Have Gun Prices doubled since the early 1990s?

I found a receipt from the purchase of a Browning High Power 9mm Semi Auto 4'1/2 barrel with blue fixed sights for $479.95 +$20.00 State Reg Fee+$36.25 tax .

$ 536.20 Final Price

Today you cant get one new for less then $850 -$1000 i believe before taxes and fees.

Why the huge price increase?

inflation?

Short answer: yes.

The cost of various metals has also gone up at a rate faster than inflation. And so between inflation and increased cost of materials (above and beyond inflation costs) that's why an exact same model would double in price. If they've made any improvements that would be another potential reason (such as a new, stronger, lighter composite) as they are looking to offset development costs.

denni said:

SNIP Why the huge price increase?

inflation?

Click to expand...

While swings in commodity prices like steel and petroleum products (to smelt ore and forge steel) affect things, the biggest item is just as you suspect.

Price inflation. Brought about by inflation of the volume of money by the central banks.

Get ready for more. The Producer Price Index (what producers have to pay) was just reported at +.8% for (March?). Which translates into nearly 10% inflation a year.

All that money the Federal Reserve created out of thin air is having its effect--driving up prices and reducing the value of your savings by reducing the purchasing power of your savings.

denni said:

I found a receipt from the purchase of a Browning High Power 9mm Semi Auto 4'1/2 barrel with blue fixed sights for $479.95 +$20.00 State Reg Fee+$36.25 tax .

$ 536.20 Final Price

Today you cant get one new for less then $850 -$1000 i believe before taxes and fees.

Why the huge price increase?

inflation?

Click to expand...

I have a Ruger Standard .22lr (4 3/4" barrel) that was my my father-in-law's. I have the original receipt. He payed $47.50 for it, new, in 1969.

The equivalent MKIII Standard sells for around $300 today.

Inflation.

The "cost" of basic commodities like steel do not really change much over the years, because they are relatively plentiful, and we have an established technological infrastructure worldwide to mine, process, and machine them...

The "value" of the US$ however, is a VERY different story. Since it is a fiat currency, backed by nothing more than good faith in the credit of the US Treasury, it is subject to manipulation by the Federal reserve, through the issuing of more curency, manipulating the interest rates, and changing the laws that regulate fractional reserve lending practices, derivatives, and international currency speculation.

One ounce of gold would by a pretty nice outfit made of gold-shot linen for a member of Egyptian nobility int he days of the Pharaohs.

One ounce of gold, in Elizabethan England could buy a nice doublet, slops, hose, shirt, and cap at a fine tailor in London.

One ounce of gold would today--at any fine clothier in the US--buy you a REALLY nice men's suit.

A similar parallel exists between mid-priced handguns and a half-ounce of gold. You could go back to the old "Navy Colt" revolvers, up to today--a half oz of gold will buy you a nice, mid-priced handgun--and has always been thus since handguns were first mass-produced.

The VALUE of gold (and many raw materials) never changes--it ALWAYS purchases the same amount of goods--throughout the history of man. (with a few anomalous spikes here and there).

But the VALUE of a US $ has been nose-diving for nearly a century, and essentially reached "terminal velocity" sometime in "2009".

The "price" of firearms has NOT gone up. The purchasing power of the dollar has plummetted, which is relfected in higher "prices"...

So no, the cost of firearms hasn't doubled.

The purchasing power of the US$ has fallen by half.

And those two things are VERY different, and mean VERY different things, in terms of socio-economics...

The resource limitation is a real issue. Not that we've run out, but that we will, soon. Oil isn't the only finite resource we mine out of the ground. None of it is infinite.

It is estimated that we'll run out of aluminum in 110 years. Many of the rare elements used in the types of steel guns are made of are expected to dry up far sooner. Guns aren't made of carbon steel. 4340 and 4130 are common because they harden properly without becoming to brittle, thanks to molybdenum and chrome added.

Recycled steel isn't well sorted. VW/Audi has an experiement with cam shafts made of recycled steel that is supposed to be durable and hardenable. Well, it's not. BEW model engines are shredding their cam shafts made of this supposedly 'just as good' material, discovering that it really isn't possible to recycle steel and maintain the more exotic alloys needed without exorbitant amounts of money and energy being expended.

Humanity and it's limited science are still unable to effectively use anything but virgin materials for virtually everything we make.

When Glocks were introduced in 1988 they retailed for $511. In many ways they are much cheaper now given inflation since then.