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