At the range the other day I noticed something.
My Springfield GI model has been running flawlessly. I'm quite pleased with it.
The guy in the next lane was not having any fun with his Kimber.
I offered to help and we took it apart to see if there was anything obviously wrong.
There wasn't but I was struck with how different the innards looked between our guns.
Mine has tooling marks galore; his was perfectly smooth on every machined surface.
I've noticed this before. In the Army the Remington-Rand guns were always rougher inside than the Colts (not that there were many Colt M1911A1 left in 1987).
I am now wondering that in the quest to make it pretty if they're ignoring critical dimensions.
My HS shop teacher had a favorite story in which the Brits (Rolls, to be precise) bought automatic transmissions (Powerglides) from GM, took one apart and noticed all of the rough surfaces. They machined them to bright shiny finishes and put the transmission back together...and it didn't work.
ReplyDeleteDunno about critical dimensions, but some parts just need to wear in together to work right.