Re the "beefier" barrel, and marketing talk, yes probably, was just repeating the comments on the phone as the post indicates.

Broken stocks, have read it before, elsewhere about the issue.

I do like the long slim barrels and have no problem with recoil.

I'm looking forward to seeing if the new rifles measure up. I would think we will still see some differences, but we will see. I haven't seen them either, just like you haven't either.