Digging through a box of old stuff, I came across a sporting goods catalogue from the late 30s. It�s interesting to note what changed and how big the changes that occurred were from then to now.

A Model 70 Winchester sold for $61.80. Add a Lyman Receiver sight to a Super Grade and you paid $97.97.

A Model 94 lever action in 30-30 or 32 sold for $30.27.

Remington had one bolt action on the market, the Model 30. It was a Sporterized 1917 Enfield complete with the squiggly bolt. You could have it in either 30 06 or 257 Remington Roberts. Price ranged from $60.49 plain sights to $73.61 with either a Lyman or a Marple receiver sight. None of the ads mentioned being drilled and tapped for scope mounts. Understandable, since the scopes offered had all sorts of strange mounts. Redfield had an ad hyping a new style mount�the Dovetail.

Parker shotguns sold for a $140.25 up to $950.48.

A Model 12 Winchester pump sold for $49.19.

A Colt Government 45 went for $41.75, a Colt Single Action Army blue or nickel for $37.75. A Grade C engrave job added $45.00 to the price.

Springfield sporters went for $15.00.

All of the above were available mail order. (In those days the government trusted its citizens.)

30 caliber Springfield 1906 ammo was available in 150, 180 and 220 grain. (I think they shortened the name to 30 06 to fit in the charts in the catalog.)

The 270 came in 130 and 150 grain.

Both 270 and 30 06 ammo sold for $2.10 a box of 20.

The 300 and 375 H & H were the only magnums on the market. 300 H & H went for $2.75 a box, 375 $2.80.

A Marple Woodcraft knife sold for $2.00; $3.00 with a stag handle. The Marple Sport knife went for $1.50, sheath included with every knife.

Wool, cotton, canvas and leather is what you wore a field and slept in and under.

If you hand loaded, you had a choice of Dupont or Hercules powders, with Dupont having the most products on the market. Dupont had not yet come out with 4350, the then slowest burning powder. That�s my observation on speed, since none of the ads mentions burn rate.

Powder sold for $1.70 a pound.

You had a choice of Remington or Winchester primed brass, $5.04 per hundred.

Bullets were either Remington or Winchester and sold from $2.30 to $2.70 per hundred.

The catalog had something close to a premium bullet for hand loaders; the Winchester Silver Tip, the Inner Belted by Peters and the Remington Core-Lokt. I mean bullet, not bullets; all three were the same bullet manufactured by Western and marketed under different brand names. The ad was up front about that.

Most reloading tools were pliers type, meaning you squeezed the brass into the die with muscle power.

Potter and Meepos made presses that moved the die down on the brass.

There were presses that resembled the barrel and magazine of a pump shotgun. I can see why they fell by the wayside.

Pacific made the only press that resembles the loading presses we have today. Cost: $22.50 with dies.

The world we inhabit with our addiction to hunting, shooting and the accouterments that accompany our eccentricities, has changed, and it�s changed for the better.

Considering that this country was still deep in the great depression at that time, those prices seem to be pretty high. I believe I paid around $150.00 for my m77 ruger(.280 rem.) in the late 70's at a discount gunstore.

Well, Roger, according to the inflation calculator at http://www.interest.com/hugh/calc/cpi.cgi, that Model 70 price from 1937 is equavalent to $765 in today's money. The Parkers were selling for between $1760 and $11,760, and the pound of powder would cost you $21.04. The Pacific press would be $278, and the H & H ammo would set you back $34.66.

Considering that 15 to 20 percent of us were completely out of work in 1937, and another 75% of us had a standard of living about equal to one-third of what we have today, I'd say those prices for a shooter in the '30s make today's look like a helluva bargain!

Until W-nomics takes complete hold on us, these are the good old days!

You all should stop, else I start screaming! A Win 86 with tang sight! An original Magnum Mauser! A Colt Lightning Carbine! A civil Mauser! An original 08! SAA! A Mannlicher Schoenauer NIB! A WIN OR MARLIN WITHOUT �$/% CROSS BOLT SAFETIES!

Whats a "sqiggly" bolt??

Hermann

Hey - thank you

>A Model 70 Winchester sold for $61.80. Add a >Lyman Receiver sight to a Super Grade and you >paid $97.97.

Now I know what my 1938 Model 70 Super Grade in 250/3000 was worth.

Whoever mounted the scope had removed the top of teh sight just leaving the base. Never managed to trace who it had belonged top before I bought it.

Anyone got an old Lyman 48 sight that they would like to donate to a worthy cause?

cheers edi

I should not ask....but what did a Thompson 1928 cost?

I saw a 1974 Sear catalog at a flea market the other day. It was amazing to see what Sears used to sell, and I had forgotten how much prices have gone up since then!!