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PrecisionFirearms Wrote:We too have brass ordered from AA and understand the power outage affected them rather harshly. We have a standby generator to help lessen this type of problem and it happens fairly often as we are the literal end of the power line and when we lose power it's out by days. Doesn't help the internet problem though!
We also have 6.5 bolt orders dating back to March. Talked to Melissa today about that and from what I can understand the supply problem is a number of things, but we dealers/OEM's are second to receive after they supply themselves. Seems strange though, that they can't spare 10 bolts! I have 150 ordered, requested that just 10 be sent now from the March order, but no deal.
Email I have learned is slow, Just try calling back tomorrow. Patience is a virtue......
AA's issues aren't quite as easy as they would hope. I know you are aware, but others may not be, they are on the Radford Arsenal site, and thus subject to all the regulations and rules that come with being on a government contract site. I'm betting they couldn't install generators if they wanted to.
You seek escape from pain. We seek the achievement of happiness. You exist for the sake of avoiding punishment. We exist for the sake of earning rewards. Threats will not make us function; fear is not our incentive. It is not death that we wish to avoid, but life that we wish to live. - John Galt
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Another consideration is that companies like Midway, Brownell's and the like are not manufacturers; they are marketers. They do a great job at marketing and selling. Companies like AA, and us are manufacturers, designers, builders, assemblers, engineers, and marketers. We work with budgets, supply versus demand starting from solid bar stock to finished product. Any hic-up in the process can set back the whole schedule by weeks. Not the same as unboxing a shipment, relabeling and reshipping. Bad raw materials cause massive migraine headaches are we bang our heads with steel producers (happened to LB recently). Anodizers that are backlogged for weeks due the demand of Type III Hardcoat. As in our case a CNC machine that breaks down and parts need to be shipped in from Japan and that machine is down for 6 days (GGGRRR). Bolt manufacturer are massively backlogged and don't want to run "specialized 6.5 bolts" due to demand for 5.56. I personally spend almost a full day per week in just tracking down our orders, find out when items will ship and overall nagging my supplier to the bone to get what we need. We just changed our voicemail requesting our customers to email questions if they can to try to prevent missed calls and the hours of phone time. I understand the need to check status and have no problems with those that do. I do have issues when a customer called every day for 3 weeks when he was informed at the time of purchase that it would be 3-4 weeks. Time is money. Time is valuable to you and well as to us.
Playing devils advocate, but hopefully our good customers understand. We know they do!
"Precision - The Pinnacle of Perfection."
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bwaites Wrote:AA's issues aren't quite as easy as they would hope. I know you are aware, but others may not be, they are on the Radford Arsenal site, and thus subject to all the regulations and rules that come with being on a government contract site. I'm betting they couldn't install generators if they wanted to.
Wasn't saying they should, as it still wouldn't help with the Internet down issues. We had this happen recently too. We had power because of the generator, but couldn't ship, reply to emails (except by iphone, which is way slow), or receive orders.
"Precision - The Pinnacle of Perfection."
bwaites Wrote:In the past AA never took money until they were about to ship product, and when I recently ordered some parts, they actually called to double check right before the order shipped, and to double check my billing information. I haven't heard that they have changed that policy, so if they have, I'm surprised, it doesn't fit my experience.
You are correct. Checked my CC statement and the charge has not posted yet. I understand growing pains, believe me. I would expect somebody that has been as successful as Mr. Alexander to be doing everything he can to improve customer service, as I'm sure he is doing. I understand his business is very unique also in the fact that he is researching, designing, manufacturing, as well as selling parts, equipment, and supplies. I can't imagine trying to juggle all of that.
MrDraco Wrote:Another thing to keep in mind is ASC is the only company making Grendel mags and when I inquired about them last week I was told currently there is almost a 1 month back order on the 10 round mags. I lucked out and found some on Midway http://www.midwayusa.com/product/357204/...uctDescrip however from past experience they will be sold out in less then a week.
Thanks for the heads-ups! Ordered 2.
blackfoot Wrote:You are correct. Checked my CC statement and the charge has not posted yet. I understand growing pains, believe me. I would expect somebody that has been as successful as Mr. Alexander to be doing everything he can to improve customer service, as I'm sure he is doing. I understand his business is very unique also in the fact that he is researching, designing, manufacturing, as well as selling parts, equipment, and supplies. I can't imagine trying to juggle all of that.
