Why are revolvers so expensive?

[Master Blaster]

I love revolvers, it takes skilled artisanship to make them, and I especially like S&W DA revolvers.
I dont think they are overpriced at all for what you are getting.

JMHO YMMV

 

[GNLaFrance]

I'd like to point out that all firearms makers are groaning under the extra costs associated with being very highly regulated by the incompetent bureaucratic busybodies in Washington. IMO the cost of nearly every one of our toys would be a lot lower if not for the government adding to the cost of manufacture.

 

[Duke of Doubt]

There are revolvers, and there are revolvers.

Some of the mechanisms developed over the years are simple and cheap to produce. Unfortunately, those simple mechanisms place too much stress on inexpensive parts, which break. Even high quality revolvers sometimes suffered from this problem (Colt Lightning, anyone?).

Take apart a Nagant, or a French 1892. Doesn't look much like a Colt or a Smith, does it? Better, or worse? Tough to say -- they are very different animals, made for different markets in different times. Advantages and disadvantages.

Labor costs can be misleading. Take apart a Timex wristwatch sometime, and tell me it's less complicated than a Colt Single Action Army.

Materials and their machining is the main thing, in my judgment. Titanium and scandium alloys are not exactly bronze age metals. Steel of the sort found in Smiths and Colts is expensive to produce, and difficult to work. Pouring a plastic Glock is a different universe of manufacturing. The virtues of revolvers are lost when their manufacturing is short-cutted. This is one reason they tended to fail in military mass-production, the Smith & Wesson Victory and Colt Commando being exceptions due to manufacturing subsidies, and the Nagant for its own peculiar reasons.

 

[mordechaianiliewicz]

Well, I think there are points getting missed here. Several folks seem to come down more on the regulation, or the market, or the production costs side.

They are all factors here.

Unlike with certain Euro-products (think FN FiveseveN) we have relatively lower governmental associated costs.

We do have relatively high labor costs, and that's just the way it is when you are talking about life in a modern first world nation. We can't afford to live on the same amount of money that a guy in Brazil or China, or India could live on.

Finally, the market. Look, it does come down to market prices inasmuch that people establish how much they will pay for a product, and if there is any profit margin left out from production and regulatory costs to the sticker price, you can believe someone, somewhere will make whatever you are talking about.

Now, is there a better return on automatics using the latest plastic and CNC machining technology? Oh yeah. But, this doesn't matter one bit as to will revolvers be manufactured? All that matters is enough people purchase the weapon to make it feasible.

Now, there is alot to be said about fit, finish, and material cost. All are important reasons that the revolver is more, but no one can discount any of the factors and make them less than what they are.