So how many are there? The guys who buy cheap stuff like sks and norinco, what hk or any other reputable brand product have they bought in the past?
I have two Norinco products: a M305 and a 5.56 AR15 upper. Both were relatively cheap and seem to work fine. Yes, the M305 took some tinkering, but I knew that going in to it because I didn't want to pay $2500 for a Springfield when a Norinco did the same thing: put holes in deer and targets, and I wasn't/don't shoot matches with it. I also own some $75 to $200 cheap scopes...
I also bought a $1500 Boberg XR-9 when most people figured that was horribly too much money on a new unproven product; and I own a damn nice Franchi 12ga & 20ga Over/Under set that you won't pry from my hands with a Leopard tank (it fits me like I was born with it attached to me, better than anything in the $500 to $50,000 range for me). I also have a long range rifle with a $1500 scope on it...
I own what I own because it does what I ask it. Sometime it does what I ask of it for cheap, or I buy cheap because I know I'll F'ck it up doing what I do to it. Sometimes only high end expensive products will do what I ask of it, likely because only high end quality will see that well or perform that well.
Almost Exclusively I own what I own because it fits me and it is what is best for me, price being ignored. I have said that I shoot a Sig better than a Glock: that is not bashing a Glock, but showing
ability with a Sig.
the sooner people realise that (Including the "god like" ones) maybe everyone can post their opinion and experience and have it taken at face value rather than have people pick apart what happend, call the guy who is having the problem out as an idiot and jumping down his throat just for having a problem
Good luck. The number one problem I see is one guy is a "true lover" of a product, or just wants to give a product a chance, and then someone else has a problem with it: the opposite person having an opposite opinion then must seem like they are ignoring them for having an opposite opinion, so then the fight starts...
It either starts like:
person 1 "Gawd, brand Blue firearms are
sooooo awesome."
person 2 "But my brand Blue rifle jams all the time."
So now person 1 sees an opposite opinion and acts like they are either being ignored or insulted
person 1 "Are you doing this wrong? Are you using crappy brand Green magazines? Are you a true operator? Do you have a clue? Is your sphincter choking your air supply?"
So now person 2 is insulted regardless of how blunt or actually how sweet and helpful the suggestions are.
person 2 "I don't have to be some Call of Duty keyboard "Operator" crap to load the chamber, close the bolt, turn off the safety and pull the trigger while the muzzle is pointed at safe target on safe range Pink. I actually go shooting a real gun, I'm not a gaming device jockey Mall Ninja fast food diet single 40 year old virgin in their mom's basement."
So now person 1 sees this as an insult to their years of quality brand Yellow training... and it never stops until a Moderator jumps in.
Or it starts like:
person 3 "I think I'll try brand Blue firearms."
person 4 "No. Person 2 says they are crap and jam all the time. All of them."
So person 3 was IBTL and read all of person 1 and person 2's fight that got locked.
person 3 "I know they have some fit and finish issues; but they are new and I have some cash to waste so I will buy one and work it out."
So now person 4 thinks person 3 is an idiot, ignoring them, insulting them... or most likely with CGN, all of the above.
person 4 "Have you not seen all of the reports all over CGN about what sh!t brand Blue brand firearms are? Did you not see the report where a friend-of-a-friend's wife's dude's dog's owner accidentally shot a seagull in a McDonald's parking lot behind the range Rink 100 yard back stop right in the left foot trying to clear jam number sixty-six?!?!"
So now person 3 rage quits posting on CGN because they got ignored and treated rudely.... and somewhere in there a Moderator jumps in.
I know I made and poked some fun with those examples, but I have been IBTL and seen the stupid people type. Yes, the stupid people type. I meant that just that way: that stupid people type and the stupid stuff people type.
I know right now opening a topic on a NEA rifle is like walking into a sitting of US Congress and saying, "I caught Obama doing a Rob Ford. I have photos." Eerie quiet... then Chaos.
The place gets a damn unsettling quiet before either a) the battle starts and the moderator shuts it down or b) there is crap load of posts only saying "IBTL" and then the moderator gets on that one too.
It just seems like there is little respect for people that want to express that they own one and it:
1) doesn't work right (so they have to repeatedly shove that down people's throats and try to bankrupt the company)
2) it works fine regardless of someone's lemon (so they get treated like crap, or can't shut up about how theirs it perfect)
because often they don't give any respect either.
However, that is the Internet. There is a lot of good resources, but there is a lot of opinions. Including mine. So smile: because rebuttals of my opinion will be ignored.
Internet: [in-ter-net] the single worldwide idiot network that interconnects other computer idiots, on which end-user rants, such as World Wide Web blogs or forums, are located, enabling rudeness and other foulness to be exchanged
{Seriously: take a moment to breathe, and then get up and go shooting... it will do you more good than sitting here reading my rant}
