Do Boomers consider themselves lucky regarding guns?

[DustyGmt]

I wasn't old enough to buy guns until Obama was already in office, and no one in my family passed down any cool firearms. I always get a bit jealous when I hear older guys say they bought a used Smith revolver for a couple hundred dollars, found an old Colt at a garage sale for a crazy good price, or that they have bought and sold more of some rare model than they can remember. Just finding guns in stock has been an issue for my generation.

Inflation is a factor, and I know we currently have more choices than ever for guns, but I still kind of wish I grew up in the Golden Age.

P.S. I'm more of a guitar collector than gun collector, and I feel the same way about the guitar market.

I'm guessing we are close in age, I came of legal firearm buying age when BHO took office, probably around 19-20yo back in 2008, I still managed to find great deals on great old guns like Colts, Winchesters and Remingtons back in my early twenties. I was alot more prone to selling or trading off my scores in my early 20's though so sadly alot of them are gone but I've still managed to hang onto a few.

I think you are alot more likely to stumble across some of the golden oldies if you live rural and in a state where private party transactions are common. Fred's alternator went and needs money and sells his gun to Jim kind of thing. I've been Jim a few times.

But I know what you mean, we definitely have no shortage of great guns on the market but it's the next generation I feel for, they are truly screwed and one day the war will come to its conclusion because each generation gets weaker.

But I agree, the golden age of guns is long gone, I remember going to gun shows as a kid and there were always alot of private seller tables with the good used stock vs the mundane dealer tables with all the same Glocks, M&P's, H&K, etc (everything is the same only slightly different type of guns) tables.

The private dealers always had the most interesting older used stuff, but of course I was too young to be able to take advantage of it. I also recall going into shops as a kid and seeing $99 SKS's, $80 Mosins, $250 AK's and a whole mess of other sub -$100 mil surps, $125 9mm Mak's, etc... crates of ammo on the cheap too.

Those days are gone, but even though I was a young kid I was observant and can remember alot of the prices still. My state passed laws in 2018 to prohibit private party sales so now the guns go through a dealer and the Fred/Jim scenario doesn't pan out the way it once did. That really irks me.......

 

[wiscoaster]

I really don't get why we have these threads promoting generational divides. They always devolve into flaming entire groups of people.

I don't see anything in this thread promoting division or flaming groups.
There are differences between generations. There's nothing inherently deragatory or divisional by acknowledging differences. Each generation has its good points and its bad points. Viva la difference!! Wouldn't life be boring if we were all the same and agreed on everything.

 

[CopperFouling]

I don't see anything in this thread promoting division or flaming groups.
There are differences between generations. There's nothing inherently deragatory or divisional by acknowledging differences. Each generation has its good points and its bad points. Viva la difference!! Wouldn't life be boring if we were all the same and agreed on everything.

The OP does not appear to have intended it that way, but these threads often devolve…

Not a student of history or political science, eh? I've come to expect that kind of thinking from the younger generations, who don't seem to be overly inclined to fix what they think is wrong, other than "peaceful" protests in the streets and sending The Squad to Congress. Take away their smartphones and they won't be able to find their way to the nearest Starbucks or GameStop. Anyway, I gotta admit that when I saw a thread posted with the now pejorative term "boomer," I expected the de rigueur boomer-bashing to commence much sooner.

 

[Armybrat]

Heheh... to take it back a bit further, when my dad was in high school back in the 1920s he bought two surplus Springfield Model 1873 Trapdoor .45-70 rifles for $1.25 each.
I still have one....

 

[rkittine]

In 1970 I bought a Crate of 10 Trap Door Springfields, unfired and still in the cosmoleen. Also got an Officers Model in the deal, but it had been fired. Paid $200 for the lot and later sold the crate for $2,500.00. Got my M1 Carnine for $15 and my M1 National Match Garand for $25.00 plus 300 rounds of free ball ammo a year through the Civilian Marksmenship Program.

 

[Seedy Character]

Although I’m only 34, my mother was born in 48. My grandparents also spent a great deal of time raising me while my mother worked. I grew up learning to admire many aspects of Baby Boomer culture and values. You’d think I’m in my late 70s if you listened to my music library. Needless to say, this post was not intended to be divisive or derogatory.

I973, I am in HS, the 8-track getting the most play; American Graffiti.

The year is 1995, I came home from work to find my son's truck parked on the middle of the yard, doors open and stereo blaring. 35 teenagers are standing around. "hey Dad, you like my new tape?"

Hank Williams SR !!!!

Jump forward, 2021. I picked up a crate full of albums from Wife's Grandmother's estate.
Christmas Eve, my grandkids are listening to roaring 20's swing.

Good music is good music.
Today's CRAP is not music.

