I still have a couple hundred of the original Rams made by Bruce and have had no problems. I’ve also gone through a number of the newer ones and have experienced some bad results, such as snapped off arms and uncoiled springs. I believe that is do to the use of inferred metal. Another problem with the new snares is the lap link used to attach the snare. In the beginning Bruce used a coil made of stiff wire that fit smoothly in place when setting the ram. These new lap links are bulky and have burrs that get hung up when setting the ram. Because of the the link will jump in or out of place when setting the ram causing it to misfire causing some close calls and the odd injury. Both of these problems can be fixed but probably won’t because it would cost a few pennies more. Until then we will have to deal with broken rams and hurt trappers.
When I look at my old reliable ram a saying comes to mind.
If it’s not broken don’t fix it.
Mentioned it before. I did some technology work with Alta Steel. We found that recycle steel made from old car bodies ended up with steel billets with mixture of contaminate metals other than iron in the core. Very poor quality products like truck springs, imagine other products would suffer same failure rate.