With regard to the firearms world, I’ve heard on several occasions that the AR market is saturated/swamped. Seems that a new AR configuration comes out every month from a different manufacturer and prices seem quite reasonable - in some cases a “don’t need it but can’t pass it up at that price”. I’m guilty of this recently myself. Overall, I feel this is a good thing for buyers in general.
Polymer-framed handguns could likely be placed in the same category.
Haven’t heard the same said about optics, although there’s a bewildering variety of choices out there for every need. I take it that the optics market hasn’t quite reached the saturation point yet?
It is very, very close actually. Quality and hobby-grade RDS are saturated, 1-6x is getting there, higher magnification mildot/moadot scopes at all quality levels are saturated, etc. There’s only 3 true holographic options out there, but that’s probably 2.5 more than really needed. The only optics that aren’t saturated are the emerging digital day/night scope category, and affordable quality thermal.
Seems that every time I do an Internet search on optics, one or more companies pop up that I never heard of before. Of course, most of them are Chinese manufacture.
Having just got back from Shot Show 2019, I can say without a doubt that the entire industry as a whole is completely saturated. From top to bottom the industry full of manufactures trying to push the same product under a different brand name. I cant really think of any real innovation that has come out of the firearm industry. Now, I will say there has been some innovation regarding optics, especially thermal, night vision etc., but that innovation has a steep price. I’m not going to mention anyone by name but I can say everyone I talked to had the same sales pitch: my favorites being. “we were the first”, “the military buys from us”, “we have been around a lot longer” and “we pioneered this”.
As far as AR type guns go, there all the same, except for a few companies that sell AR’s that look like Hot Topic designed them. I know there are different levels in quality and price but as far as function and parts, they are the same. A lot of manufactures sell “high end” looking guns that function the same as any other gun yet there price point is on the affordable side for most people while others sell plain looking AR’s with high prices and claim that there parts are “only the best”.
It seems the hot, en vouge item right now is the AR Pistol, of all brands, features and brace styles. The only thing I ever bought close to that is a Galil Ace Pistol in 5.56, and waiting for my tax stamp so I can sbr it and put a folding stock on it. My e-form went into limbo with the government shutdown.
People are ignorant about optics until they finally learn that you can’t go cheap and get quality.
I’ve noticed that more than a few people spend 2K on an excellent rifle, but for some reason balk at spending more than 300 on optics.
When they finally learn, they got a dresser drawer full of crappy broken optics and a used 1k quality scope on their 2K rifle.
Optics. 15 years ago for PRS there was S&B at over $3k and IOR at $1500 when you talked about FFP scopes. Now I can’t count them all, and the $1k are pretty good scopes.
Really what is needed is some innovation. Illuminated MIL FFP tree reticle with zero-stop turrets are the ante now.
Night vision/thermal would be cool to get cheaper, but I don’t know how you’d get that into common competitions- which would drive adoption up and prices down.
I think the 224V is out because there is a lot of 6.8SPC head capacity and not enough demand. It’s a good round, but unless you rig some games for it, it will 300BO soon.
Arm band pistols are a news cycle away from being gone.
Actually, I’d like to see more on the security side- as in gun safes. Armored boxes haven’t seen much change in the last two centuries.
Pistols just suck, don’t know what you can do there really. Integrated suppressors would be the real interesting breakthrough, but current laws will stop that from happening.
Glock and many other plastic frame pistols have become the ricer car of the firearm world. Some are classy, but most are gawdy, tacky and awful. Yet they get people to buy them because “Shiny” sells. TiNi barrels are a sucker play on damn near every brand anymore. I used to think 1911’s were for old geezers, but now I realize it’s a craftsman gun and not everybody can fully appreciate them because they take some understanding and skill to really utilize, let alone modify on any scale.
Just a personal opinion here, but I think the whole industry and culture is pausing before a redirect.
GWOT saw huge innovation in technology and accessories. Fat government contracts supplied capital for training companies to stand up and teach civilian/LE/mil. I feel like the message for 10 years has been “acquire acquire acquire.”
But now everyone is tapped out, there are piles of gear in the closet, a safe full of things we don’t shoot all that often, and the training schools are struggling to fill seats.
If I had my way, the new direction would be a serious push towards quality and investment in promoting local competitions. 2A culture can’t last if it’s the same people buying everything and getting old. I would love to see more informal matches for everything from high-power style to three-gun, and even the adventure racing sniper format.
IMO, quality has improved and gotten more inexpensive.
Some of the old guard like Aimpoint and Trijicon are holding steady because of brand loyalty, .gov contracts, and their products are just that good. But the overall technology has just gotten cheaper and cheaper for everyone else to take advantage of it. So, to flip it around, what you can get for $150 today probably would have been $300-$400 10 years ago.
Good luck. I’ve beat my head against the wall trying to get people to come to informal matches for two decades. I hope someone finds the magic to convince them to come, I sure couldn’t. I will say that a couple local guys put together a PRS match that went pretty well last spring, so maybe there’s hope. The cost of entry to PRS is pretty damn high, though.
I agree. We’ve seen a few new ranges open that have started new matches. I’m not sure how it’s affected the total number of shooters vs fewer shooters per match due to more matches. Our club has just started the UML version of 3gun which has a couple of division options besides rifle, shotgun, and pistol. We had a good match yesterday.
The perceived barrier to entry is the biggest sticking point across the board. I polled my blog readers a while back about it, and that was the resounding answer. If it’s not the cost to get started, then it’s the travel required. If it’s not those, then it’s feeling like they’re going to be looked down upon by others for not having gucci gear. Since they don’t actually show up, they don’t know how classifications work nor how helpful everyone else can be.
I think there would be a lot of good done if the companies and organizations put emphasis on reducing that perceived barrier to entry with sponsoring more small stuff in more places. For better or worse, the perceived image of gun owners is now either tactical-timmy running around like a SOF dude, or OFWG. We know there’s a lot in between, but that’s now what gets shown to the public.
I’m jealous. Since moving to Northern Virginia, I’ve been frustrated by the lack of outdoor ranges and events. The only two that seem to have any activity are driving down to Quantico (which is doable, but I’d need help getting access to the base) or driving out to West Virginia at PNTC, which is mainly PRS stuff.
In my experience it seems two big things drive black rifle sales: When we’re fighting a war and when legislation restricting them is feared. Both scenarios are kind of on a “low simmer” right now. I remember the GWOT making the M4 “the” gun you had to have, and every panic sells AR-15’s faster than snowcones in June. Until we find ourselves pushing backing against an enemy in a wider hot war, or people start fearing they won’t be able to buy them anymore, AR sales are going to be soft.
Yeah, I agree…The firearm market at this point is just every tatted-up knucklehead and their dog churning out the same, derivative crap. 11,000 slightly different variants of ARs, 1911s, poly strikers, and suppressors. Zero innovation.
B-O-R-I-N-G.
I got a safe full of that crap and it’s all boring. Boring, boring, boring. Not-spending-money-on-that-crap-anymore-boring.