You all remember when "Made in Japan" meant it was crap, right?
Canvasback, that's a good reminder. So let's stop and remember what caused the widespread acceptance of Japanese guns in this country.
The first ones to appear in any kind of quantity, I think, were the OU's and sxs marked "Charles Daly". Good enough guns, but didn't cause a big stir.
What caused a bigger stir: Winchester's Olin Kodensha operation in Japan. Where they made 101's, 23's, and Parker Reproductions. Not long after Winchester started with the 101, Ithaca cut a deal with SKB to import their OU's and sxs. That's two heavy hitters in the US firearms market bringing in Japanese doubles. Then Browning joined the parade: First with the BSS, then with the Citori. So, 3 big names in American firearms . . . that pretty much sold the American consumer on "made in Japan" not being crap. Of course it helped that at the same time, the Japanese were also scoring big in the American market with cars and electronics.
The problem for the Turks is that our market isn't as dominated by companies selling American guns (or guns on which they put American names) as in the past. And so far, not a single really important American company has put their name on Turkish-made guns. Or if they have--like S&W--the relationship didn't last for long. That may cause American buyers to be just a bit more cautious where Turkish guns are concerned. In the shotgun business, we're now up to Turkish doubles that are selling fairly well in the $2,000 range--and that's progress, because the S&W's had to be discounted down to about $1200 before they sold. Most Americans are still thinking of Turkish guns like we did about Spanish guns back in the 60's: bottom feeders. They have the low end sxs niche pretty much to themselves. But that's a relatively small market. The much bigger doublegun market is in stack barrels . . . and there they run head long into Citori and Beretta in the medium price range. Which makes it really tough for the Turks to do what the Japanese did 50 years ago.
