lee n. field
New member
Had a guy at a local CNC place tell me the industry is crying for people. If I had it to do all over again, I might go that way.
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Cost spread of handguns, nuts.
- Thread starter Recoil spring
- Start date
Had a guy at a local CNC place tell me the industry is crying for people. If I had it to do all over again, I might go that way.
"...Ruger has really bumped up the prices..." The 'S' in MSRP means Suggested. More likely your local shop has jacked up the retail price. However, the cost of everything has gone way up since 2002.
CNN said in 2002, gas was "a national average of $1.43 for self-serve regular...". Yesterday, they said, "The current average price for a gallon of gas nationwide is $2.56.." And it'll be going up due to the Saudi attack. Still about half what we pay. We're at around $1.18 per litre. Almost $5 per gallon.
I think I paid $350Cdn for my GP in 1985. No SS or anything but 4" barrels then.
CNN said in 2002, gas was "a national average of $1.43 for self-serve regular...". Yesterday, they said, "The current average price for a gallon of gas nationwide is $2.56.." And it'll be going up due to the Saudi attack. Still about half what we pay. We're at around $1.18 per litre. Almost $5 per gallon.
I think I paid $350Cdn for my GP in 1985. No SS or anything but 4" barrels then.
TruthTellers
New member
They are, but the problem is very few employers are willing to train new guys to do anything beyond production. Day shifts (aka setup shift) are full everywhere, the competition to get them is off the charts, anybody with less than 10 years experience doing setups is basically a non starter and anyone who had setup experience is only looking to work days.Had a guy at a local CNC place tell me the industry is crying for people. If I had it to do all over again, I might go that way.
2nd and 3rd shifts (production shifts) are desperate for people, but there's no chances for anybody to improve and go from being a button pusher making production to being a setup guy. Thus, these people who have potential are stuck; they can't get paid more because they don't have the exposure to develop their skills and because day shifts are full there's no opportunity to improve.
The solution is have guys on nights do setups but the issue is there's nobody around to train them, companies aren't looking at paying guys overtime on days to stay late and develop the night crew, and the major issue is if you increase the skill of the night shift guys, they're more apt to leave to get a day job elsewhere with their fancy new setup skills.
I work nights because I can't get day jobs (lack of experience), but I got lucky and have an offer from a place that does prototype work and is looking for night shift setup guys and is willing to train. It's the perfect job for me at this stage of my career and for $5 more an hour it was a no brainer.
Few are as fortunate as I am.
Had to chime in on this one:Production CNC machinists today are making $14-18/hr.
This is horrific that in 35 years wages have only gone up about 33% while inflation has gone up about 3 times that.
One major issue is that the guns made today are not better made than they were in 1982. More often than not they're worse.
1) I absolutely agree with the horrific slow down in real wages. But that's not a topic for this forum.
2) Many guns today are in fact better made than ones made in 1982, or 1952. And I say this as an avowed fan of post-WWII S&W revolvers and pre-WWII Colt automatics. Yes, the old S&Ws and Colts had more handwork in them. The designs and manufacturing processes required it. Modern designs and processes reduce this need, helping to keep costs down while improving parts interchangeability significantly.
Fact: A lot of junk guns were made in the "good old days". I've had far too many of the old utility guns pass through my hands to believe otherwise. What we look at as the "quality of days past" is due to survivor bias. The examples that survived to today were the quality pieces that owners treated well. The older equivalents of the S&W SD, Taurus G2Cs, TC Compass bolt actions and similar guns just didn't make it 5 or 6 decades in functional condition.
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TruthTellers
New member
When I said most guns made today are worse I was talking about revolvers. Semi autos are generally better today than they were in the 70s/80s and at good prices.
The thing is, even the revolvers have had ups and down. It varies widely with manufacturer, era, model and even gun to gun. A Ruger -Six series is a pretty nicely made gun, especially for the price point of the day. (Incidentally this precedes my time.) Ruger has definitely taken some hits in the final finish work and polish in the last 12 years or so, and to be frank Ruger has always lagged the other big players on those fronts anyway.When I said most guns made today are worse I was talking about revolvers. Semi autos are generally better today than they were in the 70s/80s and at good prices.
