Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172 Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 After WW II? Thay had some neat stuff for sale and prices were a hoot. I remeber buying a CD steel helmet for $.50 that was so heavy I couldn't wear it. Kids will do things like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Padre P.W. #18726 Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 yep, I used to love going to those places. all kind of electronics and neat stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 Those places were SO cool... like McManus's "Grogan's War Surplus!" Bought one of these once for five bucks: Wish I still had it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172 Posted August 19, 2013 Author Share Posted August 19, 2013 I carried out more canvas than a Boll Weevil. I bought a cartridge belt with the 10 pockets. It was so big I had to wear it as a bandolier. My skinny butt and hips would not support it. I even bought a canteen cover without the canteen. What was I thinking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calvin N. Hobbes, 17218 Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 Canteen covers make excellent ammo pouches. In Special Forces I carried all my magazines in empty 2 qt canteen covers. They call them "dump pouches" nowadays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paladin Gun For Hire Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 Our next door neighbor owned a surplus store. I would go in there all the time. Got a helmet,pack,leggings,canteen,ammo belt, c-rats and a bunch of other stuff. All the kids on the block would go down in a ravine behind our house and play army for hours on end. Man what fun it was then. Thanks for bringing those memories back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172 Posted August 19, 2013 Author Share Posted August 19, 2013 Better times for sure. I can't imagine kids playing army and cowboys and indians outside any more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StirrupTrouble Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 Boy, that brings back some memories. When I was a kid, I could get lost in the old Army-Navy stores for hours Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172 Posted August 19, 2013 Author Share Posted August 19, 2013 They had such wonder stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 Yup. And all that old junk goes for top dollar nowadays. I found a stash of old helmet liners and headbands in the VFW basement. Sold them and made over $1000 for the post. Folks were paying 75 bucks and more apiece. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iditarod Kid Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 Yes indeed! Here in Greensboro, NC the store was GI1200, so named as it was in the 1200 block of street, in an building constructed as part of the ORD (Overseas Replacement Depot) during WW2. My dad used to take me there regularly. See you down the trail...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy Bristol Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 Better times for sure. I can't imagine kids playing army and cowboys and indians outside any more. I remember playing Army and cowboys and indians. Had a cap firing Thompson for army and a cap firing lever action that had that little lever you flipped out to shoot as fast as the rifleman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Litl Red Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 Used them to buy more than half the equipment me and my buddies used to hike the Appalachian Trail. But that wasn't until I was in high school. First purchase was way before that. Got a helmet liner and a bayonet. $.25 for the liner and $.50 for the great long bayonet. It came with a scabbard. It was the only long one in the crate. I'm guessing it was an honor guard one. Mom wasn't happy at all but hadn't been happy back when I got a BB gun either. Times do change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawg Hair, SASS #29557 Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 It's been over 60 yrs but if memory serves me you could get a canteen for .25, a webbing belt for about .20, a leather holster ( for a 45) for about .50, a steel helmet for about .75, a helmet liner for .25, leggins, shirts, pants, gas masks, bayonets and bayonet sheaths (which now I've seen going for +$65.00, shelter halves with all the necessary accessories, you name it! They sorta dissappeared in the mid 50's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172 Posted August 19, 2013 Author Share Posted August 19, 2013 Yup. And all that old junk goes for top dollar nowadays. I found a stash of old helmet liners and headbands in the VFW basement. Sold them and made over $1000 for the post. Folks were paying 75 bucks and more apiece. Heck fir, Bob, they were treasures in 1947, to a 9 year old kid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001 Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 I think it was in the mid 70s , when the last surplus store closed here , lots of cool stuff , to be had , pretty cheap , NOT that way anymore CB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bad Hand Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 And, for the Camp Lejeune Marines, who could forget the orginal, "Saigon Sams"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 I don't remember when they "sprang up," but I do remember them from the mid-60s to late 70s. And the change from real surplus stuff to newly made for the civilian market "surplus" gear - half the quality at twice the price.And the rummage sales at the church. This was in Vista, CA, right next to Camp Pendleton. A lot of WWII and Korean vets decided to stay in that area. So, as they got older, families got bigger, wives were saying "why are you keeping all that junk? We need the space! It goes to the next rummage sale!" Which meant, in reality, that they got rid of their stuff, and their kids bought other stuff that a guy on the next block had donated. Things just got moved around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy Bristol Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 We still have a surplus store here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michigan Slim Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 Just went to GI Joes on Wells Street here in Fort Wayne. granted, not the same as when we were kids but still the same smell! