Those days are pretty fuzzy for me.....for various reasons.  My first AR was an SP1 purchased around '67-68. I remember jumping on Shotgun News whenever I could get my hands on a copy. I wish I could remember who the actual suppliers who advertised thru SN were. I know J&G Sales was one & that might be who I bought the IVI from.  Sarco was around too but I don't remember buying ammo from them. Back in those days if you lived in the country & you drove a pickup it had a gun rack mounted to the back glass. I do remember how everybody wanted to see that SP1....and most everybody assumed it was a full auto M16.
I remember the first time I found and bought 62 grain "SS109" aka C77 mil surp. It was Canadian IVI at around 10 cents per when buying by the case (only way it was offered back then). That was probably early 80's. It was decent ammo, don't remember any issues with it. I also remember the headstamp date was fairly recent which surprised me at the time. I wondered why it was surplused so soon.  The 55 grain I shot mostly back in the day was Malaysian.....weird how I remember the word "Butir" on the white boxes. It's crazy, I remember shit like that but where I set my screwdriver down 30 seconds ago......NOT! The Malaysian M193 was sold for about the same price as the IVI. The Canadian & Malaysian was good solid ammo & the price was definitely right. When it came to 7.62 NATO I always bought the 200rd belts and delinked. It was always Lake City & I don't remember any alternatives...at least at the gunshows.

I think a lot of USGI milsurp (at least the 7.62 NATO) "fell off the truck" back then....just my guess, no way to confirm. 200rd boxes of 7.62x51 belted w/tracer for M60's were always present and cheap at least at the fun shows in the Midwest back in the late 60's & 70's. That was the only ammo I bought at gunshows....forgot about the 45acp. Plenty of that floating around  & it was decently priced. Prices were substantially cheaper for 5.56 thru Shotgun News. I don't remember buying any 5.56 at the shows, only 7.62 & 45. But anything else milsurp was CHEAP...webbing, parts, clothing, M1 carbine mags, BAR mags, Thompson mags, 1911 mags....you name it. If it was produced for the military it was there, and most the vendors had the same stuff so the prices were right. Lots of WWII and Korea stuff. Vietnam was going on so not that much current stuff was available.
I remember plenty of spam cans from WWII & Korea. Unfortunately I wasn't into M1s yet. My first M1a was purchased mid 70's. The receiver was the only part that wasn't GI back then. Wish I still had those rifles. Who'd a thunk it? I didn't get into Garands until much later, and carbines after that. By then, IMO, gunshows weren't funshows anymore. Too crowded and most vendors had become greedy and some even dishonest. Now I can afford to shoot much more, but my eyes.........SUCK!
Enjoy it while you can fellas!

Anyone old enough...lol
I remember before getting into  .223  a friend not paying more than $2 a box.
Also remember drop in auto sears for like $29

I remember the good old days....100 bucks otd for wolf steel case .223 at gun shows.  Ordered cases of LC m855 199 plus ship from SG in the early 2000s.  Anyone remember the water tarnished m193 Guat ammo?  Still have some floating around for practice..  Probably one of my favs was the m855 Radoway green ball in the cans.  99 bucks for i believe it was 600 rounds.  Came with the bandoliers and chargers in the can.  Used to be thread after thread about which guns would run it on here.  

Turk

I remember splitting a $80 case of Wolf 7.62 x 39 with a buddy, burning it all up that afternoon and going back the next day to get another and then burn it up. Did that at least once a month for a whlie.

Early 90's I was shooting hornady 53g match hp using LC brass and IMR 4895.

This was typically 200 or 300 yards using a colt 20 inch rifle with open sights.



The good ole days.

My recollection is the M-16A2 were newer rifles and less worn than most A1s were. We had a large number of Late manufacture A1s that were not worn out and they shot the M-193 more accurate than the new A2s did. The new A2s with M-855 shot the same good accuracy but with better precision adjustable sights. Both unworn rifles shot around 2-2.5 MOA at 100m at prone.

A2s with M-193 shot ave 3.5-4 inch groups.

And RG... probably shot $10,000 worth of today's dollars in Port & Radway Green.

My Soviet SKS was $200 and my Norinco was $150.

Sold the Norinco and Rashid during the Panic.



I thought ARs like the Bushmaster were cool as shit.













Some of the collection around 1998-1999.

I didn't get my own AR-15 until 2001. But I feel in love with them in the 1980s.







Dad had a Colt SP1 that he'd let me shoot. I had a Mini-14. Ammo was Norinco and Surplus 55gr. 

It was awesome being a teenager and having a Dad that collected guns. I got stuff before I turned 18. 

Man I love the wooden bolt guns.  I'd take any one of them.  I will say this it's hard to tell what brand they are.  I'm guessing they are remmy's but the 2nd from right (the one inbetween the .22's) has me stumped.  The bolt handle looks more slender, like a kimber.  Or Winchester.

You are still not invited to tred upon my lawn, but I guess we can be friends.

Your dad had taste.

We will have to agree to disagree about the .40 thing, as I am only .40 when it comes to the 10mm.

In the mid-late 80s, we used to shoot American Eagle 55gr FMJ with cannelure through the AR15.

Got it for $2.59/box local retail prices.  Ran it through the Colt AR15A2 Sporter II, which was really an SP-1 lower with an A1-style upper and A2 furniture.

1/7 twist or 1/9?  Or something different?

