Are we in a golden age or a drought

At the moment, you can get what you want- as long as you want to pay for it. I remember $65 SKS, $80 Enfields, $300 Garands, $250 AKs, $80 Mosins, $300 M1 carbines, and GI 1911A1's for around $500 not that long ago.

"I can't really think of credible arguments for this not being about the greatest time ever for buying firearms."

Honestly Sam, you don't live in California.
Mauserguy

Honestly Sam, you don't live in California.

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No, and if I was anyplace that so greatly restricted my rights I would not be so content with the current situation.

But the OP seemed to be inquiring about market forces and the availability of guns which can be freely bought. Not about artificial legislative limits.

I can't really think of credible arguments for this not being about the greatest time ever for buying firearms.

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^. This. The availability, quality, selection, and accessibility has never been so good. And it isn't just firearms; parts, ammo, accessories, tools, sporting equipment, etc. are widely available. The Internet has provided a massive platform, not just for commerce, but the exchange of information on the topic too. NFA items, except for one category, are much easier to come by.

There are a few exceptions ....

Machine-guns, due largely to a three decades old law, are out of the reach of many. Anything made after said are out of the reach of anyone who is a private citizen.

Ammo supply has been wonky for some years. Some types and in some locations have been really wacky.

The era of ultra-cheap milsurps by, literally, the pallet load, is pretty much over.

Some of the old school firearm types have kind of gotten forgotten due to all the hype surrounding the latest whiz-bang affairs, but they are still available.

But, all and all, we've never had it so good. Golden age indeed.

I made my first gun related purchase of the year today. Went to cabelas to burn up a nice gift card I was given for my birthday. I couldn't imagine them having any more stock than they did today. Plenty of powder, primers, bullets, reloading gear, ammo, tons of bulk 22lr, everything. I rounded out my powder supply and splurged by buying some fancy jacketed bullets. Came home with a couple lb each of W296, lilgun, a box of 357 FTXTP and a box of Berry's 500 mag bullets for the indoor range that doesn't like my cast lead reloads . A nice little haul. hopefully the last purchase for at least a few years...

Golden years. We live in such affluent times that a common internet post is
"What did I just buy and what is it worth?"

Much of this depends on your perspective. I wasn't involved with firearms for about 20 years and got back into it a few years ago. I can't remember which event was going on when I got back into it (election, talk of an AR ban or mass shooting), but there was a run on everything I was looking for. I paid over $1000 for an AR15 and was just happy to find one. Ammo for it and the handgun calibers I looked for was difficult to find. By contrast, things are considerably better now. I can not only find ammunition, guns and reloading supplies, but can do so at lower prices than a few years ago.

We are nearing the end of a Golden Age, and no, politics has little to do with it. A veritable explosion of industry, development, and vitality kept chained up for a solid decade was released in 2004, and has been steadily growing and thriving ever since then. However, I think we reached a peak in 2013, where companies began slacking in their innovation, and the market because thoroughly entrenched in ARs. Such is progress, that eventually victors trounce all the competition, and then grow stale & ossified.

In a few years we'll be lamenting how nothing but Glock-clones and AR clones are in production any more (and 1911s and AKs to a lesser extent), and how the market is so transfixed on them that a clean-sheet design sweeping the private sector is as impossible as it is for the military. The innovation is still thriving for now, though, as companies jockey to see if they really can do better than just copying the other guy.

Golden years. We live in such affluent times that a common internet post is
"What did I just buy and what is it worth?"

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I'm sure stupid people said the same about stupid things even during the Depression (right before the wife clubbed them with a skillet)

TCB

Innovation at the hoi polloi level may be declining, but there is interesting work being done for the Robb Report types. Like cars.

My opinion, strictly from technology and availability, is either a golden age or the next best thing.

I remember gun stuff back to the eighties. Shotgun shells were comparatively more expensive, the autoloading pistol market was 1911, Hi-Power or a CZ75 if you could lay your hands on one. Bolt rifles were Weatherby, Remington and Winchester, lever guns were Winchester or Marlin. Shotguns were Remington, Winchester, H&R, Mossberg or Ithaca. Revolvers were Smith or Colt.

Sure, the surplus stuff was indeed more plentiful on store shelves. But new manufacture was limited in scope, if not quantity.

