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Counter dude said, "S&W is the hardest pistol for us to obtain right now. They are union labor and their contract only allows them to produce 300 pistols per day - max."
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I thought it was obvious that the guy was blowing smoke. But I guess it isn't obvious to all so to spell out why there is no truth to it...
First...Maybe S&W is the hardest gun for that shop to get right now. Might be because they have not paid their bill, or the distributor is backed up, who knows why. We do know it is not due to the reasons he gave.
1). S&W is not a union shop. 2). If they were union, nothing in any union contract I've ever seen, heard of, or read that limits or can limit the amount of product a company can produce. 3) What he says simply defies common sense on the face of it. Well, "common sense" if you know anything of S&W or the firearms industry and what it's going through right now.
I thought that was self evident that and that this thread wouldn't last but 3 or 4 posts. I was wrong on that.
There has been a rush to buy firearms, all firearms, in the wake of the Connecticut shootings and the talk of new restrictions. If you have not been around a bit you won't have noted that guns have been flying off the shelves, new and used, handguns and long arms.
All AR type guns disappeared from shelves a few weeks ago. Ruger ranch rifles did as well. Any semi long guns sold out quickly and went on back order. This includes the S&W M&P variants. Folks who did not want an AR 6 weeks ago pre ordered them a several local stores out my way. Into the store and no stopping on the shelves. The same across the country according to forums like this one.
All the gun manufacturers are behind in orders. Not just S&W. They have all geared up to meet the demand. A shipment of Glocks came in to a local gunatorium the other day and was gone in 2 days. Normally they stick around weeks and months. Demand is high. Many are worried that their access to any type of firearm may be limited so they are voting with their feet and buying now. Same with ammo.
So on the face of it, with all manufacturers running high and all being hard to get, on the face of it what the counter guy said don't jibe.
The demand took manufacturers by surprise. They have commitments to law enforcement and the military which they can't break off.
The other thing the counter guy said was they "only make 300 pistols a day-max". 300 revolvers? 300 semis? or does he mean 300 wheelguns and semis total? Or does he mean 300 total guns ARs and handguns? Does he include Houghton, Ma. and the Springfield plant together or just one of them or does he know at all? Likely he read or heard some figure somewhere and is spinning a story with a grain of some truth to it but a good deal of smoke.
The heart of his story is that union labor is holding back S&W. S&W is non union. It's hard to get some guns because demand is greater than the manufacturers abilities to keep up at this point.
You may have noticed that's it harder to get ammo as well. Well that's because the union says they can only make 3000 rounds a day.
tipoc