By Dean Weingarten Posted on 12/21/2016 5:24:43 AM PST by marktwain
By Dean Weingarten
The above ad is from 1958 Guns magazine(pdf). In constant dollars, one dollar in 1958 would be worth about $8.36 today. Let’s see how the 1958 prices look in 2016 dollars.
Total of prices listed for the four rifles, $41.76. If you bought all four at once, they only cost $27.84 total. The equivalent in 2016 calculates at $232.74.
These rifles were far from “excellent” or “like new”, which is why they were so cheap.
Some excerpts from Group A, top to bottom: “All guns practically complete“, “You can see light through the bore”, “worn, but serviceable“, and “fantastically inaccurate“.
You can understand that rifle buyers of the time were less than impressed. I recall two things when thinking about buying such a rifle during that era.
First, putting a scope on these “treasures” would have cost more than the rifle. Second, finding sporting ammunition would be difficult.
1958 Ye Old Hunter Surplus Sale Ad Continued
The best lever action rifle of the time, the Savage 99, was going for $113 in 1958. A new Model 94 Winchester cost $80. As late as 1965, you could buy excellent condition Model 03A3 surplus rifles for $29.95. That was “your pick” out of a barrel at the hardware store. They had much nicer peep sights, with lots of after market stocks available.
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
I thought you were joking, until I squinted and read the ad. OMG!!
Once again, this is OUR fault - we only fall as low as We the People allow and, unfortunately, it seems we are willing to allow the destruction of the 2nd Amendment. We like to talk big ("Molon Labe"), but that's all it is - talk.
Anyone who actually thinks they are going to go door to door to take your guns is delusional. What they WILL do, however, is make it as hard as possibly to obtain firearms, and then even harder to be able to use them. The sad part is, we will continue to allow them to do so, as long as we can wake up in the morning in the house we pay the mortgage on, get in our new/semi-new cars and drive to work, pick up the paycheck and buy booze to drink while watching the big game, we're perfectly ok with them slowly destroying our rights.
But hey, Molon Labe, right?
The worst of it is related to Jimmy Cahtah’s presidency.
Remember 21 1/2 percent interest ?
He turned the US dollar into a quarter.
I mail ordered my first deer rifle for $15.00 COD from Kleins (I think) in 1957 when I was 16 years old, and I didn’t even have to show ID when I picked it up from Railway Express.
It was an extremely accurate Russian 1891 Mosin Nagant 7.62X54 in excellent condition that I wish I still had.
For some reason I want to say Sam Cumming/Interarmco were behind the ads. Humorous but some were kind of racist too, would never fly today.
My dad bought a surplus military rifle in excellent condition out of trash can full of guns at K-Mart back in the 60s. I think he paid $20. It was advertised as Finnish but had a hammer and sickle stamped on it, we figured it may have been seized by the Russians after they invaded Finland. It was accurate and pretty well made, but kicked like a mule. He sold it and bought a Winchester Model 70, which I still have. Of course the Model 70 was many times more expensive.
Pretty sure I have not. But a fair amount of gun radio shows use my articles.
The one on the bottom of Category B looks like a Mosin-Nagant.
Next time I call in to his show, I can mention it. He has read some of your stuff on air.
Here’s a YouTube link to his channel.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXX29kyKCiP_jEWw0I5xpw
He works with Genesis Communications and broadcasts out of South Carolina.
http://lockandloadradio.com/about-us/
Maybe I can facilitate you two meeting up for an interview over the phone, if you wouldn’t mind. Put in a good word for a fellow FReeper.
Or, you could just call in to his show. It’s a three-hour show, Monday-Friday. Tonight, he should have Sean Malloy from Second Call Defense in the second hour.
The Mosin Nagants are pretty accurate guns. The 91/30 is probably the best of the bunch.
The 7.62x54R cartridge they use is very clos to the .30-06 for power.
Case capacity for the 7.62x54 is 64 grains of water, vs 69 grains for the .30-06. The 8% difference give the .30-06 a slight edge in velocity and energy.
The .308 Winchester, my comparison, has a 56 grain capacity, over 14% less than the 7.62x54R.
Yeah, I was a kid - only about 13, and I bought one of these delivered to my front door (it took all my money to pay for it). It fired, and it was OK for the local woods where most shots at deer were under 100 yards. It was crude, it had been dropped more than once, and the sights were not adjustable. But it was reliable, and I couldn't afford a Winchester. Other teens bought other cheap surplus rifles for hunting and shooting and they were available to buy about everywhere for under $15.
