Tom, I'm always interested in new sxs. Rather than give you my opinion of what I'd like to see, which would be just another of the many personal druthers you've already read, let me suggest the following:
CZ and DeHaan, with the upscale models of their Huglu-made sxs, are already at the same price point. So you already have Turkish-made competition. How will the S&W's stack up against their Turkish competitors? Will the name of a respected American gunmaker help them make inroads in the market? Will their guns be that much better than the Huglus? Will American gun buyers care if a gun is made in a Turkish plant owned by Turks, or in one built and owned by S&W?
The other point I'd make is this: Tell S&W to make SURE that the guns are as "bug free" as possible coming out of the plant. Quality control (as reflected in some of the posts above) is a BIG issue for American buyers, because guns from Turkey haven't yet established a solid track record. Many of us remember when plenty of Spanish junk was imported, and it took the Spanish makers a very long time to get past that. Don't send out guns with 10# trigger pulls, for example! And speaking of bugs, look what's happened to the Gold Label. Even after long delays and somewhat sporadic availability, Ruger's now gone back to the drawing board on that one. And take a look at the recent review in Shooting Sportsman on the Kimber Marias. Here you have a respected American company--but much like S&W, not known for shotguns--bringing out an OU for $6K or so, and the reviewer finds that a) it's a 20ga field gun weighing nearly 7#--bad idea to start with; and b) it won't fire either his reloads or one brand of factory ammo reliably. If S&W makes mistakes like those, they might as well find a buyer for that factory in Turkey. Kimber's going to have real trouble getting over their slow start. Their first generation Valiers have already been bought up, in quantity, by the Ruffed Grouse Society, which is offering them at deep discounts off the original MSRP.
You're never going to please everyone with barrel length, 2 triggers or one, stock configuration, choke tubes or not, choice of gauges, etc. Offer as many options as practical, as long as it doesn't make the gun too much more expensive. But whatever else they do, the most important thing for S&W, as a new kid on the block in the shotgun world, is to get it RIGHT from the start!
