what happened to made in USA handguns/guns

[Gunther]

Back when I started it was colt or s&w period. Now colt is almost nonexistent and s&w is trying to come back from years of mismanagement etc. Ruger has hung in there but they are just now coming out with a polymer 9mm- 27 years after Glock. 90% of police carry foreign guns (Glock or Beretta or Sig). The bulk of the militarys guns are being made by FN. Is this just more outsourcing/globalism or has the US gun manufacturers lost something? I worry for the future when I see youngesters with foreign cars and foriegn guns and they tell you USA stuff is junk. Well now I have depressed myself what do you all think?

 

[ARTJR338WM]

Good question. I have no answers for you. All of my long guns are US made save for one, but 1/3 of my hand guns were made other than US. I think it may come down to US handgun makers stoped making what we wanted, Pythons, Diamond backs, and never made then wated or waited to long to make what we realy wanted, polymer fraimed autos. I also might think it is cost to. I could not buy a US made 1911 that does everything my XD45 Tacticle does for less than 1/2 more the money and not near the capacity. Also semi-autos are more popular than wheel guns and besides the 1911, what realy popular auto does the US make? I know S&W makes some great autos but just recently broke into the polymer market, and S&W has had a hard time comming back from gross mismanagement. Alot of people I know boycotted S&W after thay sighned off on that agreement when klinton was in power. Also Kahr is a awesome CC US made auto.

I know i try to buy all my guns US made and have done quite well doing so.

 

[littlegator]

This was one of the big tiebreakers for me when I bought the M&P in 2007. There were alot of alternatives at the time. I'm glad S&W is getting their sh** back together and selling the good stuff. I love my M&P and made the right choice.

 

[nwilliams]

The fact is many foreign countries makes some damn fine handguns. Sig, Glock, FN, H&K, Beretta to name a few.

We have some fine US makers as well, Ruger, Colt, Springfield, S&W and a few others.

There's a pretty good balance IMO between the number of US handgun makers and foreign ones. My collection comprises of a mix of both, a number of foreign made and number of US made. Honestly I tend to lean more towards the foreign made handguns, but remember also that some foreign gun companies now manufacture their guns here in the US. I'm big on the whole shop locally idea, but when it comes to firearms I don't discriminate

As far as other products go, things are being made more and more overseas its just a fact that we have to face. I know I buy many things that are made overseas, not because I want to, but because don't have much choice. I do have a choice with guns and cars and I have no problem with foreign guns and I'm a big fan of Japanese vehicles, I don't really feel guilty about either.

 

[serrano]

Outsourcing/globalism? Why would you say that? Just look at the product. Foreign makes offered better value for money in the firearms the market was buying.

That said, all my long guns are American - I'm looking for my first handgun and no American makes are on the short list.

 

[Ash]

Well, the Beretta, SIG, and FN firearms are made here. They are, quite literally, Made in the USA by US manufacturing plants on US soil. The owner of the plant, well, if that is what we go by Smith and Wesson was once owned by a British company.

Ash

 

[HZOX221]

FN and Beretta have US plants to manufacture firearms.

STI, Infinity and Kimber are US made.

I believe that Sigarms has US manufacturing as part of their line.

With the dollar to euro difference you are going to see more European companies moving production here.

 

[CWL]

We buy Glocks, other countries stand in line to buy F16s and missles from us, I have no problem with that.

 

[Christianninja]

Hi-Point is 100% American.

But then, everyone hates them...and I've never touched one...

(Not that I wouldn't if I had the chance.)

 

[Gunther]

Yeah guys I know they foreign companies have factories here. But the money from the guns we buy goes overseas. What happens when these companies don't like our politics or what we are doing in some other country and decide not to sell in the US. How would we be able to mount another WWII style build up. My point is I fear for the American firearms industry and the fact that some of you see nothing wrong with this or my use of the terms globalism/outsourcing show how conditioned we have become in such a short time span (20yrs) and how far gone the industry is as a whole. If the liberals get their way and in less than a year they might and the california style regulations continue it will be very easy to regulate to death the domestic firearms industry and the only game in town will be the foreign guns made here or not.

 

[mikec]

The US government owns the designs of the current weapons in service. If say the US and Belgium got into a spat and FN decided to close their facility here the Feds would just take it over and then get either S&W or Ruger or Colt to run it for them. They, the government, might try to sell the plant along with the contracts to the company picked to operate the facility.

 

[ReadyontheRight]

Well. Union and local pressure put the U.S. Winchester plant out of business.

Ruger is still U.S.A.

 

[Spyvie]

Every gun I own is made in the U.S.A., not that I necessarily had that in mind when I chose them. The slide on my FNP is clearly marked “FN USA Fredericksburg VA”.

I'm guessing Kel-Tek probably sells more handguns than Glock these days, just based on price (I have NO proof of this)

I am fixing to buy a CZ...

EDIT: I think my Buckmark is made here?

 

[xd45gaper]

shoot my glock was made in Georgia! and my SA XD was made in croatia imagine that! (scarasm off)

i guess you would call me the younger guy!? not sure im 25 i carry a S&W about 99.9% of the time and my glock the other .1%. I own 5 American Made firearms and 4 non american firearms (im including my SAXD because it says made in croatia on it, american owned yes amercian produced it was not) and the other 3 are a Glock, Benilli Nova, and a German K98 Mauser.

