What piqued your interest about military surplus?

[72 usmc]

Back in the day a Woolworths 5&10 below a Sears in Milwaukee had barrels of surplus rifles. I wanted one to hang on my wall as a kid, but was too young to purchase one. I selected two M95 Mannlichers from the Woolworth's barrel of old junk surplus rifles back in 1962. I wanted the longest rifle I could pick out to hang on the wall of my room. Dad got them for me. They were $10 each.
4 different M95 long rifles - Surplus Rifle Forum - www.surplusrifleforum.org
Then when the hippies blew up the science building at Madison, Wi during Viet Nam, I said screw art history and I enlisted in the Marines. An M14 is a fine machine...Been collecting & shooting since the 1970s. Loved rifles, toy lead soldiers, and the corps. Now I got a collection, but am too old to see for competition CMP shooting, and no money to buy any more firearms at todays prices. It's like being back in grade school -no cash for goodies. I found my first gun in the city dump at five, a pellet rifle I fixed. Then dad got me a .410 to shoot at ten.
It seems as an archaeologist always traveling, I had time to stop at gun stores around the midwest and buy lots of fine surplus rifles no one wanted in the 1980s-1990s, Then the second golden age of surplus started with the fall of the iron curtain and rifles were cheep at $49-99. Just about every farm supply, hardware, and gun store had racks full of surplus firearms. I always loved my new issue of Surplus Firearms magazine.... The good old days, see a total set of issues & contents here on SRF: Surplus Firearms magazine, 1987-2012 - Surplus Rifle Forum - www.surplusrifleforum.org

[BEAR]

Being an Army brat, I had a living connection to all things military. My dad would give me all kinds of military gear, pup tents, helmet liners, pistol belts, packs, etc. etc. etc. He was a lifelong soldier (jumped in Normandy with 506th with his 2 brothers). My mother's family was British and my three uncles served in the Royal Navy, 11th Hussars and Army Transportation during the war. My Grandad served in the East Yorks during the Great War and "Dads Army" during the next war. So I grew up with war stories from family and my dad's friends. I lived in Europe most of my young life and didn't return to the states until I was 16. I visited many battlefields (including Normandy), castles and the Imperial War Museum, so I was pretty much hooked at a young age. My first visit to an Army surplus store was when I back in the States and I was like a kid in a candy store, or drugs to an addict. I already owned several German helmets (from family) and a Canadian MkII.
After joining the Army I continued my collecting, mostly new gear, so by the time I retired 21 years later I had several sets of gear( and still have). While I had several M1 helmets from my time in the service I didn't find out the all M1s were NOT the same until I was retired. Then my collecting began in earnest. Now I am into gear, guns, bayonets, uniforms, helmets, insignia and whatever else strikes my fancy.

BEAR
Attachment 119850

[MasterChief]

War movies! Born 1950 and grew up during a time (1950s and 1960s) when many of our favorite old military films were showing in theatres. Hell to Eternity, The Train, Porkchop Hill, The Longest Day, The Guns of Navarone, Where Eagles Dare...well, you know the rest.

[ssgross]

I had only ever fired a Red Ryder before Parris Island. My love of all things marksmanship started there. My first milsurp was a CMP Garand - took me a while to get to a place where I could afford to indulge my love of shooting outside of the Marine Corps setting. My wife's grandfather was an army vet who survived D-Day. He past away without seeing his great-grand kids. We talk about him with the kids every year on the D-Day anniversary. A couple years back, we watched a documentary on the anniversary, and my 10 year old son made me pause it and asked "Dad...Is that the rifle?" I said yes it is. He says "...Can I hold it?" We were both hooked. He clutched that rifle at port arms for 2hrs of documentary. I love working on, restoring, and tuning them just as much as shooting. Every time the kids hold one they are awed by the thought of decades or a century+ of service history. The rifles are a conduit for remembering what really happened - not just the big picture history book, but at an individual level. They remind us of what really matters in the world and what sacrifices it takes to secure it.

[rcathey]

A love of all things mechanical coupled with an interest in history led pretty naturally into firearms.
Seeing these mechanisms work is like taking a peek into the kind of the designer. Add to that a rich and varied history…what’s not to love?

As I became more financially able, I started gathering US military arms.
These days the list of what interests me is much too long. Right now, it’s early semi-autos of all kinds.

[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

Now I am into gear, guns, bayonets, uniforms, helmets, insignia and whatever else strikes my fancy.

And $10 foam heads. I gave up on the foam heads to many $ that would be better spent on the items you list above.

[BEAR]

$7.99 at Hobby Lobby......but who's counting?

[Low & Slow]

The Old Man's study. On it's shelves were his B-17 gunner's leather flight helmet, goggles, and oxygen mask (on one of those styrofoam heads). Rows of books on military history and a box of flak fragments also lived there. On the wall, a rack with a CMP M1 carbine, and two 1903 Springfields. In the closet, his issue 1911A1 that just happened to fall into his duffel bag when he was packing up to leave Britain. Didn't take much more.

[CoatiMundi]

1992, $179.99 M-1 Carbines, and $279.99 M-1 Garands at the local sporting goods store. You could even pick your favorite manufacturer.

[CINDERS]

Started with my dad WWII vet 4 years o/seas LAC Engine Fitter, brother 20 years RAAF Flt/Sgt, Brother in/law VN Vet and myself doing a 2 year stint in the cadets ('72-'73) where we were introduced to and fired the No 1 MkIII SMLE and the Bren.
Along with our 3" mortar (Never allowed live ammo, only set up, how to sight, range calculations and so on) A small demo at the school oval with initiator cartridges only was a laugh.
It was in the cadets I received my Crossed Rifles as a 2nd year Corporal we having to shoot the Regular Army course of fire with our SMLE and obtain 75/100 total over 3 ranges, 300-200-100yds, 4 shooting positions with 20 rounds I was the only one to achieve the required hits at our school.
Twice went to join up in the regular service once in the Army and next in the RAAF got to the point of signing the dotted line thought better of it as I was riding fast bikes and faster chicks at that time in my life, highly recommend fast bikes not that the other was not enjoyable though!

Spent time on the land as a farmhand dairy then wheat/sheep my opinion of the wooly jumbucks is they are either highly intelligent or plain stupid I'll go with the second option, gave that up poor pay and went into construction for 41 years (1980-2021). Now retired.
So I started at primary school my favourite battleship was the Warspite and its morphed into a wide selection of military things, rifles Lithgows MkIII's, No.4's then mainly books on AIF WWI and WWII.