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 Just went to GI Joes on Wells Street here in Fort Wayne. granted, not the same as when we were kids but still the same smell! Sort of a blend of mothballs/ cosmoline/ sweat/ mildew. Pure perfume to us as kids! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michigan Slim Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 Sort of a blend of mothballs/ cosmoline/ sweat/ mildew. Pure perfume to us as kids! It is now too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172 Posted August 19, 2013 Author Share Posted August 19, 2013 Yout gone wild in an Army/Navy Store. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 It is now too! Yup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172 Posted August 19, 2013 Author Share Posted August 19, 2013 Mom would not let me have a bayonet. I have no idea why? A 9 year old boy with a bayonet. What could go wrong? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 I still have the Garand bayonet I bought for $5. Used to throw it at a plywood target in the back yard till my arm ached. Worth a lot more today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172 Posted August 19, 2013 Author Share Posted August 19, 2013 I had one, and no Garand, so I gave it to a friend at work. Donno what happened to it, but I suspect it ended up on a table at a gun show. I bought a Garand and no bayonet. Thought that at my age, thrust and parry were a little out of line, so I did not seek a replacement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forty Rod SASS 3935 Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 Oh HELL yes! Guns, ammo, bayonets, uniforms, field gear, tents, cots, blankets, helmets, rifle stocks, mess gear, lanterns, flashlights, packs, etc. Most of the Boy Scouts were outfitted like Darby's Rangers or Marine Raiders when I was growing up. Bought a lot of new civilian stuff there, too. Some firsts: safety razor, four man tent, cot, 1903A1, 1911, S&W .38, Dick Special, 1903 pocket hammerless, Astra 400, Beretta 1934, Luger, KAR98, Webley Mk.VI, Enfield Jungle carbine, Enfield 1914 and 1917, gas mask, dummy grenades, and a hundred other long lost treasures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 Heck, I still use the 1942 metal canteen I bought as a kid! Eventually the cork seals wear out... but not to worry! A slice from a champagne cork (ya can't use the cheap plastic-corked stuff!) makes a perfect replacement! Okay.... for those of you why haven't read this, it's worth a peek: Grogan's War Surplus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smuteye John SASS#24774 Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 If you're gonna talk about Army Surplus stores, don't forget the granddaddy of them all- Bannerman's. Where else could you get a Gatling gun and the proper carriage for it? I can still remember my visits as a teenager to Ranger Joe's over in Columbus, GA. (Not that any of you guys ever heard of the place, right?) The gunshows that came through during that same era were cool, too. I remember one guy that had some sort of fold up Kukhri that was supposedly issued by somebody's air force as a survival knife. He grabbed on off the table, unfolded it and started taking a .50cal ammo can apart with it as a demo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Sabre Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 The old Army Navy Store on Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas closed long ago and Academy Surplus is now Academy Sports, but, even in this blue town, there are at least three pretty good surplus outfits still rockin' along. I get my daily wear desert tan BDUs at one of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michigan Slim Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 Pat McManus is da man! The Last Laugh was enough reason to get Outdoor Life all by itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G #1840 Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 Academy Surplus used to be open Sunday but closed on Saturday. Texas Blue laws at the time required that. It was about the only place in town you could by non-food items on Sunday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nasty Newt # 7365 Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 Oh yeah. Name of the store in my town was B&B Surplus. We all had web belts, canteens, and helmet liners, and the well-to-do kids had lots more. And canned heat was kind of forbidden fruit for some reason. I remember hiding it from my parents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stumpman Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 I lived in Germany, Rhein Mein AFB, in 1969 and in the Boy Scouts there. One night at a scout meeting a front loader pulls up with palletized card board boxes full of what was beleived to be surplus Army gear. It had tents and sleeping bags and belts and canteens and ......first aid packs, open.....and bloody bandages........and shredded uniforms and as a group of little boys like on Christmas morning were opening these giant boxes as fast as we could suddenly one kid holds up a LIVE hand gernade then another than an M-16 then a .45 then A SCREAMING SCOUT MASTER hollers DON"T ANYONE MOVE!!!!! It seems these were the wrong boxes. We had received an Army units stuff that had been policed up after a hard faught fire fight. Sadly....we had to give all the stuff back. Including the gernades.........dang!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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