Feedback, Callback and Such

Friday afternoon, word that Bushmaster Firearms testing had uncovered a potential problem with their Adaptive Combat Rifle (ACR). According to the notice issued to owners of the ACR, routine test firing had “discovered a design flaw which could result in multiple rounds firing continuously when the trigger is pulled.”

As the notice observed “This unexpected firing of multiple rounds creates a potentially dangerous situation.” Absolutely. If you’re not accustomed to controlling a rifle in full-auto mode, the potential for a disaster is not perceived, it’s absolutely real.

Fortunately, no word of any such happenings outside Bushmaster’s test facilities.

The danger of a rifle going auto is really more than a simple safety issue. The ATF has interpreted the act of firing a rifle not certified and registered as a Class III firearm as a felonious act- even when the rifle goes rogue on its own.

Recognizing that fact, Bushmaster issued an advisory calling on owners to “Please immediately discontinue the use of your ACR rifle(s)” – and get their customer service department on the phone in order to get return shipping instructions and the inevitable Return Merchandise Authorization number (RMA #).

There’s no turn-around time on the notice, and no quantification of the numbers of rifles impacted by the recall. To repeat, however, the recall is for ALL of the ACR rifles, not a particular run or serial number sequence.

You can read the particulars of the notification here.

Last week, my observations on what readers have called the “dumping” of rifles into the marketplace by manufacturers with no consideration for dealers caused many of you to respond. Those responses were revealing in the fact that while many of you felt the manufacturers and retailers were guilty of price gouging during the recently-departed “bubble” of high-demand for firearms and ammo, others were in the retail chain and understood the impact deep pricing slashing could have on your own businesses’ well being.

“After reading the article regarding the distributors and retailers getting hit by the release of new low prices by the manufacturers of AR’s, I found it difficult to feel much sympathy,” one reader responded, “There can be no doubt that some of these same complaining distributors and retailers where also involved in purchasing lower cost AR’s (before Obama got elected). Ultimately they ended up selling those rifles, purchased at low cost, for the new, ridiculously, high prices that they could charge in the panic buying going on (the exact opposite of what they’re crying about now). Sounds a bit like crocodile tears to me.”

Another reader asked a basic business question: “…isn’t it normal business practice to take your chances on the prices of merchandise?”

The answer to that one is a bit more complicated than the obvious affirmation. While retailers routinely see prices ebb and flow on products, they’re seldom in a range where they find themselves holding products they’ve paid more for than the prices now being offered to consumers.

When I studied firearms pricing, I was shocked to learn how tight the margins actually were for all but a few firearms. In other sporting categories, it’s normal for a product that carries a retail price of, say, $500 – like a high-end driver in golf wholesale for as little as half that. When retailers “slashed” prices, they weren’t losing money, they were turning over inventory at reduced profit levels. In other areas, margins were even higher.

Not so in firearms. It’s a price-competitive industry and retail locations frequently have very tight margins. That’s why price slashing by a manufacturer causes such heartburn and resentment with distributors and dealers.

One retailer summed it up far better than I could ever hope to: “I’m a retailer. We’ve taken this in the shorts because of this. We have dropped a couple of lines because of this. We continue to buy from those companies that treated us well. The guys who really are caught in the middle are the Company Sales Reps. Those guys are scrambling to keep customers – like me.”

We appreciate your feedback – and promise to keep you posted.

–Jim Shepherd
http://www.shootingwire.com