Was shooting a 'Century Arms' franken-Garand the other day and it wasn't cycling well (wound up improving after a lube job), but got to wondering as to the 8-round clips, and where mine were - I have about a dozen....somewhere. So rather than actually LOOK for them, I thought the same thing I always think when I can't locate a particular firearm or part or ammo: "...maybe I should just order some more anyway - you never know when you need a bunch of [in this case - loaded Garand cliips]...."
MidwayUSA nor MidSouth had any, and I didn't really look much past that, but that reminded me that about 30 years ago, you could find op-rods and bolts and extractors and all sorts of parts pretty cheap for Garands. Has that supply all dried up...??? It hasn't been that long, but I guess a gun that was in-service 50 years ago (in the 90's) is going to be easier to find parts for than one in-service 80 years ago...
I wonder what all else I should be buying parts for NOW that will be hard to get in 20 years (of course I'll probably not be around at that point so it's more a matter of trying to see to it that whatever kid inherits grandpa's old guns will have enough parts to keep it functioning at least).
I already gather that Contender and Encore parts are scarce, and some of the Charter Arms and Taurus revolver parts are no longer available.
What's even scarier is that many Ruger firearms are 'no longer supported'...!
....makes me feel OLD....
