American Made Products And Patriotism

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Doublea A

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Hello Forumers,

Patriotism is a noble virtue but in today's age is it possible to buy only American made products? I have read on several gun sites where others have been accused of being unpatriotic because they deemed certain foreign firearms as better than the American made and therefore spend their $$$$ otherwise. i.e. I prefer Glocks over M&P comments like that etc.

My questions are how does one balance patriotism and also making sure their limited funds buy them the best quality firearm available?

What if that particular American product is less quality or does not meet your preference, do we buy them anyway for the sake of patriotism?

At what price range difference are you willing to pay for the American made firearm if they both meet your needs.?
 
Doublea A said:
My questions are how does one balance patriotism and also making sure their limited funds buy them the best quality firearm available?
Do your homework. Research any firarm before buying. If possible, rent or borrow one and actually shoot it. Never rush out and buy any new (to the market) firearm before it has been available long enough to develop a track record.

What if that particular American product is less quality or does not meet your preference, do we buy them anyway for the sake of patriotism?
That's a personal and subjective decision.

At what price range difference are you willing to pay for the American made firearm if they both meet your needs.?
That's also a personal and subjective decision. If you're looking at $300 revolvers, $50 is a lot. If you're looking at a $3,000 semi-custom 1911 or a $5,000 shotgun, $50 is nothing.
 
You failed to provide your personal views on the subject. Do you have any? :confused:

I think you must of given some thought to it, or you would not of proposed the subject for discussion.

A lot of this was recently discussed with the thread about the largest gun maker. You have one large corporate group from Belgium owning Winchester, Browning and others. Then you have Freedom Group which is an American conglomerate owning Remington and many others.
 
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I am not sure how buying a lesser quality American product is patriotic? Isn't that anti-capitalistic and help support poor quality? Sounds unamerican to me.
 
Buying a 'non-American' gun is not unpatriotic. To say otherwise would indicated there is an agenda afoot or low grade marketing campaign.

To complicate the problem is defining where the product is finished, manufactured, assembled, tested, packaged, etc. I have a weapon assembled in New Hampshire but believe the parts come from Germany. Is that an American product?

Look to the auto industry to see where everything is likely to head: Every car sold in the US shows the % of parts from the US and elsewhere. Is an "American made" care always produced by GM, Ford, Chrysler, Tesla or ??? How about a Nissan built in the US.

Bottom line: Buy the best gun for you, ultimately the competition will produce better American weapons, that's patriotic!
 
For the most part, I buy American guns.

That does not mean I exclusively buy American guns. I currently have a BHP, a few Berettas, and a BAR 7mmMag in the collection; I used to have some SIGs and CZs; and I am probably buying a Walther.

However, all things being reasonably equal, I'll normally go with an American gun.

Same thing goes with vehicles, although many "American" vehicles are made (to a great extent) in Canada or Mexico, or from parts from other countries...
 
Some guns are more American than others

I'm going to be in the market for a 1911 this year. It might not be a Colt, but it'll definitely be an American machined and assembled weapon. Although I was surprised at how sweet it was to shoot at the range, I'm buying it in large part for its iconic status.

Maybe next year I'll get a single action revolver. That will for damn sure be made here. I just can't see getting an Italian cowboy gun. The Colt SAA seems a little pricey compared to Ruger's offerings, so maybe not a Colt, dunno.

But in the class of Wonder 9, I like the CZ 75b. I've given most of the major ones a try (gotta love ranges with a big rental inventory!) and that one just suits me better. That type of pistol is not an American icon, to my way of thinking.

I haven't warmed up to any of the polymer framed guns. This is a hobby for me, so aesthetics mean more than they would for someone looking for raw martial efficiency. I do insist on reliable, accurate guns, and there are tons to choose from. Since I can only buy a few in this lifetime, I can put some further constraints based on where they are made.
 
I don't really have any issue with where a product is made, unless it is a country that has, for example, some hideous human rights records, or a company that I know has unethical production methods: I may choose not to support them, if realistic.

Otherwise the origin is no big deal....

Something else to remember. One of the main drivers of a capitalist economy is competition. Who can deliver the best value product.

If one buys Brand X because it is American, not because it is the best product for your needs, where is the incentive for that brand to improve its quality or service?

It can be a factor, and perhaps a clincher if it is something one prefers and there is a marginaly price difference, but otherwise, in the longterm, it may be counter-productive


PS:
After my careful phrasing, it seems TXAZ in post 5 beat me to it, and in fewer words...:rolleyes:
 
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Patriotism equals what we buy? Hmmm. I remember while serving, my sidearm was a Beretta. I also carried an MP 5. Simply put, patriotism is in your heart, not on your hip.
 
If possible I prefer to buy guns and other products that are made in the USA. But I buy quality first. If the quality is equal, I'd pay a little more for a USA made product. If the quality is not equal, I'm buying the best product.

While I'd like to say "Buy USA made only", if we continue to buy sub-par USA made products we are rewarding companies to produce inferior products and they will continue to make inferior products. If we as consumers only buy quality. The USA companies will figure out that they must start making quality products or go out of business.

Rewarding companies that produce poor quality products is not patriotic. Rewarding those that produce quality products and sell them at fair prices is.
 
