My two old local favorites were Gafford Auto Parts and Nash Hardware. We also had a Western Auto and later a Gibsons.

growing up in a relatively small town in central TX, our local hardware store (Wither's) carried an assortment of guns and ammo, sold hunting/fishing license, various outdoor supplies. Dad would go there and buy our hunting/fishing license and a couple boxes of ammo, 20 & 12 gauge towards the end of August and then back early November for his rifles (30-06, 243 & 218 Bee). If we were getting low on ammo, there was usually a hardware store in whatever town was nearby, Buttery in Llano is one I recall. We finally got a Gibson's in the late 60s which forced Western Auto and White's Auto to up their game on hunting supplies including shotguns & rifles. On rare occasion, we would make the trip to Burnham Brothers in Marble Falls or McBride's in Austin but that wasn't very often.

I bought my first own shotgun, double barrel 20 ga, at Gibsons with money I had saved all summer from working in a fruit & snow cone stand when I was about 11 years old. I still have it.

I'm from Throckmorton and we really didn't have anything in town. However, the Gibsons in Graham had an outstanding hunting department and it was always fun to load up with a bunch of friends and go see what we could find. I found Deena Davis but that's another story. Anyway, I bought a cartridge belt there 45 years ago and still use it. I would say I got my money's worth.

This is where we went.

wow reading through this thread sure brought up some fond memories! I am trying to remember the names of the mom-n-pop gun shops my granddad frequented, there weren't many out in far west Texas so he did a lot of mail order. I remember seeing a lot of Golden State and Hunters Lodge catalogs and flyers ...ironically both out of California (of all places).

Some of the retail stores I remember visiting, that had a lot of firearms/reloading supplies etc were Montgomery Wards, Sears, JC Penny, Otasco, Coast To Coast, TG&Y Gibson's and Western Auto. Kmart didn't have a large selection but I remember that when Walmart first came to Texas they had an impressive selection of firearms and reloading supplies.

One of the most "colorful" characters that I remember that owned a gun shop, was a man named Tony Valentino at Tony's H&T in Longview TX. Not sure what the H&T stood for but EVERYONE got the best "brother in law" deal from Tony (according to him anyway) LOL

There was a C&S Hardware at Belt Line and Coit in Dallas that had a gun dept in the '70s. That's where my Father bought my first gun.
In the early '80s they closed down the gun dept and sold the guns at good prices but really discounted Ammo. I picked up a bunch of .30-30, .30-06, 7mm Rem Mag and .22 lr.

Gibsons and Kmart prob had the best ammo prices round me. When Western Auto was closing I had a friend that worked at the warehouse in Temple. Gave them some large discounts I was able to by several shotguns cheap.

I bought a model 70 and an 1100 at Nix gun store in Lewisville in 1968.They had a great selection and very good prices. A buddy of mine bought a Johnny Stewart game caller that played a vinyl 45rpm record. I think the Johnny Stewart store was down by Waco if I recall correctly.

Most of the old ones are covered here, Gibsons, Montgomery Wards, Joskey's Dept. store, Oshmans, Western Auto, Sears, JC Penney. Here's one I haven't seen, Best's dept. store, Corpus had one off northside of SPID and Everhart. , right next to the Skaggs grocery store replaced by Albertsons.

Noble Firearms in Ft Worth was the first true gun store I remember visiting in the 70’s.

I bought a S&W 12 ga. Pump and a Remington 700 .270 from Furr’s grocery store in Espanola, NM I early 80’s.

Not long ago I ran across an old box of Federal Hi-Power 30-06 with a Best price tag on it. My first thought was "wow I don't remember them selling ammo!" Probably because when we lived in CC in the late 60's, I was more interested in their toy section lol

That's right, they had an incredible toy section including some of the best remote controlled cars, planes, helicopters and boats at the time. Lots of kids had their parents take them there to XMas shop toys...Great memory....

And there is still a Gibson's in Weatherford that has a great hunting section. Found some Browning apparel there I could not find anywhere else.

Cool old typical Gibson's. If you're in DFW and have not been, you need to go.

Remember another one, Woolworth dept store, also was it White's auto or hardware that sold guns?

Abilene had Mackeys sporting goods and Bible hardware.I bought a Ted Williams JC Higgins 270 at Sears in 1963, still have it, Husqvarna action and wouldn't take any thing for it.

Plan to stop in at Gibson's in Weatherford on Saturday on our way to Mineral Wells. Definitely a reminder of times gone by. I well remember Tony's in Longview. He was a character for sure.

Loggins and Lilly's in Devine, their motto was "Everything from a Rat Skin to a Ranch". I purchased my first single shot Stevens rifle there in about 1966.
Adios,
Gary

Looks like the one in Lewisville. Anybody remember the worm bar?

Boy "Nix" brings back a lot of memories. Talk about a gun store where everyone had years of knowledge.

There's still a Gibson's in Kerrville too.

As a kid, most rural gas stations had 22lr and 12 ga ammo.

I remember Mackey's, cool it is still open.

Great to know. I remember as a kid, we went to Gibson's every August as my Mom would buy me a new lunch pail. Loved my old GI Joe one....

Bought my first deer rifle in 1971 from Gibson's in Odessa. Cost me $99. I remember it well because I got a job bagging ice (age 12) to save up to buy it. My dad put a Weaver K4 on it for me since I saved the money. Still have the rig as is, and still occasionally kill pigs with it.