Many of us here CCW. Do you remember the looks you got when asking about concealable holsters, defensive ammunition, etc. back in the eighties? Nearly unavailable. Many gun shops didn't stock anything remotely useful because the perception of the shooting community seemed to involve cop, hunter and criminal. Hiding a gun was for gangsters.

So yeah, we;ve got it good right now. Lots to choose from, ammo in general is no more expensive than it was forty years ago (percentage of income, not strict dollar amount).

In the last year, I've bought 6 guns at very reasonable prices, 4 pistols, 2 AR-15's. I'd say its the golden age right now.

We have never before had the depth and breadth of choice that we enjoy in today's firearm market. Profit potential drives industry investment and production.

The ammunition industry is strongly driven by government demand. A few wars sprinkled around the world can easily squeeze capacity so we have difficulty buying what we want for sporting purposes. By nature, it's a volatile market. I think it's a good idea to keep enough on hand to cover a year or two of shortages.

Even 22LR is back on the shelves locally. I picked up a brick at Cabela's a couple of weeks ago, and chatting with the nice lady at the gun counter at CAL Ranch, I learned that now they usually have some in stock...$8.99 per 100 for CCI Mini Mags. Until recently, they did not have enough to last from truck delivery to truck delivery. Now they usually have enough to last for two delivery cycles.

So, allowing for supply chain variation, I think we've got it better than we've ever had it.

It's a pretty good time right now...24/7 access to buy almost anything you can imagine online. Although, for it to be "perfect" to me, you'd have get rid of all the NFA nonsense.

I was too dense to take advantage during the golden age of surplus ammo & cheap .22lr's when I could've gotten good ammo by the pallet cheap. Sure wish I'd have listened to the wiser voices counciling to "buy it cheap & stack it deep", I regret that more than a little. I also passed on buying some very nice & very cheap revolvers, particularly mid frame .357's that I sure wish I wouldn't have. Oh well, if I ever go back thru a time portal I'll hopefully do better.

Still, as others have said we are living in a golden age of AR's & tupperware pistols, great optics and a whole lot of other great gear. If you don't take advantage now & regret it later, shame on you.

One thing you definitely won't see anymore, are $150 SKS's. I bought one, 10 years ago, for $150 out the door.

At today's gun show's, they're around $400.

1) How about surplus east European handguns today? For people only recently into Any handguns, just some clear impressions here.

They seem to be decent deals, especially with recent bulk imports of Bulgarian Makarovs, still selling somewhat "unissued" and many appear to be so, for about $300.
And although a very snappy, smaller beast, the Polish P-64 is easy to find for approx. $250, and its larger, much more pleasant shooting P-83 'younger brother' for about $280.

The commercial Russian Makarovs are in .380 Auto or 9x18 Mak., and are also considered a good value at $300 or so.
At least they can share ammo with any other .380 Auto, and Makarovs are sometimes described as possibly the most reliable semi-auto handgun ever designed.

2) How about AR-15 clones? This might be The Golden Age, depending upon the next Supreme Court selection(s) and majorities in the House and Senate.
Buying some guns in person (FTF) --whether AR or other sport utility types-- could easily have future benefits.

I feel like with things like AR15's the market is pretty saturated, the only thing keeping the prices from being dirt cheap is people continuing to stock pile them in fear of a legislative action that would choke the supply of future purchases.

It used to be people would buy one, maybe two and consider themselves 'all set'. Now, a lot of people I know (including myself) stack em deep. It's not uncommon among our group to have 6+ AR's per person and another 10-15 AR receivers ready to be built. That continuous buying is probably the only reason the bottom hasn't fallen out on the AR market, IMO.

I wish the WASR AK's still went for $395 like they did 6 years ago. I'd be stacking them too lol.

Ed Ames said:

I must be doing it wrong. I see the announcement of a new gun, or maybe a gunblast article on it, and it may be years before I have a chance to buy it...if I ever do.

Going into gun stores, the vast majority have the same few dozen guns. I had to go to five different gun stores last week to find a black XDs 4.0 in 9mm and that's a very common gun. I can't remember the last time I saw a Glock 20 in a store. Going online is better but it is still rare that I can find a gun I'm shopping for. As far as I know the stores don't have 'em because they sell faster than the manufacturers ship.

