doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Brownells?? How times have changed

I tried, but after the change Brownell's didn't stock it and Gamaliel couldn't ship it.

That's how I remember it too. Mergers and buyouts certainly don't help the consumer and in this case the only benefactors seem to be the few remaining competitors.

Brownell's was always expensive, but they had some unique items and certainly delivered quickly if you needed something. Last thing I bought was a resupply of their 'DoubleTuff' bore brushes. I do hope they are still in business when I need more. Those things save a lot of time at the end of the day. In this case, i feel the cost is worth it.

Speaking of expensive stuff, CMP just e-mailed me about 35+ year old surplus 45 caliber ball. They show a box of 1000, but what you are actually buying for $150 plus $15 shipping is 200 rounds. That is significantly more than fresh commercial ammunition. And I thought Midway and Brownell's were high!

Unfortunately many or maybe most retailers wear out. So many places I used to buy from either no longer interest me as they have changed, or they no longer exist.

I count Brownells in the changed category, along with Cabelas, Filson and several gun dealers.

Gone include Stafford’s, Dunn’s, Cape Outfitters, the old Abercrombie & Fitch (my Dad loved them and I still use some of his stuff) and some I cannot think of.

The good news is there are still some good places to shop and the internet allows one to hunt things up sometimes.

Key word here is ADAPT. B-i-t-c-h-i-n doesn't help the situation. Being proactive can.

I have lived my life as a farmer with the mantra that there is always a solution to a problem. Quitting is not an option. If Brownell's goes defunct someone else will fill the void. Nature, and the market, abhors a vacuum.

Filson: The fishing strap vests, the belt game bag, the chaps, that is lifetime stuff and I love it. Like my trucker jacket too. But that's more fashion, and they didn't keep up with tech.

I like to be warm and dry. Companies like Sitka, Firstlite, Patagonia (commie's), and a bunch of others make better, lighter, and more practical gear (if you like to stay warm and dry). Outerwear is the biggest advancement of my life for any outdoor activity. An antique gun is cool. Antique outerwear sucks.

I have the Filson Tin Cloth hunting coat, with the wool liner. I seriously doubt I could explain to somebody like Stanton why I need to have a hunting coat that warm and that tough. I haven’t found anything that holds up like tin cloth, or, keeps you quite as warm and dry as it does when you combine it with the wool.Yea, it is heavy, but, so what? The limiting factor on how long I make it pheasant hunting when it is close to zero degrees is not my clothing as much as my age. I might only make it 3-4 hours, but, I’ll be warm. The further north you go, the less important fashion is.

I got some sort of fleecy thing from Patagonia as a gift a few years ago, but, it did not strike me as something I would use bird hunting, more along the lines of something for pub crawling. It was OK for that. It didn’t hold up all that well to even that.

I learned a lot of things the hard way, a moccasin toe is not the hot tip for bird hunting, wool can be soaking wet and still keep you warm, as opposed to down, etc, but, what works here might not be that useful in other places.

Best,
Ted

Patagonia stuff is great, nothing wrong with many new fabrics, though some have durability issues. I use their stuff too, even as I type this.

Actually a good deal of antique outwear is good. I wear the old style Filson hunting bib overalls. I wear Barbour waxed cotton all the time. I still use Filson heavy canvas vests for bird hunting and their fly vests too. It is not fashion statement, the stuff works.

I had a Filson bird vest, tin cloth with pockets in the front and a bird bag in the back. Heavy leather straps and a brass buckle, built tougher than it needed to be-the buckle scratched the stock on one of my guns.
Gave it to a guy who owned a bunch of land near Foley, MN and had a Fox BSE that another scratch or two wouldn’t have hurt. He was a farmer and his gun was a tool. Hoped to hunt with him again, but, he met his reward before the next bird season came around. It would be nice if one of his kin made use of his gun and the vest.

Best,
Ted

Concur on the brass buckle, I taped over mine on the one vest with it, fortunately my favorite Filson strap vest has a plastic buckle

Filson stuff was pretty good, I thought. I have a pair of their waxed canvas brush chaps that I used for year while dog training and upland hunting. I sawed leather strips to the bottoms of the legs and they have held up great. Expensive stuff but for the most part very useful.