Why didn't more folks by full auto when they were readily available?

[deafdave3]

I've had many opportunities to own a full-auto. I still do. I just see no point. I cannot financially justify it. Sure, its fun at first, but the thrill dies quick. And the waste of bullets are always expensive. Now, a full-auto .22, on the other hand....

 

[mboylan]

Of course, $49 in 1947 comes to $311 today, and you can get a nice .22 for that, for less even.

And $4 for a brick of 22s? That $25 now, and I can usually get bricks for $15. So it looks like guns and ammo are cheaper now...

Guns and ammo are much much cheaper in today's dollars than they were in the 60s and 70s. People complain too much. You can accumulate a reasonable gun collection and a decent stock of ammo with a moderate income now a days. That was impossible to do in the 50s and 60s without being very well off.

You mean 67, but I get your point. In 1960, that brick was more than $5.

 

[mr.trooper]

So, did more people not buy them because they didn't have the foresight to see the decline in availability? No 'need' for them?

Hindsight being 20/20 and all, it just blows me away that someone COULD just walk into a gun store and plop down some cash, no paperwork, and walk out with such outstanding full auto weapons... but didn't!!! :banghead:

Give your elders more credit. Your grandparents weren't stupid OR lacking in foresight - in 1933, a $225 Tommy gun cost the equivelant of $3700 in todays money.... during a REAL depression.

Why don't people plop down $4K on Mac-11's and Sten guns today? Because few shooters desire to jump through hoops just to spend used car money on something with no practical application.

 

[OrangePwrx9]

Ha ha, funny question. I remember my Dad often telling of Pa deer hunting trips in the '30s, where he, his brothers and a couple of neighbors in Pgh. piled into an old car and headed for the woods when all they had between them was 5 cartridges. Nobody had money for ammo.

The guys they'd invite along on these hunts were sometimes guys they knew had a few cartridges for a gun they had. The idea of full-auto arms under those circumstances is laughable.
Bob