Re: F&D Defense
If you are an F&D customer, you already know if you are getting your rifle in the 1-25. If you haven't heard from me then you are "elsewhere" on the order list, which is priority of another day.
Many customers had placed orders without providing a deposit until a much later date. If that was the case, then that order did not go into the processing file until a deposit was received; hence the reason why a customer could have placed an order in January and not processed until April.
Admittedly, a few orders (3-5) may have been pushed into the second or third batch. This is due to a few hot-headed customers who have been threatening disparaging/defamatory retaliation on these forums if their order did not get moved ahead of others. I will not be swayed by these threats any longer, as this type of behavior only further delays other customer's orders who have been patient, friendly, understanding, and supportive.
I am one person designing and machining nearly the entire rifle (25 at a time, soon to be 50 at a time). This is not simply an assembly shop like so many competitors that outsource the machining of their major components. Just about every component in this rifle is machined here, by myself, in my shop, with my equipment. If it takes longer than estimated, then so be-it; the work cannot physically be completed any quicker. I'm putting in at least 14 hours a day, 7 days a week. And so far I have been making about $6.50/hr, no overtime. I'm just waiting for the day the labor dept busts in and arrests me for not paying myself minimum wage... Anyways, my first order of business is to ensure my customer's deposits and payments are best put to use. And I can guarantee with certainty that a much larger percentage of the rifle cost is actually applied toward producing these rifles than any of my competitors. If I can pay to keep my AC set on 75, then I'm good.
I gave up a $110k job for this. If anyone wants to be pissed off about that, no problem. Ive told people plenty times before, I'm not here to sell BJ's, I'm here to build the nicest rifles in the market. If you want pig-powder, baseball caps, and bumper stickers there are those out there who will give it to you. That's simply not my style.
If you want to call me directly to discuss technicalities of the rifle, you can do that (if you catch me while I'm not running machines). If you are nice to me, I'm going to be nice to you and give you all the information you could ever want. If you're an asshole, I'm going to cut you off. This goes true for both existing and potential customers.
In any case, if that's not good enough, there are plenty competitor's rifles available for order, also with a 4-6 month lead time, or longer.
C Hall