Handgun Technology

Ammo Prices

Speaking of ammo, I remember 2004 as about the last period when I could buy a 100-pack of Winchester white box 9mm ball for $10 before sales tax. The 2004 Gun Digest listed .38 Special +P carry loads at $20 for a box of 50 and .45 ACP for $18 to $31 a box, not bad at all in comparison to 2024 prices. On the gun budget side, a Model 642 Smith & Wesson listed for $571 suggested retail in the same 2004 Gun Digest and the GLOCK 17 started at $641, not vastly cheaper than today.

For perspective, a quick check on the Internet showed that in 2004, the average American’s income was $28,770 a year, average price of a single home was $195,200 and gasoline was $1.89 a gallon. Gun stuff has held up against inflation better than some think.

In 2004 Ruger was still making their rugged, value-priced P-series; Para-Ordnance was still in business; HK was selling their P7M8 for $1,471 new; and S&W was still producing their wonderful Gen3 autoloaders. Indeed, S&W had introduced an excellent 1911 in 2004 and wrote an unexpected chapter in the classic brand war with their ancient arch-rival Colt. Of all the guns I just mentioned, only the SW1911 (and of course, Colt’s 1911s), remain with us today.

Weapon-mounted lights, once the province of SWAT, had already become pretty much standard for K9 officers in 2004, and were rapidly becoming the new norm for uniformed patrol and popular in the home defense sector as well. Carry optics were only a gleam in the eye of some forward-thinking people but by 2024 would become The New Hotness.

Handgun technology may not advance at the speed of high tech, but the last score of years shows it moves relentlessly forward at its own pace.

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