Every day for this entire year I will post a old school printed gun advertisement.

[6string]

From American Handgunner 1985

1) Gunsmith ad for Lou Ciamillo. He did great work!
2) Curious ad for the Do-It-Yourself guys. Plus, a little ad for the Fajen big thumbhole grip that never quite caught on.
3) Another cool American Handgunner giveaway. Fred Ward built these very nice S&W model 25 conversions. American Handgunner had great taste, and did a lot to promote the work of custom pistolsmiths.
4) The HK VP70z (VP for "volkspistole", 70 for the year 1970, the "z" is for "zivil", or civilian). These were also made for military LE use (VP70m) with an optional shoulder stock that allowed (I think) 3 round burst fire. Polymer frame, very heavy trigger pull.
5) The Colt Python Hunter. A nice package that is both high quality and very practical for the intended use.

 

[AJ]

Hi AJ and MooMoo,

AJ, your Para-Ordinance ad sure brings back memories! That was from when they were still in Ontario, Canada.
Originally, Para-Ordinance only made the wide, double stack 1911 frame, magazines, and a few small parts like the wide bow trigger, etc. You needed the rest of the parts to build it (barrel, slide, sights, etc). This was years before your ad was produced!
The company was a side project of the guys that ran a gun shop in the north part of Toronto. Actually, they sold motorcycles and guns! They were one of DuPont Canada's Remington customers. My Dad would occasionally bring me along when his dealer visits fell on a weekend.
We arrived at this shop on a Saturday. The whole front is Harley Davidson motorcycles and biker gear. At the back of the shop is a huge wall of steel bars. It looked like a prison! You walked through the steel door and you were in the gun shop.
They were really big on Springfield Armory. They had plenty in the way of M1a1s, and also BM-59s. The latter were branded Springfield Armory but were assembled using Beretta BM-59 parts and SA Garand type receivers.
Definitely not your typical Canadian hunting-fishing outdoors store!

I had a ParaOrd P-14 that was built for me as a race gun for IPSC. Shot it for a while as such. It was built for me by Jim MacDonald of Mac's .45 Shop of Seal Beach, Ca. I lived in Seal Beach as I was stationed at NWS Seal Beach as the Guard Chief of the Marine Barracks there. When I went back to my day job at MCAS Cherry Point, NC of being an aircraft electrician, I quit shooting IPSC as there was no time. One of our pilots saw it and wanted it. They were allowed to carry their own pistols when they were in combat. I took the upper off and put a regular Government Slide and barrel on it. When he flew in Desert Storm he carried it.

 

[Golddollar]

From American Handgunner 1985

1) Gunsmith ad for Lou Ciamillo. He did great work!

He sure did. I knew him from back when i moved to Maryland back in 1985. I had a PPC gun he built on a S&W Highway Patrolman. Maybe that seems a little over-engineered for .38 Special wadcutter loads but you knew you could shoot it until the cows came home and it would never wear out. I wish I still had that gun. I probably sold it when I lost my job in 2009.

 

[AJ]

I own a Sig P 220, except it is a .22 LR. I saw where Kelly McMillan passed away in June. He made some very good stocks. Also the Chip McCormick passed away in June also. Used a fair amount of his equipment when I shot IPSC. Will have to look for one of his ads to post.

 

[Moo Moo]

Here is today's mix.

 

[6string]

From American Handgunner 1984

1) Ruger Redhawk. The original design. I really enjoyed these types of Ruger ads with the cutaway diagram and point by point features.
2) Close-up of the text of above ad.
3) Iver Johnson Pony. Nice looking ad.
4) King's Gun Works offered a fairly comprehensive range of 1911 parts. At the time, this was an important source of parts. I wonder how many 1911s guys built up using an Essex frame and these King parts?
5) Very nice contest giveaway gun. Built with a Dan Wesson .44 Magnum by Mullis Gunworks. The Swedish-made Aimpoint MKIII electronic red dot sight was revolutionary back in the 80s.

Between the Redhawk and the Dan Wesson, these were two outstanding .44 Magnum DA revolvers.
(Keep in mind, "Sudden Impact", the 4th Dirty Harry movie, had recently been released and the .44 Magnum market was quite robust. Plus, many manufacturers were interested in succeeding with IHMSA.)

 

[Moo Moo]

Whilst not vintage, here are some ads from an Australian GUN publication.

 

[ajgunner]

How do I enter to win a dozen Jackaroo's?

 

[ajgunner]

Here are a few odd balls you pretty much never see anymore.





Wonder how long the guy that came up with "A single shot, with a 6 gun look" continued to work for Salvage.

 

[AJ]

Remington Christmas Ads from the Remington Collectors Journal. Will have five more for tomorrow also. Been saving these for just this month.

 

[quikdraw67]

Here is today's mix.

I have the P5 (not a police trade in) and the P99AS. Both excellent pistols. The P99AS is a lefty friendly pistol.

I had the P88. While it is for sure southpaw friendly, and very well made, it just didn't trip my trigger (pardon the pun).

 

[ajgunner]

Remington Christmas Ads from the Remington Collectors Journal. Will have five more for tomorrow also. Been saving these for just this month.

Excellent message in the last one. Any chance you can blow up the verbiage so that everyone can read it.

 

[6string]

I LOVE the comic book style of that first Remington ad!!

Here's more from American Handgunner, 1985

1) LAR Grizzly. Massive meets the 1911
2) ADC American Derringer. Before Bond Arms, these guys pioneered the beyond big bore derringer.
3) Double ad! Les Baer and Detonics. Both high quality stuff!
4) .22 Auto 9 backup.
5) American Handgunner gave away this custom Tangfoglio TZ75 by C&L Precision with custom finish by Accurate Plating & Weaponry, and buffalo horn grips by Art Jewel Enterprises.

 

[AJ]

Excellent message in the last one. Any chance you can blow up the verbiage so that everyone can read it.

This is the best I know how to do. If someone else knows a better way, please do so or tell e how.

AJ

 

[AJ]

More Remington Christmas Ads. Didn't any of the other gun makers do Christmas ads?

 

[6string]

More Remington Christmas Ads. Didn't any of the other gun makers do Christmas ads?

Good question! I'd like to see some. I've offered a couple, but will dig deep and see what I have.
By the way, did you notice the address for one of those Remington ads: 25 Broadway, NYC.
That is the address for the old Cunard Building, built largely by Cunard Anchor Lines, a huge shipping company. The building opened in the early 1920s and was quite the architectural marvel. It was built directly over the Broadway subway line, and was really in the thick of the action in the Wall St district of Manhattan. Other tenants that used the building were Standard & Poor, the USPS, plus many of Cunard's subsidiaries.
Can you imagine a major gun maker with offices in NYC today?

 

[Moo Moo]

Here's a few more from an Australian publication. The CZ Shadow 2's are extremely popular out here for Centrefire competition shooting.

 

[6string]

From Rifle Magazine, 1980

1) Interarms Mark X
2) Lyman/Ruger no. 1 cased set. No. 1 rifle, Lyman Centennial scope, dies, mold, brass, & manual....all for the reloader-caster-lover of the 45-70!!
3) RCBS competition dies. Very nice dies!
4) Ruger rifles for the rifleman
5) Shiloh Sharps "Old Reliable" brought back anew!!

 

[AJ]

Todays offerings Mostly from G & A Annual 1990.

 

[ajgunner]

Here are a pair of vintage ads from S&W.