I think word is out...

[defjon]

When I got into guns, auto loaders were hot. Revolvers were passe and on their way out, thus, cheap police surplus. You could buy used model 10s, pristine, under 200.

Pristine model 66s or 586s for 350.

Anaconda for 400.

Range ammo was about 7 bucks /50 rounds of 38.

Now, we're awash in affordable polymer 9mms. 200 and under. Only 9mm is affordable for center fire factory ammo. At about 18 / 50 rounds.

New gp 100s are like 800. Add a couple hundo for smith's.

38 range ammo is like 30 bucks for 50 rounds of lrn.

I see a lot more interest in revolvers but also a lot more expense!

So...who talked?

 

[Sarge7402]

Just a bunch of us older than dirt farts. Revolvers were new when I joined the army

 

[Corpral_Agarn]

I might have been me, sorry.

I have been bragging about my $380 pre model 10 and my $350 586 for years.

 

[bassjam]

I'm pretty annoyed by it. I planned to pick up a gp100 or 686 in the spring of 2020. Then I thought, maybe once the craziness stops. But the craziness hasn't stopped an a $450 ruger is now $750, and a $600 Smith is closing in on a grand. I guess I'm fortunate I picked up the few revolvers I have when I did.

 

[shoebox1.1]

We have a local state forum that you can do FTF deals on. We’ve pulled some great stuff CHEAP for several years recently. There are deals out there but they’re not on GB!!!

 

[Mark_Mark]

When I got into guns, auto loaders were hot. Revolvers were passe and on their way out, thus, cheap police surplus. You could buy used model 10s, pristine, under 200.

Pristine model 66s or 586s for 350.

Anaconda for 400.

Range ammo was about 7 bucks /50 rounds of 38.

Now, we're awash in affordable polymer 9mms. 200 and under. Only 9mm is affordable for center fire factory ammo. At about 18 / 50 rounds.

New gp 100s are like 800. Add a couple hundo for smith's.

38 range ammo is like 30 bucks for 50 rounds of lrn.

I see a lot more interest in revolvers but also a lot more expense!

So...who talked?

not me!!! I swear! I don’t post Revolver photos!

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

You can tell there's been a serious attitude change about revolvers cause now even Rugers are cool.

 

[CajunBass]

What makes you think they were ever "cheap" for lack of a better word? About 1972, I remember hoping my (1st) ex would give me a Ruger Bearcat 22 for Christmas. I sure dropped enough hints. The Shooters Bible listed them for $99.00. She gave me a set of lamps for the den instead. I bought my first revolver, a Model 19, about 1979 or so and it cost about $250.00. That was a LOT of money for me back then. A Colt Python was about half again that, call it $375.00. Ammo was so expensive that when I bought that first Model 19 I bought ONE box of 357 magnum ammo, and I NEVER fired the first round of it. I kept it for years, until my (2nd) wife and I split up. No idea what happened to it after that. Instead of factory ammo, I bought reloaded wadcutters from the local gun shop, and when even that was too expensive, I bought a Lee Loader and learned to load my own.

I'm retired now, but still work a part time job to "Keep me out of mischief and help support my local gun shop." Guns are "cheaper" to me now than ever. I still reload ammo, but I do that as much because I enjoy it as anything else.

 

[Mark_Mark]

You can tell there's been a serious attitude change about revolvers cause now even Rugers are cool.

GP 100 with those hybrid grips from the 90’s !! Look so good

 

[Mark_Mark]

What makes you think they were ever "cheap" for lack of a better word? About 1972, I remember hoping my (1st) ex would give me a Ruger Bearcat 22 for Christmas. I sure dropped enough hints. The Shooters Bible listed them for $99.00. She gave me a set of lamps for the den instead. I bought my first revolver, a Model 19, about 1979 or so and it cost about $250.00. That was a LOT of money for me back then. A Colt Python was about half again that, call it $375.00. Ammo was so expensive that when I bought that first Model 19 I bought ONE box of 357 magnum ammo, and I NEVER fired the first round of it. I kept it for years, until my (2nd) wife and I split up. No idea what happened to it after that. Instead of factory ammo, I bought reloaded wadcutters from the local gun shop, and when even that was too expensive, I bought a Lee Loader and learned to load my own.

