doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Arrieta Bankrupt

Stan;

I am not "Salopian" however, I will pass on the following that is relevant to your question.

As a firearm engraver, of sorts, I try to keep up with the engraving situation in the world. Just a bit more than a year ago there were discussions among engravers that scores of firearm engravers in Val Trompia area of Italy were without work, where they had been very busy in the past engraving for various gunmaking firms.

I will allow you to decide what relevance this may have to the health of the firearms business there.

Re McKay Brown, it's my understanding they've recently closed shop. Along with Dickson. I haven't seen that verified, so it may not be accurate.

Re Merkel OU's, I'd say they're only "ungainly" if you prefer shallower and wider to deeper and skinnier. There are many companies making OU's that can't match a Merkel for weight, gauge for gauge and barrel length for barrel length. That is, unless they use an alloy receiver. With their slender forends, Merkel OU's handle a bit more like sxs (and lots of used ones out there with double triggers) than do most other OU's. Nice to have those options in the OU world.

You are quite right in this - they handle superbly and despite looking a little heavy - in fact the reverse is true and they are relatively light.

Larry;

I hope that you are highly inaccurate in your comment about David McKay Brown, as it would be terrible if they closed. I am going to run this to "ground" and see what I can learn about Brown's.

Regards;
Bv

Larry;

I have learned that David McKay Brown Company is active and well and the business is still making guns as we speak.

I spoke with David's wife, Alexe, in January as I had a gun in for service and they are quoting 18 months for a new commission.

The combined effect of EU firearms, environmental and agricultural regulations have shrunk the gun trade and are in part responsible for failures such as that of Arrieta.

In their antigun fervour the EU legislators did not notice that one (among many other) effect of their regulation was to deny gun owners even elementary consumer protection.

Sending an unaccompanied gun across EU borders, even for judicially endorsed warranty work, is so hard as to be practically impossible. The situation is symptomatic of regulations in other areas, ie establishing a shooting range, dog tail docking, consumption of game meat, the list is endless.

The end result is a poacher's paradise and a buraucrat's dream.

Don't know who convinced the Spanish that anybody wanted a Merkel OU copy. Weight doesn't cover up ugly. Fiber glass bodies wouldn't have sold any more K-cars or Pacers.

They just don't have the innovation and vision that the Italians do. They're content to copy. That can only last so long.

SRH

Stan,
If you compare a Beretta S series from the 1950s to a Silver Pig, about the only inovation you will clearly see is that far fewer human hands built the pig, and they were less skilled hands, at that. If you try to compare an ASEL from the 1950s, you will find that Beretta doesn't build anything that compares to it, and hasn't for some time. Internally, there hasn't been any revolution in Beretta boxlock O/Us that I am aware of.
The Spanish built copies of A&D boxlocks and Holland pattern sidelocks that ranged from middling to spectacular. I'm going to guess that the average buyer for a type of gun like that isn't looking for a bunch of "innovation" but, wants a sound copy of the same tried and true English versions of either of those guns. If I could afford to place an order at Purdeys or Hollands (I can't) I wouldn't be looking for any innovation. I want it to look pretty much like they did from between the wars.
How many people, at this late date, are actually in the market for either a new Spanish or English pattern boxlock, or sidelock? It is a diminishing number.
I think it a bit unfair to say it is simple lack of innovation that doomed the Spanish gun. There are many factors involved, and I seriously doubt many of their clients from the past expected innovation from the standard pattern copies of the English SXS guns they had produced for so long. Some may have asked for (and, got) choke tubes or steel shot proof, but, there isn't much that can be improved on either design of SXS gun, assuming it is a well built copy.

Best,
Ted