How would you like to buy . . .

T

txpossum

New member
How would you like to buy a brace (that means two) of brand new .22 lr or .22 magnum Colt Frontier Scouts for $125.00 in the 125th Anniversary Medallion Presentation Case ; or a combo of a Frontier Scout and a Buntline Scout in the same type of case for $135.00. If you're feeling poor, you can just get a single Frontier Scout for $64.50.

Or, you can get a Ruger Single Six Revolver in .22lr and .22 mag for $64.25, or a .44 magnum Super Blackhawk for $116.00.

Sounds too good to be true, right? Here's the catch: you need a time machine to go back about 50 years to get these prices.

I found four or five issues of a gun mag called "Guns Quarterly" when looking over some of my deceased father-in-law's workroom. The prices I'm quoting from came from ads in Volume 4 of the magazine. There is no date of publication, but it appears to be from the early 60's.

Great gun magazine, with reviews guns that were new then, but are now classics, or interviews with people like Bill Ruger.

But the prices . . . okay, I KNOW that you have to take inflation into count, but still, looking at those prices compared to what they would cost today . . . hurts.
 
Or, how would you like to earn $107/week? The average salary in 1960.

or a .44 magnum Super Blackhawk for $116.00.
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BTW, that's about what I paid for mine in 1972. Still have it, looks, and shoots like new. Ditto on my S&W Model 10 I bought around the same time for $86.50!
 
But the prices . . . okay, I KNOW that you have to take inflation into count, but still, looking at those prices compared to what they would cost today . . . hurts.
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Not as much as thinking that you were serious for the first 2 paragraphs, only to find out that I cannot in fact get those firearms for those prices...:mad:
 
I'll be dawged! Those time machines really work!



OK, seriously, my dad bought the Montana commemorative Frontier Scout in 1964. It still has the original hang tag of $75. Unfortunately, he gave no thought at all to it being a collectible, and shot it several times over the years.
 
Actually, they were often less than that,,,

Actually, it was less than that,,,
But mine weren't a commemorative set.

At least I don't remember them being commemorative.

In the summer of 1966 I got a $120.00 oil royalty check,,,
It seemed that I owned 1 millionth of 1 share of some gas well,,,
That was my proceeds from the sale that my fraternal uncle made of it.

Mom took me to the gun store at,,,
Frontier City amusement park in Oklahoma City,,,
Just imagine, a gun store at an modern amusement park.

I bought a boxed pair of Colt Frontier Scouts,,,
I got a buck and a few coins in change.

I wish I still had them today,,,
Not that they would be particularly valuable,,,
It's just that I do remember them being good shooters.

Mom had an alloy frame Scout,,,
My set were blued steel.

I gave them to my younger brothers when I went to the service,,,
That turned out to be one of the dumbest things ever did,,,
My closest younger brother traded his for some guitar,,
My baby brother swears he just lost his somewhere.

Oh well,,,
Easy come-easy go.

Aarond

.

P.S. Mom was very mad at me when she found out I had fired them,,,
Apparently the reason she let me get them was as an investment.

.
 
Or, how would you like to earn $107/week? The average salary in 1960.
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On what planet? Minimum wage was $1.25/hr., meaning $50.00 a week before taxes.

You could buy a house for $12,000 in 1960, and if you made five figures, meaning $10,000 a year, you were in fat city.
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Exactly right. A "dream" house was about $50,000, a Lincoln Continental about 5000, and making 10 grand a year was a doctor's income.

And to rub a little more salt in the wound, OP, try looking in some old American Riflemans at the Hunter's Lodge (Interarms) ads. Lugers, $39.95, P.38s $39.95, Enfield revolvers, $12.88, etc. A new Browning Hi-Power was $74.50, the .380 was $44.50 and the little .25 was $29.95. Etc., etc.

I can't tell you how badly I wanted a Browning .380 in the 60s, but I wasn't 21 and my $40.00 a week after taxes didn't quite add up to $44.50.:D
 
On what planet? Minimum wage was $1.25/hr., meaning $50.00 a week before taxes.
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Actually just from a quick Google search. I just saw another that was around ninety bucks. Minimum wage was $1/hour.
My brand spanking new Camero SS350 Rally Sport Convertible was also $2800 in 1967.
 
When I get my time machine working, I won't be logging in for a while. I will be in Paterson, NJ talking to Sam Colt.

Jim
 
My parents bought a beautiful 22-room ecclectic Victorian outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1963 for $12,500...

In 1993 my little crapshack townhouse in Fairfax, Virginia, cost me $155,000.

Sigh...
 
When I get my time machine working, I won't be logging in for a while. I will be in Paterson, NJ talking to Sam Colt.
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When I get mine working, I won't be gone long. Just long enough to invest in a couple of startups named Apple and Microsoft. Then I'll be back to enjoy. :D
 
In 1966 I got my first job, working on a farm in central Virginia. It paid $5.00...a DAY. 10-12 hours a day, six sometimes seven days a week.

I wanted a Sears-Roebuck shotgun, a rebranded Stevens 311. It sold for 79.95. Took me all summer to save up the money for that gun. No, I didn't save every dime I made, but my mother called Sears and ordered the gun, a couple of boxes of shells, and a brown canvas hunting coat and had it delivered to the house in those before GCA-68 days. I guess the total bill was about $100.00.
 
In the mid 1960's I worked for my first airline. I was hired as a Captain at the princely sum of $21.80 per flight hour or about $650 a week. Hog heaven. I bought my Dad his first pistol which was a Hi-Standard Tournament Master for $75 plus Massachusetts sales tax. He loved that gun, shot the heck out of it and it is now in my collection since Dad passed away in 2001. Just to yardstick how things have changed, when I retired in 2005, I was making $285 per flight hour plus per diem and other benefits. I was limited by regulation to 100 hours per month and was guaranteed 75 hours per month by contract. And no, I do not miss the job but I sure miss the paycheck. Kinda miss the flying and the guys.
 
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