1980 All Over Again

Nframe357 said:
1980 huh? I feel we'd all be better off if times were like 1980 instead of the way things are now, we had a new good president unlike now and we actually had a bright future unlike today. Here it is:
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I was a little older then and actually bought my first S&W that year. A 29-2. They were very hard to come by. The list price was probably in the $350 range, but many were selling for around $500, unless you wanted to get on a waiting list for a long time. To put things in perspective, that $500 in 1980 would be equivalent to over $1,400 right now, so they weren't exactly a bargain.

I know what you are getting at about the political climate, but you may be a little off. Reagan wasn't elected until Nov 1980, so we were still in the dregs of the Carter years. Hostages in Iran, oil shortages, terrible president, national malaise, etc. Things were about to get better, but we didn't know it. I hope we are in a similar position right now and brighter days are ahead.
 
In 1980 I bought my first handgun, a brand new six inch Colt Python. I bought a two inch S&W M64 the next year to carry.
 
Bought my first S&W revolver in 1983. It was a Model 60. If I could go back, I'd pick up a few Model 13s with three inch barrels and round butt frames.
 
In 1980 I was beginning to seriously collect and accumulate pre-War High Standards plus the occasional Colt 1911. This continued for about 10 years, and during this time the only S&W I owned (which I still have) was a Model 29-2 w/ 4" barrel. I'm embarrassed to say now that it has an 8 3/8" barrel that I had installed to make it more suitable to dabble with handgun silhouette. BUT... if I knew then what I know now, I would have bought that strange K-frame revolver at the local gun shop, a K-32 that was made to go along with the K-22 and K-38 that a few bullseye shooters still had in their gun boxes. I've acquired the latter two over the years and even had a Model 16-4 for a while, but the classic K-32 of the immediate post-War period through the '70s has continued to elude me. :(

Froggie
 
Back in the mid 70's, my dad's buddy shows him a crate of surplus 30 carbines he bought for $12 each. I don't know how many were in a "crate" (10, 12?) but Dad tried to buy a couple... nah, he wanted to keep it full.

Anyway, if I could go back to 1980, (and I know then what I know now) I would need a large truck to bring back all the cheap mil-surplus model 10's, 1917's, 1911's, carbines, Garands.. etc.
 
In 1979, I was 19, and had my dad buy me my first revolver, a Virginian Dragoon in .44 Magnum. It cost $239. This is back when PayLess Drugstore sold firearms, and they also had a Colt Gold Cup, and it was $350! I've always kicked myself for not buying it instead. However, I also know I wouldn't have it now, with all the bad trades I made in the early part of my shooting hobby!

I bought my first reloading outfit also, and would laugh about the fact that I couldn't buy .22 ammo because I wasn't 21, but could buy everything I needed to put together .44 Magnum ammo!

I didn't get my first S&W until I was 30, and lived in Idaho. It was a 4th Model Safety Hammerless, 2", .38 S&W, in pristine condition. I paid $150 for it. I wound up trading that and a Security Six for a brand new SP101 that I couldn't live without. Hindsight is 20-20!
 
44wheelman said:
Back in the mid 70's, my dad's buddy shows him a crate of surplus 30 carbines he bought for $12 each. I don't know how many were in a "crate" (10, 12?) but Dad tried to buy a couple... nah, he wanted to keep it full.

Anyway, if I could go back to 1980, (and I know then what I know now) I would need a large truck to bring back all the cheap mil-surplus model 10's, 1917's, 1911's, carbines, Garands.. etc.
Click to expand...
I remember me and my brother walked into a military surplus gun shop back in the early 1980s and they had just taken delivery on several crates of Model 97 US trench shotguns, all decked out for war, still covered in cosmoline. They had cleaned up ten or so and had them lined up on the display wall, priced at $100.00 a pop. Each came with a bayonet. We both thought about buying one each, but eventually decided that, even at that price, what did we want with an old war shotgun. Man, I've been kicking myself ever since for that. If I could go back to that moment, I'd buy at least ten of those.

