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Thank you John Barsness (aka Mule Deer) for the exclusive Campfire article, "Gun Shops," which can be found on our New Campfire Home Page.

Please use this thread is to ask John questions about the article. As always, my thanks to John and to the Campfire.

Rick

Bump for launch.

JB, Excellent article! Ric, Thank you for posting a link...

I enjoyed reading "Gun Shops" very much, thanks for posting. It reminded me of my youth, when we had lots of gun shops here in New Jersey, and a boy of 13 could walk into one and buy a box of 22 rimfire ammo and shoot in the woods down the street without anyone complaining.

The other gun shop was up at the other end of town, and it was too far to walk. It was called Tom Norman's Sport Shop, and Tom was chief of police. My friends who lived in that end of town went there. Those were the days.

Cook, Newton and Smith was one of those wood floored gun shops of my youth. Had the smell like in Mule Deer’s story to. It had to be 69 or 70 and I was 10 or 11 and saw my first left handed bolt action. It was a Savage 30-06 and I believe the price tag was $99.99. Dad was picking up a couple items on trade, As I remember.

Anyone from or who traveled through central MN (Mille Lacs area) in the 80's remember "Bach's" gun-shop? I grew up in central ND. Every summer we'd travel to central MN to spend a week with college friends of my parents. Dad and I would always take 1 day and hit up gun-shops around Mille Lacs. I couldn't tell you how to get there, I just remember a building in a meadow surrounded by trees. Wood floors and the whole bit. In connection w/JB's gun-shop story, I can remember my dad buying one of those Colt 22 revolvers @ Bach's.

Bach's is long-gone. Reed's in Walker MN now only has consignment used firearms, no more trading. "The Corner Store" in Backus, MN is small, maybe 100ish guns, but, he does a brisk business in used guns, turns inventory regularly, and almost always has something interesting on the shelf. The owner fancies SxS shotguns and there are usually 20-30 great specimens. From Win 21's through Savage/Stevens 311's, guild guns, all kinds of stuff. Throw in the odd Pre-64 M70 and some used late-model shotguns, I try to find time to stop anytime I'm within 50Mi or so.

Another gunshop that "loonies" who get nearby need to budget time for is Boone's Fine Guns about an 60-90min NW of Minneapolis in Isle MN on the SE corner of Lake Mille Lacs. Sakos, Kimbers, Savage 99's, Winchester 70's, 60 series takedowns, 66's, 73's, 86's, Remington, Ruger, and Browning collectables, yes, plurals. He's got a set of Winchester roller skates in the box, along with a supply-ship rope-launching gun in it's original box. Thousands, if not 10's of thousands of collectable ammo boxes. No wood floor, but, I promise, you won't miss it. The good and bad about Boone's is they have a crappy website which means you just have to go there.

Shooting Sports just E of Little Falls, MN is a "must stop". There are a couple of Pawn Shops in Bemidji MN that have interesting guns at times.

BrotherHood Arms in Watertown SD has a really good mix of AR/Tactical stuff as well as wood/blued and a very well-stocked reloading dept. Sodak Sports in Aberdeen and Mitchell are also worth making time for if you're close.

Of Course 1st Stop in Rapid City also deserves a mention. I'm told there's a basement, I've yet to be invited down there for a look.......

I don’t know if it is our smaller market place in Western Canada, or the waves of ineffectual stupid gun laws that we endure, but the great shops like those you describe are disappearing from the retail landscape here all too steadily.
Wood floors ? I can think of one out of the way establishment in Bashaw, Ab that I make a pilgrimage to whenever I’m nearby. The amalgamation and growth of the big city lgs drove the smaller establishments under. These still weren’t competitive against the Big Box chain stores moving in, leaving a void in the retail gun shop landscape.
Oddly these small shops which are left, seldom had the lowest price to match the bigger outlets , but their proprietors remained content to turn there inventory a little slower, at a higher margin, relying on customer satisfaction and repeat business for long term survival.
I hope that these great gun shops emerge stronger, with the support of their distributors and customers.

The basement at First Stop is something else, been down there a couple of times.

I grew up hanging out at Mashburn Arms in Oklahoma City in the 1970s. JB's article reminded me of that place to a T. I understand that it still exists, but under new management/ownership.


Okie John

John, I got a kick out of your dad's alway using .22 Longs rather than LR's; it brought back memories of my father. Dad hadn't grown up during the Depression, he was providing for my mom and my older sisters all through the Depression and Dust Bowl era so never wasted money. I remember quite well him telling me not to buy LR's, that Shorts were cheaper and worked just as well. So I bought Short HP's and killed a jack rabbit or 6 with them.

Also I had the privilege of shopping at the old Mashburn Arms here in OKC and Sisk Bullets in Iowa Park, TX which were much like the stores you've mentioned, in fact, IIRC Sisk was an old frame house.

I had an early multi-round experience with Short HPs as well, on a red squirrel! Though it didn't require quite as many. That ended them for me....

Is the Powder Horn still operating in Bozeman?

On a recent trip to Conrad, MT I happened on a newly opened gun store. They have a nice selection of used guns for a really small town. First piece that caught my eye was a mint Remington 31 16 gauge. Mint because it was totally worked over by Tom Burgess. Both the metal and wood. Looked much better than a new gun. Think the asking was $425. It would be mine if it had suffered a poly choke on the end

Interesting info, as I visit that area pretty frequently. Though I would have bought the 31 despite the dial-duck!

Was that large GS back in your Minnesota days happen to be Ahlman’s?

That kind of rings a bell! Is it still around?

Great article. The reader could just feel the wooden floors, smell those gun shop smells. Well done.

A good LGS in Houston is Collector's Firearms. They do trade and have an impressive selection of all types of firearms. https://www.collectorsfirearms.com/ No wooden floors, concrete in a shopping center on the western side of Houston. Good folks to work with.

I check their "new arrivals" section on a regular basis. It's where I traded for the Charles Askins Sr. Superposed. They didn't know the provenance, neither did I until after the fact. I did inform them....

http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=124719 100K hits on that site.

DF

Here in So Cal most of your mom and pop gun shops been run off. We have the large chains Turners Outdoorsman and Ammo Bros. Growing up I spent most of my free time and disposable income at Stanley's gun Room and Cliffs Gunsmithing in Santa Ana CA their both long gone the Stockade in Westminster CA and Fowler Gun Room in Orange CA were my favorite Sam Fowler owned both stores he's since passed. The Stockade closed a few years back. Fowler's is still around new owner, same name. Martin B Retting up in Culver City has a lot of used weapons, hard to find guns been up there a few times. Lately I'll attend Little John's Auctions to pick up something to flip or keep...

First gun I ever bought “all on my own” was from Cliff’s Gunsmithing. Cliff did a very nice trigger job on it, too.

Your lucky... If your talking about the same place in Santa Ana CA it was a nice shop lot of reloading gear and everything else packed in there a lot of guns and hard to find items but IMO Cliff was no Gunsmith. Had him do a pad on one of my Sako bolt guns, it looked like schit. Ran it over to Bolsa Gunsmithing and they sorted it out.