johnwilliamson062
Moderator
S&W and colt make a CNC and MIM guns that require minimal skill for line workers to assemble. Some parts require some fitting, but not many.
The Colt DA revolvers you mention were machined by hand and almost every part was extensively hand fit by a very experienced and skilled gunsmith. I don't think Freedom Arms now uses as much hand fitting as the old Colts did. Current production Rugers and S&W production revolvers aren't in the same sport, let alone the same ball park when it comes to production methods OR results.
Some of the hand fitting and cost could be reduced with CNC machines and other technology, but to get guns that match the historic production, quite a bit would still be required.
I have a small exposure to hand fitting/finishing high precision CNC parts in my work. It is surprisingly labor intensive, especially when dealing with very hard materials and requires some patience and training. What I deal with is much simpler than making all the interacting parts of a Colt DA design synchronize.
I think Colt could probably make a really nice snake, charge $5,000 for it and turn a profit. They could at least break even and have a flagship product everyone wanted to bring their brand into the forefront. There is so much money being spent on guns, collecting, investing, etc, I think a $5,000 Colt revolver sells ok if made to a high standard. Why bother when you can just make mediocre quality products and charge DOD high quality prices and not worry about competition. Oops.
The Colt DA revolvers you mention were machined by hand and almost every part was extensively hand fit by a very experienced and skilled gunsmith. I don't think Freedom Arms now uses as much hand fitting as the old Colts did. Current production Rugers and S&W production revolvers aren't in the same sport, let alone the same ball park when it comes to production methods OR results.
Some of the hand fitting and cost could be reduced with CNC machines and other technology, but to get guns that match the historic production, quite a bit would still be required.
I have a small exposure to hand fitting/finishing high precision CNC parts in my work. It is surprisingly labor intensive, especially when dealing with very hard materials and requires some patience and training. What I deal with is much simpler than making all the interacting parts of a Colt DA design synchronize.
I think Colt could probably make a really nice snake, charge $5,000 for it and turn a profit. They could at least break even and have a flagship product everyone wanted to bring their brand into the forefront. There is so much money being spent on guns, collecting, investing, etc, I think a $5,000 Colt revolver sells ok if made to a high standard. Why bother when you can just make mediocre quality products and charge DOD high quality prices and not worry about competition. Oops.
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