I know that in theory 1/7's are going to shoot 55's just fine.  But just again recently somebody that was in the military posted how they shot M193 better in the A1's and when running it through A2s the accuracy took a hit.  But M855 shot really well.  That's not the first time I've heard that.  My 1/9 M4gery shoots 55 grain stuff really well too.  Actually it seems to shoot most stuff well.  But it's an HBAR so it's probably got nothing to do with twist.  

My AR's don't like American Eagle for some reason.  My other guns do though.

Biggest factor in grouping between anything with a SAFE-SEMI-AUTO FCG and a SAFE-SEMI-BURST FCG was the additional disconnector clutch plus the cam wheel on the side of the hammer, which stayed engaged during the SEMI mode of fire control.  What this meant was varying trigger pull weights with that BURST FCG, and we would always see 2 rounds tight together, followed by a noticeable flyer when zeroing at 25m.  Happened like clockwork.  If we ever saw a soldier shoot a tight 3rd cluster with that FCG, it was extremely rare.

The M16A1 had more inherent accuracy than the M16A2 for that reason alone, just as the M4A1 had more inherent accuracy than the M4.

M193 always shot better for me than M855, as M855 has the steel penetrator that can be slightly eccentric in the projectile.  Doing grouping exercises with M855 and my M4 on a 300m range produced shotgun-like patterns for me, and I had the tightest groups of any of the others in my unit at the time (I was a SOTIC-trained E-6 with a lot more trigger time than anyone else other than those that had come from Ranger Regiment).

Ah, that explains a lot.  Also I guess just reinforces why they used A1 lowers on Mk12's.

I will say my 1/7's all have seemed to shoot the 52's really well.  So you would think the 1/7 twist doesn't have anything to do with it.  And I think Molon had shown that too.

At 100yds with short bullets that don't have a lot of bearing surface, I don't see why anything under 75gr wouldn't shoot out of a 1/7.

The 1/7 twist rate is for the M856 tracer, which has an extremely long bearing surface and needs tight spin to keep it gyroscopically stabilized at distance.

I think the selection of M16A1 lower receiver groups for the Mk12 program was so they wouldn't have to ask for additional funding for a new serialized rifle, so they grabbed what was in inventory and put different triggers in them anyway.

I built my first AR just before I went to Bad Tolz, West Germany end of 87', a XM177E1 clone.  It saw many Norinco, PMC and Winchester 55 gr FMJ as it had a 1:12 twist.  Course I also had a M261 .22LR conversion kit to train the boys with.



Had exchanged my issue XM16E1 for a NIB M16A2 in 5th SFGA in 87' along with M1911A1/M9.  Course when I got to Tolz still had M1911s with the A2.   During GWI I carried a M16A2/M203 and a suppressed M9.


CD

Very nice CD.  I sometimes think I wouldn't mind a 1/12 AR.  I mostly shoot 55 grain anyways.  But then you lose the ability to do heavier if you want of course.  I'm cheap though.  I was also thinking about getting a .22 conversion for my 1/9 m4gery.   My kids are sort of.......    aaaaaah.......  well, they're not robust yet.  I've got my son shooting an M-1 Carbine and I've set up the M4gery as light as possible to get him to start shooting 5.56 but he hasn't done it yet.  Next time we go.......    My daughter on the other hand.  She just likes shooting .22 pistols.    

I wish I could send my son to you so you could toughen him up.  He doesn't know manual labor much.  Growing up he had a lot of allergies and working outside or around dust would really do a number to him.  He's getting better.  He's been motivated to do push ups and pull ups on the I beam every day and I stay on top of him.  And walk.  But since I've got lyme disease my body doesn't work like it should and I can't roll around on the ground, wrestling or really show how to work physically.   He's looking for a job now though.  

Point being, at this point he thinks a 9mm G26 has crazy unmanageable recoil and I'm like.    To me it feels like, well pretty tame.  And I'm not even a guy that loves lots of recoil.  

Anyways..... totally off topic.  Sorry about that.

Similar here, but I was feeding a Mini14 until '90 then I got an Olympic carbine - $500 whole sale delivered to a buddy who had a FFL to do the paperwork for me.  My Mini cost me $419 after tax at Wally in '88.

223/556 ammo I shot a lot of was Remington UMC at wally for $5/box, the Norinco (smelled like cat pee), the Maylay surplus, Winchester white box (again $5/box at WW).  Got a few hundred rounds of Euro surplus, headstamped by Norma, came in 50 round carboard box.

SKSs by Norinco were coming in cheap by the boat load, you could get a rifle for $75 and a tuna can of ammo for another $75.

I know, I know.  I really wish I would've picked up the chicom stuff back then.  I didn't know my son would like all the chicom guns.  He thinks ARs are boring and ChiCom guns are more interesting.  And I don't have a single one.  I've got no problem with him liking them.  Could be fun.  But everything is so expensive now.

Ah, nostalgia. I didn't buy an AR "poodle shooter" until Clinton banned them. So I bought a Bushy with an AK muzzle break. Shot up a lot of Norinco yellow box and I also loved the Guatamelan surplus. Strictly FMJ.  Even now I shoot mainly 55 grain ball.

I think I might have a box of the yellow norinco stuff in my basement.........

I remember shooting a lot of .223 PMC and Norinco in the mid 1990's. My buddy had a Colt HBAR that was like the Ferarri of guns back then

I had a $75 SKS, the $55 ones had cracked stocks but came with a replacement stock. We used to buy a case of x39 for about $75.  We bought AK's for about $150 to be able to use the 30rd magazines(3 for $20 IIRC) to be able to shoot more.

I bought my first AR, a Bushmaster, in 1999 for a huge sum of $600 NIB.  The AR prices have stayed the same