Posted by Rod N on October 31, 1999 at 01:58:32:
I purchased an Anshutz M5 last year for my sons. I noticed now that
the place I purchased it, no longer lists them.
Has this been discontinued at the factory level?
And if so, does anyone know why?
Posted by pilkguns on October 31, 1999 at 23:15:49:
Anschutz dropped this gun about this time a year ago. They said it was an embarrassment to the Anschutz name. The gun was
basically a lemon. In world where you can basically say nothing bad about competitors because they all make a good reliable
product (Steyr, Morini, Pardini, Walther, etc.) the M10 has been a notorious exception.
The initial gun was designed by Cesare' Morini and the money and marketing were put up by Anschutz. It first appeared in 96.
Most shooters that have handled it would agree that it has good ergonomics and the trigger (when working) feels very good. It
was built by the company SAM in a factory in Switzerland with Cesare' overseeing production. I was at the factory in
September of 97 (there is a picture of the assembly area on my website link below) and inquired about spare parts because a
number of the guns in the US at the time were not working. I was told then that had been 3 different variations of the gun and
they were working on another change at the time, and the guns would have to be fixed in Switzerland. When I was at the World
Championships in Barcelona in July of 98, there were a number of shooters who had sent their M10s back to Anschutz earlier
in the year. Anschutz's answer during the World Championships was that they would be back shortly and they were shipped
sometime around the end of August/early September (some shooters were out of their pistols about 4 months). When a lot of
these replacement guns (must have been up to 5th or 6th generation by then) immediately also had problems, that was the
proverbial straw on the camels back, and Anschutz severed their relationship with SAM. Anschutz dumped its remaining
inventory with their name/logo on it at close out prices and no warranty, that had to come through SAM.
SAM is continuing production of the gun, claiming to have fixed all the problems now, although basically no one is shooting them
in International competition. They just have developed such a bad reputation. This past August at the German Championships
and World Cup Finals, SAM was there as were all the other major factories with their service teams. SAM was offering to
rebuild the M10s for 300 DM (about $170 US). This was very upsetting to shooters for a gun that was less than 3 years old,
and in many cases had been back to factory at least once, and now the factory wanted them spend a third of its purchase price
over again. They were not happy campers to say the least.
I know some people here in the US that really like their pistol, and their solution has been to buy two, so that they have a back
up when something goes wrong with it.
Posted by Don Nygord on November 01, 1999 at 18:32:12:
. I have know Dieter Anschutz for many years. Mr. Pilkington has used the "embarrassment to the Anschutz name"
comment before and I asked Mr. Anschutz about this. He denied that Anschutz ever said this or felt that way. True, they were
unhappy with the first generation M10s quality as was everybody. However, it was more a matter that after a couple of years,
they felt that they would be better off sticking to their own products made in Germany than marketing for a foreign firm. Dieter
himself showed the M10 at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and talked with me how he wanted to help Cesare Morini with his
new project. They rushed the gun to market a bit early and paid the price in unreliable performance. However, they have made
many improvements to remedy this situation and now the guns perform as well as any on the market. Even for the older guns the
"fixes" are pretty well identified and not a big deal anymore. Other makes have had a "rough patch" along the line, too. Even
Steyr was almost two years fighting defective valves and regulators, but as did SAM, they worked to get things right. This is
what counts. We now get a lower percentage of problems with SAM than with many other brands. Seldom you do find
someone who likes a product so much they will take the time to write and stamp and mail a real "snail" letter of testimonial, but
we now get these from happy and delighted SAM customers more than with any other brand! So, don't worry about your
pistol. The ones that failed did so very early in their life and the new ones don't even do that.
Don N.
Sponsored by Pilkington Competition Equipment