Zerk -
Japan has changed a lot since Hirohito and the Imperial Army and Navy sent their "postage stamps" into battle. I don't hold the Japanese people as a whole responsible any more than I hold white people responsible for the slavery and racial repression that preceded them but in which they had no part. It is easy to argue that many American goods are better quality because of foreign competition.
The fact is it IS a global economy. If you try to buy a computer without foreign parts you will have a long wait - until one is made, if ever again. Same thing with cars and many other products.
When it comes to firearms, I'm going to buy quality and value. That may mean a new or used Savage or Ruger or Remington or 'Portuguese' Winchester or a Japanese Weatherby or Howa or a European CZ or Sig or Glock or whatever. What I will not do is spend my hard earned money on what I consider a POS just because it says "Made in America".
My S&W Walther had to go back to the factory because of a recall. t seems that if you used the decock safety with a loaded chamber, some would go boom. We all know the stories and many of us have seen the photos of Remington bolt handles coming off, but I've never heard of a Howa bolt coming off. I've also never heard of a Howa having the Remington FOR (Fire On Release) safety problem. My Mossberg shotgun was a POS from day one.
YMMV.
You can play the game I never heard of this brand or that brand having an issue, all day long. I live Mosberg, I ike the the safety location. I do not shoot trap, so I haven't put enough through to really say. But I tend to think they get a bad rap.
The 700 safety, can be debated too. The lawsuits were questionable, as to what realy happened. I have flicked mine off and on, loaded, in a safe direction. I am not
familar withe X trigger recall.
But you can say lots of guns have never had recalls. Which obviously is a good metric, but does it mean a gun that was improved is bad? Obviously it can show poor design standards or pushing a rifle to market to quickly.
As for Japan, they are not that far removed from their war with China. We have a couple generations on them when it comes to slavery. Slavery was normal. I also think when we did it, we didn't full understand that blacks were human, same with Indian. When they took sex slaves from surrounding countries, it was not because they though they were subhuman. Maybe because they thought they were better than them. But mostly they just wanted sex slaves. Which is how I think they see many things still.
In general look how savage or immoral non European based countries are. When I say immoral, I am not talking about watching porn.
As I said I realize I can not by everything American, so please don't waste our time going down a list. But guns are one thing you can buy American. I get it if you want some high end foreign rifle, but are talking budget guns. In my opinion there are alot of American guns for $500 that will do just fine. I do not consider them to be POS, as you say. I am not even sure how you come with such a low rating. Most rifles under a certain price range have nuicances that we do no like, maybe they all do, depending on who you ask.
I do have a CZ over and under, beacuse I wanted a ultralight, and I wasn't seeing that in the price range I was looking at.J Though I tend to grab my Mosberg. I get buying foreign if it fits your need, and nothing else does here. But a bolt action rifle?