I'm retired now, but still work a part time job to "Keep me out of mischief and help support my local gun shop." Guns are "cheaper" to me now than ever. I still reload ammo, but I do that as much because I enjoy it as anything else.

From what you guys been posting, Guns were never really cheap until the flood of Glocks & Clone came through

 

[doubleh]

Those cheap guns of yesteryear were not cheap except for the military surplus guns and the supply of them ran out long ago. It's only in your mind when you see those old prices as cheap. Inflation has done a serious number on our dollar as we have been warned over many years. Gun prices and wages have kept a normal ratio over time. It now takes $9.89 to purchase what $1 would in 1950.

If cash remains as a way to pay for things it won't be too long before we need a tow sack instead of a wallet to carry enough of our monopoly money to buy a week's supply of groceries. Four more years of current government policies and that tow sack will most likely turn into a wheel barrow. I can see it now, "Hon, where did you put my tow sack? I need to go buy a 50 round box of 22LR ammo."

 

[1KPerDay]

What makes you think they were ever "cheap" for lack of a better word? About 1972, I remember hoping my (1st) ex would give me a Ruger Bearcat 22 for Christmas. I sure dropped enough hints. The Shooters Bible listed them for $99.00. She gave me a set of lamps for the den instead. I bought my first revolver, a Model 19, about 1979 or so and it cost about $250.00. That was a LOT of money for me back then. A Colt Python was about half again that, call it $375.00.

Good points. We tend to remember the prices we paid 20 or 30 years ago, but we don't tend to remember what those dollars could have bought at the time. Depending on which inflation calculator you use, $99 in 1972 would be equivalent to around $743 today. 1979's $250 would buy $1,068 Biden Bucks worth of covid test kits.

 

[Mark_Mark]

Good points. We tend to remember the prices we paid 20 or 30 years ago, but we don't tend to remember what those dollars could have bought at the time. Depending on which inflation calculator you use, $99 in 1972 would be equivalent to around $743 today. 1979's $250 would buy $1,068 Biden Bucks worth of covid test kits.

1995 Honda Civc EX was $14500 in 1996

and my folks nice house in Rockingham NC was $60,000!

times have changed and money is change now

 

[doubleh]

I bought a 2 year old brick home in 1963 for $11,000 and that included an acre of dirt, larger for the time concrete patio, a water well, and 500 gallon propane tank. I added on to it and it is now worth close to a quarter million dollars and this is not anywhere close to California. That shows how worthless our dollar has become. Of course house demand has increased some but it's mostly the fault of our money policies.

 

[TheFrontRange]

Back when I started buying guns in the earliest 1990s, my “big four,” so to speak, were the S&W Models 19, 66, 586, and 686, all in four-inch trim. That’s all I cared about and all I could typically afford and, at least locally for me, I could pretty much count on being able to find a great used example of at least one or the other at any given local shop when it was time to buy or trade.

Good times!

 

[Walkalong]

I remember the days when surplus revolvers were "cheap" because the kids weren't interested.......a nice used M-28 was $400.......a nice M-14 the same, maybe less.

I picked up this 14-5 off of GB for under $400, no one wanted it.

 

[Savage30L]

From what you guys been posting, Guns were never really cheap until the flood of Glocks & Clone came through

You should see some of the old adds for military surplus pistols in American Rifleman circa 1961-1962. Yes, there was a period when guns were quite affordable.

 

[Mark_Mark]

I remember the days when surplus revolvers were "cheap" because the kids weren't interested.......a nice used M-28 was $400.......a nice M-14 the same, maybe less.

I picked up this 14-5 off of GB for under $400, no one wanted it.
View attachment 1200342

look at that Lug!

 

[defjon]

Eh... nah, I understand inflation but I maintain revolvers used to be a lot cheaper.

I'm talking post awb sunset. Early GWB presidency, everyone was gobbling up the high cap autos and .40 cal was king. Most agencies seemed to be going to the forty.

