If I recall...
S&W historian Roy Jinks wrote that in the early 1970s, the firm was seriously considering ending the line of model 29 .44magnum revolvers due to low sales & a lack of consumer interest in the magnum caliber.
Jump to 1971's classic cop drama; Dirty Harry,
www.imfdb.org & when the film was a major Hollywood hit, the US demand for the big .44 model 29 sprang up.
My point is that US gun companies are not set up to mass produce 1,000s of weapons everyday. I honestly wouldn't want a major firm like S&W, Ruger, SIG-Sauer, Glock, Beretta USA, Walther, HK, etc to cut corners or lower the specs to speed up production demands.
The gun mania and 2A mess will end someday. Things will go back to pre-Sandy Hook(12/2012) as for the shooting sports industry.
Some MSRPs will stay high I think to cater to the uninformed gun buyer or "weekend Rambo" types just because of the #s.
Clyde