Geez I must be getting old!

[buckwheatpaul]

Just received my new RIFLE Magazine and inside it contains an article about the "Ruger M77 Hawkeye Guide Gun." The article tells in spell binding words that lead you to believe that the new Ruger is better than sliced bed and is worth $1240.00. Now flash back to 1975 and I bought a then new old Ruger M77 in 308 Win. for a mere $175.00 plus $150.00 for a Leupold VX1 in 2 x 7. It was on layaway for 3 months because young cops only made $728.00 per month back then.....After reviewing the information I still love my ollllldddd M77 and would hate to have to replace it with the new better than ever M&& Hawkeye Guide Gun......Just getting old I guess! :bigsmyl2:

[Mk42gunner]

I understand what you are saying; in 1975 I remember looking at the Walmart flyers that had .30-30's for $68.88 on sale, your choice of Winchester or Marlin. Now a used one from that era will go for $3-400 on up.

Robert

[GhostHawk]

I think the thing to remember about gun prices is that money was actually worth something back then.

I know I bought a Ruger 10/22 and paid around 75$ for it, with the nice walnut stocks, same for the Sheridan Blue Streak.
Same for my Rem 870 Wingmaster with nice wood.

Government is printing and spending money so fast that the country can't keep up. In that situation, the gun could be worth a whole lot more than a pile of worthless dollars.

So I'll keep on keeping my guns, buying a few new ones when and where I can find reasonable prices.
I did not buy a over 1k gun, but I spent 1k on 4 pretty nice single shots and a couple of extra barrels.

Your mileage most likely will vary.

[waarp8nt]

In post WWII Germany people with wheelbarrows full of money who could not buy a loaf of bread

It was a Remington 700 VS in 22-250 for me in the mid 90's. Thinking it was between $600-$700

[facetious]

In 1976 I was living at home and going to the county trade school. It was 40 mi. round trip. My dad gave me 5.00$ a week to pay for gas. I had a 1966 Mustang 289 and that was enough for gas to go to school for five days and a little left over for the week end. Now it costs 15.00$ to fill the gas can for the lawn mower and snow blower.

Just for fun look up a inflation calculator and put in what you made a year 10, 20, or more years a go and see how much you would need to make now to have the same buying power. Even though I make twice what I did thirty years a go I have all most a third less buying power.

[pietro]

.


Agreed - I've long bought only tang-safety Ruger M77's, currently enjoying one in .250-3000/.250 Savage.


.

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

I paid full retail, in 1976 for a "Liberty Model" Number 1V in 6mm Rem. A whopping $240. And $479 for a series-70 Colt Gold Cup in 38 Super.

About six or seven years ago I dropped my subs to Handloader and Rifle. They had begun to make the transition from honest reviews to shilling for the advertisers...

[376Steyr]

"About six or seven years ago I dropped my subs to Handloader and Rifle. They had begun to make the transition from honest reviews to shilling for the advertisers..."

The Deuce you say! Just because a while back a Ruger Single-Umpteen in .22LR was plastered on the cover of "Handloader", I would hardly consider that shilling. Good Day, Sir!:veryconfu

[Hardcast416taylor]

If my memory serves me I only paid about $45 (dealer cost) for a new Ruger Internationl 10/22 back in 1967. In 1982 I think I paid less than $200 for a Ruger 77 in 7 Rem. Mag. new in the box also. I went the custom made and wildcats route about that time and haven`t bought a factory made rifle since that 7 mag.!Robert

[El Bango]

I was in gunsmithing school in 1977,had an FFL and was selling new COLT Mk iv Series 70's for $130.00 new SAKO actions for $115.00,OK I'm making myself sick I can't talk about it anymore..

[Hardcast416taylor]

I guess I shouldn`t mention the price I paid for a new in the box 1958 manfactured Win. Model 70 in .30-06 in the early 1960s. I still have the hang tag for $119.00, and that was the retail price.Robert

[Silverboolit]

You guys keep making me feel younger, and younger every day!!!!

[Hawks Feather]

My Ruger M77 is .270 and as much as I had planned, it never made it out west hunting. In fact is has only killed about ten targets with five rounds on each target.

[Tazman1602]

Bought my first handgun in 1979 when I turned 21. S&W Model 10 .38 Special Police Positive at a place that is long gone. I can't remember the name but they sold guns and Booze and we always called them; "The Liquor Bucket"........try to get a combination like that today!

