I had a crazy idea, Looking for some input...

mundy928 · 11-12-2015, 06:33 PM

I was thinking about my shooter Luger and where it sits on its useful life. The laws of supply and demand have been working on Lugers and on Luger parts. Many shooter pistols are tired and many of the really great Lugers a person would be crazy to shoot.

I started thinking about the gun kit culture that has sprung up in the last 10 years or so. Someone will buy an 80% to 100% receiver or frame and buy parts kits to build their own custom gun. It is very popular in the 1911 and Ar-15 crowds. With the advent of the internet, and computer aided machining it is possible for companies to do small runs of part kits and frames at prices that would be impossible in the past.

One of the reasons that there are 1911 and Ar-15 kits and no kits for niche type guns is all based on market size and the cost and supply of parts. A small company can't invest its capital on a product with a high level of risk.

Now here is the crazy idea... There are sites like Kickstarter.com that allow small businesses to collect sales from regular people and if the break even point is met, they will produce and ship the item to everyone that paid in advance. if the break even point is not met, every customer is refunded the sale. It eliminates all production risk for a product line.
Now lets say someone created a kickstarter with the goal of making high fidelity luger kits (where all parts would be interchangeable to an authentic production luger in function and quality). For the sake of example, lets say the break even point is 500 commitments at $250 for a supplier to produce 100% frames and 750 commitments at $600 to get the other 43 odd parts produced and bundled together. You make the frame the serialized part and ship it directly from the manufacturer to each person's FFL to avoid any issues with the ATF. The world would now have 500 brand new noncollectable Lugers at $850 a pop for shooting and enjoying as well as a bunch of new, hard to find parts to keep all the real guns running.
So is this the most crackpot idea ever or is there anybody else that thinks this would be a good thing? I've got thick skin.

11-12-2015, 06:33 PM	#1
mundy928 User Join Date: Jul 2013 Posts: 7 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	I had a crazy idea, Looking for some input... I was thinking about my shooter Luger and where it sits on its useful life. The laws of supply and demand have been working on Lugers and on Luger parts. Many shooter pistols are tired and many of the really great Lugers a person would be crazy to shoot. I started thinking about the gun kit culture that has sprung up in the last 10 years or so. Someone will buy an 80% to 100% receiver or frame and buy parts kits to build their own custom gun. It is very popular in the 1911 and Ar-15 crowds. With the advent of the internet, and computer aided machining it is possible for companies to do small runs of part kits and frames at prices that would be impossible in the past. One of the reasons that there are 1911 and Ar-15 kits and no kits for niche type guns is all based on market size and the cost and supply of parts. A small company can't invest its capital on a product with a high level of risk. Now here is the crazy idea... There are sites like Kickstarter.com that allow small businesses to collect sales from regular people and if the break even point is met, they will produce and ship the item to everyone that paid in advance. if the break even point is not met, every customer is refunded the sale. It eliminates all production risk for a product line. Now lets say someone created a kickstarter with the goal of making high fidelity luger kits (where all parts would be interchangeable to an authentic production luger in function and quality). For the sake of example, lets say the break even point is 500 commitments at $250 for a supplier to produce 100% frames and 750 commitments at $600 to get the other 43 odd parts produced and bundled together. You make the frame the serialized part and ship it directly from the manufacturer to each person's FFL to avoid any issues with the ATF. The world would now have 500 brand new noncollectable Lugers at $850 a pop for shooting and enjoying as well as a bunch of new, hard to find parts to keep all the real guns running. So is this the most crackpot idea ever or is there anybody else that thinks this would be a good thing? I've got thick skin.