Hopdoc, i was asking the same thing on another thread matey! We have the same curiosities.....

Steel is a weird swine when it comes to explanation.

Its so weird, on the one hand i have never had a tool that was new, which compared at all well with an old one. You buy a new fork or spade or what have you, and there is just no way it will be as strong as its grandaddy, but then with guns it seems to be a different matter, i think.......

Good luck anyway!

Ben