I'm not sure how a revolver could be assembled with a canted barrel. If you have ever seen how a solid revolver barrel is screwed into the frame you would see that it would be very difficult to install it out of square to the frame. As for the two piece barrels, it would be even more difficult as the barrel sleeve is not turned into the frame at all but is indexed by a tab. Not that I'm saying you guys don't have canted barrels, I just have to wonder how it can happen.

I don't think we are talking being out of square with the frame. It's the barrel is turned too far or not far enough so that the front sight is in extreme cases at 1:05, or 11:55 o'clock, not at straight up 12:00, when viewed from the rear.

I understand that. What I am saying is, if you saw how they install a barrel, you would see how difficult it would be for this to happen by accident. I have heard of canting a barrel to adjust windage on a fixed sight gun but I have never heard of that being used as a factory repair. And, again, if it is a two piece barrel, it would be even more unlikely.

I've got a mod 24-6 44 spl bought new shoots and looks great, had two 625 45 acp shot them alot, sold them for other toys, they were great!!! have a heavy duty and a 34-1 22lr with 4'' barrel and a model 60 that I carry every day all great had lots through the years had some bad one's got some good one's, thinking about a 21-4 sounds fun love em all and I will support S&W 100%!!!!

Just a point of information; if you search the internet, you can find an "inflation calculator". You can put in some value, say $100, and the year, say 1981 (just happens to be the year my excellent little 34-1 4" was made) and see what the inflation-adjusted value would be today. For example; $100 in 1981 has the inflation-adjusted buying power of $249 today. So a new $250 gun in 1981 would cost $623 today. Which, surprisingly, is very close to what that same 34-1 (not made of course, you would have to buy a new model 63) sells for today!

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But then, what do I know?

While everything you say is correct, manufacturing isn't in some sort of time vacuum where the processes stay the same and the cost of labor and utilities just go up because of inflation. The realities on a relative basis shows that manufacturing costs have gone down. Just take the humans out of the equation and replace them with multiaxis CNC machines. Sure, the machines cost a geat amount of money, but in their lifespans they're way cheaper than the many employees they replace over the same time frame.

What I'm saying is that while the actual cost of maufacturing has gone up due to inflation, the rate of costs increase is far lower than inflation. For instance, a 1965 model 60 was far more expensive to manufacture than a 2011 model 60 adjusted for inflation.

Retail pricing has more to do with what the market will bear, rather than a cost + profit percentage.

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NRA Benefactor