Something absolutely magical just occurred.

A

aarondhgraham

New member
Something absolutely magical just occurred.

I work in a small office and had my back to the door,,,
After about 10 minutes of typing I turned back to my main desk.

There, sitting on my desk, was a copy of The American Rifleman,,,
The date of this issue is October 1965.

I have no idea who sneaked it onto my desk,,,
But I am grateful for the nice surprise.

I opened the book and the first ad I saw was for Ruger,,,
Their 10/22 rifle advertised as a companion piece to the .44 Mag carbine.

Retail on the .22 was $54.50,,,
Retail on the .44 Magnum was $108.00.

One big difference of the times is this,,,
All of the articles were about hunting, target shooting, or reloading.

With the exception of "The Armed Citizen" article,,,
Which was a single 2" column of one page,,,
There was nothing about self-defense.

My have the times changed.

Aarond

P.S. Mosin-Nagant M91 for $9.95 (plus $1.00 postage)

.
 
Nice. Yep, that $108 dollars for the .44 mag would have been expensive in 65' as well, equivalent to $800 if it were today. It is amazing how much things change in a relatively short period.
 
It was more the difference in focus I think,,,

It was more the difference in focus I think,,,
In 1965 there wasn't that much of a gun control push as now.

I realize that right after JFK was killed that there was a small push,,,
But it really wasn't until after his brother was killed in 1968 that it really took off.

I've had time to skim the mag cover to cover now,,,
Not one mention of anything gun control related.

Back in 1965 the minimum wage was (IIRC) $1.05/hour,,,
That $54.50 would take just under 52 hours to earn.

A similar 10/22 goes for $282.00 today at budsgunshop.com,,,
At today's minimum wage of $7.25 it would take approximately 39 hours to earn.

If that's any indicator the prices have actually decreased a bit.

Nothing earth shattering here,,,
Just a nice afternoon with a piece of the past.

Aarond

.
 
I bought a Ruger .44 Magnum carbine in 1973 for $159.95, that was a almost a full paycheck. Money was money in those days.

As an aside, I bought two pair of the Army surplus flight pants shown above in 1970 for winter hiking in snowy terrain. Excellent wool, you could wipe off mud and snow and never know you just fell down, padded seat and knees for working in snow, nothing finer for the winter snows. Worth every dime, got over 30 years of service out of them, they're on a shelf right now.
 
gift

A few years ago, bamawife came up with a full set, 12 issues, of the AR from that same era, the exact year escapes me just now, but leafing through them was a hoot, and all the articles were as described.

My access to the AR, and other hook and bullet reads, was the local barber shop.
 
Back in 1965 the minimum wage was (IIRC) $1.05/hour,,,
That $54.50 would take just under 52 hours to earn.

A similar 10/22 goes for $282.00 today at budsgunshop.com,,,
At today's minimum wage of $7.25 it would take approximately 39 hours to earn.
Click to expand...
It's better to use the median income instead of minimum wage.
Minimum wages today reflect all kinds of .gov aids and don't reflect a true basis of what a family can spend.
OTOH - today's earnings are more often than not a reflection of two incomes (or more).

Median 1965 family income was $6,900.00
divided by 2080 (# hours in a year) - $3.31 per hour
$105.00 / $3.31 ---minus 20% for taxes = $2.64 = ~ 39hours

Median 2015 family income was $55,575.00
divided by 2080 - $26.80 per hour
$282.00 /26.80---minus 20% taxes = $21.44 = ~ 13 hours


The Colt SAA was once known to sell for "two weeks wages". Holds pretty true for even today!

BTW - I've been trying to point out to people for about ten years now, that, the prices of guns have gone down - - as a percentage of income.
We really are living in "the good old days".
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top