Sears Gun Catalog, 1966

Looks similar.
Actually in 1966 people had somewhat more cash in their pockets. The Vietnam Era inflation hadn't started yet, the upsurge in state and local taxes hadn't started to climb. in his 1983 book Family and Nation Daniel Patrick Moynihan points out that in 1953 with an average annual income of $8,000 the first 3/4 was tax exempt, by 1983 only the first third. The tax revolt started in the 1970s, Proposition 13 was approved in 1978.

Grayrock said:

Yeah... I won't find an M-1 Carbine on eBay for $88

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My friend had a Universal that I listed twice here in the For sale forum for, I think $400. Not a sniff.

Everybody wants something until it’s available. Then, crickets.

indy1919a4 said:

Hell my mom was not going to get me one anyways so I did not have to become an informed consumer.

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Same here, though my mom let me wander the department store sporting good aisles as a cheaper alternative to letting me anywhere near the toy department unchaperoned. Little did she know where that decision would eventually lead ...

Jim Watson said:

Even earlier, my Dad, watching Bonnie and Clyde movie, saw them buy groceries, getting a partial 1/6 size bag for $6. He commented "I was working in a grocery store that year and you could not pick up $6 worth of groceries."

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Dad used to say (circa 1980) he was twice the man he was in the 1930s: back then it took both him and his wife to carry $5 worth of groceries from the car; now he could carry $20 into the house unassisted.

I turned 18 in 1966 so all of this brings back a memory or two. A year later and I was signing up for the Army, but didn't take the oath until January of 1968.... I wonder how much the Gun Control act of 1968 changed the mail order firearms business...

lemaymiami said:

I wonder how much the Gun Control act of 1968 changed the mail order firearms business...

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It completely ended the Direct to American Commoner firearms business.
A lot of my friends have fond memories of the Slobbovian Surplus Era when you could get an SKS and its ammo for less than a good .22. Imagine what it would have been like if you could have ordered direct from the importer.

lemaymiami said:

I turned 18 in 1966 so all of this brings back a memory or two. A year later and I was signing up for the Army, but didn't take the oath until January of 1968.... I wonder how much the Gun Control act of 1968 changed the mail order firearms business...

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There's some interesting background on GCA 68 in this book about Sam Cummings of Interarms:

https://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Business-Cummings-Interarms-Trade/dp/0393017664

Not a great book IMO, but worth a quick read. Little remembered today is SAAMI's active role in supporting the import restrictions of GCA 68 -- they promoted domestic manufacture and wanted to kill or handicap the milsurp trade. After GCA 68, Interarms switched focus to importing newly-made firearms from Walther, Star, Santa Barbara, etc.

I forgot about my Sportsman 78 .30-06. I think it was a K-Mart version of a Remington 700.