J&G Sales Smiths

[EricR]

Sorry, April 1979. I was 19 at the time. My Dad would purchase some items from time to time, and I was buying NOS USGI M1 Carbine stocks that were unbelievable. Never seen anything so clean since then.

Was rummaging through the old estate recently and found this old Shotgun News.

 

[Abbynormal]

I don't recall them selling N frames, barrels and cylinders. That's cool

 

[muddocktor]

That is pretty darn cool. Thanks for sharing with us!

 

[MyDads38]

Oh, if we could only go back.....I remember those days well

 

[Peak53]

I'll take the Model 28 4" for $175 please

Thanks for sharing

 

[shawn mccarver]

Well, that brings back memories!

 

[k22fan]

Ahh.. The good old days. National Rifleman gun reviews were written like consumer reports rather than advertisements. Most of us sought out their reviews before buying an unfamiliar gun. Then if our Sit House News was not too soggy to read from drool we mailed payment to the Sit House News advertiser. After it arrived a call would come from our neighborhood home FFL who we'd pay a 10% mark up plus sales tax. Often friends would order together so we could get the multiple gun discount from the Sit House News advertiser. That was great for hobbyists until Bill Clinton's ATF put over 80% of FFLs out of business in the mid 1990s.

That's a great old ad to see. Let's not kill this thread by elaborating on Billy's politics.

 

[loc n load]

Lived in Arizona during that time frame, bought quite a few guns from J&G.......remember the SGN ads quite well.

 

[EricR]

Good shlt for sure. Fun to remember. Wife is likely losing her dad real quick and this post for me was an awesome distraction. Heck, I even told her and she thought it was cool.

 

[Rudi]

Shows what has happened to the Dollar.

 

[JayFramer]

A Colt's Python for $950???

Surely a better time, and one we'll never get back.

 

[Waveski]

I will take 2 of the model 15s , please. New , not used.

 

[rbmac52]

Thanks for the trip back in time.

In 1979 I was a 27 year old rookie deputy sheriff and already had some nice Smith & Wesson guns back then, including models 29-2, 19-3, 14-4, 17-3, and a 60 no dash. Many of them I bought new for less than the prices listed at J&G (Cheshire & Perez, in Monrovia, CA)! Those WERE the days!

 

[Muley Gil]

I don't recall them selling N frames, barrels and cylinders. That's cool

In 1976, I bought a 6 1/2" .44 Special target barrel from J&G for $50. I bought a used M27-2 3 1/2" locally. I took it all to Walker Arms in Selma, Alabama and had the cylinder re-chambered and the barrel installed. When I got it back a few months later, that was my duty gun for several years.

About 2006, I took the conversion to Davis Clements in Woodlawn, Virginia and had him cut the barrel to 5", install a ramp front sight and blue it. It was a great shooter as a 6 1/2" and it is still a great shooter as a 5".

 

[arjay]

Class A engraved Gold Cup $850 !!
Got married that year-I think that's how much we spent on the wedding

 

[hkcavalier]

A Colt's Python for $950???

Surely a better time, and one we'll never get back.

Adjusted for inflation, we're still there.

 

[k22fan]

Adjusted for inflation, we're still there.

$950 was for an engraved Python so are we?

In 1969, 10 years before that SGN ad was published, a long barreled .357 Auto Mag had sat in Ernst Hardware's glass case priced at $225 for longer than they liked. I was way too young to buy it but was already shaving and looked older than my age. The sales man offered it me for $175.

 

[hkcavalier]

$950 was for an engraved Python so are we?

In 1969, 10 years before that SGN ad was published, a long barreled .357 Auto Mag had sat in Ernst Hardware's glass case priced at $225 for longer than they liked. I was way too young to buy it but was already shaving and looked older than my age. The sales man offered it me for $175.

Yeah, not an engraved one...true. "Regular" Pythons are moving for $3000+ these days. I can't imagine what a factory engraved one would sell for now...$7k or more?

 

[Redcoat3340]

Out of idle curiosity I did a bit of inflation checking....

Buying a 1978 mod 39 for $180 would now cost you $700; a $190 mod. 19 would cost $736; and a model 29 for $415 in '78 would cost $1,609 today in equal dollars.

 

[EricR]

Here's the final page of parts from the same J&G add.