Good ole days on ammo prices

[singleshot]

I ordered my first shotgun out of the JC Penney catalog and picked it up here in Safford in 1975 at their store. Ithaca side by side 12 gauge. I paid a little over $300.00 for it. Still have it.

[Outdoor Writer]

36 minutes ago, 10Turkeys said:

I still have an old box of Sierra bullets with a price tag from Smittys. I think in the early 70's there was a store on Van Buren if I remember right it was called Bohms I believe.

I think it was Bohm's Shooting Supply, no?. When I left Woolco in the early 1970s, I went to work as a road rep for American Wholesale Hardware out of Long Beach, CA. At the time is was  a major wholesale house for fishing gear & firearms, including the #1 seller in the country for Ruger. My territory was all of AZ, so I dealt with most of the places that sold sporting goods in the state. I even got to meet Linda Ronstadt one day while doing business with her dad Gilbert at his Hardware store in Tucson. She came to go to lunch with her dad, and he invited me to go along. BUT..I had to turn it down because I had another sales appointment at Jensen's, which I don't think exists now. 

[biglakejake]

i remember great prices on traps and ammo at the Mesa Co-Op circa 1977.  it was before my time on the water but they had the biggest reels(senators and mariners) i had ever seen.  we bought lots of dove and rabbit loads at Western Auto.  i do miss Smitty's!

lee

[oz31p]

2 hours ago, Outdoor Writer said:

I think it was Bohm's Shooting Supply, no?. When I left Woolco in the early 1970s, I went to work as a road rep for American Wholesale Hardware out of Long Beach, CA. At the time is was  a major wholesale house for fishing gear & firearms, including the #1 seller in the country for Ruger. My territory was all of AZ, so I dealt with most of the places that sold sporting goods in the state. I even got to meet Linda Ronstadt one day while doing business with her dad Gilbert at his Hardware store in Tucson. She came to go to lunch with her dad, and he invited me to go along. BUT..I had to turn it down because I had another sales appointment at Jensen's, which I don't think exists now. 

Oh buddy Linda Ronstadt 

[10Turkeys]

It was Bohm's something. I was in there maybe 2 times at best. I believe Jensens turned over to the Arizona Sportsman, which in turn went belly up, and the building now is 2nd Amendment, at least the last I was in there, that's what it was. I know when it was Jensens there was some good Coues heads hanging in the store. I don't know if they were Bob's or not. Last time I asked someone that lives in that area if they were still in the store, he said yes.

[singleshot]

22 minutes ago, 10Turkeys said:

It was Bohm's something. I was in there maybe 2 times at best. I believe Jensens turned over to the Arizona Sportsman, which in turn went belly up, and the building now is 2nd Amendment, at least the last I was in there, that's what it was. I know when it was Jensens there was some good Coues heads hanging in the store. I don't know if they were Bob's or not. Last time I asked someone that lives in that area if they were still in the store, he said yes.

 My understanding was that Jensen's had an enormous investment in SKS's and AK's and ammunition that was held up in customs. Clinton pushed through the "assault weapon" ban and they lost conex boxes full. Never were able to recover from the loss.

[10Turkeys]

1 minute ago, singleshot said:

 My understanding was that Jensen's had an enormous investment in SKS's and AK's and ammunition that was held up in customs. Clinton pushed through the "assault weapon" ban and they lost conex boxes full. Never were able to recover from the loss.

PM sent.

[360 0r Better]

8 hours ago, Outdoor Writer said:

Wow, you must be as old as dirt. 😉 I remember both Fedmart and Govway, but I can't recall which one was on W. Indian School between 35th ave. & 43rd.  One of the owners of Fedmart was Sol Price, who later started Price Club -- now Costco!

Not quite as old as dirt but I can remember when Shep was a pup. Fedmart was on Orborn and 29th ave and Govway was at 38th ave and Indian School, bought my Ruger 10/22 there in 1963 when they first came out at 12 years old thought it was the coolest gun going and I still have it, probably have ran 50k rounds threw it.

[360 0r Better]

7 hours ago, Outdoor Writer said:

I think it was Bohm's Shooting Supply, no?. When I left Woolco in the early 1970s, I went to work as a road rep for American Wholesale Hardware out of Long Beach, CA. At the time is was  a major wholesale house for fishing gear & firearms, including the #1 seller in the country for Ruger. My territory was all of AZ, so I dealt with most of the places that sold sporting goods in the state. I even got to meet Linda Ronstadt one day while doing business with her dad Gilbert at his Hardware store in Tucson. She came to go to lunch with her dad, and he invited me to go along. BUT..I had to turn it down because I had another sales appointment at Jensen's, which I don't think exists now. 

