Rumor: Gun Mfg. pulling sales from USA

C

Captain Bligh

New member
I was in a local shop yesterday. The owner is a distributor who also sells to the public. He had a lot of S&Ws laying around so I asked him what S&W was doing to him.

He said that his contract with S&W was up for renewal in January and he would decide what to do in negotiations at that point. But the part that interested me is that he said it may not matter at all. He claims there are supposedly whispers that S&W plus a couple of other (unnamed gun) manufacturers will stop U.S. sales to the public next year and take all their business off shore.

Anybody else hear this rumor? Any guesses who the others might be?

RJ
 
As a percentage of total sales S&W's exports are tiny. They couldn't keep the doors open with that business alone.

I haven't heard that rumor, but it really doesn't sound plausible.
 
Maybe that is going to be their way of punishing us for boycotting them. ;)

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Gunslinger

I was promised a Shortycicle and I want a Shortycicle!
 
My BS detector is going off. This is an urban legend which won't die. No manufacturer will pull out of the US market because except for military sales, there is no other profitable market. Only a few other countries have the same level of freedom we do, and they cannot sustain any major firearms manufacturer.
 
Of course, S&W pulling out of the US market will make zero difference to me, since they won't be seeing any of my money.
 
Why is everyone so worried about what Smith and Wesson is going to do? First of all, they are owned by the British company Tomkins PLC who decided that our rights aren't worth a damn. Maybe they're trying to get back at us for that whole revolution thing a couple hundred years ago. Who knows? All I know is that Tomkins PLC has put S&W up for sale which shows that they don't even really care what happens to them. As far as I am concerned, I'll never own another new S&W product regardless of what they do.
Hopefully they will go out of business so that Taurus or some other company can buy all of the S&W tooling tooling and continue the S&W product line (at least the revolvers anyway, and possibly the model 41) under their own name (kind of like Taurus did with the Beretta 92 tooling when Beretta's production contract was up in Brazil).
 
Mom T, I wasn't as worried about what S&W is doing as I was curious about the other two alluded to. Wonder who they are if they are at all?

RJ
 
i agree with the other poster who wondered what other market besides the us could support smith and wesson. i can only guess that it is a rumor. besides, other than a few revolvers i havent seen much they make that sells well. the only people i ever see with a smith and wesson semi-auto are the police. they have to pack what is forced upon them. i cant think of anybody lusting after a smith and wesson semi-auto even before the boycott. i think the boycott therefore probably hasnt hurt them so far as the sale of semi-auto pistols. i saw in a recent gun magazine where they were advertising a copy of the 1911 called the 945 i think. then there the sigma wich was looked alot like a copy of a glock. i am still cant believe it when they say they cant afford the fight the court cases. they certainly didnt waste any money on research and development. maybe they spent it on warranty cost of thier autoloading pistols.
 
I doubt it. Rumor probably came from Midwest Gun Exchange which makes it just that, a rumor. If any of them do you can bet it won't be SIG since they just got set up to do some manufacturing here and my understanding is that Glock will as well. Won't be Ruger, American Deringer, nor Freedom Arms. If he can't be more specific I would say he is blowing smoke. Colt's primary market is U.S. military and LE so they couldn't move out of country if they wanted to and Beretta can't leave for the same reason. Don't know how much H&K does here, but if they are going to deliver the new rifle to the army by 2006 they are stuck here too, as is FN with the M-16, M-240, and M-249 contracts. Yep, sure would like to know who is leaving and I would like to know why he isn't saying. Best bet, Colt, lose any military money and get to bust the union, but I can't come up with another.
 
Singleshot is correct.

S&W cannot compete in the world marketplace against the likes of Sig, Beretta, H&K, and Glock, all of which produce superior semi-automatic handguns (in my opinion).

I don't think S&W has won a major international contract in the past 3 years.

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Beware the man with the S&W .357 Mag.
Chances are he knows how to use it.
 
Captain,

I see what you are saying about the other manufacurers. Fortunately, I think that the majority of people here are right about the rumors.

Good shooting
 
Well here is a Bit of Info about Some Companies Practices,

The Following Companies will no Longer deal with Canadian Customers Directly:

Thompson Center
Wilson Combat
Springfield Armory
Colt

I know these Companies for a fact have stopped shipping new guns to Canada, so to get them we have to go thru a Secondary Supplier which raises the price by about 30%


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PROUD TO BE CANADIAN
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Westicle:
I know these Companies for a fact have stopped shipping new guns to Canada, so to get them we have to go thru a Secondary Supplier which raises the price by about 30%
[/quote]

I suspect that has more to do with the problems they've had getting them through Canadian customs than their corporate attitudes.
 
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