12 July 23
Onward and Upward!
HS Produkt (formally “IM Metal”), located in the Republic of Croatia, has been manufacturing the enormously-successful “XD” line of pistols and importing them into the USA, under the auspices of Springfield Armory, since 2001.
Their Croatian factory is ultra-modern and competitive with the best in the world!
In the interim, HS Produkt’s “Glock-like” XD pistols have garnered an excellent reputation and are today highly competitive on the domestic American market, and internationally.
HS Produkt has recently begun importing their VHS2 Rifle (again, via Springfield Armory), and it has also caught-on very quickly, and has also garnered a stellar reputation! For importation purposes, American versions of the VHS2 Rifle have been re-designated “Hellion.”
Very recently, HS Produkt has begun importing their next-generation pistols, dubbed “Echelon”
From the user standpoint, nothing much has changed! The Echelon is still a polymer-framed, striker-fired pistol (no manual safety, no grip-safety, no “de-cocking lever,” tabbed trigger), but internally the Echelon resembles the SIG 320!
That is, the Echelon features a removable chassis (like the SIG 320), so that frames and slides can be mixed and matched to conform to the user’s requirements/preferences. The chassis is the serial-numbered part and is thus “the gun,” according to American statutes. Frames and slides are not serialized.
This will allow Springfield Armory to circumvent ATF rules that limit the importation of “small” pistols.
I therefore expect the Echelon to compete successfully with SIG’s 365, Kahr’s PM9, Glock’s G48, Mossberg’s MC2/sc, S&W’s Shield, et al, for America’s lively concealed-carry market!
In addition, the “independent chassis system” is appealing to institutional buyers (police departments and armies) who must fit sometimes thousands of people into the same pistol. SIG has surely benefited from this innovative feature!
Other Eastern European gunmakers have also gone ultra-modern and demonstrated that they can compete with the best, most notably Fabryka Broni (PZG) in Radom, Poland. PZG currently manufactures the “GROT” Rifle (loosely translated to English: “Spear,” or more correctly “Speartip”).
The GROT Rifle has garnered the attention of war-planners worldwide and will enjoy a successful reception in many quarters. GROTs (civilian version) are just-now beginning to be imported into the USA.
The Canik factory in Turkey is also, by all accounts, ultra-modern and highly competitive!
Canik pistols, imported into the USA since 2009, are “Glock-like” and have established a first-rate reputation. SAR is the US-based importer, and SAR is also importing the excellent 1014 autoloading shotgun, again manufactured in Turkey.
Here in the USA, we used to turn-up our noses at foreign-made products, particularly guns.
Not any more! Eastern Europe, even Turkey, have boldly stepped-up to the plate, as we see!
Our domestic arms industry, including S&W, Kahr, PTR, Robinson Armament, Desert Tech, Springfield Armory (domestic division), MarColMar, DSA, Mossberg, Barrett, Daniel Defense, Rock River, Ruger, LMT, et al, also continue to turn-out innovative, high-quality arms. Most of us own several.
Of particular note, S&W’s M&P Series, M2.0 Pistol (a copy of which I’ve been using) features the best trigger
I’ve ever experienced on a striker-fired pistol. It’s amazing what S&W has been able to do!
I use this pistol (among other purposes) as a “training gun.” Beginning students really appreciate the astounding smoothness and crispness of this pistol’s trigger. Many go right out and buy one!
America’s appetite for serious weapons continues to drive innovation and advance the Art, and the industry that serves it, and we all benefit, both individually and as a civilization.
In America, individual citizens can buy and keep serious weapons, and we have choices!
Woke leftists are tirelessly working to bring that all to an end, so that we’ll be like France, where right now rioters (mostly illegal immigrants), armed with illegal guns, are terrorizing hapless legal French citizens who have been told by their “government” that they are too stupid to own guns!
So, forcibly-disarmed, law-abiding, legal French citizens, are currently defenseless in the face of armed illegal immigrants, upon whom French gun laws are curiously never enforced!
Are we Americans too stupid to own guns?
Listen to Democrats!
/John
