These arguments can extentd to anything. Finer automobiles…I paid 2800 bucks for an 08 Honda Civic over 3.5 years ago. It had 140k on it has 220k on it now. Haven’t done a thing except tires, plugs and coil packs to it. Runs like a champ. Best 2800 bucks I ever spent in my life. Does the exact same thing as any vehicle. Gets my butt back and forth to work trouble free. Where is excess there? A 5k car? I only needed a 3k car ? It’s a completely subjective concept in someone’s mind that varies depending on the person and what type of item we are talking about. To me the BW is too much for what you get. Who am I or anyone else to judge others that feel differently?
I agree Trucker.... the concept of diminishing returns applies to most things, and certainly to airguns.
What makes diminishing returns for air rifles even more interesting is that many/most of the manufacturers don't make their own barrels - and that is the key component that determines the ultimate accuracy achievable with the rifle. So a manufacturer like Daystate is somewhat dependent on their barrel supplier (Lothar Walther in Daystate's case) regarding the ultimate performance that can we achieved with their various rifle platforms.
As has been discussed on these forums many times, the end consumer is somewhat dependent on the "barrel lottery" - i.e. receiving a barrel on their particular rifle that happens to be above or well above average in the "batch" of barrels installed on that particular rifle. Certainly the barrels used in competitions by "Team Daystate" have likely gone through a more rigorous "screening process" than the barrels installed on regular "production line" rifles.
Another key component where a manufacturer can really differentiate their "premium" priced air rifles is the trigger. Definitely seems that certain brands give you more for your money when it comes to triggers.
Looking at a Blackwolf from a layman's perspective, lets guess the following component costs:
Barrel: $200 sourced from LW
Regulator: $85 sourced from Huma
Carbon Bottle: $100 sourced from Inocom
Stock: $250 sourced from Minelli
Moderator: $100 sourced from Huggett
With these costs I'm assuming that Daystate is getting some volume discounts from their suppliers... all these components are available to any manufacturer - not just unique to Daystate.
Looking at it this way, Daystate is asking for $1,750+ for their action, trigger and barrel shroud with shroud carrier. Even assuming that they are recouping R&D costs, their asking price seems a bit elevated. And it's likely that they reused some of the R&D invested in their Ghost platform on the Blackwolf.
I'm impressed with the innovation that Daystate brought to our hobby with their electronic platforms. I currently own 3 Daystates. They are all mechanical with the exception of an electronic trigger on my Renegade HP (great trigger). Their slingshot hammer is very cool - and seems to give great efficiency and consistency.
However, I was a bit surprised by the very high price point of the Blackwolf - as it's an all-mechanical platform. It seems that Daystate has established itself as a "premium" brand - and commands premium pricing.
To summarize my "thinking out loud" post, the traditional "law of diminishing returns" as applied to top-of-the-line air rifles may not even give you that small additional performance for significantly more money - because of the high dependance on the performance of each individual barrel - which is unique to each barrel.
-Ed
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