of a revolver as compared to an autoloader. For the most part, I saw it the reverse.
I grew up with wheelguns, never firing an autoloading pistol until I was grown(Dad didn't have one, and for a long time there I had no money for one and didn't know anybody with one I could try), and watched Dad work on S&W revolvers many times. And he showed me how to open them up and clean them, maybe a touch of polishing here & there... I understood 'all the parts have to be assembled correctly and then it'll work'. But the first time I took an autoloader down for thorough cleaning(i.e. detail-stripped as opposed to field-stripped) I wondered how the HELL anyone had designed the damn thing? To me, the inside of the revolver seemed simple in comparison.
Over time I've gotten used to most semi-autos, but I still feel a bit more comfortable taking a screwdriver to a revolver than some of the autoloaders.
As a side note I am reminded of, a S&W factory guy once told Dad that a lot of their trigger jobs work was done by machine. The piece was thoroughly cleaned, inspected and lubed, and you (I think) removed the firing pin- hammer nose if you want to be picky- to prevent possible breakage, then you locked the grip frame in the fixture, hooked a piece around the trigger and turned it on; snap-snap-snap-snap, over and over for whatever the time period was, a few hours I believe. Then it was removed, cleaned and lubed again and the nose & grips put back on. That machine worked the action more in that few hours than a human could in Deity-knows-how-long, working the parts together so they wore and polished each other; except in cases of a part needing serious work to smooth it(as in hitting it with stones) this did a beautiful job of smoothing things out.
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