Anybody remember El Bandito's Gun Shop in Weimar Ca?

[SWID]

The motto was "We buy, sell, trade and STEAL."

It was right off of the freeway in Weimar, and it was a great gun store, guns hung from the ceiling and the walls and in the counter. He had boxes of police trade ins, mostly S&Ws and that other gun company's .38 specials. He was a crusty old dude and always had a cigar in his mouth. Mayby that's what did him in, he got a cold back about 1980 or so and died. His daughter hated guns and his son had some sort of felony conviction so the place sat there just closed up for years and then one day it was empty. I don't know where all that stuff went.

Even if you didn't want to buy anything he always had a fire in the stove in the winter and hot coffee and it was a great place to warm up when coming down the hill after a day of snowshoeing or XC sking. Never ran out of BS stories.

I bought a number of guns there over the years but Saturday I shot my Model 41 that I got in 1969, and it is still accurate as ever. Made me think about the old guy. I need to shoot that gun more.

For anybody not familiar with California geography, "the freeway" refers to
I-80, at about the 2000 foot level 40 or so miles from Sacramento and about the same from Donner Summit.

 

[tomhenry]

Lotsa gun shops in kalifornistan have disappeared over the years. The oldest gun store in America, the San Fransisco Gun Exchange, closed after, what, 100 years in business? I was still living in kalifornistan at the time. They closed because all of the hassles in that idiotic state.

And then when those idiots passed the AWB (2001?), a guy I knew tried to flaunt the ruling by hacksawing off the flash suppressors and pistol grips of his ARs. I remember when the DOJ raided his inventory and he shut down. ("Wild Bills" was the name of the store, I think.)

Man, that used to be a beautiful state and wonderful gun country. Then the liberals moved in, the illegals moved up, and now it's in the toilet.