Younger shooters buy what they can afford, period. As older collectors "age-out" the guns from those collections then flow onto the market. Its a natural process, sadly, and will continue for all the markets for these guns. Many of the Smiths I saw yesterday had the classic indications of "cracking stock" problems which is now what these guns are almost-universally known for, which is a shame. It's clearly a "fixable" problem but...not many 'smiths are left that can competently address it, or will. That is the primary reason for these now "affordable" guns. The guns without that "problem" (mostly pre-1913) might actually benefit from that fact eventually, as they were almost universally recognized by my fellow shooters as being immensely attractive.
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