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Originally Posted by tabs
Well there ya go with your misinformation again...At Colt and Smith if it didn't past the muster of perfection you had to fix it on your OWN TIME....that meant it got done right the first time.
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The problem was that there was simply too broad of a range of "right" in these mass produced guns. Some had fantastically smooth actions. Most did not. Pistolsmiths made very good money in those days, smoothing up factory actions. The factories' best efforts, on their top of the line, limited run guns was quite good. The rest were rather pedestrian, hit and miss as far as getting a "good" one.
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Originally Posted by tabs
Accuracy was pretty darn skippy back in the day of muzzleloading target guns..all you would have to do to realize that is read Ned Roberts book on the Cap Lock Rifle...why it was ole General Sedgwick who said, "That they can't hit you at this range" right before he was shot dead at 800 yards by a Confederate sniper using a muzzleloader.
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Well there ya go with your misinformation again...
Muzzle loading target arms of that time period remain some of the most accurate arms mankind has ever produced. The Irish team that showed up for the first Creedmoor matches were insulted and almost pulled out when the American challengers showed up with breach loaders. The Irish saw these new fangled rifles as a ready made excuse for when the American would inevitably lose.
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Originally Posted by tabs
Now with modern metallurgy and using CNC machines means that you can turn out a quality spoon at a fairly low cost. But the best of the target guns are still hand worked...ED Brown, Wilson, Springfield Custom...
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Of course they are hand worked. But a decent Ed Brown, Les Baer, Wilson, or other custom starts at about $3,000 and goes up rapidly from there, often exceeding $10,000. I just spent $900 on a new Smith that will out shoot anything you can show me from the pre-war era. And that is really the topic under discussion - today's production guns vs. yesterday's production guns, not what is available from high-end custom shops. The fact of the matter is that today's production guns from the major manufacturers are absolutely head and shoulder above what they were making back in the pre-war era. There really is no comparison, other than in finish and aesthetics, which the pre-war guns win hands down.