Moving On From O Bs Where Was This, To When Was This ?

[marsh man]

Looking through some old Shooting Times today I noticed these adverts and yes they 

were during our lifetime , well they were during mine  so when were they published ?

Edited March 22, 2023 by marsh man

[Yellow Bear]

I would guesstimate 59/60 

[ditchman]

9 minutes ago, Yellow Bear said:

I would guesstimate 59/60 

proberly a bit earlier ?...........

[Minky]

Possibly 1968 ...69.  Years ago Geenfields in Canterbury was a GOOD gunshop.  BUT later times it wasn't worth crossing the doorstep.  They hadn't got a clue.  I went in there for cartridges and got asked if I wanted fisherman's waders.??  NO cartridges says I....  The sales person asks another one..... do we sell cartridges.?  ..??  We got fishing rods says his mate.  Very slippery slope...

[marsh man]

Nobody have got it right yet , near but not near enough , here is another advert to make a wild fowlers mouth water , A HOLLAND + HOLLAND 1 1/2 bore punt gun , several cartridges , powder and shot and a punt will be available later on in the year , all for the grand sum of £75 

[ditchman]

1920's

[marsh man]

5 minutes ago, ditchman said:

1920's

I did say it was in my lifetime, and believe it or not you were also about enjoying the odd roast beef dinner with a drop of home made horse raddish sauce  that might had been bought off the market place , there you go I do keep in touch with the other threads 

[ditchman]

its well before STD numbers...£60 quid for a H&H punt gun !!!

[marsh man]

26 minutes ago, ditchman said:

its well before STD numbers...£60 quid for a H&H punt gun !!!

Roughly in the same era , a good mate of mine whose father had deeper pockets than mine bought his son the very last side by side made by Midland Gun Company he also got all the paperwork to say this was the last gun made by M G C and it cost £94 , or there about's .

[Wymondley]

1963.

[London Best]

The magazine looks to be made before ST went glossy? My guess would be around 1957/8?

[old'un]

1965

[Bigbob]

1963

[JohnfromUK]

1950s.  STD dialling started on 5th December 1958, and would have started to appear in adverts etc after that.  None of those ads show STD dialling codes.

Edited March 23, 2023 by JohnfromUK

[marsh man]

 

Many THANKS for all your replies , we had two who were very close with 1963 , it was in fact February 1962 , who would have known then that they were only a matter of months away from one of the coldest Winters on record .

[sandspider]

20 hours ago, Minky said:

Possibly 1968 ...69.  Years ago Geenfields in Canterbury was a GOOD gunshop.  BUT later times it wasn't worth crossing the doorstep.  They hadn't got a clue.  I went in there for cartridges and got asked if I wanted fisherman's waders.??  NO cartridges says I....  The sales person asks another one..... do we sell cartridges.?  ..??  We got fishing rods says his mate.  Very slippery slope...

Bought my second or third air rifle from Greenfields, when they were still on the ring road in the city centre. They let me test fire a couple in an empty office upstairs! Must be 25 years ago now. Yikes.

[Minky]

I bought an AyA xxx 12 gauge  and a 20 gauge Ignacio Urgachea from there BUT they moved from there out to the clay ground out in Sturdy and that shut last year. They sold it off for a housing development.  More quick profit. Going going gone.

5 hours ago, marsh man said:

 

Many THANKS for all your replies , we had two who were very close with 1963 , it was in fact February 1962 , who would have known then that they were only a matter of months away from one of the coldest Winters on record .

I was going on the price of the cartridges.

[sandspider]

1 hour ago, Minky said:

I bought an AyA xxx 12 gauge  and a 20 gauge Ignacio Urgachea from there BUT they moved from there out to the clay ground out in Sturdy and that shut last year. They sold it off for a housing development.  More quick profit. Going going gone.

I was going on the price of the cartridges.

Shame, I liked the clay ground out at Sturry. Used to do the air rifle shoots there too. Not that helpful in the shop by then, however.

[Old Boggy]

4 hours ago, sandspider said:

Bought my second or third air rifle from Greenfields, when they were still on the ring road in the city centre. They let me test fire a couple in an empty office upstairs! Must be 25 years ago now. Yikes.

So do you remember the wooden shack on the other side of the roundabout called Bates Gunshop? 
OB

Edited March 23, 2023 by Old Boggy

[Minky]

3 minutes ago, Old Boggy said:

So do you remember the wooden shack on the other side of the roundabout called Bates Gunshop? 
OB

11 minutes ago, sandspider said:

Shame, I liked the clay ground out at Sturry. Used to do the air rifle shoots there too. Not that helpful in the shop by then, however.

