Win. 94's.....say what??!!

[Hickok]

Looking on the Winchester site at the Model 94 AE's. Retail running from $1200 to $1450 !!! These are not the high end models either.

I realize they could be had for somewhat less else where, but these are Winchester's listed retail prices.

Someone has to be nuts. These cost as much or more than what I paid for my Weatherby MK V .257 magnum about 10 years ago.

I guess I am just getting old.

I have a pre-64 1894 30/30 and a 94AE Legacy color case hardened 38/55 26"barrel, and a 94 AE .44 mag with nice checkered wood....maybe I could sell them and buy a motorcycle!

[Guesser]

The Winchester lever guns being marketed now are made in Japan by Miroku. Really nice guns......but??

[NoAngel]

It's always the marvel of one generation what the next must pay for goods.

Some day someone will comment how they can remember when them 94's could be had for less than $1500 new.

It's not the cost of goods that has increased but the value of the dollar that has decreased.
A bar of gold big enough to buy a mansion on a hill 200 years ago will buy the same mansion today for the most part.

[bullseye67]

Good morning,
Ahhhh, the value of paper versus products.....
One of our older club members is starting to sell some of his accumulated products he won't need. He said his "the best investment" he made was in his small collection of shooting stuff. J-word bullets that were still tagged at $3.95-$5.95 sold for within a couple of dollars of today's prices. Several of the rifles and shotguns he had bought for less than $100.00 in the late 60's and 70's sold for as much and couple for more than todays prices. Especially the old Marlin and Winchester levers in pistol calibers.
He said he did a quick "back of napkin" calculation and if he had invested as much in guns as he had in the cars he had bought along the way. He said he would have had a lot more fun shooting and his rate of return would have exceeded all of his investments except his house.
The best investment is something you can use or brings you joy to own and is worth more in the future. I have never gotten any use or joy from a $100.00 dollar bill...it just lays there all flat and stiff....but, put a couple of them together and change them into a product and WoW!! Now we are enjoying a product....and making an investment in our happiness and wellbeing, that can be traded back to paper at some point in the future, making the circle complete.
Have an awesome week

[big bore 99]

Lots of used '94 AEs around much cheaper than that. I have one in 45colt and love it. Smooth as silk. Got it from a gun show a couple years ago.

[nagantguy]

Good morning,
Ahhhh, the value of paper versus products.....
One of our older club members is starting to sell some of his accumulated products he won't need. He said his "the best investment" he made was in his small collection of shooting stuff. J-word bullets that were still tagged at $3.95-$5.95 sold for within a couple of dollars of today's prices. Several of the rifles and shotguns he had bought for less than $100.00 in the late 60's and 70's sold for as much and couple for more than todays prices. Especially the old Marlin and Winchester levers in pistol calibers.
He said he did a quick "back of napkin" calculation and if he had invested as much in guns as he had in the cars he had bought along the way. He said he would have had a lot more fun shooting and his rate of return would have exceeded all of his investments except his house.
The best investment is something you can use or brings you joy to own and is worth more in the future. I have never gotten any use or joy from a $100.00 dollar bill...it just lays there all flat and stiff....but, put a couple of them together and change them into a product and WoW!! Now we are enjoying a product....and making an investment in our happiness and wellbeing, that can be traded back to paper at some point in the future, making the circle complete.
Have an awesome week

Really like how you worded that and I'm of the same mind;that $100 dollar bill could be useless tomorrow or next year but the rifle or chainsaw or ammo I buy with it is still worth what you payed with a little card!

[NoAngel]

Good morning,
Ahhhh, the value of paper versus products.....
One of our older club members is starting to sell some of his accumulated products he won't need. He said his "the best investment" he made was in his small collection of shooting stuff. J-word bullets that were still tagged at $3.95-$5.95 sold for within a couple of dollars of today's prices. Several of the rifles and shotguns he had bought for less than $100.00 in the late 60's and 70's sold for as much and couple for more than todays prices. Especially the old Marlin and Winchester levers in pistol calibers.
He said he did a quick "back of napkin" calculation and if he had invested as much in guns as he had in the cars he had bought along the way. He said he would have had a lot more fun shooting and his rate of return would have exceeded all of his investments except his house.
The best investment is something you can use or brings you joy to own and is worth more in the future. I have never gotten any use or joy from a $100.00 dollar bill...it just lays there all flat and stiff....but, put a couple of them together and change them into a product and WoW!! Now we are enjoying a product....and making an investment in our happiness and wellbeing, that can be traded back to paper at some point in the future, making the circle complete.
Have an awesome week

Seems like he's making a good return on his investment...but is he really? I will guarantee you he worked harder for the $3.95 it took to buy a box of bullets all those years ago than any of us work for that same $3.95 today.
$100 for a rifle in the 60's was a good chunk of change. $100 ain't much today.
In 1967 minimum wage was $1.40 so at minimum wage you had to work close to 3 hours for that $4 box. If a box cost $20 today ( I just bought some Hornady XTP's the other day for $19.99) and you work for $7.25 (current fed minimum wage) then you worked almost 3 hours for that box of bullets.
Financial times are no different, only the numbers have changed.

