Anyone whose seen my relevant posts about Springfield in the recent past will know that I don't like the company these days, for reasons political I won't bother to go into again. Well apparently I'm not alone.
I'm strongly against ordering any of their product in to our shop, but alas sometimes I don't have the final say...and sometimes I simply forget what I ordered in the past. Must be that age thing again.
About 15 months ago, well before last year's NRA show and the whole Illinois legislature debacle, I had ordered in a Professional for a customer. Our rep informed me that I was looking at a turnaround of at least three years with what they already had in backlog orders. Our customer said sure and gave a deposit so I placed the order. But he ultimately decided within a couple of days of saying yes that he couldn't wait and instead bought one out from a shop on the East Coast (Florida, I think) and tranferred it in. Yeah...customers are great.
I refunded his deposit but I decided to keep the order live instead of cancelling it, based on many of the comments about this gun, quite a few of which I read here on SIGForum.
So 15 months on, what shows up? The Professional that I ordered. Not three years plus as previously predicted. So wha' happin? It would seem to me that Springfield's 1911 master gunsmiths are not as busy as they thought they would be just a year or so ago. I doubt that the general slowdown in the gun business has impacted their custom shop that much so they could cut their delivery times by two thirds.
Karma can be a good thing. It's often a great thing, especially here on the forum. In Springfield's case, payback for their gross misstep is apparently biting them where it hurts. Yeah, karma--in my point of view--is indeed a good thing. Maybe that self-serving owner/CEO will take the hint and next time think about the ramifications of foolhardy decisions, and the lies spewed to vainly try to cover them up.
As for the pistol itself; aside from handling to receive it into our bound book, I couldn't care less about the damn thing. My only wish that I had remembered to cancel the order after the NRA show last year. Yeah, that age thingy again...
Return it, and tell SA (and your boss?) that the customer canceled the order. I wouldn't want to tie up the shop's money in an undesirable product.
-------------------------- Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats. -- H L Mencken
I always prefer reality when I can figure out what it is. -- JALLEN 10/18/18
Posts: 9145 | Location: Illinois farm country | Registered: November 15, 2008
How much you want for it, lol? The Pros have always been too rich for my blood, although I'd love to own one. I haven't even considered buying a SA since the boondoggle.
Posts: 2009 | Location: TX | Registered: October 28, 2010
Originally posted by newtoSig765: Return it, and tell SA (and your boss?) that the customer canceled the order. I wouldn't want to tie up the shop's money in an undesirable product.
This. Hell, I would happily eat the restocking fee just to have the satisfaction of telling them that and shipping their shit back to them.
______________________________________________ Carthago delenda est
That's a pretty significant reduction in the wait time, assuming that what the rep told you was accurate at the time. It would certainly point to a large amount of canceled orders already ahead of yours in the system.
Posts: 2479 | Location: WI | Registered: December 29, 2012
So 15 months on, what shows up? The Professional that I ordered. Not three years plus as previously predicted. So wha' happin? It would seem to me that Springfield's 1911 master gunsmiths are not as busy as they thought they would be just a year or so ago. I doubt that the general slowdown in the gun business has impacted their custom shop that much so they could cut their delivery times by two thirds.
Karma can be a good thing. It's often a great thing, especially here on the forum. In Springfield's case, payback for their gross misstep is apparently biting them where it hurts. Yeah, karma--in my point of view--is indeed a good thing. Maybe that self-serving owner/CEO will take the hint and next time think about the ramifications of foolhardy decisions, and the lies spewed to vainly try to cover them up.
The Springfield Custom Shop stopped accepting gunsmithing and upgrade work in the middle of 2016 to catch up on a massive backlog. A few months ago they started offering a few services and word is that the Custom Shop will be at full speed sometime in 2018. The talent at Springfield Custom is second to none when compared to similar shops, Wilson ,Nighthawk, etc.This message has been edited. Last edited by: mbacker_99,
That's interesting, especially considering that I ordered the Professional several months after that mid-2016 time frame. It's possible that our rep was quoting the old turnaround time before the custom shop got hot and heavy into cutting into that backlog, although with him working within Springfield I would think that he has the latest scoop on things. It could be that our faster delivery is a combination of both catch-up and cancellations, since the The Incident was still a year in coming after mid-2016. I doubt anyone's really ever going to know outside of the company.
The Pros that are sold to the public are the ones that are not bought up by the FBI. I suspect that there has been a slowdown in FBI orders as guys, even HRT and SWAT guys, transition to 9mm Glocks.
Posts: 5160 | Location: Iowa | Registered: February 24, 2011
I can't see where the FBI will be ordering any more Springfields as their real gunfighters transition to Glocks.
It would be nice if they surplused those .45s to the citizens whose taxes have already paid for them once, but we can't have such deadly weapons getting "on the street" you know.
There is a distributor advertising a "9mm Pro" as SA tries to diversify. The market is crowded and all these oddball models and variations are desperate efforts by the manufacturers to find a niche.
You would have to be nuts to pay full price for a "semi-custom", safe queens are depreciating fast and selling low. Of course if you just HAVE to have a camel dung colored pistol instead of black, you will pay extra. Or is that the other way 'round, traditional blue guns are hard to find.
Posts: 3284 | Location: Florence, Alabama, USA | Registered: July 05, 2001
This issue came up on INGO the other day. A few fanbois were gushing over the XDE, and when I inquired whether or not this was the company who screwed over their own state, some poo poo'd me , and a couple didn't even know about it. I remember who does well by me, and who does me wrong.
As honor follows service, so the westerner travels to the east.
Spring of last year was the last opportunity for to order a Pro for duty use, from comments on another forum by an agent. Appears they've caught up on the backlog as Buds has had several up for sale. I have thoroughly enjoyed mine!
“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, and intolerable...” ― H.L. Mencken
-All views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect those of the author's employer-
Originally posted by Kevbo: I just discovered they are making them in 9mm now. Probably good I just found that out
I was really excited as well until I saw that it was $3200 Forgot just how much the Springfield Custom guns have increased in price over the past few years.
Forgot just how much the Springfield Custom guns have increased in price over the past few years.