I'd dare anyone to tell the first Parker Kirk sleeved after he arrived here, the workmanship was that good and that was more than a few years ago now, meaning only that he has had a lot more practice since then and it was undetectable even then. He's a stand up guy and does some really beautiful work.
As far as lathes go, its just like Jon said, but another way of looking at it might be grades of the same gun. Some are fit, some are fit and polished. Back to lathes, its mostly a matter of what you wish to do with it and whether or not it can do the intended work. An old worn high quality lathe or a new less than tool room quality lathe can still do a lot of rough work, but you wouldn't wish to be making bullet dies with either, right? Even with a lathe for rough bbl. work final striking is done by draw filing w/a sharp mill cut file. I'm a lot more concerned about folks that know what a file card is and how to use it than I am about what kind of lathe is in the corner. [I don't mean that to sound 'smart', it is not intended that way.]
Trust Kirk to know what he's doing, I do.
