Cheap .22 ammo - from the past

[Professor Frink]

My father-in-law asked me to take care of his hunting weapons awhile back as he was going to be travelling at length and was renting out his house. Without going into detail, his son found out about this and insisted that they be stored at his house.

Without going into the drama that ensued, here is what I got for my trouble.

The .85 cent price tag ought to let you know these are from a bit back.

Considering what a box of .22 goes for now, I thought this was worth sharing.

 

[Smithhound]

Cool. I love old ammo boxes, they have a certain charm about them.
When I was 13 years old I worked in an old fashioned General Store, this was one of those one room, wood floored deals that held everything from toothpaste to shoes, it had been there for decades and was a local hangout for oldtimers who sat at a bench out front and BS'd. On the shelf behind the counter we had boxes of ammo that people could buy, not a large selection, mostly shotgun shells and .22 ammo, but the things was the owner would sell 3 or 4 or 10 individual rounds, we had people come in and ask for 20 - .22lr shells and 6 12 gauge shells and a bag of turnips. A really cool place to work. Some of the ammo boxes where at least 30 years old and this was in the early 1970's. The name of the place was E. B. Ellis General Merchandise, it sat on Highway 70 west of Dickson Tennessee. Some old timers here from that area may remember it, as well as a long haired kid that loved talking about guns and the locals WWII stories.
Those boxes bring back alot of good memories.
RD

 

[mkk41]

Back when I was in HS , I think a brick cost $8.99 and at Xmas , Remington gave ya a free pen knife or belt buckle.

 

[Smithhound]

These are just a few old boxes I have, I'd have to pull stuff down from everywhere to show them all. One of the best memories from my childhood is the smell of burnt .22 powder, just does something to me. I use old printers type trays for bullet boards, work great except when the cat gets curious.
RD

 

[ralph7]

I like old ammo!

 

[mkk41]

I like old ammo!

Me too!

 

[KEN L]

I remember going to Sears with my father when I was a kid and the price of a 50rd box of the Sears brand .22lr ammo was .50. This was probably in the early to mid 60's. The most I can remember him buying at one time was 2 boxes. We didn't do a lot of shooting back then. I believe .22 short was .65 a box. Ahhhh, the good ole days!

 

[scattershot]

, One of the best memories from my childhood is the smell of burnt .22 powder, just does something to me.

Me, too. That and Hoppes 9. I can still remember buying 22LR at 7/11 for .35 a box.

 

[gmiller0737]

My Dad told Me he bought .22 shorts in the early 50's for $1.80 a Brick .18 cents a Box! He said they would shoot Rats at the City Dump for fun & He prefered the shorts due to the lower noise & increased magazine capacity I have His .22 now a Autoloading Remington Model 550-1

 

[G-Mac]

I can still remember buying 22LR at 7/11 for .35 a box.

I'll have a box of ammo and a Slurpee, please!

 

[mkk41]

I'll have a box of ammo and a Slurpee, please!

Not in NY!

Gotta show yer pistol license and doctors note to buy a Slurpee (not over 16oz.)!

 

[mmracing]

Not in NY!

Gotta show yer pistol license and doctors note to buy a Slurpee (not over 16oz.)!

LOL... too funny. I grew up in PA so what do I know? LOL

 

[Salty RI]

I can remember going to the local hardware store near our house in the early 50's, I think a box of 50 was .40 and if you didn't have the .40, you could buy them loose for a penny a round and we would go to the dump and shoot rats.

 

[poordevil]

I could buy a box of shorts in the yellow Winchester box for a solid silver quarter when I was 6 years old.....all by myself in the Tiny tiny town of Calipatria, CAL I would take a single shot Winchester with a pull nob at the back that I needed both my hands to pull. I had to put the butt stock between my knees and that was still tough. I went to the Hobo Jungle near my house along the RR tracks. Boy! Talk about living like Tom Sawyer !

 

[Nevada Ed]

When I was a youngster in Calif. you did not need money to
get a new box of 22's..............
if you shot enough crows before you ran out of ammo and showed your "bag" to the person in the hardware store.

A good single shot bolt action and ammo.......... those were the days.

Some of those pictures have the "New improved" stuff that came out when I was much older and in high school in the 60's.

I still have an old red/green box of Remington shorts with 70% of the bullets. Don't know if I will ever fire them........ lots of memories behind that old box of ammo.

 

[Salty RI]

I had one of those Winchester's with the knob at the end of the bolt, had a ton of fun with that old gun, my father bought it at a Pawn shop for 3 bucks, it must have been about 1951.

 

[Narragansett]

I have a lot of old 22 ammo, that I bought and buried in ammo cans. I know I have some of the green Remington plastic boxes of 100 that have stickers that say 1.95 on them. Also have an old full brick of Western hollow points. I think they have nickel plated cases. We used to buy 22 shorts at the Navy exchange for 10 cents a box

 

[Salty RI]

Those were the days when Newport was an old Navy town, we would give a sailor a buck to buy us some beer.

 

[uechikid]

I was cleaning out my closet a fer months ago and found two boxes that were marked 89¢, bought them at JC Penney and for boxes that were marked $1.23. Bought those at Payless Drug Store. They shoot just fine.

 

[Alk8944]

Me, too. That and Hoppes 9. I can still remember buying 22LR at 7/11 for .35 a box.

