Slow degradation of quality is nothing new to products. Razor companies have been doing it for years. This is how they phase out one product so that the new one will seem way better, even though it's comparable to the original. Sorry everyone is getting screwed but you all saw it coming.
I agree that this is a great idea, congrats. However, I'm not so sure I like the idea of another step to fire my longshot. It was already bad enough having to remove my hand from the front of the gun to prime it (so I added the shotgun priming grip); now there are two levers to pull back before it's ready to fire.