Many of you will find this interesting.

I've been saying some of the same things for a while now. I'd like to buy American and not support the PRC, but the reality is, brands like Holosun do everything I need a dot to do, and at a price point where I can afford to outfit multiple firearms. They saw a need, and filled it with a product that does what it's supposed to do at a price people will pay. What is that, if not capitalism?

As for the many factories and the many subcontractors, that all makes sense as well. I do know that some products are made on assembly lines that run 24/7, and during certain shifts, Brand X will be made with parts supplied from Companies A, B, and C. When the shift ends, the dayshift boss' cousin comes in and runs the line all night with a different crew and makes Brand Y with cheaper parts sourced from Companies H, I, and J to looser tolerances at a faster rate. This was the explanation I was given years ago by a family friend who was the last US owner of Robinson Knife and opened up manufacturing in China back in the 80's. It's why when you open up Alibaba or Temu or something and type in "drone," you'll see hundreds of the same thing with slightly different specs and different prices. At least with US companies ordering, there's hopefully another layer of inspection and QC. Maybe his red dots are made in China, but the guy in the video has a reputation to maintain, so he enforces strict QC on his end and bends over backwards to help the customer if they manage to get one that fails.

Interesting video. I wonder how many companies are actually able to produce their own optics from start to finish. I know he makes mention of a couple places that have "vertical" production and does seem like a lot to undertake. I also like his analogy of China and the USA having different freedoms and how some here want to take that away from us.

quote:

Originally posted by patw:
I also like his analogy of China and the USA having different freedoms and how some here want to take that away from us.

A friend of mine made a similar observation after spending nearly a decade working there:

Americans have more rights, but the Chinese have more freedom.

Look at the stuff they find in food ingredients...

Uh, what? Are they finding Holosuns in rice noodles?

quote:

Originally posted by clang:
Look at the stuff they find in food ingredients...

You don't have to suck-start them, you just push a button and they turn on.

I never get anything cool like a Holosun at the bottom of my cereal. Usually just a crummy Glock sticker.

quote:

Originally posted by cslinger:
I never get anything cool like a Holosun at the bottom of my cereal. Usually just a crummy Glock sticker.

LOL

I saw much the same thing over a decade ago when I was into building LED flashlights. I discovered that for not much more than a cheap assembled light, I could order the parts myself and get a quality emitter, a better, more efficient driver (circuit board), and do a better job soldering and bedding the LED for max heat transfer which equates to longer, brighter life. It looked identical to a poorly assembled product and had a better lifespan. I still have some of them today.

quote:

Look at the stuff they find in food ingredients...

You mean like the salmonella and listeria and metal shavings and other sorts of nastiness that they find in our home-produced food ingredients? I'm pretty sure Holosuns come with a cleaner bill of health than those, so I think your safe in that regard.

I would love to buy US vice Holosun, but as 220Smudge and I have discussed before, until the US manufacturers start being competitive and stop selling certain items at military rates I can’t spend twice as much.

The holding IRIS is the perfect example, if it delivers it’ll force some changes from US manufacturers.

I say all this not having watched the video yet…I’ll watch it when I get home.

quote:

Originally posted by OttoSig:
I would love to buy US vice Holosun, but as 220Smudge and I have discussed before, until the US manufacturers start being competitive and stop selling certain items at military rates I can’t spend twice as much.

The holding IRIS is the perfect example, if it delivers it’ll force some changes from US manufacturers.

I say all this not having watched the video yet…I’ll watch it when I get home.

It’s hard to buy anything that was not made in China. There truly are multiple reasons for this.i try to buy American or German guns. I won’t buy an American car as I think they are crap. I buy Japanese or German. I buy Italian bicycles. Most accessories seem to come from China. It’s hard to avoid it. If I can buy from other I will. I’ll pay more for some things not made in China. It gets hard when things get convoluted. For example, I buy mostly Bosch tools. Many are made in China though.

Since I typed my first reply to this thread, I bought an Eotech EXPS3-0. I cringed when I hit "submit order," and it felt really wrong to pay nearly $700 for a red dot. I know, it's not a red dot, it's a holographic weapon sight. Whatever.

It arrived yesterday, I installed it, zeroed it and shot it some today from 25 yards to 300. It's great, works fine. Is it $500 better than the Holosun 407's I've been using? I'm going with "probably not," but I'll give it a fair shake. I could probably have done just as well to buy an AEMS and put the difference in a mount, but here we are.

Otto touches on a good point: The root of the problem, as I see it, is government contracts. That's where the real money is with military-grade weapons and accessories. The civilian market isn't even an afterthought in many cases, and it's federal law that what a contractor sells to the government, they cannot sell on the civilian market for any less than they charge Uncle Sam. So, since Uncle Sam spends money like none other, companies can say "yes, our red dot costs a thousand dollars" and Uncle Sam says "shut up and take my money." Why bother putting a bunch of R&D into developing a less expensive model for civilians? Enter the Dragon.