by Hap Rocketto
I am fortunate in that I have known some of the great smallbore shooters of both the modern era and what might be called the “Golden Era” of shooting of the 1940s to 1960s. One of the things that make the two groups different is the way they talk about equipment and awards. Art Jackson, Art Cook, or Walt Tomsen will speak of a case of ammunition being 10,000 rounds and packed in a wooden crate. They will also tell of traveling to New Haven with their favorite Winchester 52 and having it mated to a particular ammunition lot by Jack Lacy in the test tunnel. The subject of a Remington 37 and Bridgeport ammo will sometimes be broached, and “Hey, what about old C.I. Shotwell’s Morgan being up for sale by his widow.” Later they will wax nostalgic about winning silver chalices, trophy rifles, cash money, and real gold medals at matches that cost just a dollar or two to enter.
A more modern shooter such as Wigger, Bassham, or Foth will tell of selecting ammo lots from three or four different manufacturers, barrels from several vendors, all screwed or pinned onto some German action, and gripe about there being no real US purveyors of quality rifles. The discussion of huge entry fees and little return, awards that are paltry, cash payouts that are small, that there is little in the way of merchandise awarded, and comments such as “just take a look at the stuff they award at shotgun events” color the conversation. They have also heard of the days of yore and yearn for generous prizes
The cost effectiveness of shooting is a real question and I have gotten a handle on it recently because of a fellow shooter by the name of German Salazar. German, pronounced Herman, is a lawyer-but that should not be held against him-who is a very talented smallbore and high power belly shooter. In a recent email he told me about a web site that gave trivial information about past days. Just type in your birth date and it would reply, at the speed of light, tell you what happened that day. You would learn who was in office, what movies and actors had won the Academy Awards and, interestingly enough, prices of common consumables.
As a man of science I noted that I had the makings of a study that might not earn me a Ph. D but might quiet the grumbling of shooters. Given the information from the website and prices taken from old Camp Perry programs I came up with the following table of prices over a two decade period:
|
Year |
Perry Prone |
Ave Income |
Gallon of Gas |
Loaf of Bread |
|
1978 |
$91 |
$10,671 |
$0.77 |
$0.33 |
|
1988 |
$170 |
$13,929 |
$1.07 |
$1.28 |
|
1998 |
$299 |
$22,727 |
$1.10 |
$1.65 |
I selected these dates because the earliest Perry program I have is from ’78 and ten- year increments seem tidy. In the 20 years from 1978 to 1998 the entry fee for Camp Perry has risen by 329% while the average income increased by 213%. Please note that in ’78 the entry fee also covered the cost of ‘three hots and a cot’-if you were inclined to live in a hut and eat at the Mess Hall-and this does skew this data slightly. The price of gas climbed by 143% while the cost of bread rose an astonishing 500%! Perry entry represented just 0.85% of income in ’78, compared to 1.3% in ’98. The cost increase of 0.45% has not even kept up with inflation.
A casual study of this unscientific survey and analysis indicates that the cost of Perry has risen but a rather a small amount when compared to other factors. I can gather few conclusions other than the price increase is relatively modest and entry fee level is not a valid basis for comparison between the days of nostalgia and those of today.
If shooting to earn money is your goal than you probably will be disappointed. A career in the NBA or Major League Baseball will bring more money. However, most people can not get jobs in professional sport while they can aspire to the elite level in amateur sport, of which shooting is certainly representative. There are a great many other rewards to be gained from shooting that cannot be measured in monetary terms. It is certain that to pursue the shooting sports with seriousness of purpose you must spend money. Oddly enough that is perhaps the only way you can be certain to end up with a small fortune if you are a shooter. All you have to do is start out with a large fortune.
