How about the 1960-70's Browning rifles? The guns were marketed by Browning in Utah but made by FN in Leige. Anyone think they were substandard, or complain they should have been made in the US because they were taking American jobs? How about the Krupp tubes used on pre-WW1 Foxes and other higher end guns? Anyone question them? Or how about the Holland & Holland shotgun used by a gent I see on the sporting courses regularly. He bought it from the H&H US office, but it was made in the U.K.? Complaints anyone? Hardly.
I think in a lot of cases the root cause is an attitude of superiority by some of the US citizens. A lot of the products we see advertised are made by people and in countries that are viewed by some as being "lesser" in some respects. If the gun you see advertised is made by the Germans at the old Krupp factory, that is just fine; but if its made by Russkies working for Baikal at Izhevsk, well let's think about it. Then again, if the gun is made by (fill in your slang term) at the Yong Fo factory in Asia, well it's got to be garbage.
The bottom line is we all have choices on the stuff we buy. If I want a great american made hunting jacket, I'll buy a Filson on line. On the other hand if I want a good jacket at a reasonable price, I'll do Cabelas or I'll drive down to Gander Mountain to check out their imports. That is... driving in my Toyota 4 Runner made in Japan. 19.8 mpg with a 32 valve V8. About 48,000 miles and no problems. Our previous SUV was a Chevy. It made it to 6,000 miles before the tranny stopped working in reverse. Then the switch for low range 4WD broke. Then the tailights stopped working. The front brake pads were almost worn off within 1 year. Oh, did I tell you the new tranny was machined wrong and the oil leak couldn't be stopped until replacement tranny #2 was installed? ~14 mpg with an in line 6 cylinder. I traded it off when it was 1 year old, took a beating so to speak, and never looked back..... Silvers
