New guns are better and I'll tell you why.

After somethings been around for 100 years there is time to find the faults in it's design. Nothing is perfect, it may be perfectly adequate, but thats not the point. The design can always be tweeked to remove small or large problems. yes this may creat new ones, but over a century the new ones will also be found and removed.

The materials are just plain better as is the quality control of raw material components.

The only plus the old guns had was, maybe the skill of the craftsmen and the low cost of skilled labour. If Butch could pay a stockmaker with 20 years experience, 1.10$ an hour, he could produce some best rifles.

Thats just my two cents.