I just spent a day at a gunshow with three CHINESE M-14 rifles for sale on my table.
My neighbor at the show had an OLDER Springfield Armory M1A SUPER MATCH rifle on his table, as well as a boodle of GENUINE USGI Parts and US made SEI and SA aftermarket parts.
That OLD SA Supermatch was one of the last all US made M1A type rifles, where the receiver was carefully built by experienced US craftsmen, and Genuine USGI M-14 parts were carefully fitted. It had a Macmillan stock and heavy SS barrel, and represents a fine example [ about as good as you can get ] of a US built firearm ...
way better than anything that Sproingfield turns out today [ CAST parts from various offshore suppliers and a out of spec receiver CAST in Canada ]
My neighbor was asking $ 3500 for his SA Supermatch, which is actually a bit below market value. As a fact, I sold one almost identical in year 2000 for way more than that.
I was asking $ 650 for one of my "mildly tweaked" Chinese M-14 rifles. In talking things over with my neighbor, and with the various customers who came along, the consensus was that the SA Supermatch was worth what he was asking, and the Chinese rifles I was selling for $ 650 were a bargain.
BUT,
as a matter of fact,
one of my mildly tweaked Chinese "piece of crap" M14 rifles will shoot better than his SA supermatch.
And you know what?
When you buy an M-14 that I have tweaked, I will guarantee it personally. And you can deal with me personally.
When you buy a US MADE Sproingfield, IN THEORY, they also guarantee their work, but in the real world, their repair service SUCKS BIG TIME. You will wait MONTHS for a repair, and may have to send the thing back several times for another go around, till the highly paid US "?CRAFTSMEN?" get it right. Don't believe me? Go on any US M-14 forum and read the litany of SA "quality control" stories.
The ONE and only real advantage of the SA built rifle, is that you can take it down into the US for matches, and you can't do that with a Chinese built rifle.
But this is more about protectionary US laws protecting decadent US industries that are simply uncompetitive in todays world markets, than it is about ensuring "quality".
So you tell me,
why would anyone pay THAT MUCH more for the priviledge of owning a GENUINE made in the US firearm?
PS: If you are typing your e-mails on a IBM computer newer than three years old, then you are working on a CHINESE built computer. That's right folks ... good ol' IBM [ the epitomy of US Capitalism ] gave up trying to compete with the Chinese on the hardware side of their businerss, and sold it to the Chinese.
No wonder the US economy is in such trouble ... the Chinese own most of it, and could pull the plug any time it suited them by merely converting their US dollars into Gold or Canucklehead bucks.
Wait a minute ...
maybe that is their long term plan after all??
TINFOIL HAT TIME
[ Moderator please don't mistake this for RACISM as I am {probably} just kiddin']
I am not worried about Chinese "?communist?" slave labor so much as I am about these so called "communists" out finessing the US at the Capitalist game.
I think the US has already lost the war on terror, and effectively lost WW III, which it turned out was fought, not with nukes, but with the other favorite weapon of the US, $$$$$.
OOPS,
it is too late for our generation,
but you might still have time to sign your kids up for Mandarin classes ...
or else they won't be getting any promotions from their new Chinese bosses.
So enough with the Chinese bashing ...
since you are most likely doing it on a Chinese built computer, I wouldn't be a bit surpised if the clever little yellow devils hadn't built in a hardware Trojan Horse system to keep track of people like you. Who knows ... maybe they already have your name on a list?
[;{)
LAZ 1
Hungry here: Nope, no racism here. I'm with you on the Xhinese built komputers and their financing of the OIF conflict. That's why our $ is so strong. I agree with your analysis on having yer kids sign up for Mandarin classes, the Kommunists are becoming an economic powerhouse whether we like it or not. Hey, I need a new wireless mouse soon....likely made in China !