Originally Posted by
Slowpoke Slim
Ok, now I'm wondering if you spent any time at all on the SP forums? To be sure, the reference material (forum) is gone now, but still.
When you type something that is so disconnected with historical reality, I just wonder about you, and your motives. Guilty conscience? Bad memory? Lack of information? Need for revenge?
ZERO negativity?
Please.
For at least 2 of the last "almost 4 years" the "update" thread had TONS of negativity. You guys ALREADY had your pound of flesh (what, maybe half a dozen of you?). And still you want more. When will it be enough? When YOUR frame is in your own hands? When the very LAST frame on the list is shipped? When Marty is too old to continue SSK, and it goes away? When? Just curious, really.
I remained silent for the most part on the original threads (there were several), even when the fecal matter was flying, because a) I didn't have any skin in it myself, and b) I honestly figured that once production units actually started shipping, that the monkeys tossing the excrement would settle down.
So why do I care?
Simple. There are already damn few vendors out there doing (or still doing) ANYTHING for single shot pistols or any legacy T/C products. There are what, 3? 4? Maybe 5? that will still even make a barrel? And "now" (then, whatever) we had one step forward and announce an endeavor to actually MAKE NEW FRAMES. That is huge. "Our" market type is dying. They are no longer "cool" to the masses (if they ever were), and manufacturers follow the masses, as that's where the profits are. Not only were repair parts drying up, but prices on "normal" used frames have been getting quite stupid for the last few years. I hate to see the T/C platform go the way Colt did with revolvers until very recently. Colt revolvers were good guns, but they certainly shouldn't command the insane prices that "shooter grade" Python's and Anaconda's reached (and I do own an original).
So here we had what I'm sure (and no, funny enough I DO NOT know any of them personally), was a well meaning vendor offer up something amazing (if you like T/C products like I do) to the market. I think his first mistake was underestimating what it was going to take to get it up and running. I think his second mistake was offering ANYONE the chance to pre-order frames. I think he just should have kept the whole thing quiet and internal to SSK until he had production frames to market. I don't think he had any idea what a ticking time bomb he was starting up. Folks are folks. And do folk things. But "some" folks absolutely LOVE negativity and piling on when there's a chance to get in a good, solid kick when they can get away with it. I think Marty thought that the buy in ($300!!??) was so low, that no one would be sweating it in the long run. Chalk that up to not knowing "crowds" that well. Individual people are usually pretty decent. "Crowds" however, can be total hornet's nests. But I think in Marty's mind, no one was going to lie awake tossing and turning over their missing $300.
Again, no. I don't know them. I'm just speculating. I mean, here you have a guy with an already existing company, that had a long history of producing product in this specific market. The very notion that some folks would actually worry that he was going to abandon his entire company and run off to? What? Ecuador? With their $300 probably never entered his mind.
I also think he had no idea how "needy" (lets just call it that) Smith and Wesson was going to be over this project. That, along with, what was the total count of production casting companies that failed to deliver? 3? 4?
So I think some of this was Marty getting in over his head in dealing with other corporate entities, and some was taking casting company's at their word that they could indeed produce what was needed to the tolerances required. I'm sure it was a surprise when he had to turn away entire shipments of frame castings because they couldn't meet specs.
Anyway, refunds were offered AND RECEIVED by some, so the "offer" of refunds was not an empty promise.
New production frames are now shipping.
I'm done (I know YAY! RIGHT!) with this thread. You guys go forth and be as negative as you want (we'll say the last 2 years of "negative" don't count, just to make you feel better).
I wish SSK well, I will be buying my frames once my name comes up on the list.