Coldsteel Sold???

Lee D said:
Better than recently?...sure
Better than ever?...not a friggin chance
Click to expand...

Nah. Marlin, much like Savage, and back in the day, Ruger, was a longtime second-tier long arms maker behind firms like Remington and Winchester. Solid, simple, inexpensive firearms, but definitely focused on the Sears-Roebuck, Montgomery-Ward market. Marlin, like Savage and other brands endured decades of peaks and valleys of firearms demand. The result was that Marlin was run like a cash cow -- without a great deal of investment in new products and PP&E for decades.

Then Cerberus/Remington/etc. (CRE) came along and bought Marlin from its longtime private owners for over $40M, (outbidding Ruger in the process.) Wishing to cut costs and improve product quality (not all Marlin production was peaches-n-cream before CRE came along), CRE moved production to other CRE facilities, most notably the venerable Remington Plant in Ilion, NY. The biggest problem is the machinery/tooling making up the production process, and the production documentation were in very poor shape. The result was further damage to already sketchy machinery/tooling, and far worse, the loss of a great deal of manufacturing knowledge. The results in terms of product quality and production throughput were horrific to say the least. That said, once CRE finally totally retooled for the Model 60 .22, Remington's product quality on that model was at least as good as what Marlin had been producing, long before the buyout.

Recently Ruger bought the former Marlin assets from CRE for $30M in cash. Ruger definitely knows something about manufacturing and product quality. Certainly more than the formerly independent Marlin. No only do I expect the product quality of the M60 is remain or even improve, Ruger is sure to do a great job with Marlin's crown jewel -- their lever-action line. I wouldn't want to be Henry Arms...

One concern some have is that Ruger will investment cast, rather than forge parts for the lever guns, given their expertise in process. It'll be interesting to see which way they go. No matter what, I expect the coming firearms from Ruger to be the best Marlin firearms ever.
 
SanLuisObispo said:
Nah. Marlin, much like Savage, and back in the day, Ruger, was a longtime second-tier long arms maker behind firms like Remington and Winchester. Solid, simple, inexpensive firearms, but definitely focused on the Sears-Roebuck, Montgomery-Ward market. Marlin, like Savage and other brands endured decades of peaks and valleys of firearms demand. The result was that Marlin was run like a cash cow -- without a great deal of investment in new products and PP&E for decades.

Then Cerberus/Remington/etc. (CRE) came along and bought Marlin from its longtime private owners for over $40M, (outbidding Ruger in the process.) Wishing to cut costs and improve product quality (not all Marlin production was peaches-n-cream before CRE came along), CRE moved production to other CRE facilities, most notably the venerable Remington Plant in Ilion, NY. The biggest problem is the machinery/tooling making up the production process, and the production documentation were in very poor shape. The result was further damage to already sketchy machinery/tooling, and far worse, the loss of a great deal of manufacturing knowledge. The results in terms of product quality and production throughput were horrific to say the least. That said, once CRE finally totally retooled for the Model 60 .22, Remington's product quality on that model was at least as good as what Marlin had been producing, long before the buyout.

Recently Ruger bought the former Marlin assets from CRE for $30M in cash. Ruger definitely knows something about manufacturing and product quality. Certainly more than the formerly independent Marlin. No only do I expect the product quality of the M60 is remain or even improve, Ruger is sure to do a great job with Marlin's crown jewel -- their lever-action line. I wouldn't want to be Henry Arms...

One concern some have is that Ruger will investment cast, rather than forge parts for the lever guns, given their expertise in process. It'll be interesting to see which way they go. No matter what, I expect the coming firearms from Ruger to be the best Marlin firearms ever.
Click to expand...

This is the CS thread...not the gun thread. Fyi. :rolleyes:
 
Did Lynn Thomson know that GSM Outdoors would be sold to Gridiron Capital before he sold Cold Steel to GSM? Have I overlooked something?
 
Just a WARNING for those thinking of purchasing any product from the "HOLIDAY SALE"

THE COLD STEEL SITE IS NO LONGER SECURE.

 
I hold no ill will against Cold Steel or Lynn Thompson, as some do. Cold Steel existed for the sole purpose of generating revenue for its shareholder(s) - not to make knives. It had no moral duty to make knives the way we wanted them made, nor to employ people at Christmas during a pandemic. It was solely a money-making enterprise, with the side benefit of placing cool knives in our pockets, creating a few jobs, etc.

No group of individuals likes to complain about everything as much as gun and knife guys do. But I suggest that the complainers go start your own knife company, so you can hire the downtrodden during a pandemic at Christmas. People who don't do that have no right to complain about how Lynn Thompson ran his business. It never existed for our benefit. It existed for Lynn Thompson. Now in his retirement years, he gets to sit on a giant Vanguard retirement fund, and to enjoy that awesome ranch of his. Good for him. We should all be so lucky - except that he made his own luck.
 
razorburn said:
Just a WARNING for those thinking of purchasing any product from the "HOLIDAY SALE"


THE COLD STEEL SITE IS NO LONGER SECURE.
Click to expand...

