1m89,
I'm not sure it can be put in terms of black & white. Take the Smith & Wesson, Winchester, or Colt companies as an example. They've changed hands enough and maybe even moved enough that you wonder. Tooling has changed (for good reason). H&H has changed hands more than once, and it's tooling has changed as well.
King,
My take is that the term 'reproduction' is being used to put these guns in a catagory of 'copies', somehow of lesser qualities.
Like most products, especially machines, sxs guns evolved from copying earlier variants and incorporating improvements. H&H didn't invent the sxs, nor did they perfect it. But, they did contribute to raising the bar. Their guns incorporate many previously developed features or features others developed as their guns developed. But, we'd not use the term 'reproduction' or 'copy' when discussing an H&H.
Is a new H&H, S&W, Winchester, or Browning an 'original'? Is a AMF Harley a real Harley? I dunno, but you buy because of brand recognition as well as the actual quality. If you really want to tie your mind up, read the history of Atkin, Grant & Lang.
http://www.atkingrantandlang.co.uk/history.html What would we call these guns? But, 'repros' doesn't seem right.
