Guns Magazine: reading old scanned magazines, 1955-1966

[Adam Lee]

Hey there all!

I have been spending some great coffee-morning-reading the paper time lately, poring over dozens of pdf copies of the old Guns Magazine rag. If you haven't had the pleasure, here's the main link to the list - all available for FREE download - and high quality to boot!

http://gunsmagazine.com/classic-guns-magazine-editions/

Looking at old advertisements is one of my favorite reads. Did you know that in the 50's, you could order an ex-German Panzerschreck via USPS? Delivered to your door, even?

I don't even think they were DEWAT very much either.

Wow. Enjoy!

Adam

[Adam Lee]

These old Guns Magazines have so many stories to tell - the "fight" over the controversial adoption of the M-14 rifle over the FN FAL (known as the right arm of the free world in many circles); the early attempts by the US military to adopt hi-capacity 9mm pistols (in the 50's!) and much more.

Really great gun history reading material!

Adam

[Sarge756]

Looks like many hours of good reading on a rainy day. Its a shame that the periodicals of today, including the two offered with membership in the NRA, have been reduced to advertising fliers rather than magazines devoted to imparting information. Many of the questions that newcomers to the shooting/collecting ranks ask have been covered within the covers of old issues such as these. I have a fairly complete collection of American Rifleman from 1933/1968 that has served well to answer questions I`ve had along the way. Sure wish someone would put them on adobe files like these cause they do take up a lot of space, especially when I get on the floor of the den and start searching for an article I need to review.
Thanks for the link Adam.
Joe

[Adam Lee]

Joe,
You are exactly right about modern gun mags compared to just ten or 15 years ago. I can't believe that the NRA has not made their digitized copies of their extensive American Rifleman magazines available for public use - as the "for profit" Guns Magazine has done.

IMHO the best years of the American Rifleman ended about 1985. I used to collect my uncles old AR mags, when I was a kid - he and another uncle had them going way back. 1952(?) maybe until the 70's with my uncle Bob in Iowa; and my uncle Clay here in Virginia had them from the 70's onward.

I get the biggest kick over the opinion pieces back in the 50's and 60's - you also get to witness the brewing "controversies" over the transition from one gun platform to another, it really is history in action reading those magazines!

Another way to go "back in time" is to sift through old newspapers and periodicals digitized on the Library of Congress website. Fun reading! That's where I find some great old Remington ads and such to look at.

Anyway, have fun - and it sure is painful to look at how they were practically dumping Lugers, P-38's, G33/40's, and so on - even as late as 1966.

Adam

[Adam Lee]

Guys, here's a topic of interest to me: learning more about the development of .357 Magnum-chambered carbines and rifles. I found an article about it in the online Guns Magazine collection, from January, 1956.

It describes the practical conversion of 25-20 and 32-20 Model 92 Winchester lever action rifles to .357 Magnum. Winchester did not ever create such a loading that was offered in the '92, as they stopped production in the '30s.
In my mind, I had often wondered how early did gun hobbyists attempt to "pair up" the powerful .357 revolver with a companion lever rifle - seems like I learned it was at least documented as happening by 1956.

January, 1956

“The Two-Gun Man Comes Back” by Kent Bellah
http://www.gunsmagazine.com/1956issues/G0156.pdf

Adam