This is beginning to sound a lot like something Jack O’Connor wrote about the cheapening of the Winchester Model 70 in 1964. He said it apparently never occurred to the powers at Winchester to keep making the better rifle and up the quality and price, and make the cheaper rifle for the masses.
And when the Winchester Model 70 Classic appeared in 1990, it sold far better than any of the people at Winchester expected. They thought it would be a limited model that appealed only to the dinosaurs who liked controlled-round-feed, but within a few years the Classic became the standard Model 70.
