The good old days...

[SaxonPig]

After a couple comments about gun prices in years past I was thinking it might be fun to share some guns that we have owned for a long time. If you have been around a while and still have some of your early acquisitions, please share them with the price you paid.


Got this new in Feb. of 1973. Paid $135 retail. Two years later I bought the ivory stocks and screamed like a banshee at the outrageous $32.50 price. I think the smith charged me $35 to install the S&W sights. Highway robbery! Bought military surplus 45 ACP ammo at Woolworth's for 5 cents per round. Put about 5,000 rounds through before the supply dried up.





Wound up with this in 1979 and I wasn't even looking for an AR 15. A buddy put $100 down on it and then lost his job. He wasn't able to pay off the balance so I bought out his interest giving him back his C note and I paid the remaining $240 on the rifle. This was brand new in the box and the retail price was $340. Came with a 30 round magazine, a 5 round mag, sling and a couple other small items. Wasn't really interested in a military style rifle but it was fun to shoot so I kept it.





In 1981 I saw this H&K 91 in a shop tagged at $389. It was an impulse buy. This rifle was stolen in 1986 and recovered by police in a drug raid 17 years later. After all that time in the hands of criminals there wasn't a mark on it.





In 1988 a dealer offered S&W Model 58s that were supposed to be police trade-ins although I have no idea from what agency. They were in decent shape for cop guns and they were priced at $189. This was obviously before the 58 achieved cult status. I didn't really know what it was good for (still don't for that matter) but I thought it was cool and bagged one. Should have bought them all.

 

[Amb]

From http://www.westegg.com/inflation/

What cost $135 in 1973 would cost $654.97 in 2010.
What cost $32.5 in 1973 would cost $157.68 in 2010.

Looks like a pretty decent deal on the 1911.

 

[Black Knight]

I don't have pictures to post but do have some old ones.

My first 12 Guage pump shotgun is an old J.C. Higgins model 20 that I bought from my Grandpa. That was in 1977. We had agreed on the price of $50. Before I could raise the money he loaned it to my uncle. After I had the money my Grandpa would not accept the money until I had the shotgun in my hand. I ended up going "hunting" with my uncle and used that shotgun. I brought it back with me that day. I handed my Grandpa the $50 and he handed me back $25 saying that was for going and getting the shotgun. I still have it and doubt very seriously if I will ever get rid of it.

In 1979 my Dad helped me get my first handgun, a 6" Colt Python. It was my duty weapon as an armed security officer. The price for the gun was $385 and by the time we left the gunshop I had the Python, a Bianchi model 5BH high ride holster, and a box of Remington 38 Special +P ammo all for less than $450. The ammo is long gone but the Python and Bianchi holster are still here.

In 1981 after I buldged the barrel of my Python (during training in an NRA Security Firearms Instructor School) and sent it back for repair I needed a new duty weapon. I ordered a 4" S&W 28-2 with smooth combat trigger, combat hammer, and target grips. I had it in two weeks and the cost was $275 plus tax. I still have that 28-2. This was the first handgun I bought on my own. I still carry it concealed from time to time. I have changed to Pachmyer grips but kept the original S&W target grips. I also had a spring kit installed and the trigger is one of the best I have ever had in any gun. Years ago I painted the front sight white with Liquid Paper so it would be easier to see in low light situations. It showed up better than other colors and I alway carried Liquid Paper with me for all the reports I was writing at the time.

These are my first three guns and I still have them. I got what I considered good deals on them at the time. They have served me very well over the years and I know that should they be needed to fill those rolls again they will do so just as well if not better than some of newer guns on the market today. Sometimes the old ways are best.

 

[sig220mw]

I have a browning auto rifle in 22 short that my now deceased mother gave me for Christmas in 1969. I also have a browning auto 5 "light 12" shotgun.
It is not really light. I think they called it that in deference to the magnum version but am probably wrong.

The 22 cost about $90.00 in 1969. The auto 5 I bought myself in 1974 for the princely sum of about $280.00. These 2 were considered fairly expensive in those days.

Oh, I almost forgot. A few months after the shotgun I bought a browning hi-power for $169.00. A little over a year later the price on the hi-power went up to $300.00.

I don't have the hi-power any more but still have the other two.

I also bought a ruger single six 22 revolver in the same time frame and it cost about $70.00. A couple of people really laughed at me on that one saying that who ever sold it to me "really saw me coming". I don't have it anymore either.

 

[Tinpig]

My Dad gave me $100 for my 21st birthday in 1965. I spent most of it on a pawn shop 12 ga Browning A5 that looked like new. I've still got it, still use it, but it no longer looks like new after 50+ years around and in salt water.

This is it with my other JMB designs:

 

[Larry Ashcraft]

I bought my first shotgun, a slightly used Rem 11-48 for $75 in 1971. An older friend had bought it for $99 at K-Mart, along with two boxes of shells. He had a heart attack shortly after that, and the doctor told him no more hunting. He gave me the remainder of the ammo also. He had fired the shotgun 6 times. I still have it.

My brother worked for Woolworths in about 1970 and bought a Ruger Single Six from them for $75. I waited until the late 70s to buy mine, so it cost me $125.

When the reissued Stevens Crackshots (or Favorites, I forget) came out in the early 70s, I wanted one badly, but IIRC they cost $125. I settled for a Marlin Glenfield from K-Mart for $39.95.

 

[Ky Larry]

In 1977, I bought a new Rem 1100 12 ga from KMart. IIRC, I paid $179.00 for it. Still in my safe.
In 1976. I was in the U.S. Air Force in Germany. Got hot in a card game The next day I went to the Rod And Gun Club and bought a Carl Gustav 7mm Rem Mag, a 3X9 Leoupold Vari-X3 and mounts. The whole rig was less than $300.00. Wish I still had it.
Bought a used S&W Model 17-4 about 10 years ago at a gun shop for $225.00. Still looks brand new and still in my safe.

