A little reminder of where to look for ammo.

Hammsolo

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Where and how did you get ammo as a kid? I’d hit Coast to Coast with my buddy and a note from my Mom for 22 ammo.

I bought 17hmr ammo at Miller’s hardware on the Southhill of Spokane the other day. They have a small area with a decent little selection of factory ammo. It’s all for sale at MSRP! Support your local shops and get deals. The same ammo on line can’t be found for under $24. I checked and laughed.
 
I don't recall there being a limit on age to by ammo as a kid. I would buy from Angle Hardware 50 rounds were $1. All the stickers were hand written. Loved that place as a kid. It was originally a blacksmith shop, that morphed into a hardware shop. Its now a secondhand hand thrift shop. On the rare occasion we went to Bozeman, we'd hit Gibsons just as you got into town... Its now mid-town. Winchester/Federal/Rem all - $9.99 a 500 round brick or $2 per 100 CCI. That was after I ran out of all my stocking suffers, usually got 1000 rounds from Santa. The other best place to get ammo was one of 3 ranches we used to shoot gophers. They'd give us all the ammo we could shoot in a day and then some.
 
Coast to Coast…lol. I still have the 870 Express I bought there when I passed hunters safety in 1989. If I recall correctly it was about $195.
 
I never stockpiled ammo as a kid. My parents aren’t shooters/hunters, so that was never explained to me. At most I had an open brick of .22’s and maybe an unopened brick too. I never ran out, just would have mom pick some up if she was running errands and pay her back with lawn mowing money. When I left home, and went to a small community college in a backwoods town, same deal. Never stock piled. As soon as I opened my last brick I would replace the unopened one for next time out. I remember my preferred brick of Fed Bulk Pack (blue box, that I’m pretty sure was a relabeled shotgun box) of 525rds was $16.99 in that town. I could find them at some of the bigger sporting good stores on sale occasionally for like $12-15. Not sure how man thousands my old Marlins have seen.
 
I remember getting pissed at the creeping prices… 5 cents for a 22 round?!? I’m calling bullllshizzzzz!
 
12 bucks for a 500 brick of .22 ammo . Had to convince mom I used em all trapping . What a lie . Used to shoot shit just to shoot shit, trees, mud , frogs , rocks ,songbird grand slams. Shot an old wagon one time that In my 14 year old prime have never seen moved cause it had flat tires. 2 year later my uncle needed it for something said what the hell who shot the god damn wagon all to hell. Never did confess lol .
 
I took my ammo to the Anaconda Dump! My greatest shot was shooting an antenna off a tv with my Grandpa’s 22. 📺 🔫
 
Besides the little local mom n pops as a kid it was always Coast to Coast, Kmart, or the Army/Navy store. Also the (Oregon stores) Blackbird and Bi-Mart.
 
L&M Fleet Supply in MN was our go to for "local" stores. But it was a 35 minute drive away. Wal Mart was very close to L&M and always had cheap .22 ammo. I think I remember a 550 round brick for $6 in the late 90s??? Might not remember that price correctly. Some local hardware stores within 20 miles had a small selection of 30-06 and other standard rifle ammo. Middle of nowhere was rough nothing was local.
 
Was there a time when a 22 round cost a penny in my life? 🤔 seems impossible…
 
Was there a time when a 22 round cost a penny in my life? 🤔 seems impossible…
I think I was buying them for 2 pennies when I first started shooting in the early 2000’s. I’d say there’s a possibility of that, but idk for sure.
 
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My grandpa always got my .22 ammo at the local hardware for me when I was a kid. A box of thunderbolts and some penny candy.

Last time I went in they no longer had ammo. Candy is still there though.
 
Gun Control Act of 1968, but I'm sure rural areas were slower to enforce it.
I know I bought ammo when I was maybe 14 without an adult, before that I was always with an adult even if I was paying. Also used to buy cigarettes from my grampa when I was like 8-10. I'm sure that everyone knowing everyone in town probably had something to do with that as well. I spent more than a few nights in a bar drinking before I was 21, and IIRC I think I was 17 the first time I was served, but had a buddy who vouched for me because I forgot my ID. Not in my home town, of course. :D
 
The rules in Anaconda have always been loose as anyone who passes through the area knows. It’s tightened up somewhat now, but it has always “been a step behind” in good and bad in a few ways. I bought all my ammo in the 80’s with a note until I was a teen and then I bought it. I bought beer in the gas station… I’ve always looked older. I was drinking in the bar around 16, and fist fighting in kindergarten. I remember being stupefied even traveling to Missoula for my first Griz game that I couldn’t drink, walk the streets with a brew, or get a “roady” for the truck at the bar… it was the ways things were, and probably shouldn’t have been… sounds like a new Toby Keith song. Thank God you can still walk home while enjoying a cold one. 🍻
 
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