Hi Gil,
You are a man after my own heart
I have only a few rifles which were brought new with the latest one being made in 1997 which is a Mauser M96 Slidebolt, most of them are of a certain vintage, but some of them are of Antique status and the Mannlicher Mdl 1892 which was built into a Best Sporting rifle by John Rigby of London looks only a few years old and not over 100 years old. certain Husqvarna Mod 46 built in 1935 is in excellent condition.
It's a sorry thing to say but the precision with which these older rifles were fitted together with is today sadly lacking despite the use of CNC machinery and computer probe inspection
Plain old hand skills are very hard to beat. As I type this I gaze upon a BSA Majestic Featherweight built in 1959 which is sooooo smooth to operate.
Certainly not a throw away society back then. But then again they cost more originally. A normal working man could not have afforded most of the guns I have, money was simply too tight and hard to earn, rose tinted specs may be OK for some things but would we really want to go back to the wages of thsoe times?