"Cereal box" rifle?

[PantherHead]

I'm not old enough to have lived through that awesomeness. Having C&R license is as close as I'll ever get to that.

 

[wundudnee]

I bought a WWll model 12 riot gun Winchester from Montgomery Wards in 1954 for $55.00.

In addition to rifles from selling products there were also adds that said "Win a pony. I never heard of anyone selling enough salve, seed, or cards to get that pony.

 

[Kaeto]

I bought a WWll model 12 riot gun Winchester from Montgomery Wards in 1954 for $55.00.

In addition to rifles from selling products there were also adds that said "Win a pony. I never heard of anyone selling enough salve, seed, or cards to get that pony.

When I was a kid I won a pony (1/2 Shetland, 1/2 Palomino ) from the Western Store in Clarksville Tenn. I named her Buttermilk because she was that color.

 

[Officers'Wife]

When I was a kid I won a pony (1/2 Shetland, 1/2 Palomino ) from the Western Store in Clarksville Tenn. I named her Buttermilk because she was that color.

I won a Hereford calf once, six shots from a 32-20 revolver through the center of an ace of spades @ 33.3 yards. I named her 04181999001, she was delicious.

 

[aarondhgraham]

Band Candy prizes,,,

One kid in my high school band sold enough candy to win a .22 rifle,,,
It was not a famous well known brand of any ilk,,,
But hey, it was a real firing rifle.

The amazing thing by our modern perspective is this,,,
He received his rifle in band class when they handed out the other prizes.

He just put the rifle in his locker for the day,,,
And rode home with it on the school bus.

Life was so much simpler back in the 60's.

Aarond

.

 

[PJSprog]

Yea, you could look at them and order out of the Montgomery Ward or Sears catalog.

Yup. Back in the '50s, my mother bought a Marlin 12g bolt action from the Sears catalog as an anniversary gift for my father.
(still some very bad feelings in the family over where that shotgun ended up :banghead

 

[CB900F]

Hammer;

In 1962 I ordered my first gun from FinneySports, a catalog out of Ohio. My dad got the catalog, because of his fishing addiction. But they also had guns in it! And I wanted one soooooooo bad! Had a helluva time making up my mind, but finally went ahead and sent off the order for a Marlin 57 "Levermatic" .22. About a week after I did that, I realized that if it came on a Saturday, I was not gonna ever be able to sit down again! The parental units did not know of, nor would they have authorized, the transaction. The odds broke in my favor, it came on a weekday, and I smuggled it into the domicile without consequence. I think I paid something like $35.00 (shipping included) healthy and robust 1962 dollars for it.

Do I still have it? Oh hill no! Youth and stupidity intervened you see. But it did get replaced and there's no big regrets either. Growing up used to be fun and an adventure. Which means that we didn't sucessfully kill ourselves regardless of how hard we tried. Riding down the mountain on the bike with no brakes is another story.

900F

 

[Ron James]

Double, double toil and trouble

 

[Ron James]

They even put these Hamilton and Hoban rifles in odd bags of cattle feed to entice the famers to spend their money ( I believe Hoban was either a relative or a employee of Hamilton who took over in 1940, when Hamilton died ). Yes, you could get these inexpensive little rifles for coupons, for selling a certain amount of flower seeds, and Cloverine Salve. They were a give-a-way thing. The back page of every comic book had these ads. BTW Hamilton invented a all metal air gun which he sold the rights to when he started his rifle co. The all metal air gun of course was the Daisy.

 

[popper]

Salmoneye - There is another version of that song. Flying upside down with your nose to the ground. Comic books had as for $15 Egyptian rolling block rifles, odd cal. HW stores had barrels of old Springfields. We've come backwards a long way.

 

[captain awesome]

sigh. wish I could have lived during those days. At least all I have to do is drive a couple miles, pay 10 bucks and fill out a form.....for now.

 

[CajunBass]

My first couple of guns came from Sears-Roebuck & Company (both of the shotguns I own today are "Sears" brand). My mother called the catalog order department, ordered them from the catalog, and in a couple of days they were delivered to the house by the "Sears man."

