It seems to me that to keep the price of a budget rifle the same as a budget rifle was 20 years ago you'd have to comprimize quality.
The dollar doesn't go anywhere close to where it used to.
As sportsman it appears that a number of folks are not accepting the lack of quality.
Those folks are buying rifles from manufacturers that are still building budget rifles but have been unwilling to compromise the quality and materials and therefore choose to continue using appropriate materials and meet the rising cost.
This forces the cost of the rifle to go up. Therefore these rifles are no longer considered budget.
These rifles that cost $150 dollars more I think are far more widely used by the budget minded sportsman and seem to weather the span of time.
Cheap budget rifles seem to come and go. It appears the rifle manufacturers have deemed to see just how much lack of quality will the general public accept.
Remington and Ruger seem to have taken the lead in this endevour.