 

[talldragon]

OK, not really the "old days"
In 1987 I bought a NEF Pardner 12 ga. chambered in 3 inch.
No waiting period, just the time spent filling out the 4473. The gun was $75 out the door. I didn't care that it had no recoil pad . Lot of fun to shoot. It was stolen in the early '90's .

 

[HOWARD J]

Here is a copy in 22 cal of an 1863 Colt I picked up in 1962. It is beat now--fired a lot of rounds.

[/URL][/IMG]

 

[Larry Ashcraft]

I bought my first shotgun, a slightly used Rem 11-48 for $75 in 1971.

Forgot to mention though, I was a newly married 22 year old college student at the time. That $75 was earned at $1.25 an hour.

 

[Vaarok]

2003, back when I was a newb, I had to sell a cow of mine for beef because she didn't breed back, and from the $250 I got for her at auction, I spent $233 and bought a Saiga-12 new in the box from Centerfiresystems. I've since turned many other cows into guns and still have the Saiga, which is bone stock and well over 10,000 rounds, all but about a hundred fired from five-round mags in NY.

 

[marv]

I have the Ruger MK I Bull Barrel I bought around 1960. I think the MSRP was $67.50. Have the Remington 511 that was Christmas gift from Parents. WW II O.P.A. ceiling price was $14.00. Have Gun Digests and Shooter's Bible back to 1950. If I feel like a good cry I get out a 50's GD and look at the prices in the catalog section.

 

[Bubba613]

Think how many RG's were purchased for $25 in the mid to late 1960s. Imagine what they are all worth today!

 

[Ringolevio]

I still have the first and second firearms I ever purchased.

#1 is a Winchester Model 69A (bolt action .22) that I bought used for $35 circa 1974. It's still in good shape and still very accurate.

#2 is a S&W Model 36 (.38 spl J-frame, 3" bbl) "Chief's Special" that I bought circa 1975. I think it cost about $135 new from G.I. Joe's in Portland, OR. It's also in good shape and although I haven't fired it in awhile, I still carry it often or keep it within reach of my front door.

 

[loadedround]

Being an old fart with a good memory I still remember buying a NIB 6'' Colt Python in 1964 for 125.00 OTD. The following year i bought a wooden cased 29-2 for 150.00 OTD also and finally in the same year, purchased a new Remington 700BDL in 30-06 for 132.00 and a B&L Balfor scope and mounts for an additional 60.00 bucks. Want me to tell you about the 1903 Springfields at surplus sales at the old Phila. Navy Yard for 15.00 ea in the mid 60's. Ah, the good old days!

 

[VFR]

Standard Ruger Mk1, about 1969, $49.95 at K-Mart. Shortly after, a S&W M39, 99.95, also at K-Mart.

 

[Onmilo]

1st Ruger 10/22 rifle I ever bought, all metal, walnut stock, $54.95 at Venture Store.
The most recent Ruger 10/22 I just bought, mostly plastic, synthetic stock, $229.00

 

[doubleh]

I get a kick out of these threads that bring back how cheap items were back in the day compared to now. Then I think about inflation and what it has done to the value of the dollar. When that is taken into consideration many things are cheaper in relation to the value of the dollar now than they were then. Figure your income then and now and compare the percent of your income it took to purchase that gun or whatever then and now. You might get a surprise.

 

[SaxonPig]

No doubt I am making far more money now than I did back then. My current hourly rate is more than 30x what I was earning in 1973. Even at those cheap prices actually being able to buy a gun was a rare thing.

I bought a 1903 Springfield from Woolworths for $69. The 98 Mausers were $29 and the M93s were $19.

And my rent was $165 for a 1 bedroom apartment, gas was 38 cents for 103 octane premium, and my first new car was purchased in 1973 at a cost of $3,600.

In 1979 I started a new job paying $5 an hour and I was rolling in dough. It's all relative.

 

[steveno]

my first rifle was a like new 303 British jungle carbine. my dad and uncle picked the best one out of the barrel of them for $32. that was back in the early 1960's. I wish I still had it

 

[Hillbillyz]

First shotgun a Remington 870 bought from J.C. Penny's for $160, in 1975.

 

[cyclopsshooter]

I inherited this Gold Cup that my dad bought new in 1979 for $279.00- adjusted for inflation things haven't changed all that much..




This 70 series was my second gun purchase after turning 21- It was 1997 and the sticker was $365.00
It was in a little better shape back then- It was my go to pistol for the better part of a decade.

 

[shiftyer1]

I can't post a pic right now but if I could i'd post a pic of a $89 sks bought around 1990? Sold right after the election in a t-6 stock for $575. Or a yugo sks bought 3 years ago for 169 and I think the going rate right at this moment is between 3-$400 around here. If only I knew then what I know now

I also own a shotgun my grandpa bought for $5 and a day of baling hay. He'd be around 85 now if he were alive so I don't know what the labor rate would have been at the time. A quarter a day???? 50 cents maybe? It's not a treasure but it is to me

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I paid 30 bucks for this Winchester.....6 months ago...Ahhh, the good old days.

 

[bannockburn]

First rifle I bought after I turned 18 was a Ruger 10/22 for $68 plus tax. That was back in 1978 and I still have it. That same year I went in half with my brother on a new Colt AR-15 Sporter. There was a small gunshop nearby which had an ad in Shotgun News for Colt AR-15's for $226, but by the time I managed to get the money saved up for one, the dealer was sold out of them. Imagine that! So I ended up going to another gunshop and picked one up for $299 plus tax and I still have that one too.