1964? It's roughly when the bean counters started running the corporations in America and the bottom line and shareholder profits became most important to businesses.
In the gun world, the Remington 700s were intentionally designed for simplicity of manufacturing and thereby profitability. Those early 5 digit, 20" barrelled 700 carbines are awesome in my books.
The Savages of the mid-late 50s were some of the best I seen, especially the Model "Fs" in 243, 250, 300, 308 and even 358. After that? Well...
