Depending upon what you desire in a firearm,, yes,, it may be easier to have one modified to suit your desires.
Distributor specials,, are allocated to the sales staff,,, and often are in limited quantities.
Ruger will list a "Distributor Special" to help advertise for that distributor. In return,, the Distributor will order and pay for a specific type of gun,, guaranteeing a sale for Ruger. Example; Lipsey's will say; "Take a model, and add these special features to it, and we'll buy 2000 of them, as an exclusive." Ruger will look at the cost to modify an existing model, and if it doesn't require a lot of work to modify that model, and can do so for a very low expense,, they agree. They are guaranteed a immediate sale of 2000 guns, and none sitting on a shelf at Ruger. But to help Lipsey's sell them,, they will add them to their list of "Distributor Exclusives" on the website. Lipsey's has a program, where if a FFL is a "stocking Lipsey's dealer," and buys a large quantity of guns from them,, they get a chance at getting these Distributor Exclusives.
This gets the consumer to going to a FFL gun shop that's a stocking Lipsey's dealer.
It's just a business model.
So,, if a gun is made,, and is missing a few features you desire, that aren't major modifications,, getting a gunsmith to modify an existing general model is the way to go.
