I see a lot of slightly incorrect, or rather incomplete, answers and I actually have a little experience here. Good replicas are almost 1:1 copies. Complete with metal (and moving) parts. They are also highly regulated and certified. They need to do almost everything the original does except fire, and cannot be converted. And you can’t just file down the firing pin/striker, plug the barrel, remove the hammer Then you have the economy of scale thing. But the original manufacturing is and regulation is where a large amount of the money goes. Otherwise producers would just get some Bear Creek garbage or something from Palmetto State and do what I mentioned.