Florida Shooters Network

Came across this looking for something else

Cost of manufacturing Weapons during WW II.. There are a few others that do this, But I like
the range of guns. Nice overview. So much of the cost depends on the year...

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/featur ... _guns.html

What blew me away, was the cost of the 1918 BAR put that in todays dollars that about 4500..

That is just about spot on to the price that Ohio Ordnance charges for their 1918a3 today.

https://www.oowinc.com/exclusives/semi-auto/1918a3-slr/

Also it was a wow to see the price of the MA-DUCE and 1919a4... I bet that price does not include the mounts and extras for those beasties

Don’t forget the Grease Gun. About $20 to make by the Guide division of GM. To this day, Guide still makes headlamps, & tail lamps for GM. GARY

I've read in past that the cheapest personal weapon of WW II was the Russian PPS-42/43 series SMG. I believe they said the unit price was under $5. In 1942 they considered dropping the production of PPSh 41 in favor of the PPS 42/43 due to cost and resource requirements but finally decided to keep the PPSh 41 as the standard SMG because they had already heavily invested in tooling for PPSh 41.
I've seen couple PPS 42/23 in museums and they do look rough.
BTW I don't consider FP-45 Liberator as a personal weapon.

N4KVE wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2020 3:10 pm Don’t forget the Grease Gun. About $20 to make by the Guide division of GM. To this day, Guide still makes headlamps, & tail lamps for GM. GARY

I loved the Grease Gun! That and my 1911 were my personal weapons as a tank gunner. It wasn't built for accuracy but a blast to shoot!

I'd imagine the STEN was pretty cheap to pump out. Pretty much exhaust pipe and sheet metal

NorincoKid wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2020 7:05 pm I'd imagine the STEN was pretty cheap to pump out. Pretty much exhaust pipe and sheet metal

In the article: Mk II Sten: $11 (1942)

The Mk III was even cheaper, as it was simpler to make, but I don't remember the price.