I think it has to do with labor costs. Fitting wood to metal takes an experienced craftsman who demands a high hourly wage, but precision machining parts to ensure accuracy just takes a good CNC setup, which is a one time investment.
That, and the ROI is excellent. The market for a really nice gun is far smaller than the market for an acceptable production gun that shoots straight.
How many threads do you see on THR where people talk about how great the polished blue on their new rifle barrel is? You know, Ruger still sells a rifle that doesn't look unfinished, at a price that's competitive with [strike]Cerberus[/strike] Remington guns -- actually,
more than competitive in some cases. But people complain about the Rugers, and love the fact that the Remington groups tighter, whether it matters or not for whitetails at 150 yards. Clearly, most customers don't much care about polish.
Damn near all Remington's guns look like the 870 Express these days, unless they're Custom Shop runs. But like I said, Ruger takes crap here and all over the place because they don't make an elk rifle that shoots 1/2" groups with a hot barrel. Obviously, not a lot of production gun buyers these days give a rip about fit and finish.
Some hot rodders have $5000 paint jobs. Other guys have rusty, dented cars painted with gray primer, and a big engine.
Remington sells to the latter.
Yeah, if you handle one of their guns these days, they seem damned expensive for what is realistically a lower-grade rifle. But man, they do shoot straight, and that's all most of their buyers care about.
I'm guilty, too. I don't see any reason to buy a display-case-quality gun so I can toss it in the mud. I prefer stainless, if I'm paying extra.
There was a thread here recently where a lot of people chimed in that anything but a semiauto is boring.
These are not exactly connoisseurs of firearms, but their money is green.
You can make as much money selling Black Velvet as Balvenie -- either way, you have to know your customers and what they value.