I appreciate the warning, but at what point does it become unsecured? I tested it up through initial checkout and all the pages were secure.

IMG-0014.jpg


IMG-0015.jpg


IMG-0016.jpg


IMG-0017.jpg



-Steve
 
powernoodle said:
I hold no ill will against Cold Steel or Lynn Thompson, as some do. Cold Steel existed for the sole purpose of generating revenue for its shareholder(s) - not to make knives. It had no moral duty to make knives the way we wanted them made, nor to employ people at Christmas during a pandemic. It was solely a money-making enterprise, with the side benefit of placing cool knives in our pockets, creating a few jobs, etc.

No group of individuals likes to complain about everything as much as gun and knife guys do. But I suggest that the complainers go start your own knife company, so you can hire the downtrodden during a pandemic at Christmas. People who don't do that have no right to complain about how Lynn Thompson ran his business. It never existed for our benefit. It existed for Lynn Thompson. Now in his retirement years, he gets to sit on a giant Vanguard retirement fund, and to enjoy that awesome ranch of his. Good for him. We should all be so lucky - except that he made his own luck.
Click to expand...
Yup, pretty much.
 
powernoodle said:
I hold no ill will against Cold Steel or Lynn Thompson, as some do. Cold Steel existed for the sole purpose of generating revenue for its shareholder(s) - not to make knives. It had no moral duty to make knives the way we wanted them made, nor to employ people at Christmas during a pandemic. It was solely a money-making enterprise, with the side benefit of placing cool knives in our pockets, creating a few jobs, etc.


No group of individuals likes to complain about everything as much as gun and knife guys do. But I suggest that the complainers go start your own knife company, so you can hire the downtrodden during a pandemic at Christmas. People who don't do that have no right to complain about how Lynn Thompson ran his business. It never existed for our benefit. It existed for Lynn Thompson. Now in his retirement years, he gets to sit on a giant Vanguard retirement fund, and to enjoy that awesome ranch of his. Good for him. We should all be so lucky - except that he made his own luck.
Click to expand...

I heartily agree with your sentiments, but I'll throw out a couple of counterpoints. Cold Steel was incorporated, but I don't believe it was ever a publicly traded corporation. I don't think there were any shareholders to satisfy.

Also, while Lynn certainly was a businessman, he was also a knife and weapons guy like most of us. I believe he genuinely loved developing, testing, and using his products. The fact that he was able to make such a successful business out of selling those products through hard work and savvy marketing is merely a testament to his fortitude and ethos. I never got the sense that it was "all about the money" for Lynn Thompson.


-Steve
 
powernoodle said:
Cold Steel existed for the sole purpose of generating revenue for its shareholder(s)
Click to expand...
Nope. Lynn Thompson had no legal fiduciary duty to uphold to anyone. Cold Steel existed for any reason he chose it to exist, since he was the owner and the manager. Nobody was going to sue CS for not turning a profit or making distributions. There are far, far too many legal business entities that exist to absorb expenses or hold assets without generating a cent in revenues to ever make the claim that any and all businesses exist for profits or positive cash flows.
 
Time will tell the story, actions speak louder than words.
 
Last edited:
hardheart said:
Nope. Lynn Thompson had no legal fiduciary duty to uphold to anyone. Cold Steel existed for any reason he chose it to exist, since he was the owner and the manager. Nobody was going to sue CS for not turning a profit...
Click to expand...

I didn't always agree with CS's product decisions, but what you state above allowed LT to make the marvelous, and sometimes wacky, products he did. For a knife company, CS made the best blow guns and walking sticks around. If LT wanted to make a sjambok or Swiss Halbard, he did! He didn't care if I would buy one or not. He not only made tons of historical replicas, but they were built to use.
 
A personal message from Lynn Thompson about the sale, and the future of Cold Steel, and Andrew Demko. Sorry if this has been previously posted. Lynn assuaged a lot of my fears regarding Cold Steel's sale.

 
Eli Chaps said:
Good news, the warranty page has been updated again to return it to life time.
Click to expand...

But will it stay that way? Wouldn't be surprised if it's just temporary to calm people down, and will change again down the road. If all of the other GSM companies have the same warranty, wouldn't make much sense for them to have one oddball.
 
Last edited:
jlauffer said:
But will it stay that way? Wouldn't be surprised if it's just temporary to calm people down, and will change again down the road. If all of the other GSM companies have the same warranty, wouldn't make much sense for them to have one oddball.
Click to expand...

I just looked up all their brands (might have missed one or two) and some have 30 or 90 day warranties. The majority have one year and a couple actually have five year. A lot of them require registration and near as I saw, they were all to the original owner and required receipt of purchase.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top