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  • Reloader

    Ultimate Member
    Oct 23, 2007
    1,381
    Arnold, MD
    And for another buck each for the gas tank, 3 or 4 kids were riding all night long.

    The gas pumps started selling by the half gallon during Carter because they were never capable of over 99 cents a gallon
     

    teratos

    My hair is amazing
    MDS Supporter
    Patriot Picket
    Jan 22, 2009
    59,775
    Bel Air
    I worked at Woolworth in Bel Air in the mid 80’s. We sold Garands for $99 and M1 Carbines for $89. I could have gotten an employee discount if I were old enough.
     

    Huck Hound

    Member
    Mar 8, 2020
    84
    Back in the early 70s, there were not one, but two gunshops in the Iverson Mall in Prince Georges County. I remember riding my bike up there just drool over the guns at the Montgomery Wards gun department and the Marvin's Sports City. At MW, the gun dept was under the escalator on the first floor. And there were still a few guns at the Western Auto, not more than about 400 yds away in the Marlow Heights Shopping Center.

    JoeR

    I'm the OP and that Western Auto is where we bought the marlin 30.30.
     

    Huck Hound

    Member
    Mar 8, 2020
    84
    Last edited:

    Dave M

    Active Member
    Jan 27, 2013
    362
    Pa.
    Western auto. The good old days. My dad had a loaded 22 pistol in the clove box a lot. Even when going to work. What did happen. Maybe people not voting, (thinking we will always be free and have our freedoms) schools not teaching, (especially history) parents not parenting.
     

    Huck Hound

    Member
    Mar 8, 2020
    84
    Sears, KMart, J.C. Penney's, and Montgomery Wards continued selling guns in their WV stores until the mid-1980s. For about 3 years, you could buy a gun at the mall downtown in Charleston WV from any one of three anchor stores (Sears, J.C. Penney's, and Monkey Wards) that had a firearms counter. I feel like KMart stuck in there a little longer, but not by much.

    As to what happened? Hippies and Yuppies. Stores changed their offerings to reflect the desires of those wielding the most money at the time. Sales at gun counters slowed, it didn't make sense for large corporations to continue paying for so many licenses, so they closed them down and replaced them with expanded sporting goods sections with more home exercise equipment or whatever the fad of the day was. By the early 1980s, former hippies were firmly entrenched in the middle class and the latter half of the boomer generation were climbing up the corporate ladder quickly. They had the money, their folks hadn't passed on the hunting and shooting traditions as much, or they shied away from guns for social reasons, and that was it.


    What I noticed is that every time a mass shooting would happened the news media jumped on it and more stores stopped selling guns.
     

    toppkatt

    Ultimate Member
    Apr 22, 2017
    1,185
    I still have a few boxes of .45-70 with a price tag of $7.95. They have since been reloaded, but the price sticker is still there.:D
     

    Huck Hound

    Member
    Mar 8, 2020
    84
    During a summer break from school I worked at the local Monkey Wards. I drooled over the Marlin 39 and S&W Model 52 they had...and they sat all summer and were still there when I left for school.

    After graduation I worked for JC Penney for six years. I bought a Remington Nylon 66 and a Remington 870 Wingmaster there...still have both.

    As far as Penney's goes...the corporate masters decided to have a major image upgrade...it was referred to as "Fashion Project"...all hard lines (lawn and garden, tools, tires and accessories, sporting goods) were all done away with as they didn't fit the image of what upper management wanted. To be honest...Penney's was a soft lines company historically and I don't believe their old-line buyers and managers had a clue about how to compete in those markets. They went back to what they knew...clothing, sheets and towels and the like.

    I have a 1946 issue of the Marlin 39A now. In mint condition. I paid $125 for it in the 80s from a private seller. They are selling now from $500 to about $1200 depending on the condition.
     

