mgmorden said:
It's pure business. If they keep selling them, they'll keep making them. If people want cheaper materials, they'll respond with such. Simple as that.
S&W seems to be hell bent on giving customers exactly what the
don't want. MIM parts, integral locks, ugly rubber grips, bluing that looks like it was applied with a magic marker and stainless that is finished with sandpaper. If customers counted, why can't I have chromed hammers and triggers? Why can't I have a beautiful finish like Taurus? What if I don't want a lock? What if I think the rear sights look Mickey Mouse? And what if I want the front sight to be part of the barrel and not some tapped in cheap parts?
Why do the prices keep soaring while S&W keeps cutting so many corners there's hardly any corners left. Indeed, I think S&W's take it or leave it mentality has been deplorable.
What's worse is that "blue book" prices make no distinction between the older, and beautifully crafted, older models and the newer crapola models.
I have nothing against the new rubber grips, and the guns will function just as well as the older models -- but why should I have to pay the same price...er...a
higher price and get so much less? What's more, blue book writers keep screwing the owners of guns with wood grips, chromed target triggers and hammers and the like by essentially dumping them into rhe same pot as the cheapend guns.
The Model 10 used to be a gorgeous piece of craftsmanship, with hand-fitted parts and a deep blue that was breathtaking. Whether it survives isn't as much the question as if it does survive, in what form?
Based on the recent past, and the company's bull-headed attitudes, it may not even be recognizable. The older guns won't last forever, and the newer guns may morph into something people my age just won't want.