Changing tastes and use patterns.
People under (approximately) 30 have grown up in a disposable society. Expensive electronics, furniture, even cars are used until something goes bad, or until something better comes along, then dumped. The attraction of finely machined parts, nice wood, even traditional features like iron sights, hinged floorplates, and crf, is lost on these folks unless they happen to fall in with some old-timers or start reading stuff that extolls the virtues of them. These folks are also less likely to think about the future potential of the rifle via re-stocking, re-barreling, etc.
Also, a lot of newer shooters are ex-military and are more likely, I think, to treat guns as tools. These guys are more likely to drop a bundle on a tricked-out AR or maybe a LR rig than a nice sporter.
Nothing wrong with any of this, except when sales figures for the stuff we like cause them to get dropped.
