You own the Company: What to produce?

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LoneCoon

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This is not a "I wish they make a..." thread.

If you were in charge of a firearms company, what would you have them produce?
Would it be commercially viable?
How would you advertise?
Other ideas on running a firearms company?

Personally, I'd have a company that made two types of firearms: Inexpensive and exotic.

The inexpensive ones would be simple, reliable handguns and shotguns for the masses, similar to Hi-Point, but with some improvements, priced around $150.

The "exotics" would be limited runs of impressive, yet slightly impractical firearms. A 7.62x25 Carbine. A licensed version of the MP412-REX. Auto-revolvers. Those sorts of things.

What would you do with your company?
 
I don’t know if this is even possible but a semiautomatic pistol caliber carbine in 10mm similar to a pc4 in appearance but it takes glock 20 magazines and can fire both .40 s&w and 10mm it will be modular like an ar-15. Or that would at least be my dream gun I think the 10mm would really benefit from the long barrel like a .357 magnum and you could plink with the cheaper .40s&w. I think it would be pretty handy to like a marlin 1894.:)
 
To the OP you better have two names for your two (one) companies. Selling cheap guns next to high end guns wouldnt work well. Would any of you buy a new $1k plus High Point?

I would market custom build ARs. Rather than have pre-configured models in my line up it would be built ala carte. Different calibers, uppers, lowers, stocks, grips, etc. If you could dream it up we could build it. Oh I would get into making quality mags and accesories as well. Perhaps later I would branch out into building 100% brand new G3s and FALs. Nobody seems to be making these anymore. All you can find are guns built from parts kits. And I would love to get a license to make civilian legal copies of the HK UMP and G36, that SL8 and USC just dont cut it.
 
Quality magazines, clips, and speedloaders for just about every firearm on the market. Especially larger capacity detachable magazines for rifles that don't have them from the factory nor available on the market.

Everybody needs ammunition feeding devices. I'll be producing improved and exotic ones.
 
Selling cheap guns next to high end guns wouldnt work well. Would any of you buy a new $1k plus High Point?

Excellent point - and precisely why there was a little nervousness over Kel-Tec's 308 I bet.

Hrmm.. to the original question..

If I were starting a company.. well, honestly Magpul has the best business plan I've seen to date. Make quality accessories for an extraordinarily popular platform.. but don't get into the legal mess that is actually making the firearm. Well.. until the Masada anyway. Which looks cool. :)

For an actual arms manufacturer? Hrmm... the world has enough people making AR clones.. same for the AK, FAL, so forth and so on. The hunting bolt gun market is sewn up with everything from Savage production pieces to Cooper and even more custom pieces... the historical reproduction (cowboy) market is rapidly expanding, but the big players are there.

I can think of two routes..

a "toy" market that could do a sort of "FBMG" type thing - say make licensed runs of the M41A Space Marine rifle and suchlike. A niche market certainly, but I bet there'd be at least some interest.

Alternately, hit the "Mini-14"/Kel-Tec carbine market segment. A lower-cost .223 autochucker that carries, handles, and looks like a nice PC carbine. Basically something like a marriage between a simplified XCR upper and a Ruger Mini lower, break-open to clean design, aimed at the 500-600 retail mark. Basically provide an option for CA and the like (and God help us, the rest of the US if 1022 goes through) that looks PC, is sturdier than a Kel-Tec .223, and more refined than a Mini.

-K
 
In a biography of John Moses Browning I saw a list of patents he had, that Winchester bought and never produced (since his lever guns were selling so well).

One was a pump action, box magazine fed rifle, similar in function to the pump rifle that Remington introduced last year in .223, that takes AR magazines.

I would like to see a company produce such a rifle. Maybe in Cowboy Action Shooting there could be a class for "other timeline" guns, that were never made but were designed in the cowboy era.

A .357 mag or .44 mag pump carbine, with a proprietary mag design (uncommon) could be left at home with the mags in the owner's briefcase or purse (at work) - never have to worry about coming home to face your own gun, in a breakin.

Fast to load or unload, such an arm would be useful for those who live in cities where pistols and semi-auto rifles are prohibited or hard to get a "license" for. Easier to shoot well than a pistol, not as penetrating as a "real" rifle, usable for deer or hogs at shorter ranges (or turkeys - less meat destroyed) - made for the person who "wants a gun" but is not really "into" guns.

