Great article.
At first I thought too bad that he didn't contract with Erma-Werke to build those 1st reproduction revolvers.
But then I realized that over the long term, the guns would have become much more expensive today as a result.
So it probably worked out better after all that the guns were eventually produced in Italy rather than [West] Germany.
Erma-Werke made a very fine .22 target pistol that was used to establish a world record back in the 1990's or so, that was made with a Lothar Walther barrel.
Erma-Werke also made a .22 clone of the M-1 carbine, an excellent copy of the Gallager breech loading BP rifle, a .38 match revolver,
a lever action .22LR rifle, and several small caliber clones of the Luger pistol including in .22LR, .32 acp and .380.
Before they went out of business, they worked on developing a $10,000 sniper rifle for the German military but when
the military didn't contract to buy it, they ended up going out of business.
Erma-Werke also made what many would call "junk guns" which were also part of their legacy,
but the company's ability to make copies of working models is well recognized.
In hindsight, Val Forgett probably did make the right decision to contract with the Italians to produce the C&B reproductions.
They're probably much more affordable today as a result of that crucial decision that was made so many years ago.