I try hard to buy products made in the USA (except Kalfornia)... the problem is as always its hard to know what percentage of any product is actually produced here...

I used to buy only "American made" cars..... then I learned that almost half the parts in my "American made" care were manufactured in other nations and a good portion of the "American made parts" were really only assembled here or built here and assembled somewhere else....

The bottom line is I do try to buy american and make an effort to do so when there is a product that meets my needs. I am willing to pay more for an american product but I will not accept inferior quality...
 
I try to buy American but that is often near impossible.
All other factors being equal I would go American. But that is seldom the case. My tools are mostly from China and Tiawan. American equivalents cannot come close in price or quality. Yes, quality is much better. I'm not happy about that but performance and pocketbook dictate.
As for guns, America has a long history of importing from Europe. I have no problem with German, Belgium, Italian or Spanish guns.
But, I won't have, or even hold, a gun made in Japan or India.
 
I just can't see getting an Italian cowboy gun.
...but...but... some of the best old cowboy movies that made these guns popular were Spaghetti Westerns, produced and directed by Italians in Italy! :D

As for the topic, I'll toss in my bit just outside of guns: I am an avid handloader and recently I've taken to the "patriotism" side for a particular reason.

We have a slew of terrific tools available to us as handloaders and a large portion of these tools are produced in the USA by American companies, many of them are (or lately, were) family-owned businesses started by avid shooters and handloaders. In our hobby, you almost have to work harder to find non-American companies, though some of their products are outsourced.

It seems to me that while there are many import items available to us as handloaders, there are quite a number of American made items that may cost a bit more, but are just as good and in the case of many, MUCH better.

I've become increasingly aware of this fact because of the newest name in handloading tools (and I use the term quite loosely) are these absolute junk "SmartReloader" products.

Most of the line appears to be directly copied from existing products on the market. One of their press offerings appears to be so blatantly copied that they reproduced a casting flaw from the unit they copied. I've also talked to an industry insider who works for a company that has had one of their offerings reproduced and outright stolen by this company.

I don't know if "SmartReloader" is a Chinese owned or run company, but their products are Chinese and the quality of them is crap and most of the designs are blatent rip-offs. The prices on their products is shockingly low in comparison to most of what is in the market currently.

So when it comes to handloading stuff, I've been feeling a lot more patriotic these days. When it came to replacing the tumbler I had been using (Frankford Arsenal, a popular Midway "house brand"), I found that it was Chinese made. To replace it, I paid more money for one completely made here, by Berry's, and if I had known then what I know now, I would have bought this one in the first place. It's absolutely better in every way and the difference is staggering. I am happy to pay more for a better product and also happy that I can support a great American business that I've grown to really love over the last handful of years.

Berry's makes a terrific line of products, all of which have satisfied me extremely, and the customer service has been top-notch.
 
I'm from Texas

That makes LaRue products very desirable ... I just have to save a little longer to acquire.
 
Buying American isn't as simple as it sounds.
How do you define "American"? Does the company have to be based here? Owned primarily by Americans? What if it's owned by Americans but builds somewhere else? What if it's owned by foreigners but builds here?

Cars are a good example. If you follow the money, "American" cars are not so much and some foreign cars ARE "American".

BMW, Honda, Toyota, Mercedes, Subaru, Nissan and Mitsubishi all have US plants and employ 10s of thousands of Americans while Ford and GM both also have foreign plants.

So, what is American?
 
My questions are how does one balance patriotism and also making sure their limited funds buy them the best quality firearm available?
If we want to talk about loyalty to products made in one's own country, that's fine. If we want to talk about patriotism in general, we veer into pure politics, and that's something we don't do here.
 
I buy strickly American whenever possible. From my experence at this, I can purchase @905% American made products with a little shopping. There are a few things like eletronics, foods and a few others that are strickly foreign made. Dont let anyone lie to you that American made products are poorer quality than foreign. True some companies build products that are shoddy, but that is simply because you buy them. You quit buying the low dollar Remingtons and buy only the upper quality Remingtons, then their quality will improve. I study economics as a hobby, definately not close to an expert, but far more knowledgable than the average Joe. Buy American? Hell yes it matters alot. I have seen five companies go broke because our liberal tarrif policies allow foreign countries to dump like kind products into our economy for less money. I drive American made autos and can get well over 300,000 miles on them with few repair, and they are still great vechiles when I sell them. Dont let anyone tell you that it doesnt matter, because it does. If you want a glock, buy a glock, but dont tell me its better than mine. When you pass the next foreclosed house and pass the unemployment line, while driving your foreign car, with foreign tires, while wearing Chinese cothes and looking at your Japanese watch, think what those purchases would have meant to those standing on the unemployment line. Sure foreign countries build good stuff but they also produce some of the poorest quality crap in the world. I choose to be a part of the solution instead of being part of the problem.
 
Well how do you like them apples?

I was accused of being un-patriotic because I bought a gun from an American manufacturer, (name purposefully withheld), that was accused of aiding in the passage of the Brady bill. So, not all American manufacturers are equal.

I have also seen some people labeled anti-American that purchased AK's.

A small part of the definition of Patriotism would include, doing whatever it is that is within your legal right to do and if others don't like it, they can lump it!
 
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