Just Something Magic About Vintage Blues.

[Bill Murphy]

Mike's Remington Express shells are the absolute first generation of plastic shells by the big three. I can't remember the exact year, but I think it was 1961. My Dad bought a raft of those shells at a fire sale and we hunted pheasants and ducks with them for, well, I still have some. When the white paint wore off the outside of the plastic, you still knew what the shot size was because you could see the shot through the plastic. This was the era of the $3.40 price for the high velocity 12 gauge and I think my Dad paid about $1.50 for the smoke stained, but otherwise undamaged shells. This was at a drug store that was in the same block of 14th Street in Washington where Parker-Whelen was located. It was a great neighborhood for a young kid to hang around. Parker-Whelen was Colonel Townsend Whelen's great gun store and in the same block were numerous strip joints and burlesque houses and pawn shops. Conveniently, my Dad's office was two blocks away at 13th and K Streets.