I've seen some of the slides and frames at gunshows too. After just having built a gun using a Caspian cast frame ($155) the Caspian is 1000% better than any of the Safari/Olympic frames I've seen at the shows. Most of them have looked pretty rough to me. The Caspian, even though it is cast, is machined superbly. There are no tool marks and barely any hint of casting marks.