Flintfan,
As to the cost of CNC parts. It often is worth it simply because the alternative is more costly.
That reminds me of one more thing I forgot to point out. If you look in the background of the photo of the spring blank, you will see the remnant of steel that two action blanks were cut from of using wire EDM. While wire EDM work is slow (probably cutting somewhere in the 30 square inches per hour rate) think of the alternative of forging out a action blank, then using a hack saw and files to get it to that same point, and level of accuracy.
As for the 3D printing, it is not at the level it needs to be at yet for most parts, but like everything else, it will evolve.
