Why Do Guns Get Discontinued?

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Glockedout17

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Exactly what it says. I always wondered why guns get discontinued. Is it because something is wrong with it or is it because it's time for something new?:confused: I've had two discontinued guns come into my possession in the last two years (Taurus 606 and Walther P99c QA). I traded the Taurus off because it was discontinued and I felt it would be a better idea to have something more up to date and still on the market. I am keeping the Walther, but i'm always thinking would I be better off with something like a M&P or XD that has much more aftermarket support. I guess it just bothers me to have something that was discontinued AKA trashed. I never understood why guns are discontinued. What are the disadvantages/advantages of having a discontinued gun?
 
Same reason anything else gets discontinued.

They make a product, they either never sell well, or they stop selling well enough to make any money off of.

Owning a discontinued gun can be a problem, because finding parts for it (especially if it was one that never sold well) will be difficult to find.
 
Fashions turn. Or something better comes along which improves on the faults that piece had. Or it just gets too expensive to go on making them at the price the public is prepared to pay.
 
Or it just gets too expensive to go on making them at the price the public is prepared to pay.
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A good example of this is the H&K P7M8/M13. These guns are all steel, expensive to manufacture and although highly prized and one of the few modern handguns that increase in value (the Sig P210 is another example, and why Sig Sauer has brought them back as the pricy "Legend" series... that and it adds to Sig Sauer's prestige), they are not that practical. Not much of a magazine capacity when compared to other 9mm handguns and quite heavy for that capacity.
H&K can manufacture and sell far more hi-cap polymer handguns... and although they don't have the panache of the P7M models, or P9S models for that matter... they are eminently more practical.
 
smalls said:
Same reason anything else gets discontinued.

They make a product, they either never sell well, or they stop selling well enough to make any money off of.

Owning a discontinued gun can be a problem, because finding parts for it (especially if it was one that never sold well) will be difficult to find.
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Yep, simply put "it didn't sell".
 
+1. Market forces. Sometimes very direct ones, like a product simply didn't sell very well, or profit to cost ration wasn't very good. Sometimes more abstract ones, such as a company revises or refines its overall business plan and maybe trims products that sold relatively well from its product line to cut its costs or change the focus of its product line or whatever.
 
Often to move product when a newer, better product is replacing it. Leupold deeply discounted their VX-2 scopes during the last 2 months of 2011 only to come out with a far better VX-2 starting in Jan. 2012.

To stay match competition. Gun company A may be selling a gun for $400, another company may introduce a similar gun selling for $375. Gun company may need to find a way to cut corners to match the new guns price.

I see this a lot today. Years ago there was lots of competition from gun companies to see who could build the best gun. Today the competition is to see who can build the cheapest gun.
 
There are a lot of old,discontinued weapons still floating around and some are worth a site more than the ones your talking about.
Keep getting rid of your discontinued stuff, make somebody .......happy.
 
Sav .250 said:
There are a lot of old,discontinued weapons still floating around and some are worth a site more than the ones your talking about.
Keep getting rid of your discontinued stuff, make somebody .......happy.
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All very good points. Yea i'm making them happy, but it also helps me sleep better at night knowing I have something that I want.
 
The company may be operating at or close to 100% capacity and not have the cash to expand. In order to make something new, something old has to go. Or cost may have risen to the point where it no longer makes its profit margin.(Think labor costs for hand fitting a Python.)
 
Twinkies and Edsels. The free market. I'm doing ok with some old Colts going up in value.
 
My apologies to all..... it's my fault. Usually, a direct result of me finally saving up for it, passing it over at an LGS or show, or selling it years earlier. Sorry.
 
Guns get discontinued by major manufacturers due to:
(1) New model introduced that replaces it (Example Ruger Security Six replaced by GP100).
(2) The gun didn't sell well enough to continue producing them (Example- Ruger SRH in 480 Ruger).
(3) Cost to manufacture prices gun out of the market (Example- Colt Python).
(4) Returns outweigh profit magins on a firearm due to a couple consistant issues (Example- Thompson Center R-55).
(5) Sales have run their course and are decreasing; hence they feel like it.
(6) Company goes out of business.
(7) Regulatory/Political issues
 
Gun companies are in business to make a profit and when something becomes unprofitable it is either dropped or modified. This totaly depends on us, the buying public.

A perfect example:

I once called Sierra about a bullet that they made but I could no longer find. The man on the phone told me that it had been discontinued.

I asked why?

He said: "Because you did not buy enough of them."

It's basic economics. The public was not willing to pay what Winchester was asking in 1963 so they had to cut corners to keep the price competitive for the next model year.
 
Or maybe the critics who know it all are condescending about the model, Remington 788 as an example, so people quit buying it not realizing that it is a better "bang" for the buck than the 700. ;)
 
True about the M788. The Remington M700 BDL slowly seems to be moving to obscurity. I guess the cheaper models that really aren't that cheap are pushing it slowly out the door. Walnut source could also contribute.
 
22-rimfire said:
True about the M788. The Remington M700 BDL slowly seems to be moving to obscurity. I guess the cheaper models that really aren't that cheap are pushing it slowly out the door. Walnut source could also contribute.
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Makes me glad I have a 700 BDL in .243. Sweet shooter with my reloads - 200 yard zero with about 2.5" group of my reloads.
 
Personally, I like discontimued models. They have discounted prices. In fact, I just bought a Taurus PT1911 in 38 Super. Tausus still makes the gun in 9mm & 45ACP, but they apparently dropped the 38 Super caliber so I got a great price. I think over half the guns I own have been discontinued.
 
I think nearly all of my guns have been discontinued. Only a few recent acquisitions are still available new. Even those still available by model number, many are different than the current ones.
 
<<Main reason Ruger got out of the SxS and O/U shotgun business >>

Don't count them out too soon. I think we'll see the Red Label return within 24 months.
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I doubt it. The Red label just wasn't competetive. It was a bit nicer than the $500 O/U guns, but at it's price point, the other offerings are simply better, such as those from Beretta.

I liked the Red label, but it simply wasn't as elegant or well balanced as a similarly priced Beretta Silver Pigeon.
 
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