A lever gun could do all the same things but a tube mag is not as simple to load/unload as a box.

A carbine like this could be produced in two models, differing only in furniture. One has wood and looks cowboy, old-fashioned, non-threatening, pc. The other has a wire stock instead of walnut, plastic forearm pump, and an accessory rail for lights or red-dots. The old-fashioned one has buckhorn sights but is drilled and tapped for a receiver sight.

Regards,
Andrew
 
I just spent a good 20 minutes typing up a post with my ideal product and business plan and then I ctrl-x'ed into my personal notes.

Sorry folks! Love y'all, just not that much...:)
 
It may sound silly, but I'd produce and market single-shot swinging breech lock pistols in rifle calibers.

Oh, and I'd also produce a belt-fed semi auto .22 rifle, with reusable/reloadable belts.
 
On the assumption that there would be a small, but sufficient market for my own peculiar tastes.

1. Mauser 98 clones with stripper clip guides, single-set triggers, and three-position safeties that won't interfere with scopes - perhaps on the tang. The action would use a detachable magazine with bolt catch on the follower, four or five-round flushmount being standard. Ten and twenty-rounds mags would also be available. Stocks would be walnut or synthetic. This should sell for the same price as any RemchesterSavageRuger. They could be ordered with rings and bases for scopes, or with an aperture or ghost ring sight that would mount on the rear scope base and a front sight on the muzzle.

2. Assuming the company already makes a bolt-action (whether the one above, or some other), I would offer a scout version that adhered closely to the actual Scout guidelines, including weight and length. A .308 with 18" barrel, or thereabouts, back-up aperture at the rear, with front-sight hidden in the scope-mount bridge. The action would still be drilled and tapped to accept a conventionally-mounted scope. Stock would be a stiff, lightweight synthetic, which would hold one five-round magazine in the butt (two five-rounders would be supplied.) The rifle would also be sold as a package that would include a three-point Ching sling and Leupold scope. A bipod that mounts to the front swivel would also be offered as an option. Unlike the Steyr, it would not be ugly, nor so expensive.
 
Extremely inexpensive disposable (one use) self defense weapons. I'm thinking a 4 shot deringer in the $20 range.
 
I would do something much like what KelTec does. Compact concealment pistols, compact carbines, and battle rifles. The small markets that are populated by the activist fringe of gun owners; stuff that the larger companies may be politically or economically unwilling to get into.

Actually, I'm already a bit excited to see what KT comes out with after their new bullpup. :)
 
To the OP you better have two names for your two (one) companies. Selling cheap guns next to high end guns wouldnt work well. Would any of you buy a new $1k plus High Point?
Or possibly using diffirent trademarks. For example, Savage makes guns into the 1200 range under the Savage name and basic user guns as Stevens.
 
Airsoft gas-blowback replicas of the United States Rifle, Caliber .30, M1... and the M1911... and keep the price under $200 for the rifle, and $100 for the handgun. It's criminal what they charge for these things.
 
I'd make:


A Tec-9 clone in 9mm that takes Sten mags. I'd also make a Tec-9 clone in .38 super/9mm Largo/9x23. A .45acp and .40 S&W Tec-9 clone. Then the coolest one ever, a Tec-9 clone in 7.62x25! And an open bolt select fire version of all of these available to SOTs/dealers.

SP89 clone in .22lr that takes Ruger 10/22 mags. Also a full auto version with foregrips that is available to Class 2 SOTs/dealers.

An Uzi clone in closed bolt semi and open bolt select fire in 9mm, .40S&W ,10mm, 9mm Largo/9x23 Win/.38 super, and of course in 7.62x25.

Import some cheap revolvers, especially like 10 shot .22lr revolvers. Also import some of the Philippino revolvers, and Philippino pistols and shotguns in general.

Import the Yugoslavian Tokarev clones and the Yugoslavian CZ-75 clones.

Make a Sterling SMG clone in closed bolt semi auto and open bolt full auto for C2 SOTs and C3 dealers. I'd make it take Sten mags in the 9mm version, and then in the .38 super/9mm Largo/9x23 Win version, make it take a curvey looking mag like a traditional Sterling SMG mag. It'd also be available in 7.62x25, taking PPsh stick mags. The civi version would be closed bolt semi, with a stock and a 16 inch barrel without an extended shroud, or a pistol without a stock, civi versions would be available in all mentioned calibers.

A MP5 clone in 9mm, 9x23Win/9mm Largo/.38 super, and 7.62x25. The 9mm one would take Sten mags, and the 9x23Win/9mm Largo/.38 super one would take PPsh stick mags, and obviously the 7.62x25 one would, too. Compatible with HK trigger groups, in semi for serfs, and select for LEO/SOT/ect.

Bizon SMG clone. Semi auto for serfs, select fire for LEO/SOT/ect. In all the Bizon SMG calibers, probably would be built from Russian parts, and imported mags.

Cheap 10 round Saiga shotgun mags.

sub 50 dollar autoloading .22 pistol. Preferably pocket sized.

cheap .22 DA revolver, in the 50 dollar range.

bunch of sub 100 dollar guns, ala Jennings and the like. I'd like them to be of better quality, though.

Make a whole bunch of "liberator" ish pistols in 9mm one barrel, and .22 the other barrel. Since the bad guys, whoever they may be, will likely be using 9mm SMGs, but you'll likely have .22 lying around.

multishot .22 pistol with multiple barrels. 4 barrels and 10 barrels. You pull the trigger, and they all shoot off at once. A rifle like this would also be neat, 4 or 10 barrels. It'd be neat, and pretty cheap.

.223 revolver, Philippinos made those. I know Taurus or some company finally cought on and made one, but it has like a 10 inch barrel. I'd make them with 2-6 inch barrels. I even came up with a way to eject the shells out (but it's super secret, never know if S&W is reading this board, they may want to steal my idea....:cool: )

A single shot .223 pistol, ala liberator.

7.62x39 revolver.

7.62x25 revolver.

magazine fed lever action rifle, in military calibers. Preferably cheaply priced. If it could take AR mags and G3 mags, that'd be sweet.

cheap no frills .223 bolt action rifle that takes AR mags, preferably with a fast action and rails for a scope.

Import Khyber Pass guns of all kinds, from Martini Henrys and Lee Enfield clones, to pistols and stuff, too.

.223 AK that takes M16 mags out of the box.

lever action 9mm rifle with tube magazine.

double stack striker fired .22lr pistol, high capacity fun...

double stack 7.62x25 Glock/XD like pistol.

double stack .38 super/9x23/9mm Largo pistol.

A berdan primer reloading tool that doesnt suck (basically a tool like is used to reload boxer primers, but with 2 prongs, and you could have a whole set of them for different flash hole setups.

Sell a contact explosive to reload berdan primer cups with.

Black powder mortars.

Thermite 12 gauge shotgun shells.

Exploding 12 gauge shotgun shells.

Yeah, that's about it. Long list, but pretty cool, no?
 
I would make updated and improved parts for obsolete firearms - like barrels and internals for 1903 Colt, 1896 Mauser, Krag rifle, etc - using the latest in metal technology and fabrication.

there could be a class for "other timeline" guns, that were never made
Interesting, since I just read an article about someone who is producing a "Colt 1910" model handgun, based on some designs that never made it to the production line.
 
.22LR conversion for the Sig P226.

High capacity .22LR magazines for the CZ Kadet.

Lever action 7.62x54R.

5.56mm AK that takes M16 magazines.

Working reproduction of 'Hellboy' 4-shot revolver in .729 caliber (takes 12ga shells, AOW), you could call the cartridge the .73 BPRD (see, it rhymes!)
revolver%20The%20Samaritan.jpg


Working reproduction of the M41A pulse rifle
m41model07.jpg
 
Jlbraun

When you get your company going please call me! I'll be in line for one o the Samaritans from Hellboy and a Pulse Rifle from Aliens! What would be really cool would be to build the Samaritan in a 500 Mag (it's big enough) that it could still have 6-7 shots! Or better would be a .45LC something to put some thump to it but still give it plenty of ammo! Cmon it'd be grand! (probably cost around that too!):evil: I WANT!
 
Homeland defense rifles for the masses. As good a balance of inexpensive, ergonomic, customizable and accurate as can be done. License the design freely. Make all parts available (hear that Ruger?). Offer the armorer's manual as a free PDF download.
 
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