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Posted: 9/18/2007 8:34:04 PM EDT
) is important, but Ronnie Barrett has always remarked that civilian shooters made his company what it is today. The M99 is Barrett's most accurate rifle-- consideration for a monopod should have been designed from the get go. Now that it has been, why leave existing M99 owners out in the cold?
I have to agree with this. I've met RB, been in his office, and shot with his son a few times. They are good people & I'm sure that they are doing whatever they can do to bring this to market once our military is taken care of. Like buck said, that's got to be priority right now. |
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Seriously, let's stop throwing around the "if it's for the troops" argument. Reminds me of liberal's "it's for the children" campaign. I am said active duty troop, and have fought alongside M107 equipped units. What I requested of them in no way hinders their ability to supply US contracts. What I requested, at a minimum, was the sale of a part-- a baseplate, so I can use their new style monopod. What I got was a bureaucratic, "accounting hasn't priced it for sale" response-- a purely administrative task. Let's not forget that much of his business comes in the way of foreign contracts (other countries troops!). In 2005, Barrett received $8M in revenue from the US government, and $6M came from international militaries (source: http://www.businesstn.com/pub/3_2/features/7869-1.html). I'm all for this-- it's smart business, and what's good for Barrett is good for all .50 shooters. But the "they're too busy making firearms for our troops" argument doesn't hold water. I'm in no way attacking Ronnie Barrett the man. He's a staunch and active supporter of our 2nd Ammendment rights. He's also a pioneer, and legend in the .50 shooting community. When it comes to his company though, I do expect a basic level of service after spending nearly $4000 on a rifle. I can't imagine getting the response I did from State Arms, Spider Firearms, EDM, or Bluegrass Armory. I do agree that at least they were up front and didn't dick me around for months. |
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I have to agree with the OP, this was not a request for a new rifle that would go to the Military, he's an existing customer and should have been treated as one. From the sound of what he posted (this is second hand info) she had a canned response that would deal with NEW Customers not exisiting ones. I would re-try my call and see if you can talk to a tech person and by-pass the operator. |
Whaaaaaa! Baby can't have what he wants so he cries on an open forum.  It is about production capacity. Their is only so much to go around. They gave you an honest answer. Accept it.  |
The purpose of a forum is for the free exchange of ideas and opinions. If you don't like it, don't come here.
Wow, that was profound. Where'd you get your economics PhD from? |
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bennyjammin, Keep us informed when the part is available as I would love one for my M99. And now to get off the subject for a rant: This whole "war," I mean occupying force thing is getting old. Our brave troops are sitting around posing as targets in a guerrilla conflict we can't win. Either kill them all or get the f*** out!! My heart is stricken everytime I read of another unnecessary casualty. For any of our troops who may linger here, put a M107 headshot on one of those bastards for me!! Stay safe!! |
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It is a good thing that the Op was not around during WWII. I remember my history lessons. Lets see, there was the gasoline ration, balsa wood ration, Amateur Radio restrictions and I am sure a few of you can add a few more (please do). So, you cant have your toy right now, big deal, grow up and understand that someone is not shooting at you. I rather the snipers have what they need to do their job to help protect their fellow soldiers. Hey I know what, if you want it that badly, join up and tell them you are a sniper and will provide your own weapon. They just need to provide ammo and a monopole for your Barret rifle. Along with everything else a soldier gets. And by the way, this is MY OPINION. not a flame |
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Don't worry about Ronnie "Taking care of the troops" he's getting paid well for what he supplies. He has forgotten that the civvy shooters took care of him in the lean times. It was really lean at times.  The 99 buttplate assembly is a pretty easy part to make and machine out. It should be a no brainer to sell one. They probably don't have a part number to sell it by. Who knows. |
Well I have seen while I was in active duty some folks getting transfers from one branch to another. But that was back in the early 80s. Dont know if they still allow that sort of thing. Might check into it if you really like to shoot that 50 And if you are good at it. |
 buck, you and i see eye to eye on many if not most issues, but not this one. his money is green, and barrett already cashed his check. they have the OBLIGATION to do the right thing. if they can't keep up, staff up. that is the way it works in the rest of the english speaking world. +1 above on those who spent money with Ronnie when the shit was thin. we didn't bawl about high prices, we paid. "call back next year" is a phrase that shouldn't be uttered, EVER! |
| I feel its more an issue of customer relations than where the parts are going or what accounting hasn't done. The people I have talked to that have called Barrett where rather disappointed with the response. When the person on the other end wasn't flat out rude they where at best unhelpful. Though I have never met the guy, what I have heard about Ronnie Barrett makes me think he has no idea how customers calling in are treated or he would do something to correct it. Then again success causes some people to lose perspective. |
Listen man it sucks to not be able to buy this, but I remember when the war in Iraq started and I was tring to find an ARMS mount for a M1A Arms couldn't make enough stuff to keep up wth what the troops wanted. I was told the same thing by ARMS, it would be a while. |
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tracker, i understand and agree that these things happen. i can't deny it. however, knowing these things happen and business cycles up and down, if you're a savvy business you can minimize these kinds of troubles. whether folks believe me or not, the vast majority of the bottle necks in these situations fall on suppliers/vendors to these companies like barrett or arms. i couldn't say for sure that is where the problem lies here, as i don't know for sure. i'd bet money it was though... regardless, it seems common place in the firearm industry to cough up some BS excuse like "uncle sam has me tapped" or "all our efforts are going to support our troops" when they don't offer what the customer wants or the customer needs a repair/replacement part for merchandise he's already paid for. our company owns an assembly business on the side. nothing huge, about 100 folks. we learned in a hurry that when the market rises and falls we either had to add staff or find a way to handle the surges in business. most of it fell on having two vendor sources for each piece. after we did that, our meager 100 person staff put in occasional overtime and our orders went out on time due to access to the little pieces and parts and castings and so forth we needed. maybe none of what i believe could be the case here applies, but i doubt it. i'm not suggesting we tell a soldier to eat shit. i'm suggesting we run a better kind of business today than we did yesterday. ronnie is very vocal about his customer service - let's see it. if i got "call back next year" for an answer, i'd bend ronnie's ear just a little so at least he understood my frustration if nothing else. |
I respect your opinion and agree the situation could be handled better. You are right in believing that "call back next year" is completely unacceptable. However, I stand by my original post. Think about it. It is in a company's best interest to sell all they can whenever they can to whoever they can. I don't know why they would purposely tell someone they couldn't help them at the current time if they really could. This business approach makes no sense. And to your raising the "BS" flag on me:  You, sir, are the first to ever do this in my 6000+ posts 
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| I wonder if RB himself knows stuff like this is going on in his company for such a small part and that his customer service people are saying such things like "Try back next year". The sales lady you talked to might have been a minimum wage person who doesn't care much about civilian customer service and was speaking out of line. |
I'm sure if all the dimensions were known, a good machinist could drill the holes, and tap the side hole. However, a flange surrounding the side hole (as shown in picture, where knob screws in) would need to be added. Doing this while matching the finish and without it looking jerry-rigged would be difficult. |
When I first called, she wasn't sure if this was something they could do or not. So she took my phone number down and said she would check and call me back. She never did call me back, so I called again the next day. She remembered me, and that's when she confirmed that they would not swap out or sell me the part. I'm not sure who's call it was, but I don't think she made that decision on her own. Her exact words were, "try checking back first thing next year." |
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