To succeed as a gun company, you have to strike a balance between building the guns people need, and the guns people want.
Ruger has been doing a really good job of figuring that out lately. Glock? Maybe not so much. It will be interesting to see what happens.
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For people like myself, and millions of others, that got crapped out of the middle class and into the working poor class during the Great Recession, and haven't fully recovered yet, price is a huge issue. Some of us will save up for a longer period to get a decent gun rather than go the instant gratification route, but perhaps I'm in the minority in that regard.
I think you are, for sure, in the minority. I also think since you understand things like delaying gratification, you'll climb your way back up the latter. Some people are in the middle class, or better, merely because the economy is good. Others will find their way there, no matter what.
I clawed up from working poor to middle class, and one of the lessons I had to learn was exactly that: save up, rather than go the instant gratification route. One of my big lessons was that I couldn't afford cheap stuff, especially when it came to cars, because they always cost more in the long run, between repairs or no resale value.
Yep!
I have a friend that has a hankering for a single action .22 after shooting my old Ruger Single Six. So he goes to the store and looks at how much the Ruger costs.... Then comes back and wants to know about Heritage Roughriders.
Another friend suddenly decides he wants to get himself a handgun. While I don't know his net worth, I KNOW it is in excess of 7 figures. Asks me my opinion and states that he wants to stay around $350....... Seriously. Luckily I was able to make fun of him/cajole him enough that I talked him into raising that up to the M&P 9FS range.
Another friend, goes into the store, picks out what "He has heard about the most" (Read saw the most adds for) and looks "Cool" and buys that. So far, XD(m) (It came with accessories!), Beretta NEOS, Beretta Storm Compact, Kimber 1911 and Hornady ZombieMax ammo....
I could go on, especially about optics and "just as good as".
You are completely correct that in the echo chamber of certain websites we begin to think the shooting public most resembles ourselves.
They don't.
I'm VP of the local 1500 member public gun club.
Yea... the average gun owner is a retard.
"For a moment he felt good about this. A moment or two later he felt bad about feeling good about it. Then he felt good about feeling bad about feeling good about it and, satisfied, drove on into the night."
-- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy --