Revolver Quality........

I'm a pretty good self-taught pistolsmith who's done many action jobs and target triggers on various revolvers and some semi-autos over the past 40 years.

Fit and finish are important to me, but more important is the interaction of well-fitted parts and excellent metallurgy, especially hardened wear surfaces within a handgun.

S&W handguns are usually very good from the factory, but need a bit of smoothing for best functioning. Stainless steel revolvers are pretty, but don't take as much shooting use as a well-hardened carbon steel revolver. Yet, I have had several and if I don't cut through the hardening layer on internal parts, they last well as a carry gun.

It does little good to the customer to have a finely-tuned revolver unless they know how to maintain them to the degree necessary. Weak springs, lack of lubrication, or backed-out strain screws can come back to bite you...at the most critical time!!! Err on the side of reliable function whenever doing work on handguns.

I refuse to work on guns that have such soft steel that they won't stay in tune. Cheap imports often wear to become dangerous to the owner. IMHO, Ruger firearms generally have some of the best metallurgy and safety margin, though smooth function isn't quite up to par with S&W "potential" in a highly-improved firearm. I've seen/owned cheap Ruger semi-auto .22s that have had hundreds of thousands of rounds through them and they still look like new inside. That's just remarkable!
 
quality is more about durability realy. if you have a low cost revolver that canshoot a coffee can all day long at 25 yards, that doesnt look to pretty, its quality.
if you have a 2000 revolver that cant hit a car door at 2 yards...its not quality
 
Straightshooter, I too have a Rossi that works, but trust me it ain't no S&W or Ruger. Put 50 or 100 rounds per week thru it and see how long it lasts. Look at older Rossis and most will be loose. It's a copy of an S&W and mine is nice but my son's needs a tune up. They don't hold up to heavy usage like a Ruger or S&W. Mine is well worth the 150.00 I gave for it.
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You have opted to ignore my point altogether but that's ok. I will take my Rossi and my Chevy over your Smith and Cadillac any day...;)
 
I can jump in here, coming from the manufacturing perspective.

There is Quality, Value, and Price Point. They may appear in the same product, but the expectations of the consumer may or may not be realistic.

Quality:
1. Performs as advertised
2. Exhibits reliabilty , dependability , repeatability
3. Made of good materials, as designed to the Price Point
4. Fit and finish consistent to the Process which delivers the performance of the product at that price point
5. Lasts to realistic life span given its available design, costs of material at time of production, costs of labor, skills of labor, and technology used to make product

Value:
1. The Product looks, performs true to Price paid.
2. If the craftsmanship is consistent or exceeds the Price Point, then the product exhibits exeptional value.
3. If the expectations of the consumer is achieved, given what he paid, and waht he expected, then the value increases
4. If the product benefits from the Tech, the skills available at the time of production, or a special batch of well-priced raw materials in a commodities cycle, then it offers a once-in-a-lifetime super value.

Price Point
1. Products are offered at a price to meet profit margins
2. More Labor hours or more costly materials or more finishing steps requiring more skills always raise the Price
3. At some point, there is ALWAYS diminishing returns for the Manufacturer AND the Consumer

I really like the fact mentioned above that for some poor college kid, a solid Taurus revolver, or something not glamorous, is a great value for the money he gave up to get it.

For those who can afford the SWPC, or Korth, or collector grade Colts, they stand to benefit more from the higher prices paid for that finished product.

I am so fortunate to own good Smiths, Colts, and Freedom Arms. The close tolerances, the accuracy, the movement of the action, the bluing, the balance, are all wonderful to appreciate.

I also own 4 Taurus revolvers which have been accurate, solid, not loose, and looks good enough launching lead and copper. Their resale values are nowhere near the Colts and Smiths. I was also lucky that I never needed to send any of them back. For the price point, I had good quality and value out of those particular revolvers.

I also have good luck with Astra revolvers, too. IN 357 and 44 mag.
 
Well, it doesn't sound like quality means the same thing to everyone. And by the way, everything here applies to automatics and rifles, too, more or less.

There is such a thing as pricing policy, though that happens more at the retail end of things, rather than at the wholesale or manufacturer's end. It is as though a retailer wants to project a certain quality of the product by the pricing. The higher the price, the higher the qualtiy. Right? However, where it might get confusing is the way a company like Ruger has products priced all over the scale. Their No. 1 rifles are not inexpensive but some of their handguns are relatively moderately priced.

Cost is different and may not be that closely related to selling price. The identical product made by the same company, even domestically, may not cost the same to produce in different places. Obviously that's why production migrates within the country to lower cost locations.

If a high qualtiy firearm is accurate, could it have a mediocre finish? If it is finely made and exhibits excellent craftsmanship but is unreliable under certain conditions, is it high quality? If it is only so-so at the range, yet would last two or three lifetimes, is it high quality? Is a Colt lightweight Commander the same quality as a Colt Combat Commander, which in theory should last longer? If something has a good price but you can't find one, is it still a good price?
 
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