Gunwerks Sued By Creditors

[dgeesaman]

In the day,I sat down with pen ,paper and a beer to draw up a business model for expansion.And what I discovered was that I'm fine right where I'm at.To counter act the headaches ,equipment ,labor,etc.a market would have to double just to realize a 10% more profit. Ain't worth it to me.

A friend of mine is a pastry chef from Long Island. He makes an amazing cheese cake, and got into business selling to restaurants. Then he opened a shop, hired employees, dealt with all of the headaches, and had to let it all go when we was diagnosed with / recovered from cancer. He restarted his business and worked out of his house. He will never hire an employee or try to build a full shop because he's making more money this way and thoroughly enjoying it.

 

[dgeesaman]

They ran out of customers with low IQ and big wallets.

Oil prices fell

 

[Kurz]

A lot of commentary and supposition from very little real information.

At one time I had the pleasure of working with them on various small projects. Nothing major or meaningful, just small stuff. I had no problems at any point along the way.

Here is a quoted paragraph from an interview (Sept. 21, 2016) with Aaron Davidson through Hornady:

Gunwerks has been going for 10 years now — what does the future hold for you?

We’ve got dozens of new products in the works, and we’ve put in motion plans to completely take over the long-range hunting market segment! Seriously, though my main push is to drive the cost of high end products down by controlling design, manufacturing processes, and increasing volume by scaling quality systems. Every serious long-range hunter should own a Gunwerks shooting system!

Please read the entire quote carefully especially with regard to cost/pricing. There probably should be a 'winkie' face at the end of the red wording...

Here is the link:

https://blog.hornady.com/q-a-with-gunwerks-aaron-davidson-7146cc919abe

 

[Nature Boy]

Perhaps they should have considered making their loan payments...

Cashflow.

It's a sonofabitch

 

[LarryDScott]

In the beginning Davidson did business with
me, They bought several triggers periodically.
What appeared to me as poor management
they always waited until the last minute to place
an order, then wanted it shipped postal express
which in that period of time was an additional
$25.00. Looks like they wasted to many $25.00
If they had ordered at least 3 days earlier, the
package would have arrived on time, and the
shipping would have been FREE. LDS

 

[rardoin]

A long time ago, I told a farmer who was a friend, to always remember that the bank would loan more than he should borrow. Back in the day, some farmers borrowed money on paid for land, to buy more land at inflated prices, based on projections that turned out not to be accurate. Quite a few lost it all.

That happened to a few of my friend's parents.....freely available farm loans in the '70-80's. They always had new tractors/combines, SxS's, and 4wd trucks. The one's who still have their family farms and made a good living made do with equipment until it cost more money/time in repairs to justify use. Saw/see the same thing with oilfield service companies.

 

[300_whisper]

In the beginning Davidson did business with
me, They bought several triggers periodically.
What appeared to me as poor management
they always waited until the last minute to place
an order, then wanted it shipped postal express
which in that period of time was an additional
$25.00. Looks like they wasted to many $25.00
If they had ordered at least 3 days earlier, the
package would have arrived on time, and the
shipping would have been FREE. LDS

Just in time manufacturing. In the thread short grass was referring too the same topic came up. It works great for large scale manufacturing companies where they have buyers on years long contracts. But I couldn’t imagine such a niche market like long range rifles. And then for the smaller suppliers they source from, it’s just not economical for them to support such a quick turn around time.

I have no comment on their financial situation or prices. It’s America and capitalism at work. I hope they pull through, because I want everyone in the firearms industry to be successful.

 

[284winner]

Perhaps they should have considered making their loan payments...

At the prices of there rifles, I doubt they had enough revenue coming in to pay the loan payments. Especially with all the hunts they go on using those rifles to promote them. There's certainly a demand for that high end rifle cost but obviously not enough to maintain the hunts and loan payments.

 

[Brians356]

A long time ago, I told a farmer who was a friend, to always remember that the bank would loan more than he should borrow. Back in the day, some farmers borrowed money on paid for land, to buy more land at inflated prices, based on projections that turned out not to be accurate. Quite a few lost it all.

"Pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered."
-

 

[6MMsteve]

in the repair at cost account there is $20.000 I took out $3652.25 for machine repairs now there is $5231.25 left ????

