Just Something Magic About Vintage Blues.

[Mike Stahle]

Long gone are the days of the neat old boxes of shells.
Two boxes on the left sold for $3.90
The two boxes on the right sold for $3.42

[Jerry Andrews]

I killed my first squirrel with one of those type shells, # 6 shot out of my Dad's Iver Johnson Champion single shot 12 gauge. I was 12. Jerry

[Mike Stahle]

I’m there with you Jerry.
At 12 years old in 1973 with a Winchester model 1200 that was a little to big for me, I managed to take my first squirrel, rabbit and pheasant with the exact pictured ammo. but in #6 shot. My Dad was always very particular about the brand of meat getting high brass shotgun shells he used. This was his favorite. In his now 71+ year old mind, he says the stuff they make today is junk.

[C.O.B.]

Mike those boxes are worth more than $4ea I have some of the old Peters in 28ga and some of the Remington Express in 16ga. I don't shoot them out of the Parkers simply because I like the 2 /2 inch low pressure loads better, there easy on the gun and kill game just as well.

When you could still use lead shot for waterfowl out of anything smaller than a 12ga I used the Rem Express #5's out of a Browning Seeet 16. I wish you could find #5 shot and that I had that 16 back.

[Roundsworth]

Nice boxes, Mike, and they don't take up a lot of space, either! Hang on to them. Once they're gone, there is no turning back. Yes, I get a bit touchy about vintage ammunition! I guess 40 years of collecting has taken its toll. Cheers!

[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.

[Jerry Andrews]

It's a crime our country has out-sourced everything. I went to buy a GM truck and the guy at the dealership gave me the rundown. Mexican steel, imported from China, and sold to the US. Electronics, Japan. Rotors, China. Assembly, mostly Mexico. He told me if I wanted to support America buy Toyota, at least they are US Steel, Assembled in the US. What a crime. We make very few products here in America anymore. I went through Cabela's last week trying to find US products. Pretty tough. I hope something changes. Even in the fly shop, very few items made in the US. Jerry

[Mike Stahle]

I have no intention of shooting any of these vintage boxes of shells.
This is my newest hobby. I now have 16 boxes in my collection to date.

[C.O.B.]

Jerry-I hear you. I looked at a pair of Levis and they were made in Bangladesch, another pair in Mexico. The Carharts were made in the USA.

At least my guns were made in the USA and my ammo is USA made as it's reloaded

[Bill Murphy]

Richard, even though your Carharts are made in USA, they cost six times what they did before the yuppies discovered them. Somehow, that money is getting to China. Carhart unlined jackets used to be about $19.95. They are now $89.95. Reminds me of the Chevrolet Suburban. How does this stuff that conservatives like somehow exceed the rate of inflation by multiples?