[BAGTIC]

Compare current vs historical values with an inflation calculator. There are many online. This is the one I have used most recently.

Unfortunately when one compares the modest price one paid years ago with what they got when selling recently usually one is lucky to break even when adjusting for inflation.

http://www.davemanuel.com/inflation-calculator.php

[NoAngel]

Exactly.
A friend of the family just bought a 1960 Thunderbird with 64k miles. One owner and garage kept.
After taxes and fees he paid $34K
In 1960 it was a $4200 car. Current inflation says he paid the same it cost new.
Pretty cool that it held its value but it's nothing from an investment standpoint

[beechbum444]

The car inflation example makes my head hurt..is a car that cost 35,000$ today going to cost350,000$ in 50 years ??

[308Jeff]

I think I paid @ $400.00 for my .357 94AE back in 2003. Maybe less.

I know inflation is inflation, but the pricing of Win 94s had definitely outpaced it.

Wish I would have bought a few more back then.

[bullseye67]

Ahhhhh.....paper to products.....
What several are missing is the point of using a piece of paper or several to purchase something that makes "us" feel good, we can use for a period of time, love it, caress and care for it, feed it a steady diet of cast boolits.....AND....when we are done pass it along to the next owner. The value keeps up or surpasses what the paper is worth in value in multiple ways!
Cars wear out and are worth a nickel a pound as scrap, beer just ends up flushed, but our hobby of casting and shooting is rewarding on several different levels.

[NoAngel]

The car inflation example makes my head hurt..is a car that cost 35,000$ today going to cost350,000$ in 50 years ??

Possibly. It's what the idiots whining about a $15 minimum wage cannot get through their thick empty skull. If wages go up, cost of goods go up. If McDonald's has to pay $15/hr for labor, then a Big Mac Combo is going up to cover that cost. Money isn't collected from unicorn farts, people have to pay for it. If everyone is making more, then everyone is spending more.

[Scharfschuetze]

Possibly. It's what the idiots whining about a $15 minimum wage cannot get through their thick empty skull. If wages go up, cost of goods go up. If McDonald's has to pay $15/hr for labor, then a Big Mac Combo is going up to cover that cost. Money isn't collected from unicorn farts, people have to pay for it. If everyone is making more, then everyone is spending more.

Yep, mandatory wage levels upset and then skew the economy causing numerous problems; but hey, won't a group hug fix all of that? In reality, the law of "Unintended Consequences" comes into play pretty fast with these inane and feel good laws.

Of course I'm not complaining about the inflated prices my Pre-War and Pre-64 Winchesters are now worth. I wish that my monetary investments' values rose as fast.

I agree with the suggestion that it is wiser to buy a Pre-64 Model 94 v. a new one if you want to have an investment.

[Speedo66]

Look what M-1 carbines are going for now. Saw two at a show Sat., $1250 and $1400, and both pretty beat up.

[sawinredneck]

Look what M-1 carbines are going for now. Saw two at a show Sat., $1250 and $1400, and both pretty beat up.

And how long ago was it you couldn't hardly give them away?

[NoAngel]

Now THAT would have been an investment; military surplus.
Before my time a nice SMLE could be had for $15 or less depending. A minty specimen can fetch $500 or more depending on the time and place.

[sawinredneck]

Now THAT would have been an investment; military surplus.
Before my time a nice SMLE could be had for $15 or less depending. A minty specimen can fetch $500 or more depending on the time and place.

Or the SKS's for $50-75, and AK's for $125-150 that I either walked buy or bought and sold for a $50 profit.

[MOA]

The Winchester lever guns being marketed now are made in Japan by Miroku. Really nice guns......but??

When I was in the business back in 81-82 Winchester had just been sold and was now US Repeating Arms.
That was the initial production beginning for the 94 being made in japan.

[pietro]

When I was in the business back in 81-82 Winchester had just been sold and was now US Repeating Arms.
That was the initial production beginning for the 94 being made in japan.

Not quite.... The only Japanese made "Winchester" prior to the New Haven plant closing was the imported Model 101/96 O/U shotgun llne in the 1960's, next followed in 1993 by some other models (M-12, M-42, M-52).

Here's the timeline skinny, from the horse's mouth: http://www.winchesterguns.com/suppor...igns-move.html


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