Widder's 22 nostalgia

[Tennessee williams]

Here's some of Widder's vintage 22 ammo. Ill let him tell you about it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Widder, SASS #59054]

Thanks TW.

 

I was cleaning up some of my .22 'stash' over the weekend and sent TW some pics of some of my older

.22 ammo and those older boxes.   

 

It might sound crazy, but sometimes, old pictures like these .22 ammo boxes and pictures of RC Cola bottles and

old Pepsi bottles bring back fond memories of my childhood.

 

Our local neighborhood grocery store, which even had a pot belly stove in it that we would gather around on

a cold winter day, always kept some .22 ammo and shotgun shells on their shelves.

I remember seeing some of the older Remington/Peters ammo and occasionally, the owner would put some

Western Xpert .22 ammo on the shelf similar to those pictured above.

 

The prices on some of those boxes is .89 cents.

Its hard to see in the picture, but the 100 round box of Western .22 has a price stamped on the box of $2.30

 

I think somewhere, I have one of those with a lessor price.

 

I'm glad TW posted those pics.

 

EDIT:  these boxes have the original .22 ammo still in them.

 

..........Widder

 

[Rip Snorter]

Man, I am old - most newstalgia!

[Widder, SASS #59054]

I may be wrong, but the box of CCI shown in the top picture might be their 1st issue 100 round box.

The price sticker on the end of the box is $1.95

 

I have a couple other issued boxes of their ammo and they seem to change the look every

dozen years or so.

 

I'm hoping others might have some old ammo boxes they can share with us Saloonaholics.

 

TW has a couple more pics he will post soon.

 

..........Widder

 

[Tennessee williams]

Here's more..

 

 

 

[Widder, SASS #59054]

The 'MONARK' ammo was made by Federal.  Price was .69 cents.

 

The Federal 'Hi-Power' box is .22 SHORTS, as shown in the bottom picture.

The Federal 'Lightning' box shows a Walmart price of $1.16 BUT a sale price from Big K at $1.00.

 

I can't recall when I last saw the Federal .22 shorts on  store shelfs.

 

EDIT:  the .22 SHORT box also has the original .22 short ammo in it.

 

..........Widder

 

[J-BAR #18287]

I'll play.  I don't have as many, but I love .22 LR, and .22 Short!

 

 

Memories!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Blackwater 53393]

In the mid seventies, I lived in Dalton, Ga. and worked as a mechanic in a service station in nearby Tunnel Hill. The station had been there for years and the original building had a small store included in the layout.  We sold cold drinks, bread, a few cans of soup, candy, condoms, and .22 ammunition along with shotgun shells in 20, 16, and 12 ga. We also had a coffee pot and a potbelly stove.

 

Yeah, we sold tires, batteries, oil, wiper blades, and belts too.

 

The place was a hangout for some of the local characters, farmers, a preacher or two, and some of the local cops. The stove, the drink box, the coffee pot, and the snack rack were all in the office area.

 

One time, I took some high heat exhaust header paint and painted the stove to look like it had a nice hot fire going, just a hint of red at about the level where the coals would sit when it really was fired up!  It was late fall and some of the locals were there the next morning. It was pretty chilly and they were all crowded around near the stove!  I think it was about an hour before anybody figured out that there was no fire in the stove!  The owner and I were both dressed warm and we were in and out of the office, pumping gas and working on customers’ cars and we spent the whole morning laughing at them trying to get closer to the empty stove, trying to get warm!! 🤣

 

Thanks, guys, for reminding me of a great time in my past!!

 

Country stores and old “fillin’ stations” have always been some of my favorite places!!

 

[Widder, SASS #59054]

Blackwater,

remember when the 'butcher' in those small stores would personally slice your baloney when you ordered a 1/2# or so?

Then he would wrap it up in that thick white (sometimes brown) paper to help keep in its cool temp.

 

And those drink boxes had sliding lids that kept the 'dopes'  (sodie water/belly washer)

cold by keeping them sunk in cold water.   When you wanted

your favorite, you 'fished' it out of the cold water.

 

A plentiful pack of daisy BB's was only 5-cents.

A few Christmas back, I bought my 3 brothers one of those new Daisy 'Red Rider' BB rifles at Walmart.

