Retail Ammo prices from 1957

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The interesting thing is I was paying the same prices for many of those calibers (I remember both 9mm and .38 Special for $5/50) around 1990. OK, it was 3D or something similarly downmarket but it went bang. Even at that late date Rite-Aid’s predecessor (was it Payless?) would have sales on .22 at $.50 a box. Remarkable that it changed so little in 33 years.
 
As others have pointed out, 1957 prices adjusted for inflation are not that cheap.
Running the Wikipedia inflation calculator, 1957 $1,000 gives $9,648 in today's buying power.
I remember paying 50 cents for a box of .22 rimfires late 1950s, early 1960s.
I also remember taking my $2 allowance blowing it on a double feature movie, soda, popcorn, three pack of Reese's peanut butter cups, and having change to buy a monster movie magazine at the newstand. You could find a decent used Winchester 1894 for $60 at the sporting goos store, but I was too young to buy one myself.
 
to all the people quoting inflation index's, compare it to a known value like an average car, or gold or average gas price. $2200, 30c, $35. Use that for your "being power" and things look different.
 
Jdague12 said:
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.
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And to think how many popular cartridges back then are obsolete (or nearly so) now… like my Grandfather’s .257 Roberts, .250-3000, 16 ga, etc. . :(

Stay safe.
 
Col. Harrumph said:
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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Go not far from where I live to Florala Alabama and you can still see this. The pharmacy has a sign outside that says Drugs and Guns.
 
I would have thought those prices would have been lower. Interesting to see that 380 was cheaper then 9mm. I remember buying MILSURP Malasian 223 at $13/100 rounds in the mid 80's, and a case of 7.62 x 39 (1000 rounds) for $75. How much was a 20 round box of Rem. core lock 30-40?
 
FL-NC said:
I would have thought those prices would have been lower. Interesting to see that 380 was cheaper then 9mm. I remember buying MILSURP Malasian 223 at $13/100 rounds in the mid 80's, and a case of 7.62 x 39 (1000 rounds) for $75. How much was a 20 round box of Rem. core lock 30-40?
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30-40 Krag Hi-Speed 180 grain was 4.30 cents in 1957.
 
Carl N. Brown said:
As others have pointed out, 1957 prices adjusted for inflation are not that cheap.
Running the Wikipedia inflation calculator, 1957 $1,000 gives $9,648 in today's buying power.
I remember paying 50 cents for a box of .22 rimfires late 1950s, early 1960s.
I also remember taking my $2 allowance blowing it on a double feature movie, soda, popcorn, three pack of Reese's peanut butter cups, and having change to buy a monster movie magazine at the newstand. You could find a decent used Winchester 1894 for $60 at the sporting goos store, but I was too young to buy one myself.
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Inflation is also not a perfect 45 degree incline. For instance, I payed $1 at Walmart for .22/50 in 1995, $89 for a Chinese SKS Walmart, and gas was $.75/gallon.

so for those items 1957 to 1995 - not bad of a price increase compared to wages

Now 1995 to 2022, $5 .22/50 - $600 Chinese SKS - $5/gallon - and Wages are not up 5x
 
I found it interesting that 9mm was amongst the spendiest handgun ammo and .308 on the higher end of rifle ammo. Now that they're both among the most common cartridges the opposite is usually true. Lots can change in 65 years.

My dad found an old Stoeger's catalogue from 1944 that listed all the ammo and gun prices. Ironic, because there was a page (toward the back IIRC) basically stating that they couldn't actually get or sell any guns due to the war effort. Ammo was rationed and only available in limited quantity to ranchers and farmers.

A model 52 Winchester equally configured and equipped with the exact sights mine currently wears was listed at $96 and some change. A trap grade model 12 was about $12 less. Lots of guns that have reasonable collectibility now were priced under $30, but not available.

And we act like "sorry, this item is out of stock" is new problems.
 
drk1 said:
You do realize that at least some of us here were alive in 1957 and remember it quite well?
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I was "alive" in 1957, but I don't remember much, if anything about the ammo prices back then. Why would I? I mean, I didn't even get my first "real" gun (a Model 55 Winchester) until my 10th birthday in 1958! ;)
I'm not sure, but I think Winchester 22LR ammo was .79 (a box of 50) in my mom and dad's country store/gas station in the early '60s. On the other hand, $150 in gross sales was a very, very good day in the early to mid '60s in mom and dad's store, and less than 10% of that was profit. That's why Dad took a $1.65 an hour job as a boiler operator in a potato processing plant, and Mom ran the store for 11 hours a day, 6 days a week. So, taken in perspective, .79 for a 50 round box of 22LR ammo wasn't all that cheap. o_O
BTW, before I started working in the orchards in my early teens, I pumped a lot of 31.9 cent a gallon gas at Mom and Dad's country store/gas station. There was no self-serve back then, and I washed windshields and checked oil (and sometimes tire pressures) too. And usually, "five dollars-worth" was almost a "fill-up." Soon, "five-dollars-worth" will be less than a gallon.:eek:
 
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.308 Norma said:
I was "alive" in 1957, but I don't remember much, if anything about the ammo prices back then. Why would I? I mean, I didn't even get my first "real" gun (a Model 55 Winchester) until my 10th birthday in 1958! ;)
I'm not sure, but I think Winchester 22LR ammo was .79 (a box of 50) in my mom and dad's country store/gas station in the early '60s. On the other hand, $150 in gross sales was a very, very good day in the early to mid '60s in mom and dad's store, and less than 10% of that was profit. That's why Dad took a $1.65 an hour job as a boiler operator in a potato processing plant, and Mom ran the store for 11 hours a day, 6 days a week. So, taken in perspective, .79 for a 50 round box of 22LR ammo wasn't all that cheap. o_O
BTW, before I started working in the orchards in my early teens, I pumped a lot of 31.9 cent a gallon gas at Mom and Dad's country store/gas station. There was no self-serve back then, and I washed windshields and checked oil (and sometimes tire pressures) too. And usually, "five dollars-worth" was almost a "fill-up." Soon, "five-dollars-worth" will be less than a gallon.:eek:
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Completely unrelated, but something I found genuinely interesting.

I travel Mexico a lot, been to all 32 states of the republic. I have never seen a self service gas station there. In Papalotla, I paid for gas, and got an elbow grease carwash for about $2. Best Morsilla and Longaniza I've ever had.
 
BRatigan, do you have, or is/was there a1957 Norma pricing for 20 rounds of 7.62Russian? I got a 1966 price of $5.35 for Norma 7.62Russian 20 round box of ammo. 30'06, 308 and 30/30 ammo was 70 cents higher($5)from your 1957 prices of $4.30 a box. GoodShooting
 
lonniemike said:
BRatigan, do you have, or is/was there a1957 Norma pricing for 20 rounds of 7.62Russian? I got a 1966 price of $5.35 for Norma 7.62Russian 20 round box of ammo. 30'06, 308 and 30/30 ammo was 70 cents higher($5)from your 1957 prices of $4.30 a box. GoodShooting
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I have a price from RWS for the 7.62 Russian and it is $3.50 in 1957. Sorry for the delay. I don't have any Norma pricing.
 
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