Childhood Muncie Gun Shop Memories

[curraheeguns]

I am turning 50 this week and was thinking back on my firearms history. A couple things vaguely came to my memory.

#1 - 5 Points Pawn: Is this still a thing in Muncie? I bought my first gun with my own money in there at the ripe old age of about 15 (via my dad). It was a Taurus Model 66 .357 in the burlap photo box. I specifically remember as a kid painting bright orange model paint on the front sight. I traded it to a gun shop in Upland (Again via dad) about a year later for a S&W Model 19 which I still have. Last year I got some nostalgia missing that Taurus so I sought one out that was identical. I met with someone from this forum to buy one and turned the gun over and to my surprise the front sight was painted bright orange. Same gun??? Who knows!

#2- I specifically remember my dad taking me to a near falling down house on the Southside of Muncie that was a "gun shop". I am guessing I was in my early teens, maybe 11-12? So we are talking 1985-1986? I vividly remember the old man that owned the place. I want to say there was a die hard biker that worked there also. My dad bought several guns there over the years. All of which I still have. I'm sure that place is closed by now. The house probably fell in!!!

Any Delaware County peeps that can fill in my memories?

 

[Creedmoor]

#1. If it was over on Burlington, its now called Prairie Creek Pawn, I was in on sat before going to the Muncie show.
He gets some different stuff in on pawn, he also sell firearms. Hes treated my sons and myself well over the last 10 years or so.

Did your Dad ever go to the gun barn in Anderson back then?

 

[Magyars]

Yup, still there....and still can find a deal there on occasion

 

[curraheeguns]

#1. If it was over on Burlington, its now called Prairie Creek Pawn, I was in on sat before going to the Muncie show.
He gets some different stuff in on pawn, he also sell firearms. Hes treated my sons and myself well over the last 10 years or so.

Did your Dad ever go to the gun barn in Anderson back then?

Maybe it was Prairie Creek Pawn back then also. Is it near an intersection called 5 points? I don't remember going to Anderson to a shop. I remember one in the middle of nowhere in Hartford City. I remember going there once and looking at a Ruger SBH in .44Mag. The owner said "Have you ever shot one?" which I replied no. He walked me about 3 steps out the front door and we started blasting away into a cornfield across the road, lol.

Montpelier had a really cool old shop also. I remember the old men playing cards when I would go in there and look at guns, fishing gear and hunting stuff. I think all the lures on the shelf were 30 years old and still new in the box. I miss those kind of places. Walmart and Sportsmans Warehouse has killed the real little shops.

 

[Creedmoor]

Maybe it was Prairie Creek Pawn back then also. Is it near an intersection called 5 points? I don't remember going to Anderson to a shop. I remember one in the middle of nowhere in Hartford City. I remember going there once and looking at a Ruger SBH in .44Mag. The owner said "Have you ever shot one?" which I replied no. He walked me about 3 steps out the front door and we started blasting away into a cornfield across the road, lol.

Montpelier had a really cool old shop also. I remember the old men playing cards when I would go in there and look at guns, fishing gear and hunting stuff. I think all the lures on the shelf were 30 years old and still new in the box. I miss those kind of places. Walmart and Sportsmans Warehouse has killed the real little shops.

Yes its at 5 points.

 

[curraheeguns]

Yes its at 5 points.

Yep, that's the place. Great memories of my pops who has been gone since I was 26.

 

[curraheeguns]

Yes its at 5 points.

What about the Muncie Rifle & Pistol Club? (name??)

We used to shoot NRA bullseye there in both centerfire and rimfire. I remember Dave was the president and Smitty was the everything of the club!

 

[Compatriot G]

What about the Muncie Rifle & Pistol Club? (name??)

We used to shoot NRA bullseye there in both centerfire and rimfire. I remember Dave was the president and Smitty was the everything of the club!

I am a member of the Knights of Pythias. About 3 years ago, the KoP Lodge in Muncie merged with the New Castle Lodge. In the merger, we acquired the Muncie Lodge building. They have several trophies from various events over the decades. One trophy is from the Muncie Rifle and Pistol Club dated 1961 or 1962. Apparently, the KoP had a shooting team back in the day.

 

[Creedmoor]

What about the Muncie Rifle & Pistol Club? (name??)

We used to shoot NRA bullseye there in both centerfire and rimfire. I remember Dave was the president and Smitty was the everything of the club!

