Some of the timeline isn’t exactly accurate, but pretty humorous in any case and many of us will remember most of this stuff.
I discovered forums in 1999 so this stuff was in full swing.
Everyone thought the world was going to end. A few college buddies had a plan to go to the boonies with AKs, Beans. and shelter tents and no shit did. They came by that morning decked out in woodland camo, sullen and somber, “Hey man…last chance. We got an extra shotgun.”
I was like “naaaah, I’ll take my chances”
Welp, I got loaded and laid that night at an “end of the world” party and they literally waited until the next afternoon and nobody spoke a word of it since.
But yeah, 9mm everything was a joke back then, nobody liked ARs, and gun culture was weird. But I was too busy with my sporty car, girls, and that weird eurodisco craze that happened.
The sections on the 12 ga and the Y2K nuke strike were pretty funny. Didn’t know a 12 ga slug could punch an engine block and kill the driver…that just be bad. Didn’t know a 12 ga had the juice of a 20mm.
A local department store (regional Wal-Mart and Kmart competitor) had a butt load of Swedish, Spanish, and other Mausers in the early to mid 90’s that I wish I had known Mauser bolts were supposed to flail around when unlocked.
Also wish I had known what a cinch it would eventually bevy get the thumbhole stock of the $199? Daewoos would be one day too.
Figured out AR 15 wasn’t bad and Mini 14 wasn’t good fairly fast around that time though.
I was in IT back in those days. Mandatory OT updating all the servers and every workstation we could for weeks leading up to it. If you wanted to work 24 hours a day and could stay awake they would pay. We had to be there on New Years eve and commit to being there until 2am if nothing happened. They decided to throw a party for us…with alcohol. Needless to say we might not have been the most help if anything actually happened. I woke up New Years day at about 6am and drove home.
High five… same here. I was running an IT disaster recovery team for a Fortune 100 company, all primed and ready. I’m talking folks ready for calls, cots and food stockpiled, server hardware staged in Pelican cases for air shipment, the works.
My boss’s boss showed up that night about 3 am with a couple of handle jugs of Maker’s Mark. He sat with my team up on the roof. We drank and smoked cigar’s. I woke up the next morning with gravel and asphalt stuck to one side of my face, and the other side sunburnt. A lit cigar had burned a hole in my jacket.
I’m amazed I did not burst into flames from all the booze we drank and/or spilled.
I worked on a very antiquated system that was fairly critical to the Army. Long story short, it used a 2 digit year code and folks were freaking out about what to do after 99. It was kinda funny when one of Lockheed Martin’s engineers said “Just enter 100 as the year” and it worked perfectly.
I still have 20 or so of the Thermold mags, even some of the ones that extended to hold 45 rounds. They were, I think, about $6 apiece.
I had a roommates whose parents had put away food in anticipation of Y2K.
Apparently they ate that food for a very long time before they ran out. I think, as of 2008, they were almost out.
.308 Battle Rifle was definitely a thing. Had a 91 and a actual G3 and remember using them as HD rifles. Some of us took our .308s really seriously at the time, but that was when you could get a 1,000 rounds of decent milsurp like Radway Green, Hirtenburger or FMP for $100 shipped.
I can remember burning through belts of high grade ammo in my 21 like it was nothing. Don’t even want to talk about how cheap 7.62x39 and 5.45x39 were. Also wish I could grab a few more 4 packs of East German AK-74 mags for $19.95, I really miss some of those CDNN days.
