That's about as good advice as anyone could give... well said Ashley!!I see it like this, Bettinsoli's , rizzini's Guerini's, are for the bling factor and little money, (and worth sod all second hand) ,yes I know you can get expensive ones ( still crap though )
Miroku, beretta, are for the serious shooter through the classes, and value for money,( always people wanting good second hand examples )
P,guns and k,guns are for the ones that aspire to be at the top of the tree, or for people with more money than sense, ( very good value second hand ) but still expensive.
My point is, go middle of the road, you will live to regret buying any of the first three.
A lot of gun issues are caused by lack of correct maintenance.Having owned a Browning, Beretta and Guerini, there's little to choose between them in terms of quality. My Browning had an issue with the top lever from new. Easily fixed, but the 2 Guerinis have been excellent.
Personally, I think if you scour the internet enough, you will find enough bad press to discourage you from buying anything. This is particularly prevelant with cars.
The only sure way is to see for yourself and so far, after almost 2 years and countless '000s of rounds through my Guerinis they have been perfect. I also traded one to buy another and got very close to what I paid for it the year before.
Lastly, maybe it's just me, but I am really struggling to see how someone can shoot so much that they start to wear out their gun. Maybe I'm not trying hard enough and need to shoot more to really highlight my guns bad points.