I was going to call you on this but had to do some research first. I didn't think 7-Eleven went back far enough to have been around when .22 LR sold for $.35, but the company dates back to 1927 so it is more than possible.

OP thinks $.85 .22s are old, I remember being upset when the price went UP to $.75 back in the '60s.

 

[df06]

Myself and my brothers always got a brick or two of 22LR ammo for Christmas. We were 12-16 years old at that time, mid 60s.
Today, our parents would likely be put in jail for giving us such hazardous gifts.

 

[Infiltrator]

My Old Ammo

Just thought I would share some of my old ammunition photos. You can right click on each picture open in a new window to get a closeup view of each one. I would like to know how old this ammunition is if anyone knows the manufacturing date of this stuff.

500 Rounds Wildcat 22 Box was bought for $12.70 U.S. at the local GunShop here in Ohio.


The Price Tag on the Box says it all. I remember the guy trying to sell me the taped up 2 Box deal and I told him to just sell me the 500 round box and we'll call it a day. Wow that was a long time ago


And I'm not sure where I got these from. But they came with a cute little plastic case that housed the bullets.


I took 20 rounds of these today and pulled out the ole Savage 64F with 10 rounds of each and loaded up the mags. That ole' .22 ripped through those 20 rounds in no time flat. Just wanted to see if they were still good. Cycled right through the Semi-Auto like nobodies business. I had forgotten how much fun it was to plink with that ole' .22

 

[s&wchad]

I like old ammo!

Me too!

Me three!

 

[Budnjax]

"cheap" items back then were less affordable than today

in the 60's the average household income was a bit above $5000, minimum wage was $1.60, which is what my first job paid. Of course, my rent was only $45/m and I could buy a decent dinner for $1. My first gun purchase back then was a like new Colt 38 Super for $85 (I was told I way overpaid for that). One could buy a new S&W model 60 revolver for $85. In the mid 70's I worked for a big gun distributor; a S&W 29 in a wooden presentation box with all the bells and whistles was $152.50, a new Browning Citori was $252 and you could buy all the 30-06 Lake City you wanted at the gun club for $1 per 20 rounds. But, figuring in the rate of inflation that 85 cent box of .22 ammo would be over $10 today, the model 60 I mentioned would be around $1000. Today we have many guns available that hadn't even been thought of in "the good old days" and many others that are much better built than back then (better steel, computer-controlled machining, etc)....so, keep things in context when pining for "good old day" prices--many of us didn't buy those gems back then because we couldn't afford those prices!

 

[CatboatWilly]

WOW !
You guys really bring back some old memories and it's a testament to how attitudes have changed over the years. I used to live in the outer reaches of the county and went to school some 15 miles away where the was a hardware store that sold ammo. I'd buy my .22 ammo on my lunch hour at the hardware store - stuff it in my book bag - take it to school and finish the rest of my school day - and take the bus home. Then, go shooting after school. I was about 13 years old. I can't imagine what would happen if a kid did that today.

I wonder what changed the attitudes ?

 

[raljr1]

I remember the late 60's still buying 22 ammo for 50 cents a box. Dad would not let us have the magazine for the Remington 22. We had to load one at a time....that way there was no "ammo burning"

 

[rburg]

One could buy a new S&W model 60 revolver for $85.

Actually, no you couldn't. You couldn't even find one to look at. Even in the 1970s they were scarce as hens teeth. About 1971 there came a banging on my front door. It was really late, like maybe 1 AM. So I got up to look and it was Mike Lemon, the cop from across the hall. He needed money and fast. No, not to bail anyone out of jail. Of course I was married (broke) but I had money in the bank. We were up early the next morning and standing outside the bank when it opened. I withdrew the $100 he wanted for his carry gun and we were off to see his brother. He kept the gun for the present time. Got to his brothers house ( a county deputy) and he paid him his $150 plus the $100 I'd given him and took his then never before seen Treasury Special, a short barrel M66. We'd never seen a long barrel one, either. Not even at a gun show, and we frequented the OGCA in Columbus.

So it was one of those deals where everyone was happy. He got a M66 to carry off duty. I got the M60. OK momma wasn't too thrilled at the bank account getting skinnier.

Along the way Ole Lemon up and croaked on us (maybe 10 years ago). Of course I still had that M60. So I did the right thing, I gave it away. Oldest son wanted it. He and Mike were great buddies, or as good as a 20 something year old guy can be with a 1 year old. Not funny. One day I realized my kid had never had strawberry pie. Momma was at work and I immediately took the kid across the hall to confess the problem. He was up in a flash and we hiked down the hill, across the road and over the next hill. And yes, he liked the strawberry pie. A lot. Friends who share such things are in short supply.

 

[scattershot]

I was going to call you on this but had to do some research first. I didn't think 7-Eleven went back far enough to have been around when .22 LR sold for $.35, but the company dates back to 1927 so it is more than possible.

OP thinks $.85 .22s are old, I remember being upset when the price went UP to $.75 back in the '60s.

Yeah, I was using 7/11 as a generic term, it was actually Cabell's Minit Market, but I didn't think anyone would know what I was talking about. This was in Dallas, early 60's.

 

[GF]

Late to the thread but I'll add a box of rimfires and a cheap 'ol revolver to shoot 'em in!

GF

 

[weatherby]

a store I go to that is all he sells