Yes they wern't very accommodating.   One day I was passing through and I  dropped in and asked if it would be ok to have a quick look at the layout..  ( I  didn't have a gun with me as I was on business)  Nahh ... if your not shooting you can't see the layout.??  what.?  I  didn't argue the point.  Their loss.  Several other people have said similar things.

4 minutes ago, Old Boggy said:

So do you remember the wooden shack on the other side of the roundabout called Bates Gunshop? 
OB

What year was that there.  I never saw it and have never heard of its existence .

[sandspider]

1 hour ago, Old Boggy said:

So do you remember the wooden shack on the other side of the roundabout called Bates Gunshop? 
OB

I don't remember that, no. Maybe before my time!

[marsh man]

2 hours ago, Minky said:

I bought an AyA xxx 12 gauge  and a 20 gauge Ignacio Urgachea from there BUT they moved from there out to the clay ground out in Sturdy and that shut last year. They sold it off for a housing development.  More quick profit. Going going gone.

I was going on the price of the cartridges.

Cartridges prices varied a bit in the 60s but on average they were selling at around £50 a 1000 , most of the gun shops were selling there own brand although they were more than likely made by someone else , we were buying Style from Richardson of Halesworth for £12.50 a slab and most hardware stores were selling cartridges for roughly the same price , I know one shop that dealt in wood were selling Yellow Wizard's for 12/6d a box of 25 , Grand Prix were the same money , some of the clay boys were getting Winchester and Remington cartridges from the american air bases that were nearby for a good price .

This changed when the Russian and Check cartridges came on the UK market as we were getting them for as low as £40 a 1000 , yes a 1000 , times have certainly changed 

[Minky]

I vaguely remember a couple of lads at school using yellow wizard but I  never saw any.  Most of the ironmongers hereabouts sold Eley grand prix or Frank duke.  I 4hen went over to Winchester GB's and Rottweil.    Remember back then that we just didn't get through that many cartridges.   We would get out every weekend for walk up.  Rabbit, ducks ...various  pheasant, partridge, pigeon the odd woodcock.  We would split the drive's up and walk and stand for Fox.  Basically I had a dog and walked, but I got a fair bit of game that the dog put up coming back over.  I was well happy and the occasional odd Charlie would try to slip back also.  I used to use #6...#7 and had a couple of BB,s in the pocket. I might shoot 10 or 15 cartridges of an afternoon.  Maybe 30 to 40 if decoying.  The kill ratio was pretty good 

[Old Boggy]

9 hours ago, sandspider said:

I don't remember that, no. Maybe before my time!

Probably before your time. I think Bates were still there up until about 1966. They then moved to the Westgate end of Canterbury for a few years while Mr.Bates was still alive. And before anyone asks, he didn’t have a son, so there was no Master Bates to carry on the business 😂

OB

Edited March 24, 2023 by Old Boggy

[marsh man]

9 hours ago, Minky said:

I vaguely remember a couple of lads at school using yellow wizard but I  never saw any.  Most of the ironmongers hereabouts sold Eley grand prix or Frank duke.  I 4hen went over to Winchester GB's and Rottweil.    Remember back then that we just didn't get through that many cartridges.   We would get out every weekend for walk up.  Rabbit, ducks ...various  pheasant, partridge, pigeon the odd woodcock.  We would split the drive's up and walk and stand for Fox.  Basically I had a dog and walked, but I got a fair bit of game that the dog put up coming back over.  I was well happy and the occasional odd Charlie would try to slip back also.  I used to use #6...#7 and had a couple of BB,s in the pocket. I might shoot 10 or 15 cartridges of an afternoon.  Maybe 30 to 40 if decoying.  The kill ratio was pretty good 

Interesting point I picked up on your reply , ( we didn't get through that many cartridges ) , even though things seemed a lot cheaper in those far off days  we had very little disposable income , I was an apprentice bricklayer on very low money but as luck would have it I had a lot of good shooting on my door step and the sale of game and Pigeons helped to pay for the cartridges , even so we only had the odd box of shells when we first started and as things got slightly better we started to buy the odd slab of shells , then at some time in the 70s the price for shot Pigeons went through the roof , this was the first time we bought cartridges by the 1000 , we done very well with the Baikal cartridges when we were buying them at £40 a 1000 , at the same time we were getting 40p for fresh Pigeons and 35p for frozen , the game dealers were a few miles down the road from a gun shop that is now closed ( Bazoka of Beccles ) we would often sell the Pigeons and on the way home stop off and buy a 1000 cartridges , even with buying the shells , petrol for the motor we were still left with a few bob left in your pocket , these times are long gone but it was good while they lasted , Happy days .

P S ... Anyone remember the gun shop , Bazooka of Beccles ?