[Porsche-O-Phile]

Just because it's Century doesn't necessarily mean it's crap. It just means they bought bulk stock overseas. I've got several Century Arms/Big 5 specials and they all work just fine. You clean 'em up real good, pull the trigger and they go "bang" every time - decent accuracy too. I bought several Mosin-Nagants for dirt cheap there - now I've got a nice inventory of spare parts too. Something to keep in mind. Maybe it's better to have 2 or 3 "OK" M1s versus one "uber nice" M1 for the same price. Depends what you want it for. If you want it to collect, get the better one. If you want it to use or as a "in-case-the-zombies-come" line of defense, I figure it's better to have more pieces/parts around, even if they're not the prettiest.

Bottom line is don't write off the specials just because they don't live up to your personal "spoon snob factor". It depends what you want 'em for.

(That said, my next purchase will be a nickel-plated 1911, so I'm gettin' some spoon snobbishness in too!)