Oklahoma Otasco store outlives the parent company

[dennishoddy]

Dennis hopefully I am seeing your name right … you mentioned being able to carry your gun into your bank was it & that you were able to buy ammo at a very early age I think I can relate to your experience as a young kid my dad would hand me some change and send me to the local grocery store Stevenson’s it was called & have me buy him cigarettes… I would head on over to the grocery store and they in fact would sell me a pack of smokes for my Dad now you tell me how that would fly in today’s world … well we both know the answer to this one … it wouldn’t fly wow how much has changed so much has changed and a lot of innocence has been ruined … I never thought a thing about what my Dad was asking me to do for him just never would have entered my young mind in those days … it was a ‘safer world’ then small town Oklahoma no one even at the grocery store thought anything about selling a kid a package of cigarettes for his Dad they knew I wasn’t buying cigarettes for myself because they knew my family and my parents very well there
Well I’ve typed quite a bit today so have yourself a good night wherever you might find yourself

Oh yeah, different world and time. Anyone could buy ammo everywhere. Then came the gun control act in 68? That required registering any hand gun ammo on paper logs. .22 RF was how you told the counter clerk about the firearms for it to be used in. Rifle, not registered, tell the clerk it was for pistol, had to be entered into the books.

 

[Snattlerake]

I totally understand I mowed lawns at one point in time made me some much needed money at that time … nice you purchased your 1st firearm with lawn mowing $ that’s a great story in and of itself for sure buddy Ponca City… I was born in Creek County Oklahoma Sapulpa my older brother was born in Okmulgee my younger brother was born in El Reno Oklahoma my Dad began working with OTASCO in about 1954-55 started in Okmulgee he was then moved over to Sapulpa and then was transferred to El Reno Okla from there and I had gone from K-2nd grade my Dad was once again transferred to Ottawa Kansas …. I had always wondered what it would have been like to have grown up in say El Reno Oklahoma what would my life have looked like there … unsure I still remember a few kids from El Reno Oklahoma from my early childhood Kindergarten through 2nd grade … who knows

El Reno is a dirty town. Always has been. A lot of crime and not much to do. You had a much better life in Ottawa, I guarantee it.

 

[mightymouse]

There is an Otasco store on Main Street in Sedan, Kansas (or at least there was in 2019 when I was last through there).

 

[okietool]

I bought a .22 at the one in Elk City. I also bought some great sounding glass packs.

On a personal note, a friend of mine just closed his Western Auto. It seems while he worked offshore the missus liked to party and gamble and to heck with the store.

 

[226 Man]

I lived in Ponca when that Otasco store was closing down. Had some great buys on Winchesters. I recall some ‘94s with the shorter barrels and regret not buying one.

 

[AKguy1985]

I don't remember OTASCO, but I do remember TG&Y, barely.

 

[GnometownHero]

My Uncle John bought the Otasco franchise in Hennesdey when he retired from the Navy in 1968. I worked there often. There is an unfired Winchester 9422 mag with original hang tags in my dad's safe. He got it when that store closed in 1975

 

[xseler]

My Uncle John bought the Otasco franchise in Hennesdey when he retired from the Navy in 1968. I worked there often. There is an unfired Winchester 9422 mag with original hang tags in my dad's safe. He got it when that store closed in 1975

My folks also owned an Otasco and I've got a Marlin 60 Otasco Diamond Jubilee with all the hang tags and stickers --- never fired. Also have a lightly used (looks new) Marlin 336C Otasco Diamond Jubilee.


.

 

[Catt57]

There is an Otasco store on Main Street in Sedan, Kansas (or at least there was in 2019 when I was last through there).

It's still there. But it's pretty run down and the inside looks worse than a Dollar General...

 

[SBSATS]

Aww OTASCO, sure do miss that place.
I didn't get started in guns and ammo until I was in Jr High about 1968. A school mate, and his uncle got me hooked during that year's Dove season, with a borrowed single shot 20 ga, belonging to his uncle. Not only did my friend's uncle teach me how to shoot and hunt Dove, but also how to reload the shotshells as well. This started off a lifelong passion for anything gun related and the love of reloading. My Jr High football coach then took up my mentorship with Quail and introduced me to OTASCO for everything I would ever need as far as guns and reloading supplies. When I came back from Nam, I really got into the hunting game, along with many different types of firearms. But after all these years, my 1st gun bought at OTASCO, a H&R full choke 20ga, bought when I was a Sophomore, has put more game on the table than any other. Just wish the game and places to hunt were as abundant today as they were in the 60s through 90s, because that old shotgun still shoots as straight as it did when I bought it.