My wife thought I was crazy.   But my brothers really liked em.

 

So many fond memories of that local store, where us kids actually parked our bikes outside around a huge oak tree.

And it was closed on Sundays.

 

..........Widder

 

[watab kid]

ive seen most of those over the years even have some in my stash i believe , ive collected 22s for years and ive hoarded 22 ammo for just as long , got some from the 50s for sure maybe the 40s but a lot of that got shot up when we were kids 

 

".....

It might sound crazy, but sometimes, old pictures like these .22 ammo boxes and pictures of RC Cola bottles and

old Pepsi bottles bring back fond memories of my childhood...." 

 

 

i know tht exact feeling - you can remember so vividly and almost smell the same air if you try 

[Blackwater 53393]

Mine ain’t QUITE that old, but I’ve got this one in my shop!

 

[Cypress Sun]

There used to be a store in St. Pete called Webb City. It was really a huge department store that stretched a city block. Had everything you could imagine there. Even had a "piano playing" chicken if you put a nickel in the machine. Anyway, the store is long gone but I still have one box of .22 ammo from there. Some pictures of some other older .22 ammo also.

 

 

[Stump Water]

Ahh the old country store.  Spent a lot of my youth in Baywood, Va. and frequented the store pictured quite a bit.  Creaky wood floor.  Pot belly stove in the back.  Drink boxes with the sliding lids & ice water.  At lunch time you'd grab a pack of nabs, a Pepsi or grape Nehi and have "Granny" make you a sammich out of the various cold cuts she had in the ice box - on white bread of course.  Everybody remember lunchmeat or loafmeat?

 

While you could buy boxes of ammo, they also sold individual cartridges.  Last I remember .22s were 2 cents each.

 

The store was also a game check station.

 

The first pic is in the early 70's.  Second pic is a few years before it was torn down - probably about ten years ago.  I don't know why someone maintained the sign, but I guess it's because the store was a landmark for so many years.

 

I have some older .22 boxes I'll post pics of later. 

 

[Blackwater 53393]

I remember Webb city! I used to live in Saint Pete and we would go there nearly every weekend. They had a pet store and my dad taught one of the parrots to cuss.
 

my uncle Bob walked by that parrot and it cussed him real good! I don’t know if they ever sold that parrot!

 

🤣
 

[Tennessee williams]

@Blackwater 53393 I tell Widder all the time Im gonna go buy or build an old country store and we'll sit in the corner and play checkers and lie all day unless its purty and we'll go outside and plink. He asked me how we'd ever make any money. I told him about the hot girl I was gonna hire to cut the bologna! We'll make a fortune. Then I told him this one:

 

 Old storekeep figured out how to make big money. He hired this hot young lady to stock the shelves. Now she always wore a skirt and was shorenuff hot, but kind of ditzy. Well that shopkeeper figured out real quick to put one of the best selling breads on the top shelf with a step ladder next to it for that stock girl to get people's bread. 

  One day this old codger made his way through the crowd of fellas buying bread so he could get his weekly loaf to make his sammiches. He didn't know what the big deal was until he got to the bread. That girl would climb up that ladder and fetch someone's bread, then bring it back down to them. Soon as she got back down another guy would tell her their brand was up there too. That stock girl was getting tired of climbing that ladder so while she was at the top of it she looked back down and noticed the old codger and asked him if his was up too. He looked at her and said no, but its twitching a mite.

[Cypress Sun]

38 minutes ago, Blackwater 53393 said:

I remember Webb city! I used to live in Saint Pete and we would go there nearly every weekend. They had a pet store and my dad taught one of the parrots to cuss.
 

my uncle Bob walked by that parrot and it custom real good! I don’t know if they ever sold that parrot!

 

🤣
 

 

I remember that bird!

 

I can actually say that I really did LOL when I read this. 

[Blackwater 53393]

I might be convinced to go in on that country store!!  Long as that gal don’t slice the bologna too thin and can handle t’maters ‘n’ pickles ‘n’ such, we can make out like bandits!

 

We kin set us up a little distillery in the basement and keep the locals entertained and fattened up and set ‘n’ watch the weather and the world go by!!

