[dakota.potts]

This post rather reads like you're lamenting the differences in life as a whole now and using guns only as a passing point to keep it relevant.

The amount of labor hours required to make guns the way they used to be made would make them exorbitantly priced in comparison. The cost of everything has gone up and the buying power of the average American has continued to decline year over year relative to productivity. People are able to afford less. When I was working as a gunsmith, I (meaning the shop I worked for, I didn't set prices) would charge more to cut your supplied barrel blank and apply a finish than some off-the-shelf rifles cost.

There are still very fine, hand fitted firearms available. They generally are found in the $3,000+ range. Nighthawk, Wilson Combat, many custom manufacturers, Korth, etc. I just saw Beretta is importing Manuhrin's MR73 revolver from France. They're famously overbuilt with ordnance steel and heat treatment, beautiful deep blue finish, and over a dozen hours of hand fitting each. Price is expected to be $3,300-$3,500. Doesn't get any cheaper to make that in the US even if you pay your labor barebones rates (labor that then can't afford the quality of product you're talking about).

Guns at this price range are luxury items, so even people who can afford them often baby them and have separate hard use firearms so they don't ruin the ones they had to save up for. I can't afford for all of my guns to be luxury firearms. I'll take something that works well and has cosmetic issues versus one where all of the money is put in the fine finish and you have to worry whether it will work in hard conditions.

If you want fine manufacturing, support your local gunsmith. A good one will be happy to do a high-quality, hand-fitted build on very high end materials to your exact specifications and a finish like you won't believe. Just don't get sticker shock when you see what that kind of quality costs these days.