I own 2 foregin cars, Toyota's, great quality and great resale, they last forever and i like the looks of there vehicles. if an american car had those 4 qualitys i would have purchased one for my wifes vehicle. (Tacoma all the way for me lol)

Im not the type of guy that only buys foreign stuff because "america stuff is junk"(i see alot of them at work) i like to research my options and if something that was manufactured in say Italy is alot better than the same item manufactured in Arkansas but i have to pay a little more for the quality im going to purchase the item from Italy. Im all about American pride but im not going to spend my money on some junk just because it was made in the USA.

 

[Ash]

Heh, heh, heh, I'll take my 1996 Jeep Cherokee with 230,000 hard miles on it up against anything Toyota makes. Anecdotally, that Jeep outlasted our other forester's Toyota pickup in the same environment (though what kind of maintenance it saw, I cannot say, mine is well maintained). At, oh, 170,000 miles I decided to get another Jeep (in 2001 the Cherokee body was discontinued and replaced with the Liberty body, which is still called Cherokee in Europe). That Jeep now has more than 100,000 miles on it and is doing fine, while the 96 is getting even more abuse in the woods (though still properly maintained). Here she is, sitting on a sand bar by the Mississippi River near its mouth at Triumph/Buras Louisiana just after we finished a crossing to explore the Spanish ruins of Fort St. Philip.

 

[xd45gaper]

they are building a huge Toyota Plant in Mississippi

 

[OH25shooter]

How would we be able to mount another WWII style build up.

In that regard, I believe Gen Patton said the M-1 Garand won WWll. IIRC, the Garand model may have been built in America, but it was designed by a Canadian.

 

[RussB]

Seems to me Mr Browning himself sold many of his designs abroad dating back over 100 years! Good 'Ol American capitolism at it's finest.

If there was only S&W and Colt to you "back in the day" then you must've lived in a bubble, because there were and still are a myriad of US firearms manufacturers.

 

[sturmgewehr]

In that regard, I believe Gen Patton said the M-1 Garand won WWll. IIRC, the Garand model may have been built in America, but it was designed by a Canadian.

While he was born in Canada, as a child he moved to rural Connecticut. He spent his youth and adulthood as an American citizen and probably remembered very little about his birth place. That makes him an American in my book. We're all immigrants or descendants of immigrants.

He died in 1974 in Springfield Mass, as an American.

 

[MCgunner]

I don't worry a lot about where it's made if it's a good gun for the money. That said, I have 7 Rugers, a kel tec, a smith and wesson, and some other American guns in my collection. I own three taurus revolvers, I guess my most numerous foreign made gun.

Ruger has hung in there but they are just now coming out with a polymer 9mm- 27 years after Glock.

The P95 has been around for 12 years now, Ruger's first polymer handgun. I had one for a while and it was a strong, accurate, well made firearm that was 100 percent functional like all the other Rugers I own. I only traded it at the time because I bought a P85 cheap with 15 round mags and couldn't get anything, but 10 round mags for the Ruger. If I was going to carry 10 rounds, the Kel Tec P11 made a lot more sense. I used that P85 for IDPA for a while, worked well.

 

[lee n. field]

Ruger has hung in there but they are just now coming out with a polymer 9mm- 27 years after Glock.

Ruger was late to the centerfire autoloader market. Everything they've brought out since the mid 1990s --the P95, P97 and P345 and now the SR9-- have all been polymer framed guns. I've read that the P89 isn't in the 2008 catalog, leaving the P90 as the only survivor of their early metal framed P series guns.

For Ruger's part, it looks like, once they decided to get into that market, they've been continuously developing product since.

---Edited to add

Just checked the 2008 catalog. The P89 is gone, P90 and P944 are still there, as is the newly redesigned P95.

 

[Pilot]

I agree with some of the others. Its not just firearms its a global economy. Gun companies are in business to make money, period. Business is a harsh reality and a balancing act. Beretta and Sig make many of their guns here in the U.S. for both economic reasons and government contractual requirements for U.S. production. Yes, they are foreign designs. Look at the U.S. versus foreign auto industry. Ford, GM and Chrysler are all sucking wind while Toyota and Honda are doing well. Toyota and Honda also assemble most of their American sold cars here in the U.S., but profits still flow back to Tokyo. At least they are employing American workers.

I think S&W, in general, stilll makes the best revolvers, and are now making excellent semiautos as well. Colt is making high quality firearms again, but its more of a boutique seller than mass supplier of firearms. Ruger is another top notch U.S. manfacturer. I still think the U.S. has a viable arms industry, but like many other manufacturers, the global economy has taken its toll.

 

[jakeswensonmt]

The dollar has been strong for a long time, which encourages imports.

That having been said, at this time I own many US made guns and exactly one non-US gun (a 1984 SIG which has sentimental value).

IMHO the American guns are just as well made as imports in the same price range, if not better. Plus, I want to support American workers and the American gun industry, and I don't intend to subsidize Europe and their pacifist/socialist, surrender-prone, anti-American, pro-Islam attitude.

 

[BlkHawk73]

My opinion...unions. Too many ppl with the "not my job" attitude unwilling to do anything above or beyond thier carved-in-stone job description unless heavily compensated for it. Add to that the ever continual demand for more more more by the employees while they expect to do less and less actual work. Can't blame manufacturing to go elsewhere. It's about staying in business and keeping prices at a level to stay in thier market.
Winchester/Olin was a perfect example of this.

 

[xd45gaper]

or union workers at GM!