking the antique weapons, especially the ones that were heavily engraved.

Wish I still had that old scrapbook.......

kBob said:

1919a4,

re weird gas operated revolver auto.

I think it is in that catalog and I did have it and have spent some time looking. I will try to keep a look out for it

No doubt I had the catalog out day dreaming and failed to return it properly to the stacks....

-kBob

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Hey kbob, please do not go out of your way. I SOOOOOOO thank you for the time you spent.. and you know it makes sense this is a one of a kind item.. they would not have placed in a circular ad where they are hoping to sell 100s of items at a time .. Great insite..

sparkyfender said:

I couldn't yet read, but I would look at the pictures.

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There were words in them??? Well I'll be danged.. never noticed either.. Next you will say something the had stories in my uncles Playboys.

One of my most eye opening experiences as a youth was working for an Uncle that was the Mr. Clean of the Family, a Deacon in his church, and held up by other older family members as a shining example of all that should. He had me rearranging a storage room and in a back corner among other sturdy legal boxes was the first four years of Playboy Magazine.

Popular science and Popular Mechanics from the late 1950's sometimes featured adds for "Deactivated" Sub machine guns …...one could imagine one's self going into the city in one's Flying Car, Strapping on one's flying back pack, and hefting one's SMG to fight crime with in a way that made Batman look a Piker.

I have suggested to NRA that they do like National Geographic and offer all their back issues on CD's but no joy

What used to frighten me about National Geographic in the 1960's was finding the latest issue next to Dad's chair with a page in the ad section devoted to Boy's Military schools dog eared!

-kBob

popular mechanics of the 50s & 60s made alot of promised that I am still waiting for..

indy1919a4 said:

popular mechanics of the 50s & 60s made alot of promised that I am still waiting for..

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It might have been Popular Science but one of the "popular" genre magazines in the late fifties once predicted that scientists would come up with an edible tape that would hold incongruous sandwiches together and keep them from falling apart at every bite. The "tape" could be neutral in taste or be flavored (onion, garlic, pepperoni, etc.).
Still sounds like a good idea to me and a lot cheaper and more practical than flying cars.

Swamp Wolf,
I will stick to bacon and tooth picks.

-kBob

kBob said:

Swamp Wolf,
I will stick to bacon and tooth picks.

-kBob

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Bacon is food duct tape...

I'd like one of them PTRS 14.5 x 114 anti tank rifles please. Here's a $100, keep the change. Joe

Adjusted for inflation a 1959 dollar had the buying power of $8.59 in 2019 dollars.

Most military Johnson 1941 rifles were .30-06 Springfield or 7x57mm Mauser. Why a Johnson rifle in .270?
Pure speculation.
(a) Post-WWII the .270 was the latest fad in U.S. hunting circles.
(b) A Johnson rifle in .30-06 or 7mm would be illegal for civilian sales in Mexico, but .270 was a non-military caliber and OK for civilian ownership there.

I

Post #7 "... one of a kind automatic revolver ..."
Search Google for image match
https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/62/1589/unique-experimental-semiautomatic-pistol
Rock Island Auction
Lot 1589: Unique Experimental Semi-Automatic Pistol
Sold for $2,875
CNB summary: The "cylinder" is described as a rotary magazine like the Mannlicher bolt action rifles. The pistol is an unlocked blow-back self- or auto-loading action, the barrel and bolt/slide assembly recoil together, the fallen hammer and its mainspring are used for resistance but the hammer must be manually recocked to fire the gun (kinda like the Spencer lever action rifle). This mystery gun is "... pictured on page 192 of the "World's Guns" catalog from Golden State Arms, circa 1958, the catalog lists it as being "of unknown origin"."

And as the Wizard of Oz told Dorothy: "I don't know how it works! Good-bye, folks!"

Carl N. Brown said:

Post #7 "... one of a kind automatic revolver ..."
Search Google for image match
https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/62/1589/unique-experimental-semiautomatic-pistol
Rock Island Auction
Lot 1589: Unique Experimental Semi-Automatic Pistol
Sold for $2,875
CNB summary: The "cylinder" is described as a rotary magazine like the Mannlicher bolt action rifles. The pistol is an unlocked blow-back self- or auto-loading action, the barrel and bolt/slide assembly recoil together, the fallen hammer and its mainspring are used for resistance but the hammer must be manually recocked to fire the gun (kinda like the Spencer lever action rifle). This mystery gun is "... pictured on page 192 of the "World's Guns" catalog from Golden State Arms, circa 1958, the catalog lists it as being "of unknown origin"."

And as the Wizard of Oz told Dorothy: "I don't know how it works! Good-bye, folks!"

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Fantastic, so like kbob theorized it was golden states catalog.. Wow that was a pretty nice catalog at 192 pages and counting...

Many thanks

I wonder what happened to those cannon. And could you fire them legally with solid shot? Purchased where?

The cannon I believe could be registered as destructive devices under one of ATF's amnesty periods. Or permanently deactivated. Or transferred to a museum.

That 25mm 1934 Hotchkiss anti-tank gun weighed 1,058 pounds. I wonder what the shipping and handlingcost would have been?



(Aside: Larry Ruth who wrote several books on the M1 Carbine found that a certain few of the firms that advertised military surplus guns post-WWII up to the 1968 GCA did not want to talk to researchers like him. Ruth was informed that those were CIA fronts who may have presented DEWAT samples to ATF and may have advertised in magazines, but their main purpose was to take military surplus off the international end-user certificate system and clandestinely supply them to groups supported by CIA (to be clear, Central Intelligence Agency, not Century International Arms).)

indy1919a4 said:

Hey do you have a 1958 Golden State ad there they were showing a one of a kind automatic revolver ??

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-I believe that I have a copy of the 1958 GSA catalog at home. I'll see if I can find it.

-And one of those 25mm Hotchkiss A/T guns sat in the middle of the toy aisle of the Import Plaza store in downtown Portland, Oregon for decades. No breech block or sights, tires were flat and markings were in Italian.
I really liked to play with that old relic.

theotherwaldo said:

-I believe that I have a copy of the 1958 GSA catalog at home. I'll see if I can find it.

-And one of those 25mm Hotchkiss A/T guns sat in the middle of the toy aisle of the Import Plaza store in downtown Portland, Oregon for decades. No breech block or sights, tires were flat and markings were in Italian.
I really liked to play with that old relic.

Click to expand...

Many thanks for looking....

Per the cannon.. God I love those days when you as a kid and play on a tank of a field piece and all that would happen is the Janitor may come out and yell... Hey you kids get out of here... Now good chance of you getting expelled from school and ending up in doctors office explaining why you should be hating your father... Thanks for sharing...

I remember back in high school in the early 60's, siting in study hall paging threw back issues of American rifleman and seeing those ads. A local hardware store had cases of surplus K98's and 303 British, 29.95. Pick out one out of the grease LOL. hdbiker

LOL! 25 mm cannon, and a 50 mm mortar. I'll take 4 cannons and 10 mortar cannons please.

You can still get a pretty nice little mortar right now from Vega Ballistics..
Now you will have to get a Destructive Device license.. But it is a piece of paper that is obtainable with nominal work..