everyone has good points imo,  we are a dying breed the kids today can't even make change without an electronic  cash register do it for them,  so why would we expect the younger generations to have the same tastes than we do. 

+ 1  ,  some magazines are a little tight  they do making the last round easier

Grouchy I absolutely agree !!  and you are also right some lesser expensive guns some  work fine,  but even expensive  guns slip by with defects,   really when was the last time you seen in any product,  guns, car parts,  clothing, it doesn't matter,   INSPECTED BY / PASSED by # such and such. No doubt there are companies that still  check / inspect  and they have their own way of tracking,  across the spectrum how many do ?  I know a guy recently bought an off brand Lever action in 44 mag ,   it wouldn't feed any 44 mag ammo from about the 3 rd round onwards,  an 800 dollar  + rifle made overseas,    it's pure junk and no where  near the quality we have come to expect from older guns  made by Winchester and Marlin lever guns. 

Just curious did you mount the scope base or someone else ?  not saying this is the issue some times base screws can be a little long and interfere with the bolt,  how does the bolt cycle with no ammo in it ?  first and foremost ANY  gun new or used do a tune up on it first to make sure every thing is as it should be and you familiarize yourself with it's function.  When I mean tune-up ,  clean and oil it, check the screws,  cycle it,  grease places that need to be greased, CHECK THE BEDDING of the STOCK and make sure it's right.  you can watch several you tubes if unsure.  I don't care for pressure point in stocks fore ends,  but some rifles a little pressure settles the barrel down and shoots better.  just because you have some new super Gucci rifle whatever the brand don't mean it's tuned up properly unless it's a full on custom,  if it does have fore end  pressure built into the stock it's harder to get a feel if the rifles action is rocking between the action screws whereas a free floated barrel it's easy to tell if the action rocks when the screws are being tightened and loosened.  I have had rifles that had metal chips or a little burr left in there from machining and it broke that tiny piece off when cycling the bolt,  point is if it happens it ain't right and stop what you are doing to not create any more damage than what's already done.  about 2 years ago a very good buddy said he was have problems closing and opening his bolt a very good old school bolt rifle (not a Weatherby) I  loosened the action screws and guess what the bolt cycled just fine that told me one thing the stock bedding was bad we had to correct and build up the recoil lug mortice so it wouldn't bind the action,  we noticed this later it put barely noticeable hairline cracks in both bolt lugs from repeated mis use,  basically it ruined the rifle,   you can not believe how much pressure can be put on a couple screws bending the action to where it wouldn't work.  two other friends 2 different times great guy's but they don't know squat about a gun,  both times elk hunting  one of them went down to Wal Mart and bought a package rifle scope combo 30-06  we are walking out in the sticks and he see's this cow elk first so he racks a round in the chamber and absolutely locks the gun up ammo won't go in and won't come out,  I pull my rifle up waiting on him to shoot and him fiddling around I couldn't wait on him anymore so I shot it ,  his said the action screws were so loose he tighten them down hard just before the hunt (BAD BEDDING) ,  another time another good  friend I  heard him shooting about  a qtr mile away I bet he shot 10 to 12 rounds ,  I couldn't stand it anymore I got back in the truck and drove over to where he was and he said i don't know what's wrong he said he was missing every shot and he never hit the elk at 100 yds or less.  7mm Rem mag another well known rifle / scope combo.  got back to camp put a paper plate on a log 25 yds out and I couldn't hit the plate,  OK just use my wifes rifle she already got her  elk  we go down the 2 tract and there a small herd of elk,  he get's  out and all I see is my nickel plated brass flying on the ground the guns is not going off he is so excited he's not pulling the trigger, so I'm picking up loaded rounds trying to catch him,  he runs out of ammo and that's including the extra ammo in the butt stock shell holder,  I catch up with him give him the loaded ammo I picked and told him pull the trigger.  you had to be there is was funny as hell,  anyway he had the same rifle my other friend had trouble with just a different caliber  (STOCK BEDDING ) was totally off and action screws were not even tight,   I don't know if he ever had the rifle fixed he lives in a different state.  Another time about 4 years ago I guess,  my son and I were out bull hunting in a big bull area a guide and his client pull up while we were having a lunch break on the side by side anyway this guy has the same frekin rifle brand as my 2 friends years before,   he just bought it two different kinds of factory ammo the guy says the rifle malfunctioned and couldn't get a shot on this bull,  anyway you mind if I look at it,  man it's  not hitting the primer right, I kept looking at the case and sure enough the shoulder on the cases were set back and upon dropping the hammer it slide the ammo fore ward and left a slight indentation on the primer but not enough to set it off,   the other box of ammo looked ok but he wasn't using that box of ammo,   moral to the story if you are going to hunt go shoot your rifle ,  get as good as you can with it,   take a spare rifle and extra ammo.  hell I take at least 40 rounds with me  for each rifle just in case.  we have fell and broke scopes had to go buy new scope in the closest town had to re-sight,  I got one very good hunter friend climbs like a goat he slipped and fell  rock gave way he stepped on his pump shotgun stock broke it in half

