Hi Everyone,
It is true I have an idea what everyone is saying / thinking, without reading it on the forums, as it is the same thing I would be saying/thinking had I put up 100 dollars and waited patiently with no coms. I can tell you I am 65 and came off the 7 day a week work schedule right after covid and have not returned, 5 and sometimes 6 is plenty. And it is true I don't deal with updates and emails like pre covid because we had enough people I could sit up here and spend a few hours writing/looking through forums and things still happened in the shop. Now I do assembly, run machines, whatever. Not a whine, well maybe a little, but just life as it is.
I can honestly say I have not been able to hire replacements for the 3 folks we lost in the covid era and that has been a huge factor in all this. To say no one wants to work, even for more money, is an understatement I think. At least when it involves getting your hands dirty, working in the hot or cold at times, showing up for work every day on time, and staying off the damn cell phone..... But these are not just my problems. I am sure most businesses deal with this same problem. The "new" way the world works is crazy to me and I don't know how it is going to continue but I am sure it will.
And I can be my own worst enemy in adding to the mix. We make the T-I T-I scope mounts, the T-II, a series of DP's, DP belt fed units, and now trying to get a few Brens out. As crazy as this sounds you have to shuffle back and forth to keep the cash flow going enough to keep the lights on and the payroll paid. When a new weapon comes out there is a pretty good wait list and you can focus on just that but then it takes longer and longer to build that list again to justify another run of things. Thats how the T-I came to be as the T-II had slowed. Now we run a batch of each farther apart in amongst the rest and try to keep moving.
To answer a few "well that's about what I figured happened to my T-I order" it is not. We had enough receivers made to cover all the T-I orders, still do, and then had to shuffle the cerakote/lacquer rifles ahead of the blued rifles and the blued rifles receivers just sat waiting on a few key parts to finish them up. So, when we sent out the 8-12 week email we had those parts to cover the next in line on the blued rifles but had to use them to finish the cerakote/lacquer rifles. Net result was that there were people that got their cerakote/lacquer rifles way ahead and they were happy and everyone waiting on the blued were pushed back and now feel forgotten, I would feel the same.
We are about to get the parts back from HT and can then again start the process of building T-I's. Meaning starting at barreling up receivers all the way through. So when now? Just as soon as I can make it happen which is always longer than I project. Hopefully ship some in the next 3-4 months.
And yes I get that if another company comes out with theirs faster we will loose some business. That has always been the axe hanging over our heads, just business. And I see a post saying it is in the works but their have maybe been a few problems. Hats off to the honesty because the FG42 is not an easy animal to make. DP's and Brens are much easier!
And I hope you hang in there but understand if you say to heck with that!
Rick
