Reply #39: Not many other portable consumer devices... [View All]

[benEzra]

are expected to handle 1000-degree gases at 55,000 lb/in^2 pressures, high operating temps in a "dirty" environment (gas, carbon residue, dirt, heat), while simultaneously maintaining 0.9999 reliability over 15,000 to 200,000 cycles, over an operating life measured in decades or centuries. Modern firearms will continue to work safely without maintenance, but they will not work reliably, and that reliability requires attention to detail.

Other than guns, I suppose the average person doesn't have much contact with servicing complex mechanical devices anymore, but it is both art and science.

BTW, if you think guns are maintenance-intensive, you should try keeping a sailboat in good shape without hired help, or taking proper care of a horse. Both of those will put gun-cleaning into perspective quite quickly...