With all of the excitment surrounding Matt Williams bringing out his new action, it seems as though people are already questioning how Matt can claim that he can make a "quality" action and sell it for less than what some other "quality" action sells for.

When I ask about what makes a quality action, I don't mean what features. That is a conversation about the Remington versus the Ruger Versus the Winchester versus the Mauser versus the Sako, etc. etc.

Just what is "quality" and how much are you willing to pay for it?

Literally thousands of people in the good old USofA hunt their whole lives with Remington/Winchester/Savage/Ruger/Marlin rifles and never have anything go wrong with them, that's quality! Then there is QUALITY! Quality is like many things, it's different things to different people. I would never argue that a Prechtl action wasn't QUALITY. There are many other custom/handmade actions that fall in that category. The old statement that "you get what you pay for" is mostly true. A Fred Wells action used to start at $3000 about 15 years ago and it definately was quality. The fit and finish on his actions and complete rifles was as good as it gets. Darcy Echols makes QUALITY rifles and they are expensive. I guess the real difference is once they function well and shoot accurately, it is the grade of the wood used, the fineness of the inletting and checkering, the beauty and grace of the shape and the finish of the exterior. How well is the metal finished, no tool marks, satin smooth surfaces, rust blueing, tasteful engraving and last lots of very well done, understated, bells and whistles. I love QUALITY, I can only afford quality.

To me a quality action is one that can be put to use as is, as opposed to having to send it off to be “fixed/modified†in order to make it function reliably and shoot accurately...and it should require nothing more than regular cleaning and maintenance to continue to function reliably and shoot accurately for a reasonable amount of rounds through it.

My used Savage will group three and five shot groups in an inch, usually with two or three touching. If it didn't hold an inch group I would have sold it. Trying to say there is quality and there is QUALITY is justifying spending money to say you bought a certain item. Good quality is fit, finish and function; not how many dodads you can hang off of a gun.

From Wikipedia (Dec 15, '05 2100Z:

"Quality refers to the inherent or distinctive characteristics or properties of a person, object, process or other thing. Such characteristics may enhance a subject's distinctiveness, or may denote some degree of achievement or excellence."

In an action I usually think of quality expressed in fit and finish, and in the slickness of operation.

jim

Well, I have a like new 1909 Argentine that is smooth as warm butter and beautifully machined like you just don't see on todays actions. But a lot of people wouldn't call it quality.

The Krag is certainly slick and of fine fit and finish as are a lot of early 20th century arms. I must admit my Marlin 336 RC of 1950 vintage is really slick too.....where did we go wrong...production quota, cost cutting, profit margin, or maybe we just don't care as much anymore. There are some beautiful guns being built today, just most of us can't afford them. Pride of ownership is probably grounded in quality to some extent...I find myself more proud of my old guns than the new ones!!

quote:

Originally posted by 22WRF:
Well, I have a like new 1909 Argentine that is smooth as warm butter and beautifully machined like you just don't see on todays actions. But a lot of people wouldn't call it quality.

I would! Quality is in the eye of the
beholder in many ways. And if it says DWM on the
side, all the better! I'd call it "classy".

For example: Take the Montana 1999 action.
She's pretty and has some nice features....but
she's grossly overweight! Kinda like a good looking fat broad?

Then there is the Kimber 8400. Sleek, racy
and good looking, but flakey and unpredictable.
Kinda like a high maintenance bimbo.

The new crf Winchester 70 is pure American.
Not so bad, but has too high an opinion of
itself. Arrogant?

By the way, I'd consider the 1909 kinda like
a refined European woman, German to be exact.
I'd take her any day!

Get the picture?

Quality certainly has something to do with the application intended for the action.

For an action intended solely for accuracy shooting , BR say, issues such as dimensional integrity, rigidity, ability to operate without disturbing on the bag, lock time, trigger weight are certainly right on top of the list.

For a hunting action, some of the attributes cited under the BR actions also come into play, but perhaps not to the same extent. E.g. I'm sure a lot of people would be willing to sacrifice rigidity for low weight. Or, feeding and ejection becomes of paramount importance. However, there is probably no general requirement for 2oz triggers for hunting actions... Ability to function in adverse environment (dust, ice, water) is probably an attribute required here, and although that has much to do with action design, it also has a lot to do with tolerances between parts. Again a point where BR and hunting actions differ as far as "quality" is concerned.

- mike