Anyway I bought that S&W for $169.95 and got the guy to throw in a hunter leather holster for it. Gave that gun to my wife of 34 years a while back and it still shoots and functions as new.

...............of course, I'm the same guy who had a Remington 700 Varmint Stainless Fluted in his hand in 1996 and at $745 it cost WAY too much and was never going to be worth that much money so I bought a Ruger 77 MK II Varmint for $495 (never been sorry for buying the Ruger.....) but man try to find one of those Remmy's today.....

NO you may be getting older Buckwheatpaul, but the prices are more out of control than you or I...

WHOOPS! Thank you to Dusty Bannister who caught this one...............just bought a Colt and I must have had the on my mind when I posted. The Smith I bought in '79 is a Model 10-7 .38 special. Thanks for the correction Dusty.


Art

[Tazman1602]

If my memory serves me I only paid about $45 (dealer cost) for a new Ruger Internationl 10/22 back in 1967. In 1982 I think I paid less than $200 for a Ruger 77 in 7 Rem. Mag. new in the box also. I went the custom made and wildcats route about that time and haven`t bought a factory made rifle since that 7 mag.!Robert

Well, yeah Bob, but you're older than dirt! How the heck are ya' man?

Art

[Four Fingers of Death]

Apart from 222s, 223s and a varmint rifle or two, my hunting riles are all pretty much Ruger No1s of various vintages, ranging from 243Win to 416Rigby. One rifle that is out of step is a M77Mk2 in 300WinMag which I grabbed to clear a credit at a gunshop. It has sat in the safe for about six or seven years without being fired. I was considering selling it and a friend had expressed some interest in it. Another friend a gun dealer gave me a hundred rounds of new brass that he had loaded for a customer who had welched on the deal. I decided to blow off a few of these. Boy, I'm glad I did! It places the first three shots touching each other at 100Yds. It will do this with Remington 180Gn CoreLokt factory ammo as well. It is a different keeper!

[Geezer in NH]

1972 I paid $175 for a 77 Square top 7mm mag with a 3-9 Redfield with the range finder. It shot 139 grn Sierra's into 1/2 inch. Shot a 14 5/8" antelope and a 4 point mule deer in Wyoming that year with it.

Sold it a year or so later as it made my head ache when I shot it even with ear plugs.

Dumb *** as I was then but the money bought me my first AR.

[Hickory]

Your not getting old!!!
It's just that it's not the 1970's any more.
And don't forget about inflation.
Inflation nowadays, is like a semi-truck loaded with dynamite going down a long and steep grade with no brakes.

[Four Fingers of Death]

When I was a teenager, beer was 25cents a big glass at the pub which was good, but then again, I was only earning around $12-15 a week.

[flounderman]

Kids. I remember the 10 dollar no1 Enfields, 30 dollar Mausers, 69 dollar Garands, the Swiss K31s they would about give you. Thru the DCM, Springfields were 15.00, 45s, 17.00, and I didn't buy a M1 carbine for 30.00. You sent the people a check and the gun was delivered to you. You signed a statement you were 18 when you ordered it.

[Hickok]

How many of us here remember when the Sears catalog and the Montgomery Wards catalogs had rifles and handguns for sale? Ted Williams certified and all that!

[Scharfschuetze]

How many of us here remember when the Sears catalog and the Montgomery Wards catalogs had rifles and handguns for sale? Ted Williams certified and all that!

I well remember those days. Lots of surplus rifles as well as commercial firearms. Those catalogues enjoyed my full attention for hours while dreaming of owning some of those weapons when I grew up. I'm glad to say that the ones I really wanted back then are in the vault now; although only one or two were actually bought at Sears & Roebuck.


Now flash back to 1975 and I bought a then new old Ruger M77 in 308 Win. for a mere $175.00

I also bought a Ruger Model M77 back in 74 or 75 as a young buck sergeant making something like $400 a month including jump pay. Keep in mind though, that our buying power from back then when adjusted to today's dollar's value is fairly similar and takes some of the sting out of those high prices.

$175.00 in 1975 = $775.00 in 2015

On the other hand, I'm glad that my collectible rifles and handguns that I bought mostly for less than $300 are now often valued at well over a thousand or two.

[robg]

divide todays price by 10 to get 70s price.thats my theory anyway.