Those were the good old days. Nobody spent their money on video games or other such nonsense.
When I was about 12, I rode my Sting Ray bike with ape hanger bars down to Sears and bought a Mosin Nagant for $12. That was my deer rifle until it was stolen about 7 years later. It was accurate, but kicked like a mule with a steel butt plate. I rode home on the main drag in Texas City Texas with a rifle slung over my shoulder. Try to imagine a 12 yo with a rifle riding a bike down Main Street today. At the Army Navy store I could have bought a M1 Garand for $20-$30, depending on condition. 7mm Jap and Carcano’s were as low as $5. German 8mm were more money, but the American 30.06 was what sold the most. If I could go back with a little more money, the Garands and 30.40 Krags would get my money. I have a Garand for $600 about 20 years back, but have never found a good specimen of the Krag for a decent price. I’ve always loved the action of the Krag, but most have been cut up and cut off. The ones that haven’t been are just waaaay too much money.
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Once again, this is OUR fault - we only fall as low as We the People allow and, unfortunately, it seems we are willing to allow the destruction of the 2nd Amendment.
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Concur. We the People, even here, still vote for the lesser (always smooth talking...until they get into office. Then it’s, “Did I say *that*?”).
The question is: How much more of an infringement do We allow before We start to wake up? I’m afraid the answer is, as undoubtedly History shows, too late.
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Anyone who actually thinks they are going to go door to door to take your guns is delusional.
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How many times in the past, when reflecting on times even older, the same people thought XYZ was ‘delusional’?
O’Care? Mandatory, private ‘service(s)’
Welfare? So much for involuntary servitude...
Gun act? Shall not be infringed, eh?
...
Wonder how the people of Boston felt when govt was rampaging through houses and homes looking for someone THEY let live among the populace (on THEIR time no less)...unless he and bro decided to blow up a few people?
Bet if you went a week before the Marathon Bombing and said what will happen, they’d have called YOU ‘delusional’ too.
***the Savage 99, was going for $113 in 1958.***
And THIS is why Thomas J Dodd and Emanuel Cellar called for a ban on the import of “army surplus rifles”. Claiming it was for “crime control”. It was really to protect the local industries (Winchester, Remington, Savage) from low cost competition. The average working man at that time could barely buy a “Commission” Mauser. The Kennedy murder kicked this into high gear and was passed in 1968.
I love these old adds. Wishing I had money in those days. I did pick up a Remington Rolling Block 7MM forty five years ago and had it converted to .444 Marlin. Numrich Arms had the kits. The but plate was junk but the rest was good.
Shooting Times (I think) did an in depth story on these Remington conversions and found many of them were dangerous to shoot. The later Remingtons were safe. I still have part of that article.
One famous gun writer converted a Rolling Block to a muzzle loader by drilling out a brass case and placing it in the chamber, then drilled out the block and threaded it for a nipple. I still think it was illegal to hunt with but he said it was fun to shoot.
I remember of his ads for the bayonets for these rifles. He called them "Garibaldi's Guinea Gougers". A few griped, but most Italians, already assimilated, just shrugged it off as a stupid comment.
I was a kid growing up in NYC during the late '40s and ethnic slurs were thrown around like handballs. The recipient just replied with one of his own or shrugged it off - but those were the pre-snowflake days.
That particular round of inflation started back when Johnson took silver out of the money. Within a year prices jumped like you would not believe.
It carried over to the NIXON and FORD administrations(WIN). Then came Carter the Incompetent and his 21% inflation.
I remember union magazines later blaming Carter’s inflation on Reagan.
My family (and our local banker) financed our second Manitowoc 4600 dragline and pair of buckets costing $1.2 million at 21 and a half percent interest.
A friend of mine bought himself a Japanese Arisaka reamed out to 30-06. Years ago I saw a man at the Red Castle Gun Club near Tulsa knocking down targets at 600 yards with one of these.
I remember our finance company begging us to refinance our house at a higher rate. We refused and kept our 7.9%. Glad we did as lots of other people lost their homes and farms because of refinancing.
Seems like a lot of expense and trouble to go to to have a Springfield 30.06. I’m sure the Springfield is used at 1000yds with few mods.
In the early 60's, some older brothers acquired an M3 Grease Gun DEWAT (Deactivated War Trophy).
They unDAWATed with some work.
Was very loud in the basement!
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