Thoughts on big name manufacturers vs lesser known names?

[rlt7272]

Of course if money was not an object I would own the bigger name, but seeing i drive a Dodge and not a Bentley, budget plays a large role my firearm purchase.

That said, you have to look at the intendend use. A Bentley may be a fancier auto but it would have a hell of a time pulling my travel trailer whereas the Dodge does just fine.

 

[stewball]

Of course if money was not an object I would own the bigger name, but seeing i drive a Dodge and not a Bentley, budget plays a large role my firearm purchase.

That said, you have to look at the intendend use. A Bentley may be a fancier auto but it would have a hell of a time pulling my travel trailer whereas the Dodge does just fine.

I wholeheartedly agree, but the best part of living in the US of A, at least until the last election, is to have BOTH, if one so chooses.

 

[ray76]

I pay more for quality every time, my life depends on it. You don't stay in business that long if your products suck.

 

[mr ed]

You guys tend to consider the quality of a gun by the amount of advertising dollars the company spends.
In over 20 years of gunsmithing I've seen the good, the bad and the crap.
Some of the companies you consider GOOD, have turned out an awful lot of crap!
S&W turned out a lot of bad guns from 1974-1980
Colt turned out a lot of bad 1980-84
Springfield Armory turned out some real junk 1982-1990
I can tell a lot of stories about SA
Like a national match M1 Garand complete w/fired target, but NO chamber!
I asked the Reese boys to explain how they shot that target. They couldn't!
Rugers- potluck usually you get good one but once in a while you get a real junker.
Price does not make one gun shoot better than another.
A Polytech M14 will out shoot a Springfield M1A anytime.
Polytech got a bad rep. because of an article in Gun Test Magazine
But the article was biased because Springfield had 7 full page ads in the mag
and Polytech had none.
Would I carry a cheapo? Hell yes! a couple of my favorite carry pieces are
a Iver Johnson Tp-22 loaded w/cci stingers and a $129 Pa63 in 9mm makarov
works first time every time.

 

[Jza]

Without having been previously exposed to the brand-specific hype, the first time I ever picked up a Hi-Point, I knew it was junk. The thing just reeked of cheapness, from the little bent piece of metal for the safety, to the spring-loaded plastic hinge for the rear sight.

 

[mr ed]

Without having been previously exposed to the brand-specific hype, the first time I ever picked up a Hi-Point, I knew it was junk. The thing just reeked of cheapness, from the little bent piece of metal for the safety, to the spring-loaded plastic hinge for the rear sight.

While us Gun enthusiasts might think of hi points, ravens, stallards or brycos
as junk.
If you only made minimum wage or was on a low fixed income and could only afford a gun for under $100.
Would you buy one to defend yourself and your family or do without??

Stallards are ugly, weigh like 5lbs but are surprisingly accurate and reliable.
they were never intended as match guns anyways.

 

[aeropb]

While us Gun enthusiasts might think of hi points, ravens, stallards or brycos
as junk.
If you only made minimum wage or was on a low fixed income and could only afford a gun for under $100.
Would you buy one to defend yourself and your family or do without??

Stallards are ugly, weigh like 5lbs but are surprisingly accurate and reliable.
they were never intended as match guns anyways.

Save up an extra 79 bucks, donate plasma, etc and get a maverick 88 for $179

 

[SoonerTactical]

I have a buddy of mine who is a former policeman and Marine sniper, and he swears by Hi-Points. Don't get me wrong, he's got a lot of sweet firearms, but he thinks these function and are reliable as any of them for like 1/4 the price.

As for my personal preference, I carry a Steyr M-series 9mm pistol (similar to a Glock 19), and I LOVE it!

 

[SoonerTactical]

Some of the difference of the cost between cheaper and more expensive are things like dealer give-aways, advertising, etc, as would be expected.

But...

Their level of customer service when something does go wrong. Remember that when you purchase a product, any product, their engineers have taken the time to evaluate how many components and what type of components will fail and the cost to repair is spread across everyone who purchases either that model or all models from that manufacturer. There is also the amount of liability insurance and legal resources at their disposal, in case something slips past the engineers, manufacturing, or their quality control team.

With a name like Glock or S&W or HK or Ruger, their livelihood as weapons manufacturers is dependent upon producing and selling quality units. That doesn't always mean that they do, but they also have a huge target on their company if someone gets hurt with their weapons because you know people are abusing them to see if they can get hurt and try to sue them.

 

[Old Fart]

A bit off topic, but not really.
Most high end manufacturers practice a process called 6th Sigma.
What this means if I remember correctly is that they will strive for no more than one in a million defects. So with that said even with one of the best quality products out there you can still get a dud. The other side of that coin is the ones who have lower standards. But once again every once in a while you'll get a dandy. As a example I had a Llama 1911. Factory stocked it would out shoot and out perform any other 1911 I owned.