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

flash back to summer of 1976, and buying a "bicentennial Ruger" Number One V in 6mm Remington for $210.

[OnHoPr]

How many of us here remember when the Sears catalog and the Montgomery Wards catalogs had rifles and handguns for sale? Ted Williams certified and all that!

For as old as I am, sorta. Still use my dad's Sears bolt 22 for squirrels from even before my time. From the time I was 12 to 18, small game age rules back then, my dad would buy me a case of bricks LR22s for each season, $52 a case. Sometimes I would need a few more bockses. Use to go into Montgomery Wards get a few Harthorne shotgun shells. I found a few hulls back a few years ago and loaded a few Lee slugs with them, to bad I couldn't find more. I like those older High base wads. It would solve a few problems loading slugs nowadays with the long wad stacks between powder and slug. I was thinking about making a cork or paper wad to fit inside the hull to replicate the older hulls before the powder charge. The boat sitting in my driveway is a '70 Ted Williams Deep V 14'. The 94 30-30 I shoot is from K Mart that I bought with paper route and casting for a local gun shop funds. Back in the '70s I was debating on the H&R DA 9 shot 22 or the H&R SA 6 shot 22 with 15" barrel for squirrel hunting at K Mart. But, I ended up getting a Ruger Single Sicks with the accompanying 22 mag cylinder. Sears bolt actions were FN mausers, nice 06s.

Here is a group from that 22 from a couple of years ago. First time out of the case for the season sighting in for squirrel season. There were the 9 odd 22 in the CCI plastic container that I put in the tube to see if the scope was still on before I went to the 50 yd range.
150637

This country is getting filled with more non Americans every decade. A lot more robbers though.

Maybe correction on the DA 22. It could of been a High Standard. 40 years ago you know.

[725]

Getting old?!?! - Yeah, ain't it great?

[MaLar]

getting old?!?! - yeah, ain't it great?​ no!

[Rustyleee]

I remember looking thru the American Rifleman magazines before 1968 and drooling over the adds for "The Sporstman's Lodge." 1911s were $17.00. I couldn't afford them back then either.

[Lloyd Smale]

The first two guns I actually bought I bought the same day. One was a rem 700 classic in 6mm and the other a stainless ruger Blackhawk 357. The rem was 210 bucks the ruger 200.

[Four Fingers of Death]

The trouble was, when the prices were low, so was our pay. :(

[rbuck351]

My wife bought me a Rem 700V in 223 about 1975. List was $189 but it had been in the window of my toy store for about a year so they sold it to her for $169 with a box of the then hard to find 223 ammo. I shot a couple thousand rds of 5.56 military through it before it even fired a real 223. If I had to pay $1690 for one now, I just wouldn't have one.

[26Charlie]

Yep, you are getting old. When I was a teenager I made 65 cents an hour picking tomatoes. But that was silver; I checked a couple of weeks ago and US junk silver coins were selling at 19 times face. 5 years after that I bought a S&W K-32 (no one wanted .32) for $65. The value of the money has gone through the floor, that's all.

[shdwlkr]

bought a lot of firearms in the late 60's lost them due to divorces. I retired with the same title as my dad did only difference was a few decades I retired with 300% more than dad and couldn't buy what he did.
When the world monetary system dumps the dollar watch the price of things go up.
lost a winchester 94 that cost me maybe $75 in one of the divorces I can replace it for around $1000 today think things haven't changed wow.

[OnHoPr]

That's called the people's inflation mark ups from advertising, management, and service. Somethings some the newer americans are only capable of.

[DW475]

Inflation is a killer for good prices. I sure do miss the days when you could buy a new rifle for under $200.

[Markbo]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You used to pay .25¢ for gas too. Times change. Always have, always will. I am happy to be alive at this point in time. Very grateful in fact.

[rockrat]

Really want to be sick, go to the world of Class 3. Friend was a C3 dealer. He said a fellow had a 25mm puteaux cannon for sale with 200 rounds of ammo, for $2,500. Where was I going to shoot that!!!! That was 1986. Nowadays, each round is about $200 and the cannon, probably $25,000

Colt M16--about $700, now, $16,000

If I only knew, and had the money, back then!!!

Oh yeah, Ruger 45 convertible, about 1976, was $95 with tax. My Remington 30-06 BDL was about $149

Course, that Plymouth 426 hemi Superbird I lusted after, in the early 70's, well nowadays-----