Gun Prices

[Pony Lakota]

Hello CAS -
Just wondering. You can buy a Winchester 92 for about $700.00 (hope I am close with that price) or a Rossi replica for $400.00. Colt revolvers cost a fortune, replicas are cheaper I realize. Are single action revolvers more difficult to make than lever action rifles?
Thanks For Your Time

[Four-Eyed Buck]

I wouldn't say more difficult to make, more difficult to make right. It took Uberti a while to get their quality up. ASM never did get theirs under control. Beretta has had problems with theirs, a modified version of the Colt action. Most problems are with timing and hardness of internal parts. There's been some problems with lever guns as well, especially with those that are timed for dual cartridges........Buck

[Badlands Walker]

Are we actually discussin' prices, or makin' guns?

[Cuts Crooked]

Are we actually discussin' prices, or makin' guns?

Tell ya at I think, pard. I think the two are interelated!

"makin' guns", and how they're made are part of what makes prices what they are. If you buy a new Colt, you are buying the "COLT" name, which the manufacture feels has some intrinsic value in and of itself. There is also the fact that a new SAA is not a production item anymore. Every one that goes out the door is made in the Colt Custom Shop, instead of being manufactured on an assembly line. Why Colt chooses to make them this way is a puzzlement to me, but it's part & parcel of their overall business stratagy with the SAAs. Lots of hand fitting = higher prices because of higher cost to produce. Whether this produces a significantly better gun, I won't go into.

When you buy an Italian copy of the SAA, you are getting a gun that was mass produced in an assembly line process. The Italians thinking is to make a servicable gun, with lower manufacturing cost, so they can sell more of them at a lower price. Ergo: Volume = profits.

There are other factors that my simple mind doesn't wrap itself around very well, such as labor costs, material costs, etc. But the basics are as noted above...plus Americans want more money for their work than the average European expects. Irrespective, both processes have pluses and minuses

Now the Winchester vs Rossi I can't explain! Winchester doesn't even make their 92s in this country! If you buy a new Winny 92 you are getting a Japanese made gun! So I guess they are trading on the "name" alone!?!?! Rossi, being made in Brazil, has lower labor costs and lower material costs, again making high volume a good deal for them. The quality of the guns they produce is higher than one would expect, but the wood they slap on them sometimes really sucks!

[Badlands Walker]

Well, I would have to say that pretty much somes it up then!

Much obliged pard!