Quote Originally Posted by Frederick303 View Post
Seth,

$180 today is the equivalent of $129 in 2001.

If you are looking to find rifles at the same price as when they were mass imported, well sorry that will not occur. I felt the same way you did in 1982, when I had to pay 75 dollars for rifles that had sold for $15 to $25 just 15 years before in 1967 and hearing what were old timers to me talk about the good old days when they mailed them to your house, no questions asked.

BruceMHX,

I agree, the top notch items will always bring a premium, but the lesser items that the vast majority of us collect and shoot will not appreciate at anywhere near the last 12 years, and in fact will likely drop in constant dollar terms, for reasons spoken of prior. but the rare items will likely rise in real dollar terms.
We all long for "the old days". Heck, I remember 5¢ candy bars too. What are they now $1 or more. Inflation would only put them around 40¢

First off, the imports usually were/are not always in the greatest condition. Most guys I know bought them for a low price and then changed parts to make them the way they wanted. Adding to their initial cost.

Quality collector pieces have traditionally gone up. I collect M1icon Carbine. Yes, DCM sold them for $20 delivered in 1960. Using an inflation calculator the is $165 today. Forget the original cost back in the day, try and even find one for todays inflation price of $165, not a chance. They have doubled in price about every nine years. Today a nice original M1 Carbine pushes $2,000 and higher. Imports started coming in during the late 80's with stamps on the barrels at around $100 which is $206 today, and have done about the same. Today selling in the $800-$1,000.

They can be a good investment. Though I feel we mostly collect them because we just want to.