What happened to American gunmakers was American buyers.
Americans will buy any kind of sorry ass crap now. It ain't about quality anymore it's about a price point.
Mike
600 bucks is not a "price point", that's a lot of money for a .22 pistol and the buyer should have every expectation of top quality.
That Mark IV was built to a price point. Why do some people think a firearm's price is determined by caliber? It can and will cost almost as much to build a quality .22 as it does any other caliber firearm. $600 is not a lot of money for any firearm these days. I remember when you could get a Browning Superposed for under $400 and you could get a new car for $3K. Costs go up, as does wages. I'm more able to afford a $4K shotgun now than I was a $400 shotgun 25 years ago. If that Ruger Mark IV was not built to a price point it would be made with all machined forged steel parts, hand fitted and extensively tested before shipping and would cost you about $2K. The action on my .22 benchrest rifle, which was not built to a price point but was built to be perfect, cost me $1,500. For just the action! We can still make them near perfect, it's just going to cost more than most would want to pay.
