Turkish Shotgun Invasion: 2013
Back in 2006, I wrote a piece titled “The Turkish Invasion: Shotguns for 2007 and Beyond.” It has happened, to a far greater extent than most would realize. More shotguns are imported into the United States from Turkey than any other country: no other country is remotely close.
In fact, Turkish shotgun importation into the U.S. buries the numbers of #2 Italy and #3 China, combined. Most other countries do not import comparatively significant numbers. For example, Germany, home of Krieghoff and Blaser, imported a total of 3524 shotguns in 2012. From Spain, 1692 shotguns were imported into the U.S. in total, according to the United States International Trade Commission.
Turkey, on the other hand, imported 441,332 shotguns in 2012. Their growth and growing domination of firearms imported to the U.S. is still primarily concerning shotguns. For example, 821,522 handguns were imported from Austria into the States in 2012. Most of those tend to rhyme with “clock.”
We've all made the mistake of over-generalizations based on country of origin. At one time, the Japanese were misrepresented as coke-bottled, camera-toting copyists, capable of little more than producing a cheap plastic AM radio. The notion that the Japanese could actually produce an automobile was considered ludicrous, much less that they could actually be world leaders in electronics, optics, high-speed rail systems, and automobiles.
Nor does merely having a recognizable brand name in firearms guarantee results. Winchester, Marlin / L.C. Smith, SigArms, Charles Daly, and Smith & Wesson all crashed and burned in their final scattergun attempts for various and sundry reasons.
Most people I know have no use for junk, for anything you have to buy twice can be no bargain. Just like any other country, certainly inclusive of the United States, Turkey has produced some shoddy product in times past. However, there are notable exceptions such as the ATA guns marketed by Weatherby and the Girsan MC 312 that show that this is not always the case. There are some very good values available and there's more on the way. It should be fun to try to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Copyright 2013 by Randy Wakeman. All Rights Reserved.