We got "Top Value" stamps. Never got a gun with them, but did get a lot of fishing tackle and camping gear.

 

[Officers'Wife]

I'm still trying to imagine the idea of being able to order a rifle or shotgun through the mail much less getting one as a prize at school and taking it home on the bus.

 

[PJSprog]

I ordered my 1895 Chilean Mauser 7x57 from Sportsman's Guide back in the mid 1990s. UPS delivered it to my door ... because it only just escaped the '96 cutoff. That's as close as I could come to mail order firearms.

 

[Hammer059]

Thanks for all the stories, guys! This is by far the most interesting thread I've ever created.

Sharing some of your stories has led to long discussions with my Dad, Uncle, Grandfather-in-law, and Great-grandpa. It brought back some great memories for them and got them to share some stories of their own.

I've gotten some good history lessons out of this and it has been very enlightening. My friend and I got some good laughs out of discussing what some people's reactions would be nowadays if some of this stuff was still allowed. Good thing the Government knows what's best for us… (sarcasm)

Thanks again, this thread has been awesome and as close as I'll ever get to experiencing the glory days of buying rifles from magazines!

 

[olafhardtB]

cereal box guns

I wanted to try out the little top break revolvers so I bought an H&R Premier 32 S&W off the internet. My wife took one look at it and said, "My grandmother had a gun like that and she kept it in an oatmeal box. One day she shot 5 cats with it." From that day until this I have referred to little top breaks as" oatmeal box guns."

 

[CajunBass]

An old magazine add, probably from the 20's showing a cowboy defending the ranch from a gang of what I take to be rustlers using a Thompson submachine gun. Note at the bottom the add indicates that information and prices are available upon request. And they could be mail ordered back then too. In this case, I'm sure they would just ship it straight to the customer.

http://www.nfatoys.com/tsmg/images/cowboy.gif

Do a search for "mail order machine gun adds." Or just "mail order guns" really.Interesting stuff.

Oh...check out this one for a 55 cal, anti-tank rifle. If ordered COD, you needed 25% down.

http://ak-hdl.buzzfed.com/static/en.../15/enhanced-buzz-wide-11172-1369509913-5.jpg

 

[tcoz]

My dad used to take a cardboard box and fill it with lined up folded newspapers so I could shoot my BB gun in the basement. Then we moved on to a bigger box and my .22 rifle, but I could only shoot it (in the house) when he was there with me. I was about eight years old, late 1950's.

 

[alexander45]

Love this thread there are some really great stories here, think the only thing I ever seen in a giveaway like that is a off brand cd player, if there were giving away a Lil 22lr rifle I think I would have been much more involved in school fund raisers.

 

[Oldman11]

Father gave me my first pistol,a H&R top break.22, at nine.we lived on a 400 acre farm so I had plenty of places to shoot. Ordered a British enfield mail order at about 14 with about 200 rds .303 ammo. I also remember carrying my dads model 12 on school bus and dropping it off at my grandmothers so I could squirrel hunt after school. Do that now. I have never been arrested,never been in trouble in my 72 yrs.

 

[Ryanxia]

Some great stories guys, thanks for sharing!

That's why it's so important for us to keep vigilant when it comes to always upcoming gun Bills, I sure as heck don't want to be looking back on this current situation as the days of Freedom. With hard work of writing representatives and voting we can get this country in better shape in time for the next generation to carry on the fight. We've already accomplished a lot over the last 2-1/2 years.

 

[another pake]

Mid 60's, before I got drafted. Chicago of all places. I bought my first rifle at a Sears. A model 94 Winnie. I was younger than you need to be to buy ammo now. Right at 100 bucks out the door. No waiting, no adult sig, just, "have fun."

 

[Midwest]

Here some mail order guns from July 1960

 

[deputy tom]

While not cereal box guns, Hamilton Soap Company gave away .22 single shot rifles as prizes for kids selling their soap door to door. These were in the Boy's Rifle group and much sought after by collectors. tom.