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  #1  
Old 10-20-2009, 09:46 PM
Wyatt Burp Wyatt Burp is offline
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Default Here's The American Rifleman Ad Oswald Bought His Rifle From

Well, almost. I have this June 1963 A. Rifleman magazine and it has the Kliens ad Oswald bought his rifle from. It's off by a couple months but there's his gun on the left at the same price if you include shipping. That price is on the record. Don't know where I got this as I was six at the time.
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Old 10-20-2009, 10:17 PM
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Thanks for posting the Klein's ad --- brought back a fond memory... In 1963, at age 13, I'd saved enough money from mowing neighbors' lawns, working at the canoe livery, and other odd jobs to order a very exotic shotgun from Klein's --- a 20 ga. Beretta "Silver Snipe" O/U, (fixed)-choked IC/MOD, the ultimate ruffed grouse and woodcock gun for Michigan's woods. After two years of working for slave wages, I bought a money order, and sent my order off to Klein's, in eager anticipation. A couple week's later, I got a letter from Klein's, and my heart sank. It read to the effect of, "The item you ordered is not in stock, so we have taken the liberty of making a substitution, which we trust you will find satisfactory. If not , please return it at our expense for a full refund."

I feared they might have substituted a cheap Mossberg or Remington for the Beretta, and was resigned to disappointment. So, imagine my pleasant surprise when the postman delivered a cardboard carton containing not some cheap American repeater, but a jewel-like Silver Snipe, with a ventilated rib --- a coveted feature, but one beyond the reach of my budget, at about $30 more than the $160 cost of the plain barrel gun! It's still a treasured part of my battery...
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Old 10-20-2009, 10:23 PM
Wyatt Burp Wyatt Burp is offline
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Thanks for posting the Klein's ad --- brought back a fond memory... In 1963, at age 13, I'd saved enough money from mowing neighbors' lawns, working at the canoe livery, and other odd jobs to order a very exotic shotgun from Klein's --- a 20 ga. Beretta "Silver Snipe" O/U, (fixed)-choked IC/MOD, the ultimate ruffed grouse and woodcock gun for Michigan's woods. After two years of working for slave wages, I bought a money order, and sent my order off to Klein's, in eager anticipation. A couple week's later, I got a letter from Klein's, and my heart sank. It read to the effect of, "The item you ordered is not in stock, so we have taken the liberty of making a substitution, which we trust you will find satisfactory. If not , please return it at our expense for a full refund."

I feared they might have substituted a cheap Mossberg or Remington for the Beretta, and was resigned to disappointment. So, imagine my pleasant surprise when the postman delivered a cardboard carton containing not some cheap American repeater, but a jewel-like Silver Snipe, with a ventilated rib --- a coveted feature, but one beyond the reach of my budget, at about $30 more than the $160 cost of the plain barrel gun! It's still a treasured part of my battery...
What I great story. I was hoping as I read it that you still have it. Very pricey for a kid.
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Old 10-20-2009, 10:35 PM
Jim in Wisconsin Jim in Wisconsin is offline
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Several years later, (prior to '68 for sure) I got an AyA Matador 12 ga. from them. It cost $99, and being freshly married, I paid it off at $10/mo.
Still got it 41 years later!
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Old 10-20-2009, 11:11 PM
jkc jkc is offline
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Originally Posted by Wyatt Burp View Post
What I great story. I was hoping as I read it that you still have it. Very pricey for a kid.
Glad you liked the story... And yes, it was "very pricey for a kid", and made many mentors quite jealous --- similar shotguns began to replace the clunky Savage/Stevens SxS that were in common use by my adult mentors in those days...

That was also a purchase illustrating as a life-long lesson the value of paying the long dollar for quality, and the concept of "getting what you pay for" however painful or onerous the initial price. Quality counts!
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  #6  
Old 10-20-2009, 11:46 PM
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I'm gonna call them and see if they will still honor the 79.95 price on the Garand!
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  #7  
Old 10-21-2009, 12:08 AM
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Sip,
Would you settle for 2 Sako Finnbears bought within a year of each other (63'-64') both in .30-06', with Redfield mounts and removable aperture rear sight for $124.00 each? The price listed in the ad was the same my Dad and I bought a Carcano for, ours was W/O optics for $13. I'd forgotten that that was pre-zip codes, and we were still using postal zones? For our younger members- We still had telephone exchanges beginning with "words" then too! Ours was Lincoln 9-2497. The first 2 letters L and i being the first two letters used when dialing. So when dialing, you'd dial the L and the i then the rest of the number. To this day, that's the reason the alphabet appears on you phone dial/key pad. That was also pre-credit cards. So, you'd either put something on lay away till paid for. Or have your credit record "run" by each stores "in house" credit/finance department. Needless to say, just after the earth had cooled?
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  #8  
Old 10-21-2009, 12:52 AM
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I've see the ad before, but its been a long time. Thanks for posting!
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  #9  
Old 10-21-2009, 07:15 AM
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I'll have to shoot a picture of my Oswald Carcano and post it here. Thanks for posting that neat old ad.
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  #10  
Old 10-21-2009, 08:28 AM
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Yeah, I remember buying a Springfield 03-A3 from a catalogue just around this time. It was cheaper than Klein's. Around $15.99 delivered.
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  #11  
Old 10-21-2009, 12:49 PM
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I remember the Klein's ad very well, also remember going in to the local department store's sporting goods department and seeing Enfield Jungle Carbines. They were stuffed into cardboard shipping drums, price $19.99.
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  #12  
Old 10-21-2009, 01:38 PM
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Here it is. Still a bargain at $65. These actually aren't bad guns. I really like it.




