You have to remember that these are, in essence, a mass produced display item.
I find myself thinking back on Master Replicas. Certainly, they had a couple of QC issues with rubber grips coming off lightsabers and bad paint on helmets, but on the whole their QC was good AND their replicas were comparatively inexpensive compared to the HCG PR.
I'll say nothing about hard-core accuracy but the workmanship most of their pieces was fantastic and I can't imagine aluminum shrouds being harder to produce than certain MR pieces.
Take, as one example, the Han Solo ANH Elite Edition blaster. All-metal, moving trigger, wood grips, including a mirror display case. For $499 as I recall. The workmanship on that replica was nigh-on flawless! Even the packaging was luxurious. Damn, I regret having to sell that piece right now. :cry
Several replica companies have produced replicas in metal that had pretty complex shapes to reproduce. I think it's really down to
luck in finding a factory that can produce quality work. I have no doubt in my mind that HCG went into this with the intention of producing the most incredible prop replica any of us had ever seen. They even enlisted two of the most knowledgeable PR experts there are to do so. Some of their other pieces seem to be great. No one should have to put up with a wonky rifle for $900 but at the same time I'm sure that the people at HCG aren't too happy about this situation either. I imagine there's a lot of sweating-under-collars going on in their office right now about how to fix this situation.
Anyway... I just got word that Propstore are shipping out their stock today. Apparently they only had to take out ONE rifle that had a drooping barrel. So, I'm crossing my fingers that I'll be greeting my box with a big smile when it arrives.
