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One worry with new production is quality. I read an old 1940s article on Harry Reeves. He pretty much used stock Colt guns and won the Nationals with scores shot with iron sights that rival scores today shot with carefully assembled guns with scopes and custom ammo. Back then, 1930-1970 or so, the major American gun companies (Smith & Wesson, Colt, High Standard) all made excellent guns new in box. You didn't need one from "the custom shop" to get a shooter. I have some 1960s made of each, and they shoot knots at 50yds.

More recent offerings have suffered from poor quality, though Smith & Wesson has greatly improved since going CNC and SPC in the early 2000s. Others not so much. One couldn't even make magazines for its pistol that fit!

I've bought recently made stock factory M1911 pistols from various makers and they shoot shotgun sized patterns at 50yds.

Will the new 210 pistols be good quality or not?

The name has a reputation to maintain. That is the question - will they live up to the reputation or tarnish the name?

Matt

A group of investors bought the tooling from a famous but bankrupted US pistol maker that had gone from great to pathetic to under. The newly "reborn" company turned out some pretty bad product. They couldn't even make magazines that fit. The name & reputation, tarnished by its declining quality in the later 1970s, was gone. I won't mention the name and a few fit the description.

Despite CNC technology and the embrace of statistical process control methods in quality, steel is still a limiting factor. US and European steel was of very high quality. A century of knowledge was behind the product. Then we all lost our domestic steel industries to cheaper labor countries. They don't have that century of knowledge - it's dying with our retirees who also lost their pensions in this debacle.

My understanding is that the P210 had some critical heat treating and tolerances. I do indeed hope this new venture will bring back those experts, that their memories are fresh, and that they maintain the reputation rather than milk the name.

We lament the passing of pistols like the P210. The general production models were tack drivers out of the box. It was that way for Colt, High Standard, Smith and Wesson, and others back in the day.

They said it was too expensive to make really accurate pistols in quantity. I say junk that won't shoot straight is too expensive at any price. Making a pistol RIGHT isn't more expensive than making it wrong. Both pistols use just as much steel and take just as much labor.

Why is it my Corolla cars last 20 years? They cost about the same as comparable cars made by others. Yet they work better.

One of my older colleagues, who has many more patents than me and more than I can count, said that when your company stops innovating and starts "giving the customer what he asks for" it will soon fail. China will make stuff just as good and MUCH cheaper. You don't stay in business by giving the customer what he wants. Someone will always beat you on price. You stay in business by innovation.

Call me a heretic for asking this. But why try to make the P210 again? Why not make an even better design? Why not make the modern SIG offerings shoot well? Yes, customers want it, but for what? Collections? They want old rare ones. Target shooting? They'll actually take anything with sufficient accuracy that's allowed by the rules. Modern police/military sales? It's hard to compete there. They buy cheap crap for the most part - remember as you move into combat that your gear was made by the lowest bidder...

In the USA, THE pistol is John Browning's M1911. Until about the 1970s, you could buy a new in box factory Colt, nothing special done to it, and get a very accurate gun that needed little work - maybe hone the trigger and tighten up a few things. Then quality went to hell. The gunsmithing industry grew to meet demand. They'll take your newer M1911, throw away the innards, see if the slide and frame are worth salvaging, and fit new and better parts to make it do what an old Colt used to. Then companies like Kimber, Rock River, and others started making M1911 pistols like Colt used to and at a reasonable price.

There have been a lot of innovations in arms. On the outside, the modern well made M1911 looks like what John Browning brought to the Army trials 100 years ago or so. Inside the parts are better alloys, better heat treating, better machining, and they know where and how fitting and tolerances make a difference and how much after 100 years of dithering with them.

I wish this new group well and may buy one of their P210's if "The One" doesn't get in and finish off my country.

But to stay afloat they will need to innovate. And they will need to make good stuff.

Matt