 

 

[Blackwater 53393]

Hey! TW!! Do you remember Barrett’s country store over on Jefferson Pike?? It was just about a quarter mile past the boat ramp.

 

They used to keep bologna and ham and a couple of cheeses and made sangwidges at lunchtime and for the folks going into town to work of a morning!  Ms. Barrett grew her own tomatoes and onions and kept barrel style dill pickles!

 

Them sangwidges were great when you broke ‘em out for lunch and the rest of the guys would get all jealous!!

 

[Stump Water]

8 minutes ago, Blackwater 53393 said:

... of a morning

 

Only other person I've ever heard say that was my dad.

[Blackwater 53393]

I’ve used that phrase a few times!  I always gravitated toward the old guys wherever I worked. They usually knew the ins and outs of the job and the best way to get the job done. They also had the knowledge that only comes with experience and time.
 

They often used terms like that!  I sometimes find myself thinking about old times and the language that I heard comes to mind as I talk or write about those days.

[Gracos Kid]

Several posts mentioned RC Colas.......Last one I drank was about 1957.   Turned it up to finish the last of it and something in the bottle hit my lips .   It was bottled with a rotten looking acorn still in the bottle.    GROSS.....

[Stump Water]

14 hours ago, Widder, SASS #59054 said:

I can't recall when I last saw the Federal .22 shorts on  store shelfs.

 

Likewise.  Last I bought I ordered from Midsouth Shooters Supply.

 

Does anybody other than CCI make shorts, longs or CB caps anymore?

[J-BAR #18287]

25 minutes ago, Stump Water said:

 

Does anybody other than CCI make shorts, longs or CB caps anymore?

MidwayUSA lists Winchester and Aguila .22 Shorts online.  There may be others also.

[Blackwater 53393]

This is a great ride in the WAYBACK machine!! 😜❤️

[Widder, SASS #59054]

Hey Stump.

I don't remember our local country store selling individual .22 ammo, although they may have and I didn't know about it.

 

BUT, they did sell shotgun shells individually.   Don't remember the price, but there was always an opened box with a few missing.....

and the owner once told me someone only needed a few.

 

At one time, 3 candy bars or 3 packs of gum were 10 cents.   Problem was, not often could we scrounge up a dime.

 

..........Widder

 

[Cypress Sun]

12 minutes ago, Widder, SASS #59054 said:

Hey Stump.

I don't remember our local country store selling individual .22 ammo, although they may have and I didn't know about it.

 

BUT, they did sell shotgun shells individually.   Don't remember the price, but there was always an opened box with a few missing.....

and the owner once told me someone only needed a few.

 

At one time, 3 candy bars or 3 packs of gum were 10 cents.   Problem was, not often could we scrounge up a dime.

 

..........Widder

 

 

When we couldn't scrounge up the nickel or dime...we'd go on the hunt for soda bottles. The bottles weren't worth saving to adults but to us kids, they were a treasure trove!

[Stump Water]

47 minutes ago, Cypress Sun said:

When we couldn't scrounge up the nickel or dime...we'd go on the hunt for soda bottles. The bottles weren't worth saving to adults but to us kids, they were a treasure trove!

 

Oh yeah.  Toting feed sacks full of bottles - well, as many as we could carry anyway - to the store to turn in for that big payday!

 

Of course we had to bring grandpa's feed sack back.

 

Come deer season, which was 2 days, people would come in the store and buy their three 30-30 or buck shot shells.  My uncle was one of the first in those parts to have one-a-them "Hi Paar" deer rifles... a 30-06.  With a scope to too! 

.

 

[Widder, SASS #59054]

When I was in my 30's (40+ years ago) I met an old timer who had one of them special 30-30 rifles that would shoot 'clear cross the water' to

the other side of the lake.    He didn't know exactly why, but it shot 'harder' than any rifle he'd ever seen.

 

I don't know when he got his rifle, but it was obviously early in his life and in the area he lived in E.TN, he had not seen

anything like it.    

 

I'm loving this 'nostalgic history' stuff by everyone.

 

..........Widder

 

[Blackwater 53393]

My dad took a hunting trip with two of my uncles to Wyoming back in the late sixties! Both of them had big bolt action hunting rifles and the old man had a Marlin 20 inch lever action in 30-30.  
 

