Worth the premium. This is where we get to the sticky point of price and justification etc.
William Powell, the "Purdey of Birmingham" offered the Famars droplock under their name, for 5000 pounds sterling. The WR droplock sold for much more. The premium was for the higher quality or the name, or a mix of both, who knows.
There is a stunning article by Bruce Owen, former production manager of Purdeys published in Shooting Sportsman about 12 years ago. Owen details the use of CNC machines in best gunmaking, how it has forced an improvement in steel quality (in "best" guns!!!), tightening of tolerances (again in "best" guns!) and economical advantages through inventory reduction and production speed. POndering whether any of these advantages were passed on to the client, Owen notes that this is a matter for the marketing departments. Nice sidestep but inevitable implications!
With Owen's comments in mind, I get suspicious over the words "premium" and "best". Best was for years said to be a gun that combined the best materials and workmanship available, something Own contradicts. There were better materials available but the "best" makers used those that were amenable to their antique production methods. In fact they did not go over to quality steels till the 1980s. The Italians had done so much earlier.
I have had my droplock since 1983. I am still trying to figure the engineering sense of a solid cross pin and how it sits unsupported by any action metal at the front. The unsupported cross pin is found on cheapo folding guns that we gun snobs deride.
Accesibility can be achieved by unscrewing a stock bolt, as per Perazzi MX12 and 20, with no need for detachability. Something impossible in a traditional gun, due to grip screws, another one of those quaint traditional tortures that command a premium.
