Armedsask said:
SPI, thanks for the input. I to was hesitant to share this on a public forum but then I said, "f**k it."
Your idea to make simple, shop press made bodies is exactly what I was thinking. This would keep cost down and I'd only need to make a handful to get the legalities squared away. Once that's done, I could go for investors or just sell the design to some manufacturer willing to buy. Asking for a percentage of sales, of course.
I'm planning to make this different enough from other magazines that I could probably patent them, thus protecting myself from thieving pricks.
Yep I think that's probably the way to do it. I'd seek out investers as opposed to trying to shop it to a manufacturer first though.
Firearms history is rife with tales of manufacturers ripping off new ideas. Even if it was patented, you would have to have the funds to sue for infringement. I've also been told - by a manufacturer - that patent enforcement can be sketchy, and it's very easy for a company to hold off a suit for years, costing the plaintiff a ton of cash while they are making a ton of profit before just agreeing to a cease and desist order, or getting away with it based on a technicality in the wording of the patent.
Quite often too, manufacturers are satisfied with their product lines and unwilling to invest in the tooling to expand. However, that would not stop some of them from buying the rights to your invention just to have it if it was sufficiently novel and then shelving the project, particularly if your end of the deal was only a percentage of the gross with no minimum production assurance.
Firearms history books contain many such stories, and although I did not get much technical info out of it, Bill Holmes'
Home Workshop Prototype Firearms contains some very revealing anecdotal stories of his attempts to market his designs. Maybe its a good indicator of how the industry works or perhaps it is a good indicator of why Bill is better known for writing books on making guns than actually designing them, but that chapter is an interesting read.
On the whole I think you would have the best success by manufacturing some proof of concept prototypes and then looking for investors, preferably firearms enthusiasts, but not people in the firearms industry. I suspect they will be more open to the concept. Even if you eventually shop the new mag to a manufacturer, you'll be able to deal from a position of strength if your brand and it's novelty is already "known" because there are a few hundred of them out there. Make sure that it is known, even when you are looking for potential investors that as the creator you own the copyright to the design and that patents are pending - even though designing a magazine feature sufficiently novel as to be patentable will be tough.
Anyway, good luck. I've been speaking to friends about the lack of an indigenous firearms industry in Canada for a long time and will help you out if I can.