BWE Firearmsl-still in business or not?

[BillinBama]

I have a pending order with BWE and I just discovered via Uzi Talk last night that Richard Hoffman died on February 15 of this year.  How this slipped past me I don't know, but I haven't seen anything about it on this forum.  I'm not terribly concerned about the order, it may or may not get filled, but it is a terrible tragedy and in reading about him I also discovered that while he was fighting colon cancer his partner and wife Miki died of a heart attack last year. Richard put up a YouTube about her here: 

Now he is gone and whether his son takes over the business or not is something I don't know.  Besides the terrible human tragedy for their children, this is a blow to the CIII community as well, skilled craftsmen like Richard are fading away and not many are being replaced.

[johnsonlmg41]

Wow, that was very depressing to watch on many levels.   

[BillinBama]

Yeah. He also posted some vids about his own journey of cancer treatment,  not fun to watch on any level but for anyone who has gone through the chemo/radiation treatments with a loved one it is gut-wrenching.

[Rekraps]

On 7/13/2023 at 10:08 AM, BillinBama said:

I have a pending order with BWE and I just discovered via Uzi Talk last night that Richard Hoffman died on February 15 of this year.  How this slipped past me I don't know, but I haven't seen anything about it on this forum.  I'm not terribly concerned about the order, it may or may not get filled, but it is a terrible tragedy and in reading about him I also discovered that while he was fighting colon cancer his partner and wife Miki died of a heart attack last year. Richard put up a YouTube about her here: 

Now he is gone and whether his son takes over the business or not is something I don't know.  Besides the terrible human tragedy for their children, this is a blow to the CIII community as well, skilled craftsmen like Richard are fading away and not many are being replaced.

Uh Oh, Spaghetti O's! I have an order outstanding with them also. I guess we'll see, but I suspect that they company will remain in business, at least until inventory is depleted.

[BillinBama]

In checking various forums, it would seem there are a lot of orders placed and paid for,  but no one's received anything yet, so unless there's some sort of issue with the estate we may be on the hook. Of course credit card orders can be appealed to the bank and likely reversed. There's been nothing posted on the website even though the son was supposed to take over. If he does intend to step in for Richard he should be open about his intentions. 

[Rekraps]

Thanks, my order is in but no charge to the cc yet.

[Rekraps]

I just sent BWE a note asking if orders were being filled. Will let ya'll know.

[Rekraps]

No response as of today.... Brian, your chance to assume the role as M76 guru!

[BillinBama]

I checked, my credit card for my order was "approved" for the transaction, but the charge has not been made against my account.

I was re-reading some of Frank Innamico's  well-documented book "The Smith & Wesson Model 76 Submachine Gun" yesterday, and the final chapter covers parts and accessories, giving a lot of ink to BWE along with Scott Andry and M60 Joe. We all know that Andry and Joe are no longer in business , even though Andry's website is still up and running.  BWE's is too, thus our orders,  but it remains to be seen if Nicolas will step in to his father's shoes and do any future work on parts.  Richard had indicated he was training Nicolas to fill his shoes( really big, big shoes!), and hopefully that will happen.  I can  only imagine the steepness of the learning curve for that young man, and my wish is he will figure it all out and be able to crank up the business.  Grief is a personal thing and hits everyone differently, so that may play a big part in the delay.

Thinking about those mentioned in the book, and considering other MG's and the people who have worked diligently to keep them running over the years, too many of them are fading away due to death, retirement, or other issues, and not enough younger folks are stepping in to fill the void.  This doesn't speak well for those of us in the Class III world who enjoy our toys and want to continue to do so.  I realize our numbers are not huge, never have been really, so the financial remuneration isn't great and that has to play a big part in whether someone decides to service our wants/needs. 

Brian Miles is making stock adapters, but his main machine shop business has to take precedence in order to keep the lights on, thus the current delay in shipping out the latest batch of adapters.  Other potential suppliers will likely follow the same pattern, and I am perfectly willing to accept this business model if only a few talented young CNC-trained machinists with a passion for firearms would come forward and fill this vacuum.  Thankfully, John Andrewski is filling his father's shoes quite well, he has more business than he can say grace over, we just need more of his ilk.   

[Rekraps]

20 hours ago, BillinBama said:

I checked, my credit card for my order was "approved" for the transaction, but the charge has not been made against my account.

I was re-reading some of Frank Innamico's  well-documented book "The Smith & Wesson Model 76 Submachine Gun" yesterday, and the final chapter covers parts and accessories, giving a lot of ink to BWE along with Scott Andry and M60 Joe. We all know that Andry and Joe are no longer in business , even though Andry's website is still up and running.  BWE's is too, thus our orders,  but it remains to be seen if Nicolas will step in to his father's shoes and do any future work on parts.  Richard had indicated he was training Nicolas to fill his shoes( really big, big shoes!), and hopefully that will happen.  I can  only imagine the steepness of the learning curve for that young man, and my wish is he will figure it all out and be able to crank up the business.  Grief is a personal thing and hits everyone differently, so that may play a big part in the delay.

Thinking about those mentioned in the book, and considering other MG's and the people who have worked diligently to keep them running over the years, too many of them are fading away due to death, retirement, or other issues, and not enough younger folks are stepping in to fill the void.  This doesn't speak well for those of us in the Class III world who enjoy our toys and want to continue to do so.  I realize our numbers are not huge, never have been really, so the financial remuneration isn't great and that has to play a big part in whether someone decides to service our wants/needs. 

Brian Miles is making stock adapters, but his main machine shop business has to take precedence in order to keep the lights on, thus the current delay in shipping out the latest batch of adapters.  Other potential suppliers will likely follow the same pattern, and I am perfectly willing to accept this business model if only a few talented young CNC-trained machinists with a passion for firearms would come forward and fill this vacuum.  Thankfully, John Andrewski is filling his father's shoes quite well, he has more business than he can say grace over, we just need more of his ilk.   

Excellent post. Add Jerry Prasser to the mix and with the exception of John Andrewski, what we have folks is a bunch of old white guys who carried this hobby for years