Got mine in 1981 for $129. After the lenses fell out of the really cheap scope I bought for it I put a $175 scope on it. Those 2 are still together to this day.
That was part of the problem. Retirement gives you the time to do everything you want. My problem was falling in love with an inexpensive .45 acp carbine that's more often times then not is a $1 a shot. I do want one more higher caliber gun, but after that I think its going to be .22 if any.
Ammo cost has been killing me here lately, so to offset the price a bit I've been shooting .22lr a bit more. I've had a Ruger 10\22 since 1981 and my SR22 is probably 10 years old. After a 2 month back and forth with RK I finally got a Heritage Rancher carbine. I gotta say I'm happy with this...