The other two chided him about his “wimpy little 30-30” and told him he’d never get close enough to those mule deer they were going after!

 

For years after that hunt, he teased them both unmercifully because he was the only one to bring back a deer! Dad was a highly qualified marksman in the military and as a LEO and he knew his equipment well! He’d spent lots of time with that rifle and had found ammo that he was comfortable with.

 

The uncles weren’t really hunters at all and probably had never spent much time with their guns!

 

My little brother has that rifle now, but I found one just like it. I didn’t let it get away!!😜

 

Funny to realize that that rifle of my dad’s is more than fifty years old and that he’s been gone twenty years!!

 

 

[Rooster Ron Wayne]

Im glad to see its not just me lol 😂🤣😂

[Stump Water]

Not as "nostalgic" as Widrows 22 ammo, these are from the 1980s.

 

Both of these were manufactured in meh-hay-co.  And, yep, the VF on the Navy Arms is for Val Forgett.

 

https://www.wardscollectibles.com/22-box-id/USA/NavyArms.pdf

 

Bonus pic is the Savage Model 24 O/U.  .22 Mag on top, .410 on bottom.  The only gun my dad owned.  No serial # that I can find.  Dad loved to tell about when his FIL used it to shoot the branch out from under a "woods chicken"... better known as a pileated woodpecker.

[Eyesa Horg]

10 hours ago, Stump Water said:

Ahh the old country store.  Spent a lot of my youth in Baywood, Va. and frequented the store pictured quite a bit.  Creaky wood floor.  Pot belly stove in the back.  Drink boxes with the sliding lids & ice water.  At lunch time you'd grab a pack of nabs, a Pepsi or grape Nehi and have "Granny" make you a sammich out of the various cold cuts she had in the ice box - on white bread of course.  Everybody remember lunchmeat or loafmeat?

 

While you could buy boxes of ammo, they also sold individual cartridges.  Last I remember .22s were 2 cents each.

 

The store was also a game check station.

 

The first pic is in the early 70's.  Second pic is a few years before it was torn down - probably about ten years ago.  I don't know why someone maintained the sign, but I guess it's because the store was a landmark for so many years.

 

I have some older .22 boxes I'll post pics of later. 

 

Sorta makes ya feel old . Big change in what seems like a short time frame. 

[Stump Water]

8 hours ago, Blackwater 53393 said:

I might be convinced to go in on that country store!!

 

Might need to expand a bit.

 

https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/1315-Church-St-Tiptonville-TN/33757751/

 

 

14 minutes ago, Eyesa Horg said:

Sorta makes ya feel old . Big change in what seems like a short time frame. 

 

Yeah, only fifty years.  🙃

 

.

[Blackwater 53393]

5 hours ago, Widder, SASS #59054 said:

Hey Stump.

I don't remember our local country store selling individual .22 ammo, although they may have and I didn't know about it.

 

BUT, they did sell shotgun shells individually.   Don't remember the price, but there was always an opened box with a few missing.....

and the owner once told me someone only needed a few.

 

At one time, 3 candy bars or 3 packs of gum were 10 cents.   Problem was, not often could we scrounge up a dime.

 

..........Widder

 

 

I reckon it was the same all over!!

 

A few years ago, I caught some all brass 10ga shells over on the SASS Classifieds! They were in the original box, but there were only eighteen of them. The seller explained that he bought two boxes of ‘em at an old store in Alaska that was going out of business because the owner was retiring.

 

He asked why there were shells missing and the owner told him that Inuit, (Eskimo) hunters would buy a couple of shells, a pound of powder, a bag of shot, and some primers. They’d load up a couple of shells and go out to hunt. When they got back home, they’d reload those same shells for the next hunt.  He’d sold a couple of shells at a time to many of the locals.

 

 

[Injun Ryder, SASS #36201L]

On the other hand:

 

My first 22 was a Nylon 66. I traded it for a Schwinn 10 speed.

 

Soon after (1970), I bought a Nylon 77 and still have it. (This is a file photo.)

 

 

At present, I have fifteen 22 rifles - from a Colt Lightning to a S&W MP15-22 and three pistols - from a S&W Model 1 to a Browning Buck Mark.