Among S&W collectors 1982 isn't a particularly well regarded period. This is in the Bangor Punta era and the time S&W was dropping the pinned barrels on all models, and recessed chambers on the Magnums. I've had 4 different S&W revolvers from this era. I all but wore out the 629-1 from firing, my current 586 (no dash) has a pretty badly canted front sight, my 19-5 was a good gun aside from the honest finish wear and my 18-4 is as fine an example of a K-frame 22 as you can expect. I also had a late 70s vintage 15-4 that was as good a gun as my mid-50s Combat Masterpiece is. (The Combat Masterpiece is the gun that became the Model 15 for those unfamiliar.) My 1961-ish 17 (no dash) is actually a great 22 revolver that has no equal in modern mass-production.
Having said all of that, my dad had a late-90s 625 Mountain Gun in .45 ACP. Even with the MIM and other modern changes, it was superior in fit, finish and accuracy to a couple of my 80s era guns.
Later I'll get started on the internal machine work differences between my 1928 Colt 1903 .32 ACP and my new production Colt Competition in .45 ACP. Hint: the old gun doesn't win in the spit and polish on the inside.
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TruthTellers
New member
And I just got a call that the manager who hired me to the job isn't there and the offer is no longer valid, new offer is less than what I make now.They are, but the problem is very few employers are willing to train new guys to do anything beyond production. Day shifts (aka setup shift) are full everywhere, the competition to get them is off the charts, anybody with less than 10 years experience doing setups is basically a non starter and anyone who had setup experience is only looking to work days.
2nd and 3rd shifts (production shifts) are desperate for people, but there's no chances for anybody to improve and go from being a button pusher making production to being a setup guy. Thus, these people who have potential are stuck; they can't get paid more because they don't have the exposure to develop their skills and because day shifts are full there's no opportunity to improve.
The solution is have guys on nights do setups but the issue is there's nobody around to train them, companies aren't looking at paying guys overtime on days to stay late and develop the night crew, and the major issue is if you increase the skill of the night shift guys, they're more apt to leave to get a day job elsewhere with their fancy new setup skills.
I work nights because I can't get day jobs (lack of experience), but I got lucky and have an offer from a place that does prototype work and is looking for night shift setup guys and is willing to train. It's the perfect job for me at this stage of my career and for $5 more an hour it was a no brainer.
Few are as fortunate as I am.
I guess I should have known, everything sounded too good to be true. I'm crushed... absolutely devastated right now.
I guess I should have known, everything sounded too good to be true. I'm crushed... absolutely devastated right now.
Look on the bright side, at least withdrawl of the offer didn't screw with you, other than your hopes.
I had a "boss" do that (screw me)to me back in 79. Was unemployed, looking for any work, applied with an insulation installation company. Guy says, "looks good, but you'll have to be bonded", (forms were then filled out), Didn't say. "you're hired, show up tomorrow at 8..." or anything like that. So I was waiting on a call, to find out...
He called, alright, but he didn't call ME. He called Unemployment and told them he hired me, and then FIRED ME because I didn't show up for work the next day...
at that time, if you had been fired, you could not get unemployment.
I'd tell you what I told him but it would violate the Forum language filters...
Cheer up, a door may close but if you look enough, usually you can find another, or a window, that's open. the time spent looking is usually a drag though...can't help that it seems.
Good Luck!
TruthTellers
New member
I've been looking for 6 months and this was the first offer I've been given that's reasonable doing work I wanted and I was looking at staying at this new job for many years as usually I only stay at places 1 or 2 years to build experience for better paying jobs in the future.Look on the bright side, at least withdrawl of the offer didn't screw with you, other than your hopes.
I had a "boss" do that (screw me)to me back in 79. Was unemployed, looking for any work, applied with an insulation installation company. Guy says, "looks good, but you'll have to be bonded", (forms were then filled out), Didn't say. "you're hired, show up tomorrow at 8..." or anything like that. So I was waiting on a call, to find out...
He called, alright, but he didn't call ME. He called Unemployment and told them he hired me, and then FIRED ME because I didn't show up for work the next day...
at that time, if you had been fired, you could not get unemployment.
I'd tell you what I told him but it would violate the Forum language filters...
Cheer up, a door may close but if you look enough, usually you can find another, or a window, that's open. the time spent looking is usually a drag though...can't help that it seems.
Good Luck!
With all the reports that manufacturing is already a sector in recession in the US, I think I'm just realizing that I need to change my career and go into something not manufacturing. It's been 10 years, I'm not much further along than I was 10 years ago and 10 years from now I don't see that changing.