Italian firearm manufacturers, did they shut down?

[swordofkeith]

I have been looking for certain Italian made firearms. Pedersoli, Pietta, and Uberti, they make certain kinds of arms that are not made here in the states. I have been constantly checking a lot of BP firearms sales site and they have been out for quite a while now. The more uncommon made arms by these companies are what I am after but no one I talk to has any kind of answer on when these arms will be back in stock. Yeah the sites get new shipments of the commonly found BP revolvers that you can get in any store(1851 navy, 1858 Remington, 1860 army) but no clues on their more exotic arms(I.E. pietta colt paterson, pedersoli charleville musket, lemat revolver, ect). No one has answers and it seems the companies just STOPPED making those arms, or at least stopped shipping to USA. So now if I want anything like those I have to play the stupid game of hopefully find one on a random auction site and hopefully win the auction. Even though the companies STILL lists them as being produced.

 

[Shotgunblast]

Check this out,
https://www.davide-pedersoli.com/en

 

[swordofkeith]

Check this out,
https://www.davide-pedersoli.com/en

What about it? All their USA distributors are out of almost all their products. And you can't order direct from them. I've been needing their charleville musket and NO ONE has any, not Midway USA, not dixie gun works, not Cabelas(who I used to work for). And they've all been out of stock for a long time.

 

[Griff093]

If you're looking for a Pietta Paterson, check with EMF. But, I've had a order in with Uberti for a custom non-cataloged 1860 Henry since Jan of 2020, initially told it'd take about 90 days to receive... famous last words, as Uberti was particularly hard hit with Covid.

 

[leadhoarder]

They shut down for a while because of the wu flu. I do not know how long before we can say that is no longer impacting things.

 

[CaptainVane]

Sorry I am late to this party.
Look at main topics and pics. A vast major percentage are 51 Navy 36, 60 Army .44, 58 Rem both. It’s what the market demands, They are gonna keep capacities going on these 3 that they know are going to sell rather than on niche models.
Example: my first was going to be a Walker, but as i researched, to be true to original they still have the fall down loading lever. Nope, aint dealing with that. Canceled order, got the 51 Navy 36. Dont regret it.

 

[Griff093]

I understand that much of Europe takes the month of August off for their summer "Holiday"!

 

[Hawk54]

I have read in a few places over the last year and a half or so that the Italian gun makers got hit hard with covid. All of Italy got hit hard. Much of their skilled workers were older and either died, got sick, or retired. I am sure they are experiencing the raw materials and parts shortages like we are over here. A lot of smaller businesses that supplied parts and materials to them probably went out of business because of lack of workers and materials. Same thing has happened here in many places. If the skilled workers are gone who is training the replacements they manage to hire. Have experienced that myself here. That may account for some of the hit or miss quality we have been seeing for a couple of years. As one person said above the Italian gun makers are going to concentrate on the more in demand and easier to make products. Especially so if they have had to severely reduce production for a multitude of reasons. They are going to concentrate their energy on what they can make the most profit on. We may never see a full catalogue of offerings from them again.

 

[John Spartan]

What about it? All their USA distributors are out of almost all their products. And you can't order direct from them. I've been needing their charleville musket and NO ONE has any, not Midway USA, not dixie gun works, not Cabelas(who I used to work for). And they've all been out of stock for a long time.

Actually you can order direct…kind of.
Wanted a Dragoon musket and not one could be found in North America. Contacted IFG (who also called Italy to make sure they had one) and they ordered it from Pedersoli for me and I got it in about 28 days. Very helpful female was the one who took care of me over the phone. That was a year ago. FYI
EDIT: Typo. Musket not rifle.

 

[NorthFork]

Actually you can order direct…kind of.
Wanted a Dragoon rifle and not one could be found in North America. Contacted IFG (who also called Italy to make sure they had one) and they ordered it from Pedersoli for me and I got it in about 28 days. Very helpful female was the one who took care of me over the phone. That was a year ago. FYI

Yup, IFG can get stuff normally not imported here.

 

[Ed C.]

Sorry I am late to this party.
Look at main topics and pics. A vast major percentage are 51 Navy 36, 60 Army .44, 58 Rem both. It’s what the market demands, They are gonna keep capacities going on these 3 that they know are going to sell rather than on niche models.
Example: my first was going to be a Walker, but as i researched, to be true to original they still have the fall down loading lever. Nope, aint dealing with that. Canceled order, got the 51 Navy 36. Dont regret it.

The '51 Navy is a smoother running gun, but that Walker is a blast to shoot! I use 45 grains in mine and have never had the loading lever fall down. Biggest nuisance for me is caps getting jammed between the cylinder and recoil shield. I have slixsprings nipples on it but the caps still fragment and cause trouble.

 

[bptactical]

I spent about 45 minutes chatting with a Taylor & Company representative at the NRA meeting this year.
COVID decimated the Italian manufacturers. The Italian government shut them down hard.
Many of the older journeymen retired or just left the industry-they had to do something for a living.
They have had a hard time attracting younger employees and the ones that are there are taking time to get up to speed.