11706502_1.jpg
 
C'mon now. 1980 wasn't THAT long ago, was it?
Started out in '73 with a new Model 60. It was $123 OTD.
Followed with a 14-4 and a 17-4, both about $200.
Of course, it seemed like serious money back then..
 
TAROMAN said:
C'mon now. 1980 wasn't THAT long ago, was it?
Started out in '73 with a new Model 60. It was $123 OTD.
Followed with a 14-4 and a 17-4, both about $200.
Of course, it seemed like serious money back then..
Click to expand...

It was serious money back then. I am now collecting a modest retirement pension and Social Security and I'm getting almost exactly 3 times what I was earning then working hard at teaching unappreciative youngsters the joys of Biology and Earth Science. Every time I look at the "cheap" prices back then I have to remind myself of these facts. :eek:

Froggie
 
1982: My best friend bought a 27-2 6"bue in a presentation case. I loved it and bought a 28-2 6"
By 83', the 28-2 had been polished and reblued to look like a 27-2, and I ended up selling to another buddy and bought a like new 27-2 for (again) $300!

Now, I was on even setting with my best friend (In my mind). We would try to shoot weekly with a box of factory .357's and a box of .38 wadcutter reloads. Now 50 divided by 6 = 8 cylinders full and 2 extra rounds.

We would save the last 4 rounds of .357's and .38's for the "Beer Round"

We would load each others gun (in a random order of mags, empty holes and Spl's", 4 hots and 2 "nots". Note the .38's shot about 2" higher than a .357 at 75'. The one with the best group got the beer bought after shooting.

I feel I never lost. I did "develope a flinch" quite a bit of the time so he wouldn't get discouraged though.

After a couple of years, I broke down and told him that I always aimed about an inch inch low to compensate for the different calibers trajectories. He always tried his best and took careful aim, and sighted dead on (Magnum POI) for every round and couldn't understand why I would beat him!

My 1" lower aim brought the .38's down into the 10/10X range and still kept the .357's in the 9/10 ring.

His dead on hold got him 1 or 2 tens and 2 8's or nines.

We were closer in points after I told him, but with me shooting a lot more than him, I still got my beer bought most of the time.
 
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Wow, that is a tough question. Here goes:

3 inch round butt Models 10 and 13, blue
4 inch Model 27, blue
4 inch Model 18
4 inch Model 15
4 inch Model 10 standard barrel
4 inch Model 19
6 or 6 1/2 inch Model 29 (not sure if the length had switched by 1980)
2 inch Model 60
 
If I could go back to 1980 I think I would buy up all the Smith & Wesson wood stocks that were thrown into the $5.00 and up buckets that every gun shop had at the time. Sell them today and make enough to but a mint registered magnum , a pre 29 and a Colt Python.
 


In the 80's , I was more into Gibson guitars and Marshall amps but this one got me started in the 90's.
 
1984, went to a gun show in Branson MO which was held at the local High School. It was a pretty big show at the time. Picked up a barely used 686 (no dash). It cost me $245. A couple years later when the Hogue's brought their trailer with a portable set of equipment I bought a set of Pau Ferro grips and had Guy Hogue himself fit them to the gun. I still have just that way and still own it and shoot it. It has seen many a round shot in competition.


The gun has a .500 target trigger which I had ground smooth and contoured for double action shooting.
 


In September, 1981 I was at the NRA National Police Revolver Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. Many of the shooters in the Distinguished Matches were using tuned Colt Pythons. S&W was introducing their new competing model to the Python, the 586 Distinguished Magnum. Myself and team members just had to have this new gun and orders were placed. In February, 1982 we received our guns, all with AAA series serial numbers. Mine has the high post front sight that allows a neck hold on the B27 target at the 50 yard position. It took a few years to compile the required 30 points, but I finally received my Police Distinguished badge. This gun has an unbelievable smooth double action.
 
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