Well the charge went through for the upper I ordered on 7/6...so that must mean they had it in stock and are shipping it right? God I hope so....please, please, oh please.
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MrDraco Wrote:Another thing to keep in mind is ASC is the only company making Grendel mags and when I inquired about them last week I was told currently there is almost a 1 month back order on the 10 round mags. I lucked out and found some on Midway http://www.midwayusa.com/product/357204/...uctDescrip however from past experience they will be sold out in less then a week.
C-Products Defense is another manufacturer of Grendel mags, which are sold through LCJ Wholesale, and are expected to be available from MidwayUSA beginning in August.
Drifter
Also keep in mind thatsome of the stress on the industry is fear generated due to the election year and some other factors. As a company do you jump in and do a major expansion only to watch the bottom drop out post election and the world didn't come to an end. As a firearms dealer I have sold more weapons this past and present year to first time buyers than the seven years prior. Some sale where generated by the current tv shows others are fear driven which leaves us to dodge are way through this mess till things loosen up. I see the same fustation on my customers face when I can't confirm when an item will be here, they tell me they'll find it elsewere sometimes they do but mostly they come back and say they didn't realise that everybody is backed up that far. The Grendel market is a niche market( yes growing and I hope it remains a growing market it's an amasing caliber) but manufactors are filling the 5.56 market to the new comers first which makes it hard for manufactors of Grendels and other calibers to get out sourced parts (Barrels,bolts,uppers, lowers ect....).
This forum is great as we can share with other members what we find at dealers. Hopefully that gives us the edge to get parts and weapons. Guys are posting all the time this dealer has this or that keep up the communication lines that make this site so great!
Grimmy Wrote:This forum is great as we can share with other members what we find at dealers. Hopefully that gives us the edge to get parts and weapons. Guys are posting all the time this dealer has this or that keep up the communication lines that make this site so great!
Yes, without this forum, I would have just assumed that half the vendors in the grendel market were just lazy, unprepared or whatever. Knowing that they are under extreme circumstances makes it easier to deal with delays and shortages of stock because we have an understanding of their situation.
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MrDraco Wrote:Another thing to keep in mind is ASC is the only company making Grendel mags and when I inquired about them last week I was told currently there is almost a 1 month back order on the 10 round mags. I lucked out and found some on Midway http://www.midwayusa.com/product/357204/...uctDescrip however from past experience they will be sold out in less then a week.
Just as an update, I received the 2 10 round mags I ordered and the mags sold on Midway are ASC mags. The base plate says AR Stoner but the follower says 6.5 ASC.
For a small rifle shop, this is an extremely difficult market to be in right now. Because of the uniqueness of the AR15 market, where retail customers can buy out critical components from the production cycle, small shops have to fight hard to get anything they don't make in-house.
The parts distributors do really well, but they too have shortages on barrels, bolt carriers, and bolts right now. Notice how lowers aren't really on-sale anymore like they often were over the past few years? That says a lot about demand, because lowers have been priced to sell over the past 3 years, even during Obamageddon 1.0.
As pointed out, does a small shop invest in tooling and employees to ramp-up capacity, only to have the EPA shut them down next year, while incurring more costs with worker's compensation regs, OSHA, State taxes, etc.? There are a lot of big questions about the future, even with demand as high as it is.
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Blackfoot I don't understand why they're taking so long on your order. If I was you I'd probably be pissed at this point, but I do have to give credit to AA. I ordered 4 magazines, 2 bags of brass, and some dies back on July 8th. They arrived yesterday, so it looks like they've got things up and running again.
"Those who sacrifice liberty for security, deserve neither." Benjamin Franklin
Ive got confirmation for my Beowulf ammo and they are even throwing in one my my mags i ordered for free since i had to wait awhile. In my opinion they did me right. Like i said i love Alexander Arms i was just ready to get my stuff. In any case i think they did me right. Even if they didnt throw in a mag i would still buy from them though. Its a good company. The ar-15 market is going through alot of shortages right now in every aspect: ammo, bolt carriers, bolts, receivers, barrels. Especially with all this UN gun treaty crap going on.
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