There are a couple of different philosophies of "gun collectors" and "shooters" with gray divisions between the different types. I fall pretty strictly on the "shooter" side of things. If I run across a gun that shoots, that's it. My favorite gun, I hate to admit, is a 22 that I bought off of the classified section here on the Hide. It looks like it was inletted with a grapefruit spoon, but when I point it at a piece of paper 50 yards away, it puts a hole exactly where I aimed it. That is it. You see a lot of ads in the classifieds and some guns are in good shape and some aren't. What is not listed in the classifieds (or at least not to a point you can tell) is whether the gun shoots or not. My rule is this: when you run into a gun that shoots, you don't sell it. Period.
That said, there are folks who aren't necessarily shooters. Many people want to own a gun capable of doing incredible things even if they themselves cannot reach the potential available to the weapon. Who can argue with a beautiful specimen of a pistol that was the issued sidearm for this country for 75 years? From that standpoint, I understand being pissed off about a ding in the finish of a $2000 pistol. Would I, personally be upset about it? Depends on if it shot or not. Part of the reason I bought a Baer in the first place was because of its reputation for accuracy. It flat shoots. Eventually, I put idiot marks and unnecessary scratches on the pistol. I made those out of my own negligence and the negligence of the others. I would never get rid of the pistol because it shoots. But I fall on the "shooter" end of the spectrum. Someone who falls more on the "collector" end of the spectrum might decide to return the pistol because of a minor ding.
Interestingly, when it comes to semi-custom 1911's... Baer, Brown, Wilson, and some smaller others... Baer is known for a few things: 1) Most accurate, 2) Tightest slide-to-frame fit, 3) Worst fit and finish. When I field strip my Baer, it has some pretty evident tooling marks on the inside. Nobody ever sees them, but to people who care about such things, that matters. That is what I find perplexing about this thread. When you buy a 1.5" guarantee gun, it seems like accuracy is the overriding factor. But again, I understand spending $2k on a pistol and expecting no dings. Whether it is important or not depends highly on the individual.
That said, there are folks who aren't necessarily shooters. Many people want to own a gun capable of doing incredible things even if they themselves cannot reach the potential available to the weapon. Who can argue with a beautiful specimen of a pistol that was the issued sidearm for this country for 75 years? From that standpoint, I understand being pissed off about a ding in the finish of a $2000 pistol. Would I, personally be upset about it? Depends on if it shot or not. Part of the reason I bought a Baer in the first place was because of its reputation for accuracy. It flat shoots. Eventually, I put idiot marks and unnecessary scratches on the pistol. I made those out of my own negligence and the negligence of the others. I would never get rid of the pistol because it shoots. But I fall on the "shooter" end of the spectrum. Someone who falls more on the "collector" end of the spectrum might decide to return the pistol because of a minor ding.
Interestingly, when it comes to semi-custom 1911's... Baer, Brown, Wilson, and some smaller others... Baer is known for a few things: 1) Most accurate, 2) Tightest slide-to-frame fit, 3) Worst fit and finish. When I field strip my Baer, it has some pretty evident tooling marks on the inside. Nobody ever sees them, but to people who care about such things, that matters. That is what I find perplexing about this thread. When you buy a 1.5" guarantee gun, it seems like accuracy is the overriding factor. But again, I understand spending $2k on a pistol and expecting no dings. Whether it is important or not depends highly on the individual.
