MB hit the ball farther because of the higher cg,  which causes a lower ball flight and more spin, which also makes working the ball easier.

Keep in mind, modern MB is the he-man way of saying GI blade. The muscle lowers the cg and spreads the weight evenly across the blade from heel to toe.

If you look at the sole of old blades you can see the blade is thickest in the middle, modern MB the sole is even from heel to toe.

I have a set of old MB, the sole is very narrow all the way across, the muscle is a bar from heel to toe half way up the blade, this raises the cg. This also requires a more precise hit, the shaft is about an inch shorter. When I hit the 9i good I can hit it as far as any modern 9i......the 9i is 49*

I don't know if the clubheads are actually heavier, but they feel extremely heavy. After a round you feel like you have done something.

Rough has very little effect.

If you hit the ball wrong........well, don't hit the ball wrong

And this is why GI irons grew the game, imagine when you first started and every time you swung the club it hurt and the ball didn't get up in the air, you would walk off the range and never come back.

Quintin brought out something about old blades being wider in the middle. X31 Staff irons were like that.  They also had a contoured bottom (considering irons of the day had flat soles). 

Thank You I appreciate the response.  I am currently playing mbs, and have always played 'blades' since my first hand me down set of clubs. Whenever I tried other cavity back irons, I felt like the club was doing all the work, with very little feedback, and big high ballooning ball, with inconsistent distances.

Needless to say I will be sticking with blades. I was just curious about the distances.

thanks again.