This is something Fred and I have discussed more times than I'd care to count for several years now. We both knew it would come eventually, but why...WHY jump into a market at this point that's already overly saturated? Sprinfield Armory has done the same thing with their new AR - the Saint. WHY?!?!?!?!

It's the same with the 1911 market. Everybody and their brother is making them and you can buy one brand new for as little as $450. Yet Ruger and Ithaca and Remington have all come out with their own 1911's in the last few years - and I'm sure a few other manufacturers will follow suit in the very near future as well.

Then there's the Remington 700 clone market - another avenue that Ithaca decided to go down recently because they can't come up with anything new or original of their own.

Lest we not forget the Savage 10/110 clone's - the Mossberg Patriot/MVP rifles, the Ruger American, the Remington 783 and the discontinued Marlin M7 rifles that all copied the 10/110 design simplicity.

Welcome to the 21st Century of American firearm manufacturing - aka the "Me Too" mob. And this is why I haven't purchased a NEW gun in several years, because there's very little NEW that's actually NEW.