Simple is good we process our own meat and have for years,  the family has kind of an assembly line when we get the animals back home,  we have mostly went to the gutless method especially on Elk because of the size / weight we have to pack out ,  so boning out the animal is almost a must for us.  We bone it out with hide off and cut and roll the meat on each side all the way up including the neck muscle groups, bone out the front & rear qtrs , pull the  filets  you reach in and cut them out,  back straps we cut out.  we will do one side and them roll the elk over, if you are going to skin for a shoulder mount  then you peel the hide far enough back to the breast bone up to the head and cut it off with that section of the front uncut hide intact.  The gutless method is easier / faster unless you are plucking every bit of meat off the ribs and such,  and it depends on how bad it's shot.  I remember  the way Dad taught us trying off the pucker hole and all that stuff,  in a perfect world and perfect shot with enough time  it works and for some people it's all you need and that's a good thing.  Deer  and similar size animals are just easier all the way around,  you get into Bison/Buffalo what ever you prefer to call them might want to get some help.  I usually take a little more time and care if we are not near the house hunting or when we have Mutiple people  with tags so we will clean them up as best we can and keep them cool until every one is done.  there are times where it has been so hot we had to get them back home and in the freezer that day or we would lose them,   hence I started taking a chest freezer with us mounted in front of the side by side trailer and just run a generator.  one of our friends brings  a vacuum sealer in camp we haven't gone that far yet we have a couple at home we use.   I generally keep 30 to 50 lbs of beef and pork fat frozen at home  when we need to grind and sleeve / tube the burger.   one of my friends buy's pork shoulders on sale and uses that to mix 50/50 in with the Elk to make his grind.   I do that when making Italian meat balls not so dry. 

I think lens quality/clarity has improved a lot over the years,  lens coatings the same thing.  don't forget the mechanics of the scopes,  i.e. does it track right, are the clicks mushy,  are the adjustments repeatable, do the adjustments get knocked off from hard handling or being dropped ?  etc.  this is where your better quality/more expensive optics tend to shine as a complete package.  Of the Leupolds I actually like the old friction adjustments I always thought they were more precise basically you could get in-between adjustment rather than clicks which pretty much everyone has gone to and rightfully so.  No fault,  no warranty card,  no sales receipt Warranty to me is King plain and simple this is where some brands are just light years ahead of others.  I've sent Leupolds and Vortex back and not an argument.  they fix them and send them back fast,   some scope brands because of lack of quality professional customer service I will just toss them in the round can it's not worth my time and a lack of confidence set's in and I just don't trust them and I won't buy them again either.   our old Friend Roger and I would compare what we thought about different scopes and we both had our likes and dis-likes mostly how each of us saw thru the scope, my son does not like my Swaro scope because of the lens tints,  and I really never noticed it until he brought it up and he was right it's different than say any of our Zeiss,  Vortex on the high ends are pretty clear at least the way I see thru them.  Is the optical sharpness better than the Swaro or Kowa probably not,  my point is how I view any optics at any price is not how another person views them, and the older I get the less I can see anyway, so it's really a personal preference so long as the guarantee and customer service is good and the scopes mechanical's are spot on it's a good thing. 

Yea we do see things differently,  we are completely wired differently !  after 45 yrs of marriage with this wife I learned to nod my head in agreement. 

I would imagine there are more than one issue as to why companies parted ways,  could be a supply and demand issue,  could be a price issue,  who knows.   Back in the day Winchester made their own powder, primers, brass, bullets, other components,   guns,    of course that's different today.  one thing about most everything made in house you have better control over things, but again you take all the risks also.