That $25 was about the "everyman" standard
c. 1912 hardware/sporting goods catalog prices. $25 = about $900 today
Parker Trojan - $27.50
Torkelson B Grade - $25
L.C. Smith No. 00 - $25
Fox Sterlingworth - $25
DS Grade Lefever - $25
Field Grade Ithaca - $19
Baker Batavia Special - $19
Manhattan Arms Co./ Hunter Arms Co. Fulton - $15
Stevens No. 335 - $15.85
Folsom/Crescent/American Gun Co. Knickerbocker - $13.50
N.R. Davis B.S. grade - $14
Hopkins & Allen - $15
The United States Revenue Act of 1913, also known as the Underwood Tariff or Underwood-Simmons Act re-imposed the federal income tax and lowered the basic tariff rates from 40% to 25%, well below that of the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act of 1909. The 1913 Act established the lowest rates since the Walker Tariff of 1857. Most schedules were put on an ad valorem basis (a % of the dollar value of the item.) The duty on woolens went from 56% to 18.5%. Steel rails, raw wool, iron ore, and agricultural implements had zero rates.
Since 1894 “Sporting, breech-loading double-barrel shotguns” had a 35% ad valorem PLUS an import duty of $1.50 if priced less than $6, $4 if $6-$12, and $6 if priced greater than $12. “Single-barrel breech-loading shotguns” had the same 35% ad valorem PLUS an import duty of $1. The Tariff Act of 1913 changed the duty to 15% ad valorem.
Suddenly, foreign shotguns began to flood the American market. The US firearms industry, and the international economy, was profoundly altered however in 1914 by the outbreak of World War I. American products, including arms and ammunition, were suddenly in great demand throughout the world, while imports from much of Europe dropped markedly.
1939 Stoeger Catalog No. 31 (Courtesy of David Noreen) $25 = about $600 today
Winchester Model 12 Standard Grade - $42.50
Remington Model 31AP - $42.95
Ithaca Model 37 Standard - $42.95
Two Trigger Extractor Doubles
New Ithaca Double Field Grade - $43
Lefever Nitro Special - $30.85
Lefever A-Grade - $37.35
Western Arms Long Range Double - $24.95
Iver Johnson Hercules - $35 / $32 in .410
L.C. Smith Field Grade - $43.20 (Same as Hunter Arms SRP)
Hunter Arms Fulton - $25
Hunter Arms Hunter Special - $31.75