I meet Linda once as well back in 2005 she brought her RV into the RV shop i was running at the time she was very nice but her younger brother was with her and he was kind of strange.

[Delw]

Smitty's and yellow front were my Favorites. K-mart off of grand Ave always had good sales on ammo. Even the old 7 eleven that was on the east side of 67th ave and olive had smoking deals on shotgun 22 and some rifle and pistol ammo in the 80's.

I still have (maybe 2 milkcrates full of box's of #2 #4 lead shot from the 60's and early 70's, some old red and white Remington 22 LR ammo.

heck the last time I personally bought 22 ammo was from K-mart just after smittys closed. I still have at least 1 milk crate fill with it.

[Outdoor Writer]

11 hours ago, 10Turkeys said:

It was Bohm's something. I was in there maybe 2 times at best. I believe Jensens turned over to the Arizona Sportsman, which in turn went belly up, and the building now is 2nd Amendment, at least the last I was in there, that's what it was. I know when it was Jensens there was some good Coues heads hanging in the store. I don't know if they were Bob's or not. Last time I asked someone that lives in that area if they were still in the store, he said yes.

Been many years since I roamed anywhere in Tucson other than on I10. I know for sure that some of the heads were Bob's but not all. 

[Outdoor Writer]

11 hours ago, singleshot said:

 My understanding was that Jensen's had an enormous investment in SKS's and AK's and ammunition that was held up in customs. Clinton pushed through the "assault weapon" ban and they lost conex boxes full. Never were able to recover from the loss.

Could be. I was long out of the gun selling business when that would have happened. Quit in 1976 when we bought our lodge at Vallecito Lake, Colo. I got back in only briefly when we returned to Phx in 1979. I needed a job and my old Woolco mgr. needed a sporting goods mgr. I hired on but told him it would only be a temp deal. A few months later, I went to work as a wholesale road rep for another CA company selling photography related stuff in AZ, NM and Las Vegas. 

9 hours ago, 360 0r Better said:

Not quite as old as dirt but I can remember when Shep was a pup. Fedmart was on Orborn and 29th ave and Govway was at 38th ave and Indian School, bought my Ruger 10/22 there in 1963 when they first came out at 12 years old thought it was the coolest gun going and I still have it, probably have ran 50k rounds threw it.

Yup. I had a PM conversation with another member , and that's how we remembered it. Govway was like an airplane hanger and later became a skatng rink. He also brought up one of my hangouts in the 1960s,  Bellow's Sporting Goods at 27th Ave. & Camelback. My dad had a gas station next to Fergison's Cafeteria on the corner of 27 Ave. and Indian School. I worked for him as a mechanic until about 1969 when they tore up the road to widen it, sending his business south. Ed Bellows and I, plus two others, did a DIY horseback hunt in Colorado's San Juan Mts. one year. One of my hunting mentors on all things AZ also hung out there. I'll see if anyone might be able to guess who it was. 

[muledeerarea33?]

10 hours ago, singleshot said:

 My understanding was that Jensen's had an enormous investment in SKS's and AK's and ammunition that was held up in customs. Clinton pushed through the "assault weapon" ban and they lost conex boxes full. Never were able to recover from the loss.

Jensen’s turned into 2nd amendment sports. I believe it was the place just down the street that had the issues with the guns.

[Outdoor Writer]

8 hours ago, Delw said:

Smitty's and yellow front were my Favorites. K-mart off of grand Ave always had good sales on ammo. Even the old 7 eleven that was on the east side of 67th ave and olive had smoking deals on shotgun 22 and some rifle and pistol ammo in the 80's.

I still have (maybe 2 milkcrates full of box's of #2 #4 lead shot from the 60's and early 70's, some old red and white Remington 22 LR ammo.

heck the last time I personally bought 22 ammo was from K-mart just after smittys closed. I still have at least 1 milk crate fill with it.

In the early 1980s, Jim Tallon -- my mentor early on in the outdoor writing business -- and I had coffee/breakfast every morning at the Smitty's on Bethany Home & 35th Ave. 

[drcarr]

I well remember in the early 1970s stopping by just about any Circle K in Tucson for everything from BB gun BBs to shotgun shells to 22 LR to 30-30 shells to 38spl and. 357mag... 0h how I miss the good old days...Lol