    JoeRinMD

    Rifleman
    Jul 18, 2008
    2,014
    AA County
    In the DC, Md area the first Membership box store I remember was call GEM, in the early mid 60s maybe even before then. It was on Chillum road in Queenstown section of Hyattsville next to the bowling ally, Drive in Theater and the Mighty Mo hamburger drive in.

    I was going to mention GEM as well. There was one on Branch Ave just south of the DC border in Hillcrest Heights. The name GEM as an acronym for Government Employees Merchandise and that was their market based on the membership aspect for reduced costs. Our family did a lot of department store shopping there in the mid-60s.

    JoeR
     

    rseymorejr

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 28, 2011
    26,010
    Harford County
    Montgomery Ward and Western Auto used to have their own branded guns (Western Field and Revelation) I saw my very first stainless handgun at Montgomery Ward at Eudowood Shopping Center
     

    mauser58

    My home is a sports store
    Dec 2, 2020
    1,755
    Baltimore County, near the Bay
    I still have a few passed down boxes of ammo from Kmart, Target and sears.

    Dad grew up in the twin cities in the 60's and graduated in 1974, the HS had a rimfire shooting range in the basement. He tells me the stories of taking his .22 to school, it got 'checked in' and put in a locker with everyone else's during the day but beyond that... NOBODY gave two ****s and when you left after shooting practice you could walk home with your cased rifle and NOBODY thought anything of it. Now if you were carrying it like rambo and being stupid pointing it at people... then not so much.

    Hell even up until the late 80's or early 90's it was nothing to see a populated gun rack in the back window at any of the high schools here in st marys during hunting season.

    What happend ?

    The left's war on guns has been a slow and methodical approach to make them taboo and out of place in society. With maryland being a text book example of boiling the frog. They cannot come right out and ban everything everywhere (they would sure love too) so it is easier to just keep passing more feel good BS and by default make everything illegal one little check box at a time. Handguns in MD being a good example.

    I still have shotguns and Turkey loads from Kmart. In the late 70's I bought quite a few military surplus rifles from Woolworth in Harford Mall area.
     

    Wheaton Hills Sportsman

    Active Member
    Jan 27, 2012
    422
    I bought a Swedish Mauser and a P- 17 at the Woolworths at Montgomery Mall . . . in the 1980s! Could have had a SKS and a Berthier carbine.
     

    Biggfoot44

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 2, 2009
    32,881
    Since its come up a couple times , the ammo log for " handgun ammo " started GCA 68 , ended with FOPA 86 .

    Resulted in interesting questions with calibers that could go either way . " Will that be used for Rifle or Pistol ? " , and would be logged or not depending upon answer .
     

    Pinecone

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 4, 2013
    28,175
    I worked in Sporting Goods at Zayre’s during high school. The one peculiar thing I remember was having to “log” all ammo sales in a notebook with the buyer’s name and drivers license info. We were on the Canadian border, so perhaps this was to minimize the sale to Canadians? Not sure.

    Nope, that was a US law. And it only applied to handgun ammo.

    Although, a dealer might decide to have a policy to log ALL ammo sales, just to make sure.
     

    Pinecone

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 4, 2013
    28,175
    I worked at Woolworth in Bel Air in the mid 80’s. We sold Garands for $99 and M1 Carbines for $89. I could have gotten an employee discount if I were old enough.

    I lived in HarCo in the 80s and did not know this. CRAP
     

    Pinecone

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 4, 2013
    28,175
    Montgomery Ward and Western Auto used to have their own branded guns (Western Field and Revelation) I saw my very first stainless handgun at Montgomery Ward at Eudowood Shopping Center

    My Dad had a single shot .410 from Wards. Marked Wards Hercules.

    We still have it.
     

    Pinecone

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 4, 2013
    28,175
    My first 10/22 came from Best Products at Security Square. I later worked there for a Christmas season.

    My second Mini 14 came from Sears. I was in NM with the AF, and the town did not have an actual store. So I went to this office, filled out an order form and handed to the clerk. A few days later, I got a call, went in, and picked it up.
     

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