Retail Ammo prices from 1957

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BRatigan

BRatigan

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This is a short list of ammo prices from 1957.
If you want a specific caliber let me know.
357 magnum Super-X 158 grain 4.85
38 spl Super-X 150 grain 4.45
380 auto Oilproof 95 grain 4.20
9mm Luger Oilproof 115 grain 5.50
44 spl Oilproof 246 grain 5.55
45 auto Oilproof 230 grain 5.95
22 LR SuperSpeed 40 grain .75
All above are 50 rounds per box.

Rifles
220 Swift Super Speed 48 grain 3.50
222 Rem 50 grain 2.65
243 Win Super Speed 100 grain 3.85
257 Roberts Super-X 117 grain 4.00
270 Win Super Speed 150 grain 4.30
30-30 Win Super Speed 170 grain 3.40
308 Win SuperSpeed 150 grain 4.30
30-06 Springfield Super Speed 150 grain 4.30
32 Win Spl Super Speed 170 grain 3.50
45-70 Govt. 405 grain 4.10
All above are 20 rounds per box
These are for Winchester, I also have Remington prices and there are more cartridges I could display. Let me know of your favorite and I'll see what I can find. Source data is from 1957 11th Edition Gun Digest.
 
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.455_Hunter said:
Available- Yes, Cheap- Probably not.
Click to expand...
Exactly. You won't see many references about people buying even .22lr by the brick back then. They bought it by the box, and were careful to make every shot count.

Plus, money was a lot harder to come by back then. Women usually did not have careers, and men were the sole, or at least the primary bread winner. No electronics to buy, luxuries were true luxuries. Families were lucky to have ONE car, etc. People made by with a LOT less and had to be a lot smarter with their money.

The average gun owner today has FAR more guns and ammo than guys back then.
 
n2omike said:
Exactly. You won't see many references about people buying even .22lr by the brick back then. They bought it by the box, and were careful to make every shot count.

Plus, money was a lot harder to come by back then. No electronics to buy, luxuries were true luxuries. Families were lucky to have ONE car, etc. People made by with a LOT less and had to be a lot smarter with their money.
Click to expand...
a professional made a salary of $11,00 / $210 week

a labor made a salary of $3,000 / $57 week
 
I probably buy more ammunition in a year than my grandfather bought in his entire life. I know for a fact I own more guns right at the moment than my entire extended family did prior to about 1980.

Relative to firearms in the United States the nation has changed so much in the sixty five years between 1957 and 2022 as to make the country nearly unrecognizable. On the face of it my ammunition today costs a lot more than my dad and grandfather did back then, but in actual fact it's much cheaper.

I will say however that excluding online sales ammunition is much harder to find locally than it was back then when pretty much every hardware store carried some as did many rural gas stations, bait & tackle shops, drug stores, and some grocery stores. The selection was much smaller then, but what there was could be found just about everywhere.
 
n2omike said:
They bought it by the box, and were careful to make every shot count.
Click to expand...

No "gun games" of blowing through a case or two of ammo in a weekend playing "operator".

n2omike said:
The average gun owner today has FAR more guns and ammo than guys back then.
Click to expand...

One box of .30-06 got you many seasons of hunting: 3 - 5 shots to originally sight-in and hunt during the first year, then 1 - 3 per year afterwards for a zero check and any shots at game.
 
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Remember hearing about 22lr being sold by the round because most could not afford a whole box.
And if dad gave you 3 rounds you better come back with three rabbits or squirrels.
I remember 96cent boxes of 22lr.
 
Dunross said:
I probably buy more ammunition in a year than my grandfather bought in his entire life. I know for a fact I own more guns right at the moment than my entire extended family did prior to about 1980.

Relative to firearms in the United States the nation has changed so much in the sixty five years between 1957 and 2022 as to make the country nearly unrecognizable. On the face of it my ammunition today costs a lot more than my dad and grandfather did back then, but in actual fact it's much cheaper.

I will say however that excluding online sales ammunition is much harder to find locally than it was back then when pretty much every hardware store carried some as did many rural gas stations, bait & tackle shops, drug stores, and some grocery stores. The selection was much smaller then, but what there was could be found just about everywhere.
Click to expand...

Same here my man. Great grandad owned a Mauser and some pocket pistol, and that's the extent of known gun ownership in the family. I have 4 rifles and 9 handguns.. so far.
 
.455_Hunter said:
No "gun games" of blowing through a case or two of ammo in a weekend playing "operator".



One box of .30-06 got you many seasons of hunting: 3 - 5 shots to originally sight-in and hunt during the first year, then 1 - 3 per year afterwards for a zero check and any shots at game.
Click to expand...
let me know when your deer rifles are up for sale! lol
 
BRatigan said:
This is a short list of ammo prices from 1957.
If you want a specific caliber let me know.
357 magnum Super-X 158 grain 4.85
38 spl Super-X 150 grain 4.45
380 auto Oilproof 95 grain 4.20
9mm Luger Oilproof 115 grain 5.50
44 spl Oilproof 246 grain 5.55
45 auto Oilproof 230 grain 5.95
22 LR SuperSpeed 40 grain .75
All above are 50 rounds per box.

Rifles
220 Swift Super Speed 48 grain 3.50
222 Rem 50 grain 2.65
243 Win Super Speed 100 grain 3.85
257 Roberts Super-X 117 grain 4.00
270 Win Super Speed 150 grain 4.30
30-30 Win Super Speed 170 grain 3.40
308 Win SuperSpeed 150 grain 4.30
30-06 Springfield Super Speed 150 grain 4.30
32 Win Spl Super Speed 170 grain 3.50
45-70 Govt. 405 grain 4.10
All above are 20 rounds for box
These are for Winchester, I also have Remington prices and there are more cartridges I could display. Let me know of your favorite and I'll see what I can find. Source data is from 1957 11th Edition Gun Digest.
Click to expand...
I have a question and a request;

What does oil proof mean?

If you can , .45 Colt/long Colt, etc.
 
My dad, who passed in 1968, was a very senior engineer at G.E. He had seven direct reports, all of whom were plant general managers. He was making about $26K/year. Entry level engineers make 3-4x that today. In much smaller dollars, though.

Times change, places change. In 1975 I walked into an Idaho Falls pharmacy. Just in the door to the right, the usual aisles of aspirin, kleenex and stuff. On the left, the handgun display case. I decided I loved Idaho.
 
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As a rancher and meat-hunter, my Grandfather would buy a box of 20 rounds for his “high-powered rifles” (.30-30, .250-3000, or .257 Roberts) about once every four or five years, 50 rounds of .22 LR was at least a year’s worth of squirrels or pests for the 1890 Winchester, and shotgun shells were bought rarely (16 ga magnum #5) for turkeys or annually (7.5 shot in 3” .410 or 16 ga ) for mourning doves/bobwhites.

Until I became old enough to shoot, that is. Then the .22 and shotgun ammo purchases spiked dramatically ;).

Stay safe.
 
Funny to think how many popular rounds today weren’t around then. .223 was just being born around 1957 for military use, .40S&W, 10mm, 9mm(around in Europe but not a common US round yet. .44 mag was in its infancy.
 
gobsauce said:
I have a question and a request;

What does oil proof mean?

If you can , .45 Colt/long Colt, etc.
Click to expand...
My best guess is that it was a waxseal of some type to keep the powder from getting moisture. But as I said its a guess.
The 45 Colt/Longcolt 255 grain Oilproof (inside lubricated) Lead was 5.55 in either Winchester or Remington.
 
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