grandadbushy wrote:Pure and simple ask people do they think they get reasonable quality in rifles even on the lower budget ones for the price they pay for them one of us is going to be surprised
I prefer cheaper rifles as I shoot for practical reasons rather than aesthetics.
I think rifles are better but actually cheaper now than they were when I started shooting in the early eighties.
I don't recall what I paid for my 10/22 in '83 but I think $160?
Nowadays the 10/22 is $700, although how inflation is affected by our current laws is an unknown.
And I think I paid $199 in '83 for my unscoped Remington 788 in .222 Remington.
The Remington 783 is $700 scoped nowadays, but I'm not sure it's a nice a rifle as the 788 was. The 788 was a bit special I think, it was their budget rifle but many, many owners considered it superior to the much more expensive Model 700.
I know I paid $159 in '83 for my sporterised scoped M96 Swede and $99 in '84 for my original Carl Gustav M38, both from Fullers.
And I picked up my Husqvana M38 for $600 last year. But I think milsurps are just going to get more expensive as stocks dwindle.
I was paying $1.80 a box for Aussie Ammo .22LR (tax exempt) in '83. I'm sure there must've been cheaper stuff available, but I was limited to whatever my local Elders store stocked. Thirty-four years on and we have all these bulk packs that come at around $5 per 50rds - I find that extraordinary, and I think the modern ammo is significantly higher quality as well.
My .222Rem Lee Loader was $29.75 in '83 and now costs $52.
And my RCBS Rotary Case Trimmer was $39 in '83, the current improved version is $210.
The only components I can quote prices on are a box of 100 Hornady 75gn HP .243" bullets which were $16 in '84, and nowadays would be around $45-$50.
So, for me, I think advancements have not greatly improved performance, but have allowed them to build better-quality firearms, and ammunition, for less money. I would also guess that nowadays they probably do larger production runs which also keeps the cost down. From '67-'83 they only made 525,000 788's in all calibers.