- Joined
- Sep 30, 2005
- Messages
- 580
My belief is that sharing your ideas, concerns, and opinions with manufacturers, is a good thing.
This may not be something for everyone, but when somebody feels like they should have their voice be heard, they should not hesitate to try and do so, IMO
I want to share with you here a time when I did just that. Though it did not achieve what I had hoped, I at least felt that my voice was being heard.
Back during 1993, I purchased a Taurus semi automatic 9mm 15 rd magazine capacity stainless steel pistol. The model was the PT-99 (an adjustable sight version of their PT-92). I enjoyed the function of this pistol, which I thought proved very accurate and reliable. The design itself was closely patterned on the Italian Beretta 92 series.
The one thing I was not all that impressed with, were the smooth wooden grip panals that the gun came with. These grips were visually very appealing, and would probably have been much better if they had been checkered, but the way they came, they were just too slippery. At that time the only checkered grip Taurus optionally offered for sale was a black rubber checkered type that did not look very pleasing in their catalog photo. Even so, I ordered a set.
When the set arrived, I liked it even less, since they were not only mickey mouse looking, but also somewhat uncomfortable in the hands (being made too flat, giving a blocky feel to the gun's grip).
I looked around to find an aftermarket offering, and purchased a set of Uncle Mikes checkered black rubber grips. These were about as close to perfection as I could have imagined, IMO. They looked good, not as nice as wood, but definitely nice (not mickey mousey at all), and they made the gun feel great in my hands, (probably better than any wood could have achieved)
I wanted to share these findings with Taurus, but I felt that a letter alone may not really get the point through, so I used some of my ingenuity.
I purchased another set of the Uncle Mikes grips. I then carefully removed the Taurus inset medallians that were in the wooden grips that had come with the gun. The next step involved carefully insetting these medallions into the new Uncle Mikes rubber grips that I had just purchased. I then wrote a letter that praised the PT-99 that I owned, but also expressed what I felt was an easy, but big improvement that could be made on their 92/99 series guns,........... just by adding a
better grip to their guns, one that most people would be happy with right out the box. I went on to say that I had enclosed an example set of better grips, and that the Taurus medallions could be inserted in by the outside firm making the grips for them (in this case it would have been the "Uncle Mikes" firm). I explained what I felt were deficientcies in their company stock and option grips. I finalized the letter by saying that I had no desire whatsoever for any compensation for the grips I sent to them, or for the idea.
Well, as I had said before, it did not accomplish what I had hoped, but I felt they truly appreciated the idea, and they put the prototype I had sent to them to some good use (once the link shows up, you can hover over the photo and an icon will show up on the bottom right that allows enlarging) ..............
http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/1894/dscn09082ye.jpg
In other situations that I have been involved in, I know for a fact that my
ideas/concerns/opinions actually made a difference.
So go ahead, let your voices be heard
This may not be something for everyone, but when somebody feels like they should have their voice be heard, they should not hesitate to try and do so, IMO
I want to share with you here a time when I did just that. Though it did not achieve what I had hoped, I at least felt that my voice was being heard.
Back during 1993, I purchased a Taurus semi automatic 9mm 15 rd magazine capacity stainless steel pistol. The model was the PT-99 (an adjustable sight version of their PT-92). I enjoyed the function of this pistol, which I thought proved very accurate and reliable. The design itself was closely patterned on the Italian Beretta 92 series.
The one thing I was not all that impressed with, were the smooth wooden grip panals that the gun came with. These grips were visually very appealing, and would probably have been much better if they had been checkered, but the way they came, they were just too slippery. At that time the only checkered grip Taurus optionally offered for sale was a black rubber checkered type that did not look very pleasing in their catalog photo. Even so, I ordered a set.
When the set arrived, I liked it even less, since they were not only mickey mouse looking, but also somewhat uncomfortable in the hands (being made too flat, giving a blocky feel to the gun's grip).
I looked around to find an aftermarket offering, and purchased a set of Uncle Mikes checkered black rubber grips. These were about as close to perfection as I could have imagined, IMO. They looked good, not as nice as wood, but definitely nice (not mickey mousey at all), and they made the gun feel great in my hands, (probably better than any wood could have achieved)
I wanted to share these findings with Taurus, but I felt that a letter alone may not really get the point through, so I used some of my ingenuity.
I purchased another set of the Uncle Mikes grips. I then carefully removed the Taurus inset medallians that were in the wooden grips that had come with the gun. The next step involved carefully insetting these medallions into the new Uncle Mikes rubber grips that I had just purchased. I then wrote a letter that praised the PT-99 that I owned, but also expressed what I felt was an easy, but big improvement that could be made on their 92/99 series guns,........... just by adding a
better grip to their guns, one that most people would be happy with right out the box. I went on to say that I had enclosed an example set of better grips, and that the Taurus medallions could be inserted in by the outside firm making the grips for them (in this case it would have been the "Uncle Mikes" firm). I explained what I felt were deficientcies in their company stock and option grips. I finalized the letter by saying that I had no desire whatsoever for any compensation for the grips I sent to them, or for the idea.
Well, as I had said before, it did not accomplish what I had hoped, but I felt they truly appreciated the idea, and they put the prototype I had sent to them to some good use (once the link shows up, you can hover over the photo and an icon will show up on the bottom right that allows enlarging) ..............
http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/1894/dscn09082ye.jpg
In other situations that I have been involved in, I know for a fact that my
ideas/concerns/opinions actually made a difference.
So go ahead, let your voices be heard
