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 ...
There were good reasons for those decisions.
I remember the trash cans full of used WWII rifles next to the check out counter at the Woolworth’s 5 & dime store. The prices were $3, $5 or $7 depending upon condition. That was in the early 1960’s.
Every time I asked my mother to buy one for me she would respond that my Uncle Sam would get one for me. It was puzzling as I did not have an Uncle Sam!
Some increased in dollar cost due to inflation; others are far more scarce these days.
Great captions!
“Garibaldi’s Greatest” “This is the rifle that could have won the Korean War if the Chinese had been unarmed.”
That one made me laugh over morning coffee. Merry Christmas.
Of course there were waves of shootings in the late 50’s when all these guns were so easily available.
We all remember reading about those shootings; don’t we?
The advertisement will show up better in this Guns Magazine pdf file.
http://www.gunsmagazine.com/1958issues/G1058.pdf
Be sure to read the article by Ann Francis.
A little later they were selling Italian Carcano carbines with the sales pitch ‘Never Been Fired! Only Dropped Once!
We had a more irreverent sense of humor back then.
Damn! I miss the old days.
Thanks for posting this! What a blast from the past. I recall the ‘good ole days’ when Kmart had barrels of old WWII surplus rifles as did Western Auto. My brother started his Mauser collection from this source. I think the prices ran from $5 to and astounding $30 (pretty rich for us kids). In fact I dont recall even doing a 4473 back then for long guns. There was certainly no NICS...how far we’ve fallen since then in then in loss of our freedoms.
...and “fantastically inaccurate”. LOL
I’ve got one of those little Remington 7mm rolling block rifles, although mine is the carbine. Fun to shoot!
Sounds like these were good for decor. Maybe over a fireplace perhaps.
Not only sad evidence of how the Left has weakened our Second Amendment freedom, but it’s astounding that $1 in 1958 equals $8.36 today! Our government has been cheating us for decades in freedoms and wealth lost.
Italian Vetterli: “with its unique spaghetti-grained stock & fifty dummy rounds (not to be shot - luckily).”
One of those U.S. Krags would have been nice (sigh).
The latest group of rifles that came in for similar prices (given inflation) where the Mosin Nagants.
Lots of them were available for less than a hundred dollars.
A decade before them, the SKS semi-auto carbine were available for less than a hundred. Those were a real steal. Nice rifles.
Occasionally a door was open to one of the several large warehouses. They didn’t allow anyone in or even near but you could see boxes of guns and ammo stacked to the ceiling.
I believe this was Interarmco, which later became Interarms.
This explains something to me...as a very little kid, we would ‘play army’ at my friend’s house. He had access to a closet stuffed full of guns. Some were toys, some were BB guns...but looking back at it, many of these were real rifles. I always wondered why his dad would allow us to play with and abuse these. Maybe they were cheap surplus like this.
Have you ever been interviewed on Lock and Load Radio with Bill Frady?
You’d like him. Bill and Tom Gresham are the only radio gun guys I listen to.
Read the letter (pg. 65) from the young PFC of the USMC, ref: his privately owned weapon.
The reply from the officer of the USMC is typical snowflakery liberal ohmygawd-thatgunwillkillyou! crap speak, still very much in evidence today.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
But I do believe the tide is turning...the least little bit, but turning.
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