AT, have you picked up L&L yet? if you haven't yet, you should [it exceeded my high expectations]. mentioned in the section about character classes in the IK [how's this for abbreviation use?!?] is a note that magic item creation is treated differently in the lands of western immoren [costs will be much higher in terms of both XP and gold] and will be treated at length in the IKCG [alright, this abbreviation use is getting carried away!].
sure, steamjacks are produced for military and industrial purposes but, once again, there is a note that, though outdated 'jacks are auctioned off, they are usually purchased by guilds since their price is beyond the grasp of almost all individuals. there are units of riflemen in the military, but the designers make a point of stating and re-stating that firearms are still rare and are not meant to replace crossbows and bows in regular use. part of this, of course, is due to the required exotic weapon proficiency feat for use.
in any event, this is not to say that magic items do not exist or are not powerful when they do [see the witchfire, for example]. however, they should occur with much less frequency than the suggested distribution of the DMG, and will often have mechanika components [which, purportedly, will reduce creation costs].
if you're interested in further info about the IK [it certainly seems you are], you might want to consider joining the yahoo discussion group [there are links from the privateer press homepage]. the designers of the setting are very active posters and share their ideas about a number of issues with regularity.