My first pistol was a duo tone bersa thunder for 199. Bulgarian Makarovs were the same cost. Had trouble deciding between the two.

Sks were like 150.

Same cost for a taurus model 85.

2006 saw a four inch 586 no dash pristine for 350 otd. 440 otd 4 inch Anaconda 44 mag.

I managed to grab a model 10-5 for 275 in 2019, and traded a hellcat straight across for a 586 six inch about four years ago. That was my last good wheel gun deal!

 

[Mark_Mark]

Still a few deals out there, the Gun Safari is half the fun!

here a 7.5” Colt Officer Model I got for $599 about 3-4 months ago at a Tacicool Shop, they take consignment

this is one of my favorite finds!!! what a beautiful piece of metal

 

[armoredman]

I can't tell you what I bought my wheelguns for - you wouldn't believe me.
On the other hand, this brand new Uberti Cattleman II was well under $600 with tax.

 

[TTv2]

It's got nothing to do with some newfound popularity, 30 years of stagflation causes the prices on everything to go up and your ability to afford things to go down.

I say stagflation because the official inflation numbers are a joke, as are the yearly wage increases when you realize that, at best, you lose 5% of your real income each year.

I read something recently about how during times of stagflation the quality of every product and service you buy declines as a means to keep prices competitive and living affordable; in the 70s it was processed foods that became common because they were cheap, now we're being told to have cereal for dinner for the same reason and why in the future we will be eating bugs (at least after Taylor Swift and Mr. Pfizer go on an ad campaign that shows them chomping down on crickets or a bowl of ants.

And even then that all will probably be AI generated fake video, but the aliens who run INGSOC demand you take off the sunglasses and obey otherwise you'll be sent off to fight Eastasia as we have always been at war with them.

As food and cars decreade in quality, yet don't go down in price, so too will revolvers. I don't for a moment believe that a new $1000 Ruger today is as good as what was a $400 Ruger 30 yrs ago and thus, I don't believe they are a good exchange for the money.

About the only revolvers I'm willing to buy brand new now are foriegn made ones, Magnum Research, and NAA. The foriegn ones have improved their quality and due to lower wages and currency values are affordable, while the latter two are just good quality and often better priced new than used.

 

[Pat Riot]

I like that revolvers have seen new interest. It means they won’t disappear as I thought they would a few years ago.

 

[Mark_Mark]

It's got nothing to do with some newfound popularity, 30 years of stagflation causes the prices on everything to go up and your ability to afford things to go down.

I say stagflation because the official inflation numbers are a joke, as are the yearly wage increases when you realize that, at best, you lose 5% of your real income each year.

I read something recently about how during times of stagflation the quality of every product and service you buy declines as a means to keep prices competitive and living affordable; in the 70s it was processed foods that became common because they were cheap, now we're being told to have cereal for dinner for the same reason and why in the future we will be eating bugs (at least after Taylor Swift and Mr. Pfizer go on an ad campaign that shows them chomping down on crickets or a bowl of ants.

And even then that all will probably be AI generated fake video, but the aliens who run INGSOC demand you take off the sunglasses and obey otherwise you'll be sent off to fight Eastasia as we have always been at war with them.

As food and cars decreade in quality, yet don't go down in price, so too will revolvers. I don't for a moment believe that a new $1000 Ruger today is as good as what was a $400 Ruger 30 yrs ago and thus, I don't believe they are a good exchange for the money.

About the only revolvers I'm willing to buy brand new now are foriegn made ones, Magnum Research, and NAA. The foriegn ones have improved their quality and due to lower wages and currency values are affordable, while the latter two are just good quality and often better priced new than used.

that a whole brain full!

 

[ms6852]

I always thought that my pre-lock 686 was expensive when I bought it. Chose it over the Colt python because the trigger was / is buttery smooth. Through the years I saw the value of the Colt python sky rocket and my 686 remained about the same. I wish I remember how much I paid for it back in the early 80's when they first came out. I know that my beat up python and the new one still cost more than my 686.