And my infamous Oswald pose:


Last edited by twaits; 10-21-2009 at 01:43 PM.
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  #13  
Old 10-21-2009, 01:49 PM
mkk41 mkk41 is offline
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I bought a Carcano carbine out of a big drum at the local Woolworths 5&10 store for $15 my senior year of HS. A box of Norma ammo was probably $10 at the time , the only Carcano ammo around. Couldn't hit a paper plate at 100yds , or 50 for that matter. Even at 25yds , most shots keyholed. Always caused me to doubt the story.

Why would a supposedly accomplished marksman buy a Carcano , when the same ad had much superior rifles for only a few bucks more?

If my country sent me into battle with that , thing , I'd surrender and switch sides too.
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Old 10-21-2009, 02:06 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mkk41 View Post
I bought a Carcano carbine out of a big drum at the local Woolworths 5&10 store for $15 my senior year of HS. A box of Norma ammo was probably $10 at the time , the only Carcano ammo around. Couldn't hit a paper plate at 100yds , or 50 for that matter. Even at 25yds , most shots keyholed. Always caused me to doubt the story.

Why would a supposedly accomplished marksman buy a Carcano , when the same ad had much superior rifles for only a few bucks more?

If my country sent me into battle with that , thing , I'd surrender and switch sides too.
There are always lemons in the firearms world and it sounds like yours was just that. The Carcano is not inherently inaccurate. Check out some of these links:

Carcano video on youtube - The Education Forum

YouTube - 1941 6.5 Mannlicher-Carcano (91/38) M1938 at 420 yards
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Old 10-21-2009, 02:14 PM
mkk41 mkk41 is offline
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Yeah , I also saw the documentry that a crew of Austrailian special effects guys did , with an identical rifle , scope and even vintage ammo (Winchester made ball) from the same lot. They shot some downright respectable groups.

I've heard the Norma ammo uses wrong dia bullets. The 6.5 Carcano uses an odd bullet dia. Not the typical 6.5/.264.
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Old 10-21-2009, 02:15 PM
Wyatt Burp Wyatt Burp is offline
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Here it is. Still a bargain at $65. These actually aren't bad guns. I really like it.




And my infamous Oswald pose:

That's not you! Someone just superimposed your face on some other guy so they could frame you! That's one lame conspiracy theorie about the Oswald picture, anyway. Is that a fake evidence tag hanging on the trigger guard of your rifle? Nice touch if it is.
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  #17  
Old 10-21-2009, 02:29 PM
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No Wyatt, I just never took the price tag off it.
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Old 10-21-2009, 02:31 PM
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It's a little ironic, that the guns were so cheap then, but you can buy much nicer "walkie talkies" for half the price now!
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Old 10-21-2009, 03:17 PM
Wyatt Burp Wyatt Burp is offline
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I bought a Carcano carbine out of a big drum at the local Woolworths 5&10 store for $15 my senior year of HS. A box of Norma ammo was probably $10 at the time , the only Carcano ammo around. Couldn't hit a paper plate at 100yds , or 50 for that matter. Even at 25yds , most shots keyholed. Always caused me to doubt the story.

Why would a supposedly accomplished marksman buy a Carcano , when the same ad had much superior rifles for only a few bucks more?

If my country sent me into battle with that , thing , I'd surrender and switch sides too.
Oswald was an accomplished marksmen even with open or peep sights. He was also almost always broke. I think if the Soviet Union or Castro or whoever he supposedly "worked for" wanted him to kill Kennedy they would of got him a better rifle.
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Old 10-22-2009, 03:25 AM
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BTW 41,
Your entirely correct, some of the Norma stuff of the era was made with the wrong diameter bullets. Some others had been neglected after being shot with corrosive primers too. Which along with it being used to wreck Jackie's dress, didn't exactly endear the gun to the shooting public? Another condemnation of it by gunsmith's was based on the bolt's internals being held together by a single pin. The story (or urban legend?) had it, that due to inadequate gas venting of the action if an over pressure round failed it would launch the firing pin assembly and back 1/3 of the bolt through the shooters eye socket. This, whether true or not along with all else listed above kinda' sealed it's fate?
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Old 10-22-2009, 05:23 AM
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Wyatt
What sort of scope is that? have you ever shot your Carcano?
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Old 10-22-2009, 07:18 AM
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Quote:
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Wyatt
What sort of scope is that? have you ever shot your Carcano?
Actually that's my Carcano

I think the scope is a BSA. Junk from Walmart that cost about $14.

I have shot it before, but I didn't exactly do precision targeting with it.
I don't think it did very well, but that is probably because of the cheap scope and mounts. But I only bought it to be an example of the Oswald gun. Also, the bullets may have been undersized as stated above.
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Old 10-22-2009, 08:55 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bassamatic View Post
Yeah, I remember buying a Springfield 03-A3 from a catalogue just around this time. It was cheaper than Klein's. Around $15.99 delivered.

But people earned less then. Money was worth more.

What would a gun cost now to equate to those prices?

Would the old costs now be magnified by about ten?

T-Star
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  #24  
Old 10-22-2009, 01:06 PM
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According to the inflation calculator $19.95 in 1963 would be $140.80 today.
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