 

[antelopedundee]

The rifles are way too expensive for my little budget but it’s a shame to see anything like this happen in the sport that we all love so much

Does the cost of the rifle include one of those guided hunts like you see on TEEVEE on the Outdoor or Sportsman's channel? Or is that extra?

 

[mikecr]

As a CUSTOMER, i've been a casualty of this kind of mess.
When I read over the apparent situation, all I can think about is how many of their customers will get screwed & how bad..

There are also the occasions where a drowning & unethical company will take deposits from customers for any and every kind of orders -in an attempt to either save themselves, or reach for a rainbow.
And knowing full well that they're screwing everybody! This happened to me twice. Both, Canadian gun builders.

There are bad actors in this business.
Sickening to me, and worse in my opinion, are those who cover for them...
Directly, or indirectly, they hurt us all

 

[landonm]

I work for Gunwerks. There's a lot of speculation and false information floating around here, guys. The truth will come out soon. We've struck a deal with Wells Fargo and this should all be finalized and squared away tomorrow with more details coming to the surface. We're not going out of business, in fact we're seeing our best year to date by far!

 

[Brians356]

There's a lot of speculation and false information floating around here, guys.

There always is, there always is.

The truth will come out soon.

It usually does, it usually does.
-

 

[300_whisper]

I work for Gunwerks. There's a lot of speculation and false information floating around here, guys. The truth will come out soon. We've struck a deal with Wells Fargo and this should all be finalized and squared away tomorrow with more details coming to the surface. We're not going out of business, in fact we're seeing our best year to date by far!

that’s good to hear. Sucks the news published that info like that. Good luck with your future endeavors.

 

[joshb]

I work for Gunwerks. There's a lot of speculation and false information floating around here, guys. The truth will come out soon. We've struck a deal with Wells Fargo and this should all be finalized and squared away tomorrow with more details coming to the surface. We're not going out of business, in fact we're seeing our best year to date by far!

I’d just like to know how you justify the prices on your guns? Short answer, please? Do you make your own actions? Etc.........

 

[284winner]

I work for Gunwerks. There's a lot of speculation and false information floating around here, guys. The truth will come out soon. We've struck a deal with Wells Fargo and this should all be finalized and squared away tomorrow with more details coming to the surface. We're not going out of business, in fact we're seeing our best year to date by far!

As I've heard from someone, somewhere, Fake News !!!

 

[JimT]

I work for Gunwerks. There's a lot of speculation and false information floating around here, guys. The truth will come out soon. We've struck a deal with Wells Fargo and this should all be finalized and squared away tomorrow with more details coming to the surface. We're not going out of business, in fact we're seeing our best year to date by far!

At least we can all agree that a lawsuit had to be filed and unflattering facts revealed.

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17179356/wells-fargo-bank-national-association-v-gunwerks-llc/

 

[Ramblerman]

That is the sad part. Generally these small business do very well because of the craftsmanship of the owner.
But being a craftsmen and being a business man are two very different things and generally at odds with each other.
We have all seen small businesses that have great craftsmen building or doing amazing work, but are poor business men. We tolerate the inconveniences because of the product or service. But imagine if they tried to expand with their current business skills.
This is why it is not uncommon for businesses when making that jump from craftsmen shop to production manufacturer will bring in business management experts.

Yessir... a certain reamer grinder comes to mind that could use some more business acumen...growth beyond the system that can support it. Forster is ISO certified, FFS. Rant over, sorry.

 

[wkdickinson]

As a CUSTOMER, i've been a casualty of this kind of mess.
When I read over the apparent situation, all I can think about is how many of their customers will get screwed & how bad..

There are also the occasions where a drowning & unethical company will take deposits from customers for any and every kind of orders -in an attempt to either save themselves, or reach for a rainbow.
And knowing full well that they're screwing everybody! This happened to me twice. Both, Canadian gun builders.

There are bad actors in this business.
Sickening to me, and worse in my opinion, are those who cover for them...
Directly, or indirectly, they hurt us all

I feel bad for your experience, but I think few business owners ever contiously act in bad faith. Rather, I think what happens is that they hang on too long, thinking things will magically get better, and they don't, because they can't. When they finally throw in the towel, they leave a bunch of customers hanging, with no recourse.

Yes, there are bad actors out there, but I choose to believe they are few. I would rather think that most get in way over their head, much quicker than they ever believed possible and ultimately end up hurting people they never intended to.