Greetings All;
There have been a lot of Turkish shotguns on the market (Stoeger, Hatfield, Dickinson, ATI, Armscor, Charles Daly, CZ, Winchester, and even a few Mossbergs). When doing some research, it seems that there are dozens, if not hundreds of shotgun manufacturers in Turkey. I happened to be looking up many of these manufacturers, and a lot of them have certain products that are eerily similar. For example, the RIA Imports has the VR60 and VR80 shotguns, as well as the VRBP100 (which are made, I believe, by Derya). Most of the shotgun manufacturers I checked out have some flavor of the VR60- or VR80-styled shotgun. Many of them had both, and a few of them had a VRBP100-styled bullpup shotgun. Also noteworthy is that at least three of the companies had a revolver .410 shotgun (and even a revolver lever action .410 shotgun). It just seems odd that so many companies are producing what appears to be the same shotguns. Is there any explanation for this? I have thought of a few, but none are really satisfactory:
1) I know that there are many firearms that have entered the public domain, such as the AR-15 and the Reminton 870. As such, it is easy for small companies to produce a proven design without the cost of R&D. However, I find it hard to believe that something like the VR60, VR80, and a bullpup version of these guns are old enough to be public domain, even in Turkey.
2) I know that some governments procure their weapons through state-owned manufacturers, which are often the largest arms company in the country. If there is some major manufacturer of these guns, they could simply be white-labeling them for all these other companies. Of course, I can't think of a reason a state-owned company would put effort into designing a lever-action revolver .410 shotgun.
3) Maybe there are certain designs that are approved for manufacture, or that aren't covered under patent, or that are collaborative efforts, or there are designs commissioned by a government under the condition of no patent being awarded for them. If that is true, I can see many companies using a royalty-free design.
4) Maybe there are geographic regulations that prevent companies from selling their goods outside of a designated area, so designs have to be licensed by a regional manufacturer for the locals to be able to buy them.
Still, none of these explanations fully satisfy my curiosity. So does anybody know why so many Turkish gun companies produce the same styles of shotgun? Also, in a country with only a third of the population of the United States, there seems to be an inordinately large number of firearms manufacturers, more, it would seem, than Europe and the U.S. combined. Any reason for this?
Thanks for your help!
There have been a lot of Turkish shotguns on the market (Stoeger, Hatfield, Dickinson, ATI, Armscor, Charles Daly, CZ, Winchester, and even a few Mossbergs). When doing some research, it seems that there are dozens, if not hundreds of shotgun manufacturers in Turkey. I happened to be looking up many of these manufacturers, and a lot of them have certain products that are eerily similar. For example, the RIA Imports has the VR60 and VR80 shotguns, as well as the VRBP100 (which are made, I believe, by Derya). Most of the shotgun manufacturers I checked out have some flavor of the VR60- or VR80-styled shotgun. Many of them had both, and a few of them had a VRBP100-styled bullpup shotgun. Also noteworthy is that at least three of the companies had a revolver .410 shotgun (and even a revolver lever action .410 shotgun). It just seems odd that so many companies are producing what appears to be the same shotguns. Is there any explanation for this? I have thought of a few, but none are really satisfactory:
1) I know that there are many firearms that have entered the public domain, such as the AR-15 and the Reminton 870. As such, it is easy for small companies to produce a proven design without the cost of R&D. However, I find it hard to believe that something like the VR60, VR80, and a bullpup version of these guns are old enough to be public domain, even in Turkey.
2) I know that some governments procure their weapons through state-owned manufacturers, which are often the largest arms company in the country. If there is some major manufacturer of these guns, they could simply be white-labeling them for all these other companies. Of course, I can't think of a reason a state-owned company would put effort into designing a lever-action revolver .410 shotgun.
3) Maybe there are certain designs that are approved for manufacture, or that aren't covered under patent, or that are collaborative efforts, or there are designs commissioned by a government under the condition of no patent being awarded for them. If that is true, I can see many companies using a royalty-free design.
4) Maybe there are geographic regulations that prevent companies from selling their goods outside of a designated area, so designs have to be licensed by a regional manufacturer for the locals to be able to buy them.
Still, none of these explanations fully satisfy my curiosity. So does anybody know why so many Turkish gun companies produce the same styles of shotgun? Also, in a country with only a third of the population of the United States, there seems to be an inordinately large number of firearms manufacturers, more, it would seem, than Europe and the U.S. combined. Any reason for this?
Thanks for your help!
