The USFA story?

[gmkmd]

OK, I'm new to this forum, so I'm sure the answer has been posted somewhere, but I'd appreciate the knowledge of the experts here.
My question is simply, what happened to USFA, and why did they stop making these great guns?

[texagun]

Several reasons have been suggested on several different forums.  The 2 most common suggestions are:

1.  The cost of production became too great relative to what they could charge for them and still compete with Colt and others.
2.  The owner lost interest in the products they were producing and wanted to pursue other projects.

http://www.zipfactory.com/

There are certainly other reason but unless someone involved with the company steps forward with the reasons we many never know.

[yahoody]

Interesting story I heard recently.

No clue if it is true, partially true or total fabrication.

Anyway here is what I was told :

"Independent for many years, Uberti was purchased and made into a subsidiary of Beretta Firearms and subsequently acquired by the Benelli company." 

Beretta Holding Co., the Beretta family, owns Benelli, Franchi, Stoger, Uberti & a few other gun Cos.   I believe that happened around 2010/11.

Pure conjecture...

"Once Beretta/Benelli  acquired Uberti the unfinished forgings and blanks (frames/cylinders/barrels)  going to USFA dried up."  Which, for the Italians,  business wise makes perfect sense to me, if true.  We all know (they acknowledged) that USFA and USPFA prior used a selection of Uberti parts for the majority of time it produced USFA SAAs.   No question many of the smaller parts were eventually made in the USA.  But one (at least I do) has to wonder if there isn't some truth to this story.

Big share of the blame has been laid on an inattentive owner for the company failure.   

Possible for sure, but the party line hasn't ever really passed my smell test.       

this is an always interesting read...
http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,36900.0.html

 
 

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[Capt. John Fitzgerald]

To the best of my knowledge, USFA stopped using imported forgings from Uberti when they finally went "all US made."  USFA frames were cut from solid blocks of steel, using CNC machinery.  Forgings were not used (this, according to Gary G in an earlier post).
As for an "inattentive owner" being the cause of the company's "failure," that is also untrue.  USFA has yet to "fail" and is now producing the Zip .22 that was designed by Doug Donnelly (although most of us here marvel at the fact that he is still in business after making this decision).
I think that the main reason USFA abandoned the SAA and went to the Zip was best summed up by Gary G in an earlier post.  To paraphrase Gary,  "Doug Donnelly found the most expensive way there was to make a SAA and he stuck to it."  The results?  Donnelly abandoned the SAA in favor of a product that would yield a higher profit margin.

[yahoody]

Likely only Peter and Gary know the truth as to what was made in house or milled from parts and when.

"To paraphrase Gary,  "Doug Donnelly found the most expensive way there was to make a SAA and he stuck to it."

[Blackpowder Burn]

I spoke to Gary Grainger some years ago when USFA was still making SAA's.  He said that all parts of their guns had been made in the USFA since about 2001 or 2002.

This had nothing to do with Italian parts, and only related to Doug Donnelly and his decisions.