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It’s amusing to reflect on modern times where now, many internet auctions have 50, 100 or nearly 150 quality photos of a piece. I recall days long past… days where there was no internet and the main non-face to face method of buying and selling was the Shotgun News. And then the Gun List came along – which was basically the same thing. Anyway, a brief (you were paying by the word) written description followed by a phone call for a more detailed verbal description was the way it was done. There was a lot of reliance on the subjective opinion of the seller. It was uncommon to see photos. And if you asked for photos, the guy had to go to the store, buy some film, take the photos, bring the film for developing, go pick it up and then mail it to you. The chance that the piece would be bought out from under you during the protracted process was common. Even if the seller had photos ready to send, five minutes later someone else would call and agree to take it without seeing pictures.
I remember the very intense period of time when the latest edition of the Shotgun News was fresh. I also recall there was a special delivery mailing option that more than a few people availed themselves of. A yearly subscription was around $20 a year but if you paid around $200 a year, you would receive it many days, if not a week, before most would receive it. I thought hard about this option but never went for it. I knew some guys who had this and several commented that just getting one piece at a very favorable price made it worth it. Anyone here ever have the express delivery option of the Shotgun News? I think the same was available with the Gun List.
I got Gun List with the next day option but it didn’t guaranty you got it first. Gun list would stagger their ship dates and I would call on a gun the same day I got it and it was already sold the day before. That was the way you bought guns was gun shows or the Gun list or Shotgun News.
Bob
WACA Life Member--- NRA Life Member---- Cody Firearms member since 1991 Researching the Winchester 1873's
Email: [email protected]
I know what you mean Steve. Those were the days. I almost slept by the mail box waiting for my Shotgun news, in fact, I think I still have a couple of them from the late 60’s. Gun List was almost as good, but a lot of modern stuff kept creeping in. For the most part, folks were different back then. Maybe it was because most were interested collectors and shared this interest with others. It isn’t like that much anymore. The dollar bill is the most important thing for a lot of guys and the historical interest has taken a back seat in many cases. Having said that, I do remember one time in the early 70’s I was taken to the cleaners by a member of our own club, on a pair of ’73 rifles I purchased through his ad in Shotgun News. Returned both guns, which he kept, along with my money. That is the only time I ever had a problem buying over the phone back then.
I never did mail order stuff. By the time I was old enough I think it had mostly gone the wayside. I do remember hunting for a very specific lever action deer rifle when I was 16 with my father and the local gun store didn’t have one and wasn’t sure when they could get one. We tried the gun show in Waco that fall but struck out. Finally drove up to McBrides in Austin and found one.
I can remember my grandfathers both talking about gun stores would list their inventories in newspapers or if they were a big outfit they would print their own little pamplet listing what they had in inventory.
A lot of dealers put out the own lists and catalogs. Many still do I suppose. Leroy Merz is an example. I was a subscriber 40 years ago. Also, Larry Orr out of South Dakota, Rudy Dotzenrod in North Dakota, Ed Kukowski, Jim Jasken (Moorhead/Fargo), James Georgen, Tommy Rholes, Thad Scott, Monty Whitley… I’m just naming a few off the top of my head. These were all something to sleep by the mailbox waiting for. And when they arrived, you had a sense of urgency because some stuff would be selling darn quick. I remember the frustration of getting a busy signal waiting to get a call through. And then the, “you just missed it.”
Strictly gun shows for me. I was on an 1886 kick at the time. Come to think of it, it’s still strictly guns shows or in-presence auctions for me.
steve004 said
I also recall there was a special delivery mailing option that more than a few people availed themselves of. A yearly subscription was around $20 a year but if you paid around $200 a year, you would receive it many days, if not a week, before most would receive it. I thought hard about this option but never went for it.
Neither did I. Always seemed unfair to me, because for dealers, the cost was a tax write-off. I wasted so much money returning poorly described guns, that I eventually stopped trying to buy that way, despite the temptation of deceptively written ads. Luckily, there were several good shows I could reach within a couple of hours driving time, though they are now things of the past.
Yes, like the old Great Western Gun Show in Pomona, CA. Biggest and best EVER !!! Shows you how screwed up they are in Calif. Big Larry
In the 80s and 90s I bought from US dealer catalogues, Jim georgen, Leroy merz, dixie, and dean williams. wait for the cat in the mail, scan through, make the long distant phone call from ,a pay phone, home phone did not have international call access. talk about the gun in question, take their word for it, and I must say, buying from 20,000 miles away i was never dissapointed when the gun arrived in the mail.
Proberly made around 80 or more purchases, never had a bad purchase from any of the above dealers. I recon it was more fun then.
tony
sydney australia
Hi All-
I think I’m going to end up showing my age here… 
Back when Shotgun News, Gun List, and individual dealer flyers were the way you learned about collectable guns for sale outside your area, I relied on my Dad. After he retired from his real job, he obtained an FFL and conducted a small business (not aimed at making money) finding old guns for people who wanted something in particular. He did have one of those 1st class subscriptions to Shotgun News and often complained that a gun he called on was already gone… Must have been some of all y’all he was competing with…
I was one of my Dad’s “customers” (all our FFL transfers were above-board and strictly legal – in case ATF watches this site). I was dealing with the various tedium associated with medical “training” (that for-sure eliminated any possibility of doing what then passed as “real-time” searching myself). I’m pretty sure my Dad sent a fair number of guns back, but he found me several good guns that way…
To me, the main advantage of the current internet world is its research potential. As many WACA member know, if one spends the time to systematically catalog info on GB/GI and auction house guns one can quickly amass a substantial amount of information (data???). As long as you take into account that the data are “noisy” in that many guns have picked up changes over the years – especially sights… Whether these were in-use modifications or the consequence of some contemporary seller trying to put a gun back together using parts on-hand (as opposed to one that are period correct), they do contaminate the sample. I guess sooner or later the pool of surveyable guns will have been changed so much that the “noise” will swamp the “signal”, but even with M70s (my interest) IMHO this is not true yet.
I’m not looking for much these days that would likely turn up on GB/GI, and have to say that if I were asked by a neophyte to find a “good” common garden variety M70 standard rifle in the 300+ guns on each site, it’d be hard. But there’s still data there to catch…
Best…
Lou
WACA 9519; Studying Pre-64 Model 70 Winchesters
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