Its when the CEO that ruined Kimber's CQ went over to Sig usa.
(or from what I understand from 30 seconds of googleing the subjecr)
Ron Cohen (I think is his name) Was the genius that thought putting "Custom" on production Kimber slides mean you could charge an arm and a leg for a 1911 while quietly cutting corners in production. And how you can't turn a page in a gun rag without seeing an add for Kimber. They spend their money on ads not on the actual production of guns.
Now from SIG your seeing "Diamond Plate", "Rainbow", "Scorpion" finnishes on Sigs. And how you can buy a P238 that proudly says "SAS" on the side.
Thats where all the extra effort goes at SIG.
Sig before the pre-Cohen days was producing some of the best handguns on the planet. These W. German/German guns are what built the Sig reputation but they were not making any money.
Ron Cohen is a marketing genius and is the one that turned Kimber into what it is today....
They are the #1 selling 1911 on the planet. They sell more 1911s than the next 4 combined.
Cohen used and aggressive marketing strategy and volume model to grow Kimber into the company it is today.
Now that also created a few problems.
-Remember when the Kimber started to use more and more MIM, cheaper parts, in order to speed up production and cut production costs while at the same time continuing to raise prices.
-Remember when Kimber started to make 25 versions of basically the same pistol by changing the finish the grips and the engraving on the slide.
-Remember the problems with the Kimbers external extractor which they never got right.
-Remember when they did not completely R&D the guns the guns with the changes they were making before they released the pistol and instead let the buying public be beta tester while claiming that there were no known design flaws in their products.
-Remember how as the volume of the Kimber brand grew so did the raw number and % of problem guns.
-Remember when their customer service was overwhelmed because they increased production but did not increase the after sale support side of the business.
ALL of this applies to todays Sig Cohen Sauer. Now this does not mean that if you go out and buy a Sig today you will get a lemon. This does not mean that Sigs produced at Exter are not good if not great guns. My number 1 problem with Sig these days is the mentality that is driving their production methods and design concepts. It is no longer to Hell and Back reliability. That has been replaced by the Pinto principle. Build them fast and build them cheap. We know there are flaws but the majority of the guns will never be shot to enough to reach the point of failure and the ones that do we can fix under warranty at a much lower cost than making them all the way they should. This is what you get when you go to a volume model IMHO.
