"I have seen some top of the line Heyms too, but the std stuff, well...A good functional rifle"

Bingo, you hit the nail on the head with that statement. 100% agreement. Heym offers some fine, well built "functional" DRs, as does Merkel, Chapuis, etc. Modern steel, well built. There are also some higher grade DRs out there, with tangs extended over the comb, engraved to the '9s', etc. Price? About double and up.

Horses for courses. If you want a working DR and don't want hand engraved works of art, the answer is self evident. If you want, and are willing to pay, for more, lots of other choices out there.