Posted: 2/27/2007 8:10:18 PM EDT
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I don't know how widespread this is. I got this from the Maryland AR-15 Shooters website. Since both of my Bushmasters are older guns I don't have anything to worry about. This is sort of like Springfield Armory. They used to make good guns because they had good quality control. Their QC isn't what it used to be but they still honor their warranty. I see Busmaster possibly going the same path. RD6 Well as many of us were laid off from Bushmaster two weeks ago, we saw it coming with the new owners. It seemed that mangement quit listening to the quality control issues we armorers and gunsmiths were having, it turned from finding the problem parts, weeding them out and sending them back to the vendor, to just make the damn things work and get them out the door. This new policy kept the repair shop very busy, but as a test shooter, I felt terrible knowing that somones life may be put in jepordy with an unreliable weapon. Since being purchased by a billion dollar holding company, we were only required to shoot every rifle 10 rounds before it left the plant, if it passed the ten rounds, out the door it went. But after shooting tens of thousands of rifles and pistols over the past 5 years, one learns how to "feel", "see", "smell", and "hear" if something is just not quite right. This practice stopped abruptly when the new owners took over. The previous owner stressed quality control first, not dollars. Anyone can put ten rounds through a rifle and say it passed, but it takes a hell of a lot of experience to know that even though it shot ten rounds in a row, that there is still something that is not quite right, this will usually present itself when a customer uses another type of ammo, a different hold, an extreme climate, etc. And since the layoffs, you now have management test firing the guns, which they don't like doing and don't have the skill to do it right. It is not an easy job testing, rooting out the questionable guns, repairing them, and then testing them again, it is an art only learned from years of shooting messed up guns and figuring out the problems. Even though I own dozens of Bushy's, right now I would go with RRA, Armalite, Oly, especiallly Colt, or one of the smaller manufacturers that put politics and money aside, and gives every gun that leaves their plant personal and experienced attention. |
I suppose it is possible but I don't know whether it is sour grapes or an actual QC problem.I thought it was an interesting article so I posted it. |
I agree, it is intresting, but kinda thought it needed to be taken with a grain of salt. I guess the six months or so will tell 
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I could see how someone could be pissed off after losing their job but at the same time if there is a grain of truth to the article then there is a problem. I could see how new owners could come in and change (rape) things just to make a buck. Look at Springfield Armory. They used to make damn good M1A's and now they're not even Mil-Spec any more. |