13C

It’s been a wild 30 days for recalls and it Caracal is back in the news again.  Last March a recall was issued for Serial Numbers SC188 to SC222.

Now Caracal has issued a full recall of every single Model C on the market.  Not only do they have to go back, but they cannot be fixed.  Caracal is going to “refund” customers for the purchase price of their pistol.

The recall states: If you own or have access to a Caracal Model C pistol, PLEASE DO NOT  LOAD OR FIRE YOUR PISTOL.  So if you have a Model C please take this recall seriously.

So why do I think this is the end for Caracal’s shot in the US market place?

If you remember an article I wrote about a year ago, I posted why Caraacal probably wouldn’t get much traction in the US market.  Price point was one of the reasons.  With so many excellent striker fired pistols on the market already, any new comers would have to priced significantly lower than current offerings with proven track records.

For example when the HS2000, a Croatian pistol from Hrvatski Samokres, came to the US market (later to be known as the Springfield Armory XD), you could find one for round $300.  It was an excellent price point and got the HS2000 such a cult following SA bought the distribution rights for the US, jacked the price up 150 dollars and couldn’t import them fast enough to keep up with demand.

The Caracals I have handled didn’t stand out in my mind and at the price point, why not just buy another XD, Glock or M&P?  That’s actually what I wound up doing.  I love start up companies and the designing team was a who’s who list, I’m just glad I allocated my gun money funds to other things.

If you’d like to learn more about the Model C recall and how to return it if you have one check the official recall notice.

Right on the heels of the S&W Shield announcement Springfield Armory has issued a recall of some of it’s popular XDS 9 and XDS 45 3.3″ pistols.

My XDS 9mm falls in the recall range and I’ll be keeping everyone updated on how the recall progresses.  To date, I have not had any malfunctions with my pistol.

The recall is fairly expansive and encompasses:

Springfield 3.3 XD-S™ 9mm pistols -serial numbers between XS900000 and XS938700.

Springfield 3.3 XD-S™ .45ACP pistols – serial numbers between XS500000 and XS686300.

Springfield says the pistol could fire unintentionally when the slide is released or it may “double-fire” and fire twice with one pull of the trigger.  I urge all my readers to check the serial numbers of their XDS handguns immediately, this is a serious safety issue.

You can read more about the recall at Springfield’s official recall page where you can also file an online claim for a shipping label and service.

Have you experienced any malfunctions with your XDS?  Let us know over on our Facebook page.

Today, Smith and Wesson has announced a safety alert that has the potential to cover virtually every single Shield on the market today.  For those with one of these faulty pistols, it is a serious condition that should be addressed immediately.

The recall covers “ALL M&P Shield™ firearms manufactured before August 19, 2013.”

“Smith & Wesson has identified a condition where the trigger bar pin could damage the lower trigger in certain M&P Shields in a way that may affect the functionality of the drop safety feature of the firearm, potentially allowing the pistol to discharge if it is dropped.”

There is both a picture and text walk thru as well as a video to determine if you have one of the faulty pistols so you can determine if your pistol is faulty.

Please contact Smith & Wesson directly at 877-899-6259 to arrange for the repair, if necessary, of your pistol.  You can find out more information at the official recall page.

We’ll keep you updated should any more information become available.

Complacency is always waiting, right alongside Mr Murphy, even in a safety class.  

A 73 year old Ohio firearms instructor had a negligent discharge in one of the Concealed Carry classes he was teaching and let a round fly into a desk.  The round ricocheted off a desk and struck Michael Piemonte in his arm.

Luckily for Mr Piemonte of the 30 people in the class, 3 were nurses were and one was an EMT.  Fellow classmates rendered aid to him until EMS arrived and transported him to Grant medical center where he was later released that night.

Terry J. Dunlap Sr., the instructor, was giving his class near Lancaster, Ohio, at the Central Ohio Coon Hunters association.  It’s unclear how long Mr Dunlap has been a firearms and safety instructor.

Complacency is a very dangerous thing and something every gun owner should never allow to happen.  We’ve all heard one of the golden rules of firearms safety “Never let the muzzle cover anything you aren’t willing to destroy.”   Some say that provided you don’t break more than one rule at once, you won’t shoot anyone.  Luckily for Mr Piemonte the .357 Ruger, loaded with .38spl, wasn’t pointing directly at him when it discharged but things like ricochets can and do happen.

At this time the Fairfield county Sheriff believes the shooting to be accidental and no charges have been filed.

Hopefully a valuable lesson can be learned from this negligent incident, from the instructor to the students in the class and to those reading about this story.

A small anti-gun group has called for a boycott of Starbucks on Friday 8-9-2013. 

As in previous attempted boycotts, supporters of the Right to Keep and Bear will be flocking to Starbucks to show their support for a company that refuses to ban firearms on it’s property, even after protests and some negative press.

The last attempted boycott was on Valentines Day, pro RKBA supporters showed up and made it one of the busiest days of the year for the company, all across the nation.

If you are considering a cup of coffee or a frozen coffee drink, consider dropping by your local Starbucks.  Supporters will be doing various things to show they are there to support Starbucks and RKBA from wearing pro-gun shirts to paying with $2 bills, a clever play of the 2A.

Do you plan on visiting Starbucks to counter the protest?  Let us know on our Facebook page your plans for the day.

There has been a lot of conspiracy talk over the limited quantities of ammunition currently available and Hornady has release another statement regarding their production and future plans.

Basically Hornady is going to do everything it can to crank out as much ammo as it can as fast as it can.  In order to do that they are going to add more production capabilities and get more machine uptime by temporarily suspending offerings that are less popular.

For those who aren’t familiar, one machine can make several different kinds of ammunition depending on how it’s set up.  Think about your reloading press at home and how you can change out calibers on it or even just change out round nose vs hollow point seating options.

While it may only take you an hour to change out your press at home, these large professional machines can take up to an entire day to change over.  Considering one of these machines can makes tens of thousands of rounds an hour, you can see how just being down for one day can have a significant impact on output.

Costs.  Hornaday addresses the cost of ammunition and states if prices are being raised it’s on the retail side, not the manufactures side.

The one thing all of you can do to help ease the ammo crunch is to not buy wildly over priced ammunition.  Simply don’t do it.  Capitalism is a beautiful thing and consumers on the free market can get prices back in line… if they want to.

Below you’ll find the text of Steve Hornady’s statement:

It’s important for everyone to know that our order demand is extremely high. And, even though we have temporarily suspended the production of some items, what we have left on order will take us almost two years to produce.

There is no conspiracy by the government to shut us down. This is not an effort on our part to raise prices. We haven’t raised prices. If they are higher. that’s at the store level not at the manufacturer.

We’re going to do everything we can by adding people, by adding machinery, and by adding square footage in order to try and make more of what you want to buy.

On the list of items that we’ve kept we have over 270 of our projectiles and over 140 different rounds of ammunition.

There is something in there for everyone, but there may not be some of the less popular items. By cutting down on that list – temporarily suspending them – we’re able to get more up time on our machinery and get more bullets out the door for you.

We want to thank you for your support.

We appreciate your patience and we hope that you understand this is a temporary situation only and we’re being honest with you and telling you what’s happening.

Drop by our Facebook Page and tell us about you latest score or disappointment on the ammo crunch front.