Title says it all. Are major gun brands waiting to see before potentially getting stuck with inventory or take loses? Or is the demand just that great?

I think it's probably a little bit of both right now.  Obviously because we have a very anti-gun regime taking office the demand for stuff that people think will be banned is extremely high.  In addition COVID is still rampant around the world so manufacturers likely still aren't back operating at full capacity.  And to add to that we're likely looking at an impending import ban so manufacturers are probably watching as they don't want to get stuck with a bunch of inventory like you said.

The reality is some of the large firearm companies will be able to eventually skirt the import ban.  Companies like CZ and Heckler & Koch.  If an import ban is implemented, they'll likely be affected in the short-term, but they'll retool their manufacturing facilities over here and start making stuff here that are hit by the ban like the CZ Scorpion, CZ Bren 2, HK SP5, etc.  They can afford to.

A lot of other European firearm companies already make their stuff over here in stateside manufacturing facilities so they won't be affected by an import ban.  Guns like the Steyr AUG, IWI Galil ACE and X95, FN SCAR, Beretta ARX, etc., are manufactured in U.S. facilities so an import ban won't affect them.  CZ, Heckler & Koch, and some of the other larger companies will likely just retool here and follow the same pattern.  It'll take a while, but we'll probably see their guns make it back here.

The most affected will likely once again be the combloc AK market.  Arsenal, Zastava, WBP Rogow, and Cugir.  Once an import ban is struck you can kiss stuff like the Arsenal SLR/SAM series goodbye.  No more WASR-10s, Zastava M70s, or any of that stuff.  American manufacturers will need to take up the AK mantle.  Also no more cheap steel surplus since Biden will likely ban imported ammo as well.  That also means goodbye to some well known and loved ammo brands like PPU, Sellier & Bellot, etc.

That's likely what the situation will be as it stands now.

No worries, just as the Fed legalizes another drug they will force firearms into the market just like the drug flow up from MX !

Not only is the Fed mostly turncoats, they also appear to be as stupid as they come.

But yes, manufacturers are likely being very careful as to how much they make or import.

I thought for manufacturers though, if they made something during legal times they were allowed to sell it.

I'm not sure how that works.  If an import ban is implemented are dealers/distributors immediately forced to pull the imported firearms from inventory; or can dealers sell the stock they still have as long as the firearm was imported prior to the ban going into place?

Maybe someone who was around during the last import ban can chime in.

Demand is extreme, at this point. I doubt any firearm manufacturer is halting production on the chance that a law change will happen.

They'll squeeze every bit of profit they can, until the door is closed.

>>Demand is extreme, at this point.<<

Indeed it is, but as a manufacturer I wouldn't want to have all my eggs in the AR/AK basket right now.

I'm guessing there is no rush to buy new or additionally machinery or dive into a new design that is likely to be banned. Just the status quo so they
lay off as few people as possible when the inevitable arrives.

Do you think ar/ak platforms will be harder to get or easier compared to others moving forward?

ARs aren't going anywhere.  So many manufacturers make them and the market will always be flooded unless there is an outright ban on them which I know many fear it, but I don't see it happening.  I think ARs will be harder to get for a while just because of a price barrier due to ban fears and whatnot so not as many people will be willing to buy them due to inflated prices.  If an EO is done to ban imports then you're left with basically the PSA and K-USA AK rifles.  That means common Combloc stuff like the Zastava M70, Arsenal SLR and SAM series, Cugir WASR-10, Polish WBP Fox, etc., are instantly out of circulation as new firearms.  The AK market is also pretty high demand.  Most people owning Combloc stuff will probably hold on to them, and those they do sell will skyrocket in value.  Because you're now limited to only a few U.S. manufacturers making AKs, they will now be much harder to obtain without paying a fortune for a Comblock one.

I think they will crank out as much as they can without significant re-investment, until things are banned at which point they adapt or shut the doors.

No.  Manufacturers are working as hard as they can to make as much product as they can and sell it and make money.  They're in business to make money.  They dont make any  by sitting there doing nothing.

If there are new policy changes, they dont generally go into effect immediately.  People and manufacturers get a date 3 or 6 or 9 months down the road.  And I guarantee you, when that date is announced, manufacturers will kick it into overdrive to sell as much as they can before then.

And what happens if they make products and then are not allowed to sell them?  Same like the bumpstock guys did.  Destroy them and claim a huge loss on your books.  Write that shit off on your taxes, basically, sell those items to uncle sam.  there were pictures of the bumpstock people destroying thousands and thousands of their inventory.  We all know at the rate they were selling before all that, those guys would have never been able to sell that much product to actual customers.  But that doesn't matter on your books.  Make a bunch of product, destroy it, claim full MSRP value on it in the loss column.


LOL.  60k bumpstocks.  They didn't sell but maybe 6k the entire time they were in business.

I'm thinking the people that make the binary triggers didn't pad the inevitable ban into their price, seems very pricy for what it is and if you have to destroy the ones
you have leftover you're still way on top.

When that happens, the prices we see now will be laughably cheap in comparison to what is coming.

Anyone who is not "kicked into high gear" now is a fool.

I don't see any more "kicking" going on if any bans come down the road.

Doc

Make as much money as possible.  Fight in the courts, it about as good as its going to get.

And even with the D's in firm control of everything, an import ban is also the fastest and easiest thing to get done.

This.  I can see holding off on tooling up to make something new, but for existing stuff that’s selling, they are going to pump out as much as they can for as long as they can.

Nobody has any inventory to sit on.

If I’m a big company like Ruger with an owned factory & workstaff on the payroll I’m gonna be manufacturing. Or die where I stand.
Demand is high, so why stop meeting that demand? Yea that might change tomorrow but til demand stops, production continues.
No doubt anyone planning a move or expansion might put that on hold, but shelves are bare cause demand is thru the roof.

I doubt it. The gun industry is do different than any other industry. People try to make it more special, but it really isn't.

If I were a manufacturer I would try to make as much money possible before bans that would end up costing me money.

I see them holding off on tooling, releasing new products, and or moving designs from outside the US to the USA.
they will want to hold off for the first year of the ill legitimate president's tenure and then decide what to do in 2022

I see a lot of effort getting designs 3d printable ...