[PaleHawkDown]

I always preferred the Radom. I also wish I had bought an FEG clone back when they were $250.

 

[PaleHawkDown]

I like the hipower, and don't underestimate nostalgia, but firearm industries have had unprecedented sales for Two YEARS and all we get are relaunch of dead designs and a rehashed 32 for full frame (9mm length) guns?

Well, yeah.

Even the "new" designs are nothing but Edwardian and Victorian design shoved into plastic, and a few guns based on improvements of World War II and interwar designs. The only real innovators are companies you don't hear of, because they are working out of a basement, or are in former com-bloc countries. And Laugo, and KelTec, and arguably Grand Power and TNW. Is Calico still around?

I keep reading these articles about these great wonder-whiz designs, and when they actually show how it works, I realize I have seen it all before; Browning, the Koucky brothers, the Kratochville brothers, Huebner, Ribeyrolles, Sutter and Chauchat, Fyodorov, Degtyrov, Simonov, the Feederle brothers, Bang, Vorgrmler, etc.

Copy someone's writing, you are a plagiarist, but do it with guns and you are "innovative." Flat-out steal patents, and you are a "genius."

Guns these days are like movies; rehashes, remakes, re-releases, and sequels, or they are the Tarantino of guns - they steal whole chunks of earlier works, and mash them together into a collage, and critics clap like seals and proclaim greatness. Take a classic, strip it of charm, and craft, repackage it for a "modern audience" and call it a day.

 

[PaleHawkDown]

Hot dang, I wish you were wrong.

The truth is, real innovation is exceedingly expensive. Getting a new design really worked out and market ready for a brand like FN is mind boggling.

Taking something you already know works, and dressing it up for the 2022 market is MUCH more profitable.

I think that is why Czechia, Serbia, Croatia, Slovakia, and Chechnya lead the world in thinking outside the box for guns these days. Investors have made "American" money on the world stage, and can invest back home where the cost of innovating is cheap. When $15,000 a year is considered middle class, or better, you can afford to put more into tooling and R&D. Most of these companies have government contracts that guarantee stability.
They don't have to listen to investors, lawyers, or "experts" telling them NOT to do something.

Similarly, Kel-Tec is pretty much a family business with loyal customers, and a mad genius at the helm. They can innovate because they have money, (and because George won't stop) and the techniques they utilize are fairly cheap.

 

[PaleHawkDown]

There are always a few at the gun show, but they are leaping in price