Best place to buy a KRG Bravo ?
- Thread starter Bungi
- Start date
I’d be happy to help you out with one!
I made that mistake. They charged me the regular $349 msrp. That was OK and expected. Then they hit me with about $40 in shipping. I went ahead with the purchase because I couldn’t find one in stock any place else.
I doubt they have $50 per unit in the bravo. I think they could do better than that but not those greedy bastards! Just my humble opinion
Buy from cattleman99 or anyone else. At least you’ll be helping out small business owners.
This is not meant as an attack on your post, I just want to write this up so people have an idea how much really goes into producing something like this.
I'm in no way affiliated to KRG, but I helped develop and produce a stock for another manufacturer and have an idea whats involved so I'm going to defend them a little bit.
They probably have significantly more than that ($50) in each one. They also probably have a couple of hundred thousand invested in the injection molding tools which needs to be amortized out into the the cost of each stock. Yes, once the tools are made each part is relatively cheap, but these are big shots. They're likely running a couple hundred ton molding press to accommodate them. They are also putting quite a few CNC machined parts into each stock. A bar of aluminum for the backbone (say 6061 1.5"x.5"x18") will run $10-15.00 more if its bigger stock. $1.00 a minute would be a cheap price for that machine time, it's likely at least twice that. They have to machine, debur, and annodize the backbone, grip insert, butt pad mounting plate, cheek rest etc. Probably adds up to half an hour to an hour of machine time depending on how its being done. There's also the cost of every insert, piece of hardware, nut, bolt etc. that goes with each one. Then the assembly time, packaging, warehouse overhead. All that gets factored into the price. I would guess in reality they're paying in the neighborhood of $150-$200.00 per stock, and then pricing so that there's enough room to keep all their reselers happy.
I don’t wanna seem like I’m bashing krg because I’m not. I like their products but it seemed to me a little greedy. I understand what you’re getting at. Would you agree that when they sell directly to the consumer at retail price their profits are substantially higher? Of course they are and that’s why they do it. Brownells can sell a krg bravo for $320 bucks with free shipping and turn a profit. Obviously krg could also. That’s why I later said that people should just buy through anyone of their resellers. That way you’re getting the product you want, you’re supporting small business, and possibly even paying less. If you disagree that’s fine but honestly where would you choose to buy one from? Krg for $390 to your door or whoever for $320 to your door. Now keep in mind all the time and money and all the cnc ing of little parts and everything you mentioned they put into making that product while you’re busting your ass to earn the extra $70 bucks. I think you’re trying to show how smart you are and that I don’t understand the complexities involved. Trust me I understand just fine. I hope that you can understand what I’m trying to say because if not you’ll be busting your ass paying the extra 
every time. Smdh
every time. Smdh
I was purchasing a product through the manufacturer once and asked that very question - why did they have to sell it at MSRP when you could get it from one of their vendors for less ( when available ). The rep told me that it was for that very reason - it was designed to encourage customers to purchase from their vendors so that more vendors would be encouraged to carry their products. They didn't really care what it was finally sold for ( although they didn't want it advertised for less than MAP ). Made sense to me.
I always try to support small business but sometimes you buy where it’s available. I’ve grown cynical over the years and believe the pricing is set at the very max and the little guy rarely gets a brake. The name of the game is squeeze every dime out of it they can and move on to the next one. If the manufacturers cared 1 bit for the people buying their products they would demonstrate it. Just saying
I don’t wanna seem like I’m bashing krg because I’m not. I like their products but it seemed to me a little greedy. I understand what you’re getting at. Would you agree that when they sell directly to the consumer at retail price their profits are substantially higher? Of course they are and that’s why they do it. Brownells can sell a krg bravo for $320 bucks with free shipping and turn a profit. Obviously krg could also. That’s why I later said that people should just buy through anyone of their resellers. That way you’re getting the product you want, you’re supporting small business, and possibly even paying less. If you disagree that’s fine but honestly where would you choose to buy one from? Krg for $390 to your door or whoever for $320 to your door. Now keep in mind all the time and money and all the cnc ing of little parts and everything you mentioned they put into making that product while you’re busting your ass to earn the extra $70 bucks. I think you’re trying to show how smart you are and that I don’t understand the complexities involved. Trust me I understand just fine. I hope that you can understand what I’m trying to say because if not you’ll be busting your ass paying the extra
What sgtsmmiii said is right on the money. The mfg sells at top dollar specifically so that they make buying from a reseller appealing. It's better for them to have sales made at wholesale and product on the shelves than sitting in their warehouse. Are they happy to take the money if someone buys direct at MSRP? Of course they are. And I totally agree with you that its a better deal for the consumer to buy from a reseller at a discount. I'm waiting for the new X-ray to be available, and will almost certainly buy from someone like Brownells rather than KRG directly for exactly that reason. My point was just that the margin is no where near $300 on this stock.
Exactly this. They don't want to warehouse their stuff, they want us buying from retail outfits that will order at least partial pallets. 1 at a time isn't great profit, 20+ at a time justifies turning on the machines.
Plastics molding is insane. Cost per part is $5 of material once you have the $200k invested. Average that $200k and figure mold wear and you're up to $50 per part pretty easily. Obviously this depends greatly on mold life but I'd guess they add up when just an already designed and proofed mold can run $20k for a set.
Also running $200k CNC machines isn't just pressing a button. Lots of "extras" that get averaged into the cost of running an aluminum backbone every 20 minutes and keeping it in spec.
I'd also guess Brownells isn't making much at all with the sales. I order from them when I see a good sale, think my last bravo was $325.
You probably got one by now but if you didn't get one from @cattleman99 for sure. I just discovered his shop and got one from him, he has great prices and is a great guy, responds quickly.
