"G4 Update - Finished with Bul!
Everyone has been wondering about the status of the G4, particularly after the forum crashed and I posted on m1911.org in the interim. Here is what happened during my last visit to Israel last month...
During my meeting with Bul, I was informed that Bul had decided to supply Magnum Research (MRI) with a 1911. At first, I was furious that they would do this, particularly since they had not yet delivered the first G4 to us. Their reasoning was that KBI would not be able to handle all of the volume Bul intended to produce and that we shouldn't mind as everyone has a 1911 and the gun that Bul would supply to MRI was just another 1911. I agreed that there were many 1911's on the market, but only CD would have the G4.
After careful consideration I finally agreed to share the factory with MRI, as long as the model that Bul would supply to MRI was to a different specification than the G4 that would be supplied to KBI. I didn't like it, but at that point, in that we had not delivered the first G4, I rightfully believed that any 1911 from CD would be better than no 1911 at all.
You see, I was under the impression that MRI wanted a 1911 with front and rear slide serrations, a bull barrel and a Kimber style rear sight.
However, I was then informed that MRI wanted a 1911 with the exact same specification as the G4 and that Bul would produce it for MRI "per the customers request". It seems that somehow MRI had determined that the best configuration for a 1911 was one with rear slide serrations only, a bushing barrel setup and Novak style sights. I wonder where they got the idea that such a configuration is what the market wanted?
I then informed Bul that they had to decide between KBI and MRI. I would not buy the G4 if Bul intended to supply the exact same gun to MRI.
Bul insisted that they had no choice but to supply MRI with what MRI wanted and that was the end of our meeting. I had a few choice words for Bul and then returned to my hotel.
I've learned a valuable lesson here. I thought it was a great idea that we engaged our forum members to help us design the G4 and based on the participation of the forum members we arrived at a specification that consumers wanted in a 1911. But by doing this in such a public forum, we allowed our competitors to learn what we learned. Of course, I never suspected that our supplier would screw us and agree to produce the same gun for a competitor. But that is exactly what happened.
So we will never again solicit design ideas from our members. We will never again announce our plans for new products before they are in production. And we will do our best to only do business with suppliers that have some semblance of integrity.
My sincere apologies to the forum members who worked so hard to help us design the G4. Some will say that this is entirley my fault for not getting an agreement in writing that protected us from such behavior on our supplier's part. And I suppose they are right. However, in my own defense, I have to be able to trust our vendors to do the right thing. I don't want to do business with a company that can only be kept in line with a written agreement.
For now this spells the end of the G4, until such time as we can find a reputable manufacturere that we can work with. Perhaps we need to consider assembling the G4 in house. Only then might we be able to protect ourselves from unscrupulous and greedy suppliers who have absolutely no understanding of the US firearms market.
Sincerely,
__________________
Michael Kassnar, President
K.B.I., Inc."
. And they do make 1911 models
