This looks like a nice resource

I just found this forum and joined today. I live in Enola, just across the Susquehanna River from Harrisburg - but not close enough for the natives' bullets to reach us. I'm 78, been married for 53 years to the same woman and have been into firearms and handloading since the mid-1970s. I am a minor-league collector of pre-2000 Smith & Wesson revolvers and Remingtons, mostly Model 700s with an XP-100R and two trap shotguns thrown in for good measure.

After a few years dabbling in PPC and benchrest competition I became hooked on trapshooting. I would have automatically been the low man on a squad with four blind guys in 1989 but enjoyed it so I became a student of the sport. I worked my way up to becoming the 2000 Class AA State Champion with my first 200 and was punched to the 27 yard line a month later. Like a lot of us olde phartes, I have a serious dose of arthritis along with torn rotator cuffs, both of which make mounting and holding a long gun painful so I retired from ATA competition in 2006 and shot at my last clay target in 2008. When you are used to carrying a 98+ average, missing a bunch because you jerk the gun down in pain takes all the fun out of it. So now, I'm back to benchrest, mostly for fun.

I am retired from the automobile repair industry. After 11 years as a GM Master Technician, I spent 27 years in service management. In 1998, I started writing for outdoor publications. I am a contributing editor for Shotgun Sports Magazine and a columnist for Pennsylvania Game News. My forte is writing to "average" shooters who wish to improve from the perspective of someone who has been gone through that process. I enjoy helping others with their shooting and handloading so if you think I might be able to be of help, just ask.

Ed

Right up from the railyards, eh? I lived there in the latter part of 1966. Is Marysville gun club still there? That's where I shot at then. Bought a shotgun then from the back of the grocery store (which was also a Hodaka motorcycle dealer then). What was that guy's name?

Welcome Ed.

flash60601 said:

Right up from the railyards, eh? I lived there in the latter part of 1966. Is Marysville gun club still there? That's where I shot at then. Bought a shotgun then from the back of the grocery store (which was also a Hodaka motorcycle dealer then). What was that guy's name?

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While I belong to several clubs, I was never at that club so I can't help with that. I think the shop of which you might be thinking was Gault's Gun Shop in the rear of the family hardware store less than a block from US11-15 near the "Marysville subway." Gib Gault moved his shop there probably in the 1980s from Locust Street in Harrisburg, just off Front Street. I could be wrong on the timeframe as I was only a customer twice at the Harrisburg location and once in Marysville and that was 30 or more years ago. His son, Gary, might still operate the business.

East Pennsboro Township has come a long way. We only moved here in 2018 and like it a lot (except for our HOA).

Ed

Gault's ISTR, was further up on a street running perpendicular to 11/15. But I did buy a lot of 45ACP ammo from there. The guy I'm thinking of (when I lived there, mid-60's) had a grocery on S. Enola St.

Good times, good place. Just got married then and had an apartment over another store on the street that ran down to the Dairy Queen on 11/15.

Was last up through there in 2005. My ! How things have changed !

Also shot at HH&A, and another indoor range out on Paxton St, in the area where Sams/WalMart is now a couple of decades ago.

Best club for all-around was Carlisle Sportsmens. Trap and skeet were my thing in the eighties.

Might you have been thinking of Willard's? It was a place you walked into and immediately froze until you figured out how to navigate the clutter. I only went there once for some handloading component no one had on hand - but he did! It's long gone.

I'm sure that facility you mentioned is no longer there - I never heard anything about it and belonging to multiple clubs, I never had to go there. There was another public indoor range out in the Rutherford area but it closed a year or so ago - the 717 Armory - I never went there but our son did a few times with friends who didn't belong to a club and wanted to shoot their handguns. I don't get gun owners who are not club members. You have to practice with your firearms, especially if they are to be possibly used in defensive situations. But at my age, a lot of things don't make much sense.