I only knew one member to the Muncie Club and hes now passed on.
Heres a thread from a few months ago.

Muncie Rifle and Pistol Club

Just wondering if anyone knows the status of the Muncie Rifle and Pistol Club. I was a member a few years ago and can't find any info about them. I know that they liked to keep a very low profile. I was able to find at least some info in the past but now...not so much.

www.indianagunowners.com

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

I think the place at 5 Points used to be called Prairie Creek Bait & Tackle before it was a gun & pawn shop. At one time they were the only place in Muncie that sold black powder. I've driven past there a couple of times recently, but wasn't sure if it was still open, since there were no cars in the lot.

I think the gun store on the southside was called Southside Friends Gun Shop. Also, I may be wrong, but I think the owner of that shop was the guy who was brutally murdered on new years eve back in the late 80s? The man was stabbed to death by a man and a woman, and supposedly they had chased him all over the house, leaving the bloodiest crime scene the cops had ever seen.

My first gun (Ithaca Model 49 single shot .22) was purchased at The Gun Room, another once-popular Muncie shop also on Burlington Drive. Although it was located somewhere else before it moved into the building on Burlington. I remember an older, small shop, but I can't remember exactly where that one was. The owner of the Gun Room, Ben Shostle, I always heard was famous for his engraving skills. I do remember that he could get aggravated if you stopped in just to window shop, since it interrupted his engraving work.

 

[Creedmoor]

I think the place at 5 Points used to be called Prairie Creek Bait & Tackle before it was a gun & pawn shop. At one time they were the only place in Muncie that sold black powder. I've driven past there a couple of times recently, but wasn't sure if it was still open, since there were no cars in the lot.

I think the gun store on the southside was called Southside Friends Gun Shop. Also, I may be wrong, but I think the owner of that shop was the guy who was brutally murdered on new years eve back in the late 80s? The man was stabbed to death by a man and a woman, and supposedly they had chased him all over the house, leaving the bloodiest crime scene the cops had ever seen.

My first gun (Ithaca Model 49 single shot .22) was purchased at The Gun Room, another once-popular Muncie shop also on Burlington Drive. Although it was located somewhere else before it moved into the building on Burlington. I remember an older, small shop, but I can't remember exactly where that one was. The owner of the Gun Room, Ben Shostle, I always heard was famous for his engraving skills. I do remember that he could get aggravated if you stopped in just to window shop, since it interrupted his engraving work.

Usually the owner parks out front and the outer steel doors covering the front door are open.
Ben had a sometimes different way of engraving, Somewhere we have a Colt revolver he did, and the metal is moved and not cut out. Ive always understood he had a child (Daughter? that also engraved but Ive never met her.

 

[El Conquistador]

I think the place at 5 Points used to be called Prairie Creek Bait & Tackle before it was a gun & pawn shop. At one time they were the only place in Muncie that sold black powder. I've driven past there a couple of times recently, but wasn't sure if it was still open, since there were no cars in the lot.

I think the gun store on the southside was called Southside Friends Gun Shop. Also, I may be wrong, but I think the owner of that shop was the guy who was brutally murdered on new years eve back in the late 80s? The man was stabbed to death by a man and a woman, and supposedly they had chased him all over the house, leaving the bloodiest crime scene the cops had ever seen.

My first gun (Ithaca Model 49 single shot .22) was purchased at The Gun Room, another once-popular Muncie shop also on Burlington Drive. Although it was located somewhere else before it moved into the building on Burlington. I remember an older, small shop, but I can't remember exactly where that one was. The owner of the Gun Room, Ben Shostle, I always heard was famous for his engraving skills. I do remember that he could get aggravated if you stopped in just to window shop, since it interrupted his engraving work.

The owner wasn’t murdered but a guy and girl living with the owner was murdered. I went to school with the guy that did it, he waited until the owner left and went in to rob him. He encountered the 2 while robbing it and killed them to cover his tracks. The guy that did it was killed in prison a few years later.

 

[curraheeguns]

The guy that did it was killed in prison a few years later.

Sounds like Karma

 

[curraheeguns]

The owner of the Gun Room, Ben Shostle, I always heard was famous for his engraving skills. I do remember that he could get aggravated if you stopped in just to window shop, since it interrupted his engraving work.

I remember meeting Ben a couple times. He was definitely a grumpy old man, but world known for his work.