My feeling is that QC (namely final inspection for fit/finish/function) is probably not that important overall to the firearms industry, and that a "it's good enough, if the customer doesn't like it let them send it back and we will fix it" attitude prevails among many manufacturers. That attitude also probably comes with a thinking that only a small percentage will actually bother sending anything back for any issue other than something related to function and performance.
That statement I just made is based off of over a dozen firearm purchases made over the past two years. Of that dozen, there are either 4 or 5 that had issues that were either cosmetic in nature or had to do with the function of the firearm that required me to send it back for warranty issues. In one case there was an expensive AR (>2k) that had a lower that was machined so poorly it looked like a 3rd grader had taken a dremel to it.
Just to be clear, some cosmetic issues I can and do live with, but there are some things I've received that were so extreme one has to wonder how exactly they left the factory.
It could be that I just have bad luck, but when 30% of your new firearm purchases need to be returned for warranty work, somethings up.
That statement I just made is based off of over a dozen firearm purchases made over the past two years. Of that dozen, there are either 4 or 5 that had issues that were either cosmetic in nature or had to do with the function of the firearm that required me to send it back for warranty issues. In one case there was an expensive AR (>2k) that had a lower that was machined so poorly it looked like a 3rd grader had taken a dremel to it.
Just to be clear, some cosmetic issues I can and do live with, but there are some things I've received that were so extreme one has to wonder how exactly they left the factory.
It could be that I just have bad luck, but when 30% of your new firearm purchases need to be returned for warranty work, somethings up.