Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters what is the most important development for Hunters in the last 50 years.

It's the same now as it was then..... accuracy.

Accuracy was developed in the last 50 years?

I never used an LRF or a GPS in my life. I do use 2 way radios. So I guess I'd go with that.

I don't much use google earth.
I have a gps and don't use it.
I have a pair of laser range finder binos but never use them.
I take a cell phone but don't use it.
I still use some of the same cup and cores I used back then.
Herebouts clothes are no big deal nor are boots.

Most everything I take and use is much the same as 50 years ago...

except for my aluminum stool and my F150.

So I guess it's - mostly about creature comforts.

AC, 4wd independent front suspension, and rear end suspension....

Actually I carry less stuff than I did starting out not quite 50 years ago, never mind my gadget period. I find I pay more attention to nature rather than being distracted by gadgets. Much more fun that way.

Clothing is the exception, wonderful stuff now. But then Dad started me out that not quite 50 years ago with oversize, under-warm Army surplus. And I always did get cold feet before anyone else.

While it may be true that incomes are relatively the same with inflation taken into account. I think the real or relative cost of goods have come down. IMO manufacturing costs have made gear more affordable.

One example and only an example of one is the cost of a PC. It was what $2000.00 in the early 80's when 2k was a lot of coin.

AJD

AJD,

Yeah, a computer cost a lot in the early 80's, but most people didn't find them a necessary part of day-to-day existence yet. As an excample, most of the writers I knew in the 80's (and I knew a bunch, from every income bracket) didn't buy computers until the mid- to late 80's, when the price came down considerably. Before then they stuck to electric typewriters, because typewriters cost about a tenth as much. By 1990 the price had REALLY come down. I bought my second computer in 1990. It could do anything the $2000 computers did in the early 80's, and it cost around $200.

But that was a quick fall in the price of a new product. Overall inflation is measured by comparing the cost of a variety of goods with income. If most stuff actually cost less than it did in 1965, the inflation index would reflect that. It doesn't.

Here are some examples from 1965, The inflation index indicates the AVERAGE price of basic goods would cost about 7.5 times as much today:

My father bought a new but very basic Dodge van in '65, costing $3000. That means a comparable van in 2015 would cost $22,500.

A Remington 700 BDL's suggested retail price was $149.95, which probably means a real-world price of around $120, for $900 today.

A 3-9x Luepold VX-II's suggested retail was $89.50, probably real-world around $80, which means $600 today.

Gasoline was around 25 cents a gallonm for around $1.88 today. This is just about what it cost around here a month ago, but now it's up to $2.20. Who knows where it will go tomorrow?

We could go on down the line, but inflation is a MEASURE of relative buying power, based on average prices and wages. And overall Americans, on average, are basically in the same place we were in 1965. Some things cost more, and some things cost less, but overall we're about in the same place.

WSM's

Respectfully I'll have to disagree with you. I don't have the definition of how inflation is computer, but my general understanding is a few goods are measured, and those goods vary over time.

A quick question about your dad's Dodge. Is that the same Dodge available on the market today? How much do you think the Dodge that was purchased in 65 would cost to produce today?

I would say the most important development is the reduction in hunting access. It's not a good development, but I think it has been an important one.

ADJ,
I think you are comparing apples to apricots.

Mule Deer's figures are based on the true average inflation rate over the last 50 years which the experts agree is $1 then (1965) equals $7.50 now.

Since, with rare exceptions, you can't buy the exact same new items now that you could in 1965, the amounts are going to vary some.

Picking out one item, like a computer, or a Dodge van, doesn't prove much one way or another.

Here is an extreme example:

In 1972 the first electronic Digital watch was introduced to the public at a cost of $2100. The Pulsar. (I actually knew a very rich guy that bought one, and he paid that much for it). Obviously demand was limited by the high price. But they did sell quite a few.

In 1975 Texas Instruments came out with their electronic digital watch at a price of $20. They sold a gazillion of them and made a fortune. Pulsar lost $6 million dollars that year.

A year later, in 1976, as demand started to slow, TI lowered their price to $10 and sold a gazillion more, and made even more money.

The same type simple watch today costs about $2.

What does it prove? Nothing.

Back to JB's 1 to7.5 ratio, I just happened to buy my very first factory new centerfire rifle in 1965. It was a Remington M-600 in 308 Winchester that I bought at the big-box Gemco store in San Jose, California.

It was on sale for $89.95. Multiply that by 7.5 for today's dollars and it comes out to $675.

That sounds reasonably close to what that rifle, new, might cost today. There are currently several NIB Rem. Model Sevens on Gunbroker for $699, and Davidson's shows new ones for $730. Noting also that a Model Seven isn't exactly a M-600 either.

An awful lot has changed in the last fifty years, but the average buying power of the average guy for most types of things hasn't changed much.

MD, Sorry I was pulled away earlier and didn’t finish my thoughts.

I’m not saying there hasn’t been inflation. I’m saying manufactured goods have gotten cheaper, more affordable over time.

Those items you mention are not the same items in 65 as they are now. It would be like saying the house I had the cost x and the one I have today costs 10x, well it isn’t the same house and doesn’t take into account external market pressures.

We all know the gun and ammo market has been disrupted the past 6 years or so not to mention the changes caused by the 65 gun control act. I remember buying guns through the mail, can’t do that today, lots of regulations and changes in the entire distribution chain.

Gas cartels?

You can still buy scopes probably as good as the old Leopold’s for not much more than that, they have a strong following brand loyalty and I believe it affects their pricing.

But what about Radios, a $80 radio would be $800 today? Or a $20 wall clock for $200? $50 coffee pot for $500? TVs are better have larger screens, color, and cost less than they did them.

Same deal with microwave ovens. They can be had for less than $100.

I think of a 1911 as a commodity these days, you can get one for about $400 and up, I recently paid $630 for a Ruger CMD SS, what did a 1911 go for back then? But again big changes in the gun market since then.

Back in the mid 60’s I had to have a CB radio. I got a Courrier 12, it was about the size of 2 shoe boxes and weighed about 20lbs. Marketed as a mobile or base as it came with attachments for mounting in a vehicle and a 12 volt adapter.

It was a Currier 12 because it had provisions for 12 channels. A send and receive crystal was needed for each channel and cost $5 each. I don’t remember if a Microphone came with it. Anyway, the radio was $100 and the crystals for 12 channels would run another $120 that's $220 for a 12 channel radio. I bet any decent size truck stop sells functioning 23 channel CBs for $100 or so.

It holds true for computers, they have gotten smaller, faster, more powerful, and cheaper over time.

People are buying this stuff because they can afford it and it’s cheap.

Anyhow that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

ADJ,

This is pointless. You are indeed arguing apples and oranges, because you really don't understand inflation.

After thinking on this some time and to try to get the thread back to the OP. I am gonna say , the Accurate Laser range finder is the biggest development in the last 50 years. Making longer shots has improved the guns, Bullets, scopes , bipods, field rests,and to a certain extent the shooters. More time is taken to practice making better shooters, who in return demand better equipment, not just what the gun writers of the day are writing about.
Think about JOC and Elmer in 1965, sitting on a hillside staring at a sheep 600 yds away. How many shots between them would it have taken to kill it....... Nowadays with the stuff available and to know the precise range and practice it is a cake shot.

LRF is a good choice.

I think the precision bedded synthetic stock has to be at the top of the list as well. It probably contributed to consistent accuracy as much an any innovation in my lifetime.

Finally the ATV and rise of intensive QDM, but I do not regard either of those as wholly positive changes.