Lots of interesting reading the last few pages with a great variety of opinions, experiences, expectations, and thoughts on sourcing Shirogorov knives.
Of the 8 I've acquired, keeping 7, I've only bought two brand new and none from any dealer, authorized or otherwise. The two new knives (F95T SRBS & 111CF) were bought on the Exchange* from individual Russian sellers who purchased them over there and delivered them, pivot stickers intact, in clearly brand new condition. Both knives came substantially below North American retail. My NeOn UL was about as LNIB as you can get, posted here on the Exchange the day after the seller received it from R1.
The rest of the lot came mostly in pristine condition, some carried and used, the exception being my older G10 Hati which had been through at least 4 owners, had a hard life, and required considerable effort on my part to make it the very good user it is now. It is the only Shiro of all mine that has ever been (and remains) off-center.
All my knives are serial productions, all now get carried and used, though it took some of them a while to get there, and two of those are work users--the Turtle starting from brand new and the Hati which came to me in that state anyway. As much as I admire (and covet) CDs and collabs, I really appreciate my serial knives as EDCs.
As far as action and tuning goes, the only knife that gave me any trouble was my F3 Python Micarta which came to me with too-early lock-up and still unbroken-in despite me being the third owner. It developed significant lock-stick as it wore in and required considerable effort on my part to cure. It sure gave me lots of practice dealing with dis- and re-assembly and I ended up with a knife with unbelievably smooth action, better lock-up, and silent disengagement. The rest of my knives have been apart, save my two Tabargans. To answer
TRfromMT
's question, what I've been looking for tuning has been a little smoother action and freer closing. All of my knives have been great flippers right off the bat, but a couple were not the smoothest, and none true free-droppers. Both my F95s now drop closed with little encouragement, my NeOn self-closes amazingly, and the 111 is a nasty thumb guillotine. Tuning mostly involves cleaning, interior polishing, bearing cage de-burring, and lubrication change.
*Edit: Re-reading a couple days after posting, I should note that the Turtle was not bought directly from the Exchange, but by writing Vladimir_K--an authorized BF seller as well as having a presence at USN--asking him to find a knife to my specs over in the Motherland.