The two best known of later "second tier" American gun makers, Iver Johnson and Harrington and Richardson, started out making guns that were pretty much "state of the art" at first. But both companies chose to "take the profits" rather than plowing some money back into R&D, so their designs eventually became obsolete and sales dropped in a vicious, downward, circle. Today, those guns are no better and no worse than they ever were, but when/where better guns are available, they have become of interest only to collectors.
Jim
