bout 20 years ago my father could take me to the store and get a bucket o' bullets for a weekend of shooting at about 10 bucks and we wouldnt get stared at like we were terrorists.
When I was a Kid I would go to the Huffman & Deaton Hardware Store, and buy 10 .22 long rifles for 10 cents. A box of 100 was less than a dollar, but I could only afford the ten.
When I was a kid, my dad would routinely send me into a service station to buy a pack of Pall Mall's. If I remember correctly, a pack was about 20 cents. But yes, an eight year old could buy them.
Whenever I go across town to see my wife's Granpap, I ask him what it was like serving under the command of General Grant. He just mutters, and unwraps his hard tack snack.