Some here act like out sourcing is some dirty little secret. It is not. Known about for years. From the name makers, retailer and makers who make some grades in house and buy others from outside and finish in house it makes good business sense. It makes sense. Get the level of work done, at a decent price, make a profit and keep in business.
If they could have done so cheaper, in house, they would have, but they could not. Today many companies find it impossible to afford a 100K+ CNC machine to make one part, maybe a hundred times and are forced to find out source suppliers. If you could buy side plates ready to use for a pound and it cost a pound and a few shillings to make in house you bought them from the outside. You might have a person who can do case coloring/harding much better than your in house man does, you send it out. Buying from this system makes it possible to build guns to a price point or a quality point as the buyer is willing to pay for. If a buyer wants the highest grade you use the best craftsman, buyer wants a gun made to a certain price point you send it out to others who charge less but also may not make as nice a product.
I think that the real question, that many want to have answered, is who made 80% of the guns "for the trade" and the "name makers" who may have finished in house or just applied their name to the final gun? We have all seen a half a dozen different names on the same gun. Identify the real maker would tell you a lot about the trade and make it easier to compare what we see as apples and oranges for what they really are apples and other apples with another name on them. Buy the gun not the name is very sound advice.
