Quoted:
Sounds right. Friend of mine bought a new Colt carbine for $550 + $200 in '85. Over the next twenty years he put maybe 200 rounds through it.

Then he passed. Last I saw his relative that ended up with it was doing mag dump videos on Facebook.

Quoted:

FWIW, I bought my Colt M16A1 in 1994, right after Congress passed the so-called AW Ban. I saw the writing on the wall, and decided to go for it. I had two Colt SP1 rifles -- a regular one, and a nickel Coltguard one -- that I took to a show, and sold them for $600 and $700 respectively. I scrounged up some cash and bought My M16A1 for the vast sum of $2,000, plus the $200 tax of course.

It was as-new, no box. the only wear was slight finish wear on the face of the hammer. I did an FOIA and got the complete history: It was shipped by Colt on a Form 5 to an LE agency; then on another Form 5 to my dealer. So I am the second owner, but the first non-LE owner. Fortunately, the LE did not mark anything on her, and from the wear I assume it never left the armory rack.

BTW, Colt filed the Form 2 for her on March 7, 1978; I bought her in 1994 and took possession shortly after her 16th birthday. Her name is Suzy Q, and she became mine when she literally was Sweet Sixteen. In the quarter century we've been together, she has fired well over 50k rounds through her 14 uppers (she loves it when I buy her a "new outfit".)

Now Sweet Sixteen is pushing 42 -- in just eight years, she'll be C&R! And all she has to show for it is one nick in the anodizing from a rude H&K at the next position.

And that, my friends, is the long definition of Black Rifle Disease.