quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
If YouTube videos these days are any valid indication, China is flooding the US market with inexpensive riflescopes.

Any opinions whether it’s time for their fans to snap some up before number 47 takes office in a few days?

It was interesting to see Primary Arms announce it's newest, latest and greatest pistol red dot sight today. While PA didn't list a price, or specify whether any components were made in China, PA did tout the sight as "made in the USA!".

My guess is that US wholesalers and retailiers are already exploring alternatives to post-tariff Chineseum.

Not that it's an apples and apples example, but when Russian steel-cased ammo imports got cut off (and Putin, incidentally, seized the last "cleared" shipments before they left for America), retailers seemed to immediately opt for treating the ammo as something exotic and raised prices - and then wound up sitting on an awful lot of Russian steel-cased ammo. What little rush there actually was seemed to be for ammo that had been ordered as "manufactured to the buyers specifications" using frangible or lead-core bullets.

I guess what I'm saying is that Chineseum's distinguishing characteristic is price. If the supply gets cut off, then prices will remain about the same until the imports are sold off or prices will rise and the imports will only be sold off over time. Either way, its hard to see a rush to snap up the Chineseum.

quote:

Originally posted by Il Cattivo:

Thanks for the insights and comments.

I’ve gotten by this long without a Chinese scope I don’t see that changing. 40 years ago I might have, money was much tighter.

quote:

Originally posted by Il Cattivo:


I guess what I'm saying is that Chineseum's distinguishing characteristic is price. If the supply gets cut off, then prices will remain about the same until the imports are sold off or prices will rise and the imports will only be sold off over time. Either way, its hard to see a rush to snap up the Chineseum.

What the Chinese are doing, and this goes on for many Chinese and other nations products, is dumping products well below market prices to drive domestic competition out of the market.
I recently read how the Mexicans are imposing tariffs on Chinese "Flat Ware". So it seems the Chinese are moving into Mexico's business. You have to understand the actual cost to manufacture may well be much more. And this could go on for years and decades.

I like a well made Kung Pao Chicken. Spicy, savory and sweet with interesting textures. I have never actually had any that was made in China, I wonder if it is better in China?

quote:

Originally posted by Stlhead:
I like a well made Kung Pao Chicken. Spicy, savory and sweet with interesting textures. I have never actually had any that was made in China, I wonder if it is better in China?

Chinese food is better in Europe than it is in the states, and it is better on the West coast of the US than on the East coast. I wonder too if it is better in China.

Although it has nothing to do with this thread, I’ve been told more than once by Americans who traveled to China that the food there is generally significantly different than what’s usually served here. My BIL once complained about the amount of “gravy” on food at a restaurant here; by that I assumed he was referring to the sauce. Others, though, said they didn’t much care for the food in China.

Food tastes are obviously about as personal and individual as anything can be, and are usually strongly influenced by upbringing—and snobbery.

In my travels I’ve found authentic food in Asia is much like southern food. Real southern food, pigs feet, frog legs, pork belly, chicken feet, gizzards, intestine. It’s just seasoned different.

I love American Chinese too. Go to Hawaii and you get a blend of Korean, Japanese, and Chinese mixed with American.

Each has its merits.

Food, especially overseas isn’t so much about the sustenance but the culture, the family, and the social implications.

Everyone who would willingly buy communist Chinese products should be listening to Marco Rubio's relevant comments during his Sec of State confirmation hearings today.

quote:

Originally posted by RichardC:
Everyone who would willingly buy communist Chinese products should be listening to Marco Rubio's relevant comments during his Sec of State confirmation hearings today.

Bingo
The folks willing to make elective (meaning there's no realistic alternative) purchases of Chinese products seem to think that it's just a widget here and there. No big deal. Just a drop in a monster bucket. The problem isn't in my back yard.

But one day, the problem will be in all of our back yards. And front yards. We can choose, and we must think about our choices. The choices we make with the money from our pockets is effectively a vote for the organizations to which we send our money.

Whenever possible, just don't buy Chinese goods or services.

I admit that I've bought pistol RDOs that spoke Chinese (Holosun, SIG). Frankly on the surface I haven't regretted it all that much, since the spread of that competition has forced the significantly spendier Trijicon and Aimpoint to up their game, though it does feel rather weird to see someone like Trijicon copy something that Holosun has been doing for some time.

As for riflescopes, no I haven't seen anything out of China that has floated my boat. Even with Vortex's Japan optics I've eventually sold them off for something I believed is better. I admit I do still have a SIG LPVO that speaks Mandarin, but I got that demo unit cheap (virtually free, as cheap as it comes, in exchange for a favor I did. It was that or being treated to pizza and beer; I took the scope and paid for my share of the pizza and scotch).

A somewhat older thread.

I don’t know how much attention this question will get here, but let’s see:

I got an email from EuroOptic announcing major price reductions on Athlon scopes, most of which are made in China. Why do you believe they did that?

My first thought was that with the probability that any newly-imported scopes costing up to twice as much due to the tariff increase, from a business sense they should just keep their current inventory at the same prices rather than dumping what they have. Or is it to show solidarity with the President to basically say, “We agree with the increased tariffs and we’re not going to sell these products any more”?

Another question might be does any of the possibly short term tariff increases and the President’s announced rationale for imposing them change anyone’s mind about purchasing a Chinese scope? And now I’m not referring to changing your mind due to the higher cost, but rather because of the reason for the increase.

I was pretty sure I'd tried a few and gotten rid of them. I had.

All I have left is 2 Japanese and 2 from the Philippines. At this point I don't see myself buying any more optics.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
I got an email from EuroOptic announcing major price reductions on Athlon scopes, most of which are made in China. Why do you believe they did that?

EuroOptic isn't the only web-based Athlon dealer that is listing the scopes at a discount. I don't know what the Athlon prices were in the past, as I am not interested in Athlon and their Chicom products. There could be a number of reasons for the somewhat-common discounts, but they are likely being initiated by Athlon and/or its distribution network.

From what little I've seen in the field, the view through an Athlon scope is quite good. From what I've seen in the field with steel matches, the elevation controls (i.e. the turret) failed way before they should have.

A good way to keep this country's trade deficit in the toilet is by continuing to buy Chinese products, regardless of price. To each his own.

quote:

Originally posted by fritz:
From what I've seen in the field with steel matches, the elevation controls (i.e. the turret) failed way before they should have.

That’s a very useful observation, and something I must keep reminding myself about.

I’m not going to purchase one of those scopes, but it’s easy (for me, anyway) to forget that even if it’s not something that’s sponsored with a product that the reviewer didn’t pay for, an out of the box evaluation with a tracking test and maybe shooting a few groups can’t begin to replicate the hard use that a competition scope gets, or even what it will be exposed to over the course of several shooting seasons.