How about the Windicator ?

[TMan]

No, that isn't my lousy typing; this is a german made gun, complete with German spelling of the word vindicator. I guess, or maybe shooting it makes a sound like someone breaking wind. ;D

www.eaacorp.com/firearms/revolvers/windicator/description.shtml

Okay, is this really German quality at Made in China prices?

[5ontarget]

Looks like you toured the EAA site after seeing that thing built on the 1911 frame, Thor. Unfortunately, I don't know much about them. With a suggested retail price of $250-280, I'd bet it isn't up to what we've generally come to view as German quality. But, I've been wrong before.

I know of a couple people that own the witness models, and they seem to like them. Never shot or held anything from EAA so I can't give you a personal opinion.

["DoubleAction"]

TMan; From what I've seen on the Windicator in the past, it was manufactured by Arminius, another German manufacturer. EAA gives credit to Weihrauch.
Not so sure about these revolvers when stacking up against our own Colts and Smith & Wessons. One German Revolver with world wide respect is the Korth.

[TMan]

DoubleAction said:

One German Revolver with world wide respect is the Korth.

Yes, but it would be hard to decide: a Korth or a new car. They have quite a price. Interesting that they are on Robert Bosch Strasse, a street that was named after another of my heros (having owned some cars made in the 70's). I notice that on their web site they just say "POR". In other words: if you have to ask the price you can't afford it.

["DoubleAction"]

TMan; My brother and I were passing by the Korth booth during the '99 SHOT Show in Atlanta when the Korth rep asked if we would like to look at the Korth. I just laughed it off telling that I admired the Korth very much but could never vision the financial possibilities of spending such an amount of one revolver.

[Callahan]

Friend of mine had a Windicator. Thought he had struck a great deal down in the the Texas Valley, not realizing they are cheap to begin with. It soon began to freeze up to the point that no amount of trigger pressure would rotate the cylinder. He sold it for $150 to a guy who knew a lot about fixing revolvers.

[MLB]

This is a good example of making an impression of a firearm (or anything else for that matter) based on the location of it's manufacture.

The USA is the home of both SIGArms and Hi-Points, Corvettes and Chevettes, Wall Street Journal and the National Enquirer. The same goes for any country I'd say.

There is an everpresent discussion on a similar topic over at the Walther forum in which some insist that the German made P99 is superior to the S&W version (SW99) simply because it's made in Germany to "tight German tolerences". Baahh. I once heard an excellent quote: "In God we trust, all others bring data".

Even judging a firearm (or car, or boat...) on the manufacturer is a bit weak (IMO). "S&W makes fine firearms like the Model 27. I can't wait to get my new Sigma to the range."

I'm always most impressed by those discussions that bring up objective info on a particular product rather than emotional ones.

[TMan]

MLB said:

The USA is the home of both SIGArms and Hi-Points, Corvettes and Chevettes, Wall Street Journal and the National Enquirer.

You left out George W. Bush and John Kerry. ;D

You made some good points, but I still disagree with you somewhat because of the experiences I've had in manufacturing dealing directly with the Germans and Japanese. There is this matter of saving face, pride in workmanship that effects the outcome. When I was a kid, anything made in Japan was junk. Then an American, Walter ...., whose name escapes me, went to Japan and turned their industries around. Quality mattered. We have seen quality pushes in the U.S. since then, especially in the automobile industry. Ford, with its "Quality is Job 1" push. However, no matter how much management pushes, unless it matters to the individual worker, it isn't all that successful. If the worker gets his same paycheck whether he does a good or sloppy job, and the union backs him, we will never see the quality products that Japan produces.

Germany is in big trouble right now with quality in their automobiles. MB, which used to be one of the hightest quality cares is way low, with a lot of problems. They outsourced a lot to the lowest bidders, and it has really cost them. Even BMW doesn't make their own transmissions anymore, they buy from a vendor.

If the Japanese decided that the handgun market was one they wanted to own, you would see the highest quality guns available, and at very reasonable prices. Well, reasonable until they put the competition out of business, then they would own the industry like they did with televisions.

TMan.CN
Modified to add:
It finally dawned on me what the guys name was: W. Edwards Demming. He wrote a book Out of Crisis
and is available on Amazon www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0911379010/002-2378804-0452825?v=glance&st=*

["DoubleAction"]

TMan; I was introduced to sounds like I've never heard in my life when I began hearing some of the stereo systems coming out of Japan in the early seventies. Their Camera systems out ranked anything in the 35mm format, and the demand was quite high for those looking for professional grade photographs. I paid $500. for a Canon F-1 in 1975, I still use it and it has paid for itself many times over. Even by todays standards this camera is well built, with a metal body, metal body lenses, very durable gears, titanium foil shutter, and interchangable body components. There are simply some things that the Japanese never had to compete with because the competition was never there.
I agree with their quality methods and workplace ethics; Our society is far too diversed to ever comply with the same terms of committment. In this country we will always rely on high volume over high quality, but never both; The Japanese believe in both.