Old American Rifleman magazines.

[Adam Helmer]

I recently boxed up many old American Rifleman magazines from 1950 onward in plastic storage boxes for posterity. I looked inside the back covers of many at the "Ye Olde Hunter"of Alexandria, VA ads and drooled over the old gun ads and the prices.

The glory days of military arms collecting really took off about 1960 until the Gun Control Act of 1968 stopped most inports for a while. Military surplus arms are again available, but at 10 or 20 times the 1960s prices! I bought a Remington Rolling Block 7x57mm rifle for "$.68 per pound" (or $9.95) according to the October 1961 Ye Olde Hunter ad. The "short tooth" blade bayonet cost $1.50 and a 1,000 round case of Winchester Ball ammo was $10.00 with the rifle order.

Other ads were: Persian 8mm Mauser short rifles for $35.00, M1 Garands for $99.95, Johnson automatic rifles for $79.95, British MkIII rifles for $12.95, 9mm Lugers for $55.00, P-38 pistols for $35.00 and on and on. Bayonets were $1.00 to $4.95 for a Swiss Sawtooth bayonet. Well, you get the picture. I suspect not too many of us recall those old Glory Days of military arms collecting. That is why I boxed the magazines up; that era is gone forever.

Adam