Primed shells per 1,000, $10.50.

[Silver Jack Hammer]

Colt’s catalog 1888.

Bullets per 1,000, $7.00.

Price per 1,000, $22.00. Powder, 40 grains. Bullet, 250 grains.

[fecmech]

Here is what $10.50 in 1888 is in today's dollars:

In 2010, the relative worth of $10.50 from 1888 is:

$248.00 using the Consumer Price Index
$238.00 using the GDP deflator

Data from: http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/relativevalue.php

The average unskilled laborer in 1888 made $138. a year

[rexherring]

Not much different when I was a kid. .22 shells were .25 for shorts, .30 for longs, and .35 for long rifles. Killed many gophers with shorts. .303 British Enfields were $19 at the hardware store.

[JohnnyFlake]

Man, those days way back when, do bring back some memories. I remember well, buying some kind of 8mm rifle, maybe a Mauser, in our neighborhood hardware store for $12.00 and I also remember buying two Webley Top Break Revolvers through the mail from an ad in some magazine, back in the day. One was a .38 short and one was a .455 something. I believe I paid about $18 or $19 for both of them. I remember shooting the .38 short quite a bit but I don't think I ever was able to get any ammo for the .455

I recall selling all 3 of those guns, a year or two after getting them, for money to buy a Marlin over n' under 12ga shotgun. I was into pheasant hunting back then. 12ga #7 1/2 were $1.55 a box, as I recall.

[RayinNH]

Doesn't matter how much you make but how much it takes to live...Ray

[Frosty Boolit]

Hell, waaaaaaaaayyy back when I turned 18, the assault weapons ban was still in effect!

[maglvr]

1900 Sears catalog, Winchester 1886 Saddle Ring Carbine, Cal .50 Express $12.55(not a typo!)
Anybody have a time machine for rent? :)

[StratsMan]

1900 Sears catalog, Winchester 1886 Saddle Ring Carbine, Cal .50 Express $12.55(not a typo!)
Anybody have a time machine for rent? :)

Let's look at that cost... others have compared to today's dollars via this index or that, but I look at it in GOLD....

So, if I were to buy gold today to make that purchase in 1900, say a $10 and a $2.50 dollar gold piece (today that is, before I rent the time machine), they would cost me about $1,150 dollars in 2012 currency... not sure what a good 1886 SRC is worth today; probably more than that... but you also gotta add the rental of the time machine.... gonna be pricey.... :D