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I rarely spend any time looking in stores for guns (or a lot of other stuff, for that matter). Gun wise, I don't tend to want the latest fad, so the chances that the stores will have what I want aren't worth the waste of fuel to try and chase one down. Then if I do find it, it's usually more than I want to pay, and I have no idea how many dry-fires and ham-fistings it's had ad potential customers have fondled it. That said, I do check out my local LGS somewhat frequently in case he has something I "need." I've found some surprises there in the past, like a $333 OTD Model 67-1 and a pristine $295 Model 64.

Currently about 220 XD-S guns on Gunbroker in 9mm, a number of those are the 4.0. Assuming you only need one, you should be able to snag it there.

Looks like about 40 or so Glock 20s on GB.

Then there are a lot of other on-line sources and sites.

Golden Age with absolutely no doubt, IMO. I have been shooting and buying guns since 1952 and the quality of most firearms and the immense selection available has never been better.

I don't see a greater selection of firearms being a standard to be measured against. There are all kinds of products available now than at any time in the past. Is this the Golden Age of automobiles, electronics, medicine, and different styles of clothing to cite a few? There have been auto pistols for decades and the polymer guns now available aren't really that much improvement over the all steel ones in the past. They are still semi autos shooting pistol rounds. The AR 15 was an innovative design but it is over 50 years old now. There are all kinds of ninja sniper boy add ons available for them but it is still an AR15 designed over 50 years ago.

I remember when nearly every small hardware store sold firearms. You could order rifles and pistols from a catalog and the mail man would deliver it to your door with no background checks or ID required. Sales of firearms were not recorded so there was nothing to show you even owned a gun. Rimfire ammo was less than 50 cents a box and you could buy more than you could carry.

You could have your trusty 30-30 or bolt gun on a rack in your pick-up truck's rear window and no body called the cops on you. Try that now! All this has been lost. Many schools had shooting programs and now there very very few that still do. The only thing that has improved are the concealed carry laws. In my opinion the Golden Age has long passed.

It depends. I'm a big vintage revolver guy. So the economic forces are different. A few years ago the area where I live was awash in nice vintage (pre - 1960's) double-action revolvers. But eventually that dried up and now I have to go to estate auctions to find interesting pieces. I haven't purchased a new handgun in eleven years. However if I was just looking for polymer semi-autos, AR's and semi-auto shotguns then it's a Golden Age.

Yes, it's a time of plenty, BUT with the Sword of Damocles hanging over us. The outcome of a single upcoming election could spell the end of the gun culture as we know it. Going to gun shows, I get the distinct impression of people dancing on the deck of the sinking Titanic. People either don't realize the potentially dire straits we're in, or they're in denial.

To hedge my bets, this is why I've started collecting, in a big way, Italian reproductions of muzzleloaders -- flintlocks and percussion guns. If the worst happens, they're likely to be spared the sword for the time being.

Plenty. All things considered, definitely plenty.

BUY NOW



(I say this based on selection, quality, ease of locating, prevalence of ownership/carry, and price relative to the strength of the FRN)

This doesn't apply if you live in a craphole like CA, HI, NY, MA, whatever

Enjoy it now, because of the election goes the wrong way....this honeymoon will be over!

I can't really think of credible arguments for this not being about the greatest time ever for buying firearms.

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+1

So many quality guns and gun manufacturers. People who have never owned a firearm previously are now CCWing and Open Carry is for real! You can order anything you want online, usually for free shipping and have it shipped to your local FFL in a week for a minuscule transfer fee.

The whole buy now or it'll be banned forever nonsense is just that, nonsense. I am 41 years old and my father bought me my first 22lr rifle at 11 and 22lr pistol at 13. I have been collecting ever since. If I bought a gun every time someone said it was going to be banned my safe would be filled with carbon fiber bullpup contraptions I have no interest in.

You can even now have quality rare ammo sent to your door and by rare I am not talking about 10mm or 38 super. I am talking 44-40 and 8mm Lebel! At an affordable price.

My only issue is the vast majority of new, quality economical firearms are either Armalite style rifles or polymer pistols. Also lots of relatively expensive 1911s out there. None of those categories are my personal favorites but I have learned to adapt.