Well I'll be...

Per TFB today, Caracal at IDEX that it will be producing licensed copies of the 320 - and apparently building them with SIG-produced and supplied "receivers" (grip frame?).

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/...-tech-sniper-rifles/

Does this mean that the Bubitz-designed Caracal pistol is dead or dying? Why wouldn't SIG do the manufacturing and let Caracal act as a regional distributor?

I bet SIG's production lines will b full tilt once the M17's start being produced.

If you've won a large unit count, multi year military contract, you can, and should expand your production capacity to handle the demand.

Yeah. But you're asking a company to manufacture slides and barrels after having to recall every pistol they made for heat treatment problems. I guess SIG could put quality control people on-site, but it still seems odd to not wait until Caracal's put together a slightly longer track record of having no significant problems or to open up additional in-house production capacity rather than farming out production.

Eh, who knows - maybe all the critical parts are coming from known suppliers and are simply being assembled by Caracal.

SIG could barely get out frame and slide kits before the new military contract.

I had a Caracal. It was a nice gun. Too bad they recalled all of them. It doesn't give you faith in a company.

I tell ya whut: As soon as I decided I wanted a P320 FS .45 ACP I wasted no time finding one, checking it out and putting my money down.

I posted about having a ".45 ACP bug" on Jan. 29. Somewhere between then and Feb. 6 I settled on the P320 and bought one.

Eight days from idea to purchase is lightning-fast for me

I seriously doubt these pistols will for American consumption. If they are produced by licensed copies, they should be Caracal branded. They are not producing a gem for SIG.

See my 4/22/2017 post re SigSauer having labor shortage at NH facilities. Wonder if there is any relationship?

https://sigforum.com/eve/forums...940021324#9940021324

License-built guns generates income without diverting and committing much of their own resources that are already too busy as it is (thanks Nipper for the info). Even the Merkel government can't technically complain since the trigger groups that Caracal are using are NH-made, so their whole "German guns (or their parts) into war zones" dogma that hammered SIG Germany doesn't apply.

With SIG having shifted its corporate home to the US, does Merkel even have a technical chance to complain?

quote:

Originally posted by smithnsig:
I seriously doubt these pistols will for American consumption. If they are produced by licensed copies, they should be Caracal branded. They are not producing a gem for SIG.

No, apparently its for regional sales (in the same region that I think was the only region where Caracal pistol sales really took off), and yeah, if I were SIG I'd be a little leery of trusting Caracal with my brand.

Nipper, I saw that and that would certainly make sense to me. There may be some difference in export restrictions (whether formally or in practice) as well.

I'd like to get a parts kit of one and use an american insert, I think that'd be fun to have. Assuming they're caracal branded.

Perhaps a condition of the contract win was licensing other manufacturers to produce the pistol.

SIG has given production liceneses for years. Now for the P320. There is nothing spectacular on it.