Another former trapshooter, huh? Say it ain't so - I had that addiction too. I started in 1974 at Carlisle but had a bad experience (with someone mentioned in one of our previous posts) and quit until 1989, then jumped back in the pond with both feet, was the state Class AA champion in 2000 (they didn't have AAA back then) and was a 27-yarder. Shoulder problems - torn rotator cuffs and arthritis - ended my competitive career in 2006 and the last I shot was in 2008. It just hurts to mount and hold a gun with my left arm. I wish I had the money I spent on entry fees, new shells and handloading components back. I still have about 30 flats of STS and Nitro 27s as well as two of my trap guns, which my wife is pestering me to sell. I did sell the one in the attached photo but the other two are Remingtons that are no longer made.

Speaking of selling, have you ever heard of GunTab? It's a gun transfer site where the buyer puts their payment in escrow where it is held until three days after the gun is received by the buyer. I am selling a slightly rare Model 700 LSS. That model was last made in 2008, was only chambered for this cartridge that year and was only shot to season the barrel. The buyer in North Carolina will only use that service to buy the rifle, not a USPS money order. I can't find much about it, just reviews from people who have signed up for it but never used it.

Anyway, thanks for the messages. Maybe we should get together sometime; I'm really glad a link to this site popped up on the Smith & Wesson Forum.

Ed

AveragEd said:

Might you have been thinking of Willard's? It was a place you walked into and immediately froze until you figured out how to navigate the clutter. I only went there once for some handloading component no one had on hand - but he did! It's long gone.

I'm sure that facility you mentioned is no longer there - I never heard anything about it and belonging to multiple clubs, I never had to go there. There was another public indoor range out in the Rutherford area but it closed a year or so ago - the 717 Armory - I never went there but our son did a few times with friends who didn't belong to a club and wanted to shoot their handguns. I don't get gun owners who are not club members. You have to practice with your firearms, especially if they are to be possibly used in defensive situations. But at my age, a lot of things don't make much sense.

Another former trapshooter, huh? Say it ain't so - I had that addiction too. I started in 1974 at Carlisle but had a bad experience (with someone mentioned in one of our previous posts) and quit until 1989, then jumped back in the pond with both feet, was the state Class AA champion in 2000 (they didn't have AAA back then) and was a 27-yarder. Shoulder problems - torn rotator cuffs and arthritis - ended my competitive career in 2006 and the last I shot was in 2008. It just hurts to mount and hold a gun with my left arm. I wish I had the money I spent on entry fees, new shells and handloading components back. I still have about 30 flats of STS and Nitro 27s as well as two of my trap guns, which my wife is pestering me to sell. I did sell the one in the attached photo but the other two are Remingtons that are no longer made.

Speaking of selling, have you ever heard of GunTab? It's a gun transfer site where the buyer puts their payment in escrow where it is held until three days after the gun is received by the buyer. I am selling a slightly rare Model 700 LSS. That model was last made in 2008, was only chambered for this cartridge that year and was only shot to season the barrel. The buyer in North Carolina will only use that service to buy the rifle, not a USPS money order. I can't find much about it, just reviews from people who have signed up for it but never used it.

Anyway, thanks for the messages. Maybe we should get together sometime; I'm really glad a link to this site popped up on the Smith & Wesson Forum.

Ed


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I liked Willards he seemed to know where everything was even though it looked like a complete mess in there I remember him having cigarettes burning in two ash trays at the same time. I bought a lot of firearms from him he was a nice guy.
I was hoping his Son and Wife would keep it open but that never happened.

Well, if you ever get in the area and want to go to a nice shop, visit Acri's Gun Shop. Mike has a small shop in his basement but get anything you want and his prices are very fair.

Ed

AveragEd said:

Well, if you ever get in the area and want to go to a nice shop, visit Acri's Gun Shop. Mike has a small shop in his basement but get anything you want and his prices are very fair.

Ed

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Mike and I have been friends for a really long time although I haven’t been over to his place for a few months.