I remember all the post y2k parties where people were cooking 50 lb bags of rice. Lucky for me I was in South Florida so my MRE stockpile just became hurricane preps.
lived on Maui still then
think we might have bought a extra bag of TP at costco in case the dock strike happened
we were laughing at all the freaks on Haleakala lots of odd folks came there and are there 
just remember it was kinda cool to be around for a 1k flip of the calendar year
forgot what I did ? most likely daily routine go diving go fishing eat sleep
I remember, the $87 SKS Paratroopers, 79 for a case of ammo. Did have a “pre-ban” Colt and a mini. MRE’s up the yingyang. I was working that night and believe it or not I was sitting in the parking lot and at exactly midnight a two block area went dark. I was holy freaking cow, it’s happening. Lasted about 5 seconds and all was well. Speaking of blackouts, A family friend in upstate NY was a NYS Trooper, Vietnam combat vet. He said when he had to go to NYC for the blackouts, it was worse than Vietnam.
I was working swing shift at the local power plant then. They were all worried about the units tripping, IT had “Y2K okay” stickers they were putting on everything they checked out. I worked off right before new year’s eve and didn’t even think about gassing up my car. If I remember correctly it’s been the last time I stayed up just to see the ball drop. I’ve seen it one other time (last year) but that was because I was out of town for a football game.
My cousins drove from Alabama all the way to NYC for the big party. I remember thinking they were nuts to be that far away if something did happen. But then again I didn’t prep anything either…
I was 19 at the time. I knew of Y2K obviously but never two and two together…Y2K and prepping! It was more like I wonder if my Packard Bell would stop working? I don’t think I even messed around with internet back then except to try and download music. I didn’t even really care about music it was just something cool that could be done! It was like mind blowing that I can get something from someone else on the other side of the country or even the world without money or mailing
Don’t even remember what I did that New Year’s.
Also, ZIMA for the win!!!
Daily reminder that M81 > All other patterns.
I was selling surplus at gun shows at that time, y2k made me a lot of money, sold 100 cases of MRE’s to one guy.
I remember going to gun shows where Soviet SKS’s were stacked four or five deep on rows of tables. You couldn’t look at everyone one of them: there wasn’t time. Some of those Russkie Simonov’s were missing the flat spring for the safety and depended on a tight fit. I heard those safeties quickly wore enough to become unsafely loose in short order.
My buddies and I loved the SKS paratrooper. Later, we heard it never actually existed in military use any more than the “Tanker” Garand. IIRC the “Tanker” Garand was made in small experimental numbers but never officially adopted, yet the marketers tried to push it as a legit variant. Remember, this is before the internet so your sources were paper publications and word of mouth. I remember seeing MAK-90’s galore. It became something of a game to count how many you saw at a gun show that had been illegally converted to the pistol grip. I even saw a few that had been professionally “unbanned”. I had a wood-stocked Galil with an odd pistol grip that was one piece with the buttstock. I later learned it started out as a thumbhole and the former owner had done some surgery on it.
Ah, those were the days.
Hadnt thought of any of this in a loong while…some funny stuff here. But- I/we were going on the best info we had at that time, for me this was pre-internet/home computer/cell phone…you know, “the dark ages” as Ive heard some yoots call it.
I didnt “know” what would happen during Y2K…but I wasnt gonna get caught flat footed, either. That NYE night…had friends over, come midnite, nobody said a word…we literally sat there looking at the lights-waiting. The tv showed all was well and after 10 minutes, we never spoke of it again-to this day!
Was fun & scary at the same time.
As for the SKS’s…well remember them being unloaded by the scores. I had a paratrooper for about 25 years…sold it a year or so ago. Was a handy little thing, many many thousands of rounds thru it…was 100% reliable for all those years. My lgs had wood crates of SKS rifles as you walked in the door- $59 + tax!
And MAN the truckloads of the yellow boxed Commie 7.62X39 ammo we shot!
Ive often looked back at that time as a learning experiance…man the things I coulda/woulda/shoulda bought “if only I would have known”…
Now- I buy it ASAP when I feel I need or want something.
We’ve had a couple years now of pure gravy-best time to buy guns, ammo & gear Ive really ever seen in decades. If you aint now loading up, you’re screwing up, imo. Im getting all I can, while I can.
We borrowed a couple of cases of Old Style and watched illegal Skinemax. Pretty average night for a rural teenager.