Clif,
I can appreciate your response and it's sentiment. I would agree with your "pre 1964" observation which would apply to several makers of American firearms. If Win. was still in business and were making the M21 today I would imagine that they would employ the most modern methods to bring them to completion. The RBL is also an American made gun according to the advertising. This was a very large factor in my purchase of one.
I can't tell you if the Win steel is superior to the "86-20" steel of the RBL. The Win 21 was built to be stronger than any other SxS known according to the "test". Since there wasn't and isn't a alarming number of modern doubles flinging their parts to the winds while shooting appropriate ammo is stronger necessarily superior? At what point does stronger become overkill and actually make the gun less than ideal from a handling perspective?
I can't fault you on being upset about the wood on your RBL. That fit is unacceptable. A lot of the RBL criticism is justified when you see the real proof of it. I had no such issues with my RBL. I did not go with a wood upgrade and in my view won the CSMC wood lottery with a very nicely figured 2X stock, that fits as I expect a 3K gun to fit. The wood is slightly proud of and tight to the metal. If only they had considered leaving off most of the "engraving"!
Chief
