Quote Originally Posted by Gil Boyd View Post
The M96 was so very much ahead of its time and an excellent example of German engineering at its finest.
History somewhere along a long line changed significantly, allowing copying by countries like China, to erode the good name of German engineering, as much of their copying failed over and over again.
Yes they were and are good at certain low cost items, but in short, much of it is crap, and reflects, "what you pay is what you get" syndrome.
I look back at Milsurps specifically, and it was Germanyicon/the United Statesicon/Englandicon/Australiaicon/New Zealand and Japanicon who were the worlds main designers of war equipment, with Russiaicon in there too.
Have those days of brilliance gone, as we the group who own history in our hands, in rifles, pistols and other Milsurps, continue to repair and rebuild stuff from the past that we can keep going?
Bit nostalgic this morning!!
Only certain more poorly led countries have allowed their industrial capacities to decline.

As for China, it is worth bearing in mind that Japan was also known to the average person as a producer of "cheap junk" at one time. China has a long history of technological development and artisanship of a very high order, but her stultifying social system and religions kept that from developing as it could have. Anyone who thinks China is not on the way to the top technologically is deluding themselves, in a few short years China's average income will reach the point where her huge internal market will make exporting largely unnecessary. Those who have come to depend on her exports will then find themselves going begging for them. Of course, China will keep her exports cheap for as long as it takes to thoroughly destroy the technological and industrial bases of her competitors who are willing to play that game: mostly the English-speaking countries whose leadership classes are largely donkeys when they are not simply traitors.