Were the old premium built revolvers truly better than more modern iterations?

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Were the revolvers from the 30’s and 40’s more accurate than the new SW performance center models (or other makes' premium lines)? Let's ignore for the sake of this discussion the topic of effecting fine finishes.


I’ve not had the opportunity to handle or shoot many of the classic revolvers….aside from a dear friend’s very old SW .22 revolver which i must admit feels beautiful in hand and is very accurate.


If this is true, i wonder why that might be. The higher end tooling and machines in use today must be more precise. CAD-CAM must have facilitate improved design and optimized tolerances and interface relationships. Material sciences have no doubt added much to the matter.
 

I certainly appreciate the value of experienced hands fitting and effecting beautiful work but people are still capable of pretty amazing work. 


I would imagine that specialized teams such as those dedicated to the performance center must in general felt to be more experienced, talented etc.


Curious as to your thoughts and if in fact the older high grade revolvers really were better?

I have an 85% 1955 built, pre-28 Smith and Wesson that I legged the NRA Distinguished Revolver with several years ago.  I easily put five shots inside the ring of the X-ring with decent 148gr wadcutters.   I'd rather own that over any of the new stuff.

brand-new wrote:Were the revolvers from the 30’s and 40’s more accurate than the new SW performance center models (or other makes' premium lines)? Let's ignore for the sake of this discussion the topic of effecting fine finishes.


I’ve not had the opportunity to handle or shoot many of the classic revolvers….aside from a dear friend’s very old SW .22 revolver which i must admit feels beautiful in hand and is very accurate.


If this is true, i wonder why that might be. The higher end tooling and machines in use today must be more precise. CAD-CAM must have facilitate improved design and optimized tolerances and interface relationships. Material sciences have no doubt added much to the matter.
 

I certainly appreciate the value of experienced hands fitting and effecting beautiful work but people are still capable of pretty amazing work. 


I would imagine that specialized teams such as those dedicated to the performance center must in general felt to be more experienced, talented etc.


Curious as to your thoughts and if in fact the older high grade revolvers really were better?

You have been lied to horribly, and like most of the world, you have bought the lies.

CAD CAM is NOT more precise, is not better. 

To put it concisely, look at how well the holes in a chinese bicycle kit line up. If youve put one together, youll know that the holes only line up if you have a good 3 pound hammer and a come along..

What cad cam, and geometric dimensioning has done is given the companies an ability to increase the tolerances and lower the quality. I will give a few good examples. 

In college when I had geometric dimensioning class, the teacher showed us that in the old days, before 1950 when locating a hole in a steel plate for a shaft or pin or bolt to go through, the tolerances allowed the hole in the plate to be off, inside the shape of a square. 

Modern GDT cad cam tolerancing let you increase the hole location tolerance to be a CIRCLE . 

 Meaning, in 1950, the hole for the steel pin could be anywhere inside a 1"x1" square section of space.  GDT and CAD CAM allows the hole for the pin to be anywhere inside a circle of 1" radius. or 2 " diameter. 

Now the main issue is fitment, and standards. For example, it is well known that the modern gun companies have no issue sending out revolvers with barrel gaps of .12 though smith does try to generally aim to hit .008 ot less. 

What we are seeing is a twofold hit of lower specification and lower workmanship.  Sure smith and wesson COULD build a revolver to the same standards as in 1940. But it would cost them in terms of completion time. Most likely 1 revolver assembled per hour the old way. Versus 2 or 3 the new way.

fascinating. i know nothing about such things and so, really appreciate the information. i would never have imagined this to be as you've described.

In the old days they were Showen and had book to teach them how to put them together the right way, today they are standards. Today is more on telling the machines what to do, when and how. the craftsman ship is isn't there as strong, but the measurements are there. when the old guys retiring and the new techs were coming in, they had a hard time to switch over to the new way. But the guns are built better and stronger. Engineer's can draw a butthole on paper, but they have to give it to the workers to make it fart. I'm an electrician by trade and the above statement has been true on every job I have been on. We need them to give us 80% of what they need for it to do. PLEASE don't take it as a insult, I don't mean it that way.

Part of the problem is most of the buying public doesn’t understand what a good gun is capable of nor can they even achieve such performance. That’s the price point equipment is made to. The gub of the month in the NRA rag…

I must admit, this state of less than optimal quality in production truly saddens me. 

This country has been very good to myself and my family.  I find it both surprising and disappointing. 

I know so many hard working, smart, talented and wonderful people...people who do incredible things.

It is not every country that has countless people desperate to gain access and share in its promise.

I hope that we can promote, reestablish, teach and share this / our culture of excellence.

I was offered a S&W Jerry Miculek 9mm revolver the other day, retail is in the $2500 range with a fancy Pelican case and not much else.  The trigger was mediocre at best, the finish was okay, the grips uninteresting and as an owner of a previous SW 9mm revolver that was not accurate by any standard, I'm sure it was not in the least bit accurate. I took a hard pass.

These days "custom" means it was built without following the instructions or procedures correctly.

I appreciate your thoughts. 

I just can't give up on our people and our nation....our children....I can't give up on people in general. 

There are so many amazing processes, technologies and advancements being imagined and effected here and around the world (sure there's lots of garbage as well). 

I would like to believe that as these new concepts and technologies advance and evolve it will once again be expressed in consumer goods, firearms and so many other products. 

I strongly believe that there will always be those among us who strive for excellence. Survival and profit are as always among the strongest of motivators. 

Time will as always tell. 

I recently had the opportunity to shoot a SW WW1 era revolver....it had a surprisingly nice trigger feel and while large and heavy framed it exhibited a nice overall balance. I've started to save my shekels and if the stars align I might just pick one next year. Sadly i won't be shopping for a new SW and i feel bad admitting that.