 

[CapnMac]

Hmmm, in 1978, when I turned 18, I could buy booze and vote. GCA 68 was a decade old, just long enough for FFL to filter down to almost all retailers. And, virtually all retailers had some sort of "gun counter." Sears, Montgomery-Wards, Gibson's, even K-Mart and the like. The catalog stores even listed firearms in their catalogs (I remember seeing Ruger Mini 14s in the M-W catalog for the ridiculous price of $149.95.)

You went to a barber shop and all the glossy-paper gun magazines were full of fabulous firearms of blue steel and oiled walnut. Most gunwriters seemed wed to the notion that you bought a rifle for its action, then ditched the stock and barrel, and rechambered into some exotic caliber with a custom stock, and that would slay every hunt-able creature on a given continent.

Handguns? Revolvers, self-loaders were 1911 and GP-35, the rest were European of some kind or nature, and usually required ammo not available in Gibson's (where you could get a box of RNL .22LR for 47¢).

In 1985 I dropped $466 to buy a new-in-box Colt Officer's. That would be $1197 in 2022 dollars-- a very spendy Series 80 in the perspective. The Series 70 I bought a year later, used, was $411, but it was a near-new pistol.
Mind, that also after having to survive a half-decade of inflation and stagflation. A "good" mortgage rate was 13%, too. Going to Tri-State Sporting goods to go buy ammo was fascinating, as they had to log the ammo out in a Bound Book, and I can remember buying 4 boxes of WWB as it was 'on sale' for $10 a box, a great deal at the time.

Concealed carry? In Texas, only while traveling. What "traveling" was, was up to the County Prosecutor in the County where you were arrested--so there were 254 possible answers to that question in Texas. But, you could Open Carry while hiking, hunting, or fishing.

In '86 we got FOPA, which made FFL's live easier, in that we no longer had to buy ammo out on a Bound Book, and there was, theoretically, a 48 State ability to transport your arms. Oh, and MGs went through the roof in price.

The era of the wondernine was a thing.

Oh, and we all went on a bit of a buying binge in 1994 ahead of the AWB, which wound up being a nothing-burger other than giving us "thumbhole" stocks and other work-arounds, and foolishly-high magazine prices. To really see a buying frenzy in 2004 when the AWB expired. AR prices crashed after that.

It was not a better time. It was not a worse time. It was just a time.

 

[Reinz]

While I admit that I have lived through some golden age gun decades, there were some nasty bumps in the road.

I had always wanted an AUG. No, I HAD TO have an AUG! As well as an HK 91 and Delta AR 15. The price was always just out of reach for me.

Then came the Clinton years and the AWB. I figured I better go into credit card debt or I’d never have those 3 guns.

I paid more than two and half times what an AUG cost today, and double for the HK and Delta AR.

Glock 30+ round mags going for $100+. Para Ordnance high cap mags going for $100 -150. Both of which I bought many.

I’ll never ever break even when it comes time to sell.

But then, I’m thankful for some really nice stuff I gathered along the way that are Waaaay out reach now like Bren 10’s, Auto Mags, and Wildeys.

 

[wiscoaster]

.... but these threads often devolve…

The moderators here are top notch at being on top of devolving threads, I don't think us members need worry about it, or get involved in trying to prevent it.

 

[GAF]

If I had the yearly income I have now 22 years ago I`m not sure I would have any room left in my house to live.

 

[.308 Norma]

If I had the yearly income I have now 22 years ago I`m not sure I would have any room left in my house to live.

Yeppers, now try to imagine having a wife that likes guns as much as you do, and has a job that pays as well as yours.

 

[welldoya]

Remember that today anybody that is selling a gun can look on the internet to see what they are going for and price it accordingly. That wasn’t the case in prior decades. I got some great deals back then.

 

[Mk VII]

It didn't seem like a golden age, we found plenty wrong with it at the time.
Looking now at the remnants that we have left of the shooting sports in this country, it seems like it was one, but we didn't recognise it.

 

[Handshaker]

Like some have said, 300 today was not 300 in the 80's. There are some good deals out there depending on being at the right place at the right time or who you know. Especially when a grandkid inherits a gun he has no interest in. There is more spendable cash today for most folks. I really didn't start collecting until my mid-twenties in the mid 80's. Below is an inflation calculator, which is handy. Hardly anyone had 3k to spend in a muscle car in 1970 and they were 3k plus then, with the calculator that would be 20k, Pretty close to value since there wasn't all the add ons you can get today.
https://westegg.com/inflation/

 

[X62503]

Needless to say, this post was not intended to be divisive or derogatory..

I don't see that you have done that, @jpricewood. Some Forum members are simply curmudgeonly, regardless their ages. You have good manners for saying so, though. My first pistol I bought while in the U.S.N. in 1985, a SIG-Sauer P226. I saved up for about a year for it. Here's a picture of that SIG, and a bonus picture of my '69 bump, daily driver (not in the Winter, though):

 

[Jack Ryan]

It is kinda hard to remember if I was "lucky" or not. I was kinda busy looking for a job, paying my OWN college tuition, books, housing along with just eating. Can't believe I just suffered along with NO HEALTH insurance after I was 18 until I started working FULL TIME while I went to college.

 

[Jimbo80]

As said before Boomers were lucky in general. Back then guns were, for the majority of folks, sporting goods. No different than a baseball mitt or a a hockey stick. Weapons were for the military.

We were lucky as Boomers to not feel the need to carry a gun when we went to the mailbox. In those days if you carried, the odds were you were out looking for trouble or working in a place where said trouble may occur.

I ran a dive bar in those days that was sometimes frequented by 1% bikers. It was not a place for the faint of heart. When I got to work I pulled a shiny nickel S&W 39 out of my belt, racked the slide, and put it behind the bar. I had a .25 bug and a sap in my pocket. While bloody fights were common never once was a gun even pulled much less used. Gunplay, even in the criminal world, was a last resort. You had to be really, really unlucky to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Nowadays not so much.

PS the biggest regret I have from those days is that I traded the Model 39 for a 15-2 .38. I do still have the .38.

 

[Captcurt]

When I got out of the Army I bought a 68 Camaro. Great car and I still miss it. I have a 2001 Z-28 that is better in every way.

I remember a 10/22 that I bought in 69 that cost me around $85. Bought a 1965 Malibu SS 327 in 1969. The original price tag new was $3200. That won't buy a 250cc ATV now, but the minimum wage was $1.65 then.

 

[Captcurt]

Heheh... to take it back a bit further, when my dad was in high school back in the 1920s he bought two surplus Springfield Model 1873 Trapdoor .45-70 rifles for $1.25 each.
I still have one....

View attachment 1055688 View attachment 1055689

I actually got to shoot one at the club many years ago. It was loaded just hot enough to get the bullet out of the barrel. You could almost see the bullet go down range. Sold several on consignment on GB. Should have bought one for my safe.

 

[Old Dog]

when my dad was in high school back in the 1920s he bought two surplus Springfield Model 1873 Trapdoor .45-70 rifles for $1.25 each.
I still have one....

Have you/can you shoot it?

 

[BWS]

Didn't read all the replys;

Looking at durable goods(capital investment)sine waves,I never was all that concerned about the "parts". Which in this case is the firearm. Instead,concentrated on the equipment needed to produce them. To wit: there has been some real "lows" or cheap machine tool periods.

I'm getting up in years and looking to start thinning the herd(machines)... BUT,if I was younger,would probably be investing in scope repair,modification,and even manufacturing. Not as an end all profession,but as a cash only...... "race only" way to support the shooting industry. Folks make scope building/repair out to be some black magic? It ain't. A cpl lathes,mill or two and some hydraulic swaging equipment will pretty much build anything you want.... just sayin.

Good luck with your project.

 

[Walkalong]

I’m on the tail end of the boomers, so I missed most of the fun.

We have it pretty dang good these days though as far as what all is out there.

 

[Archibald Stanton]

I wasn't old enough to buy guns until Obama was already in office, and no one in my family passed down any cool firearms. I always get a bit jealous when I hear older guys say they bought a used Smith revolver for a couple hundred dollars, found an old Colt at a garage sale for a crazy good price, or that they have bought and sold more of some rare model than they can remember. Just finding guns in stock has been an issue for my generation.

Inflation is a factor, and I know we currently have more choices than ever for guns, but I still kind of wish I grew up in the Golden Age.

P.S. I'm more of a guitar collector than gun collector, and I feel the same way about the guitar market.

I'm not quite a boomer (assuming you mean baby boomer) but I was born in the 70s and my first guns were purchased in the 80s. With inflation, the prices are not crazy different, maybe 20% on average is my guess. Guys today doing the first job I ever had are making 3x-4x more than I was so a gun probably costs 3x-4x more today. Always exceptions to the rule.

 

[wiscoaster]

....We have it pretty dang good these days though as far as what all is out there.

IF I could keep the knowledge, wisdom and assets I've accumulated during my lifetime and exchange places now with a millenial I'd do it in a heartbeat.

 

[KY DAN]

I don't think anyone had it better..... yeah the adds from the 50s-60s had colt 1911 40-100 dollars.

Sounds really good in our modern concept of money but break it down. Factor the original price in inflation of today and see how "cheap" they really were.

The only people buying, collecting, shooting then and today were and are your middle to upper class.

The really big gun guys were doctors, lawyers, skilled trade, etc.

All the classes of society today are buying today thanks to CREDIT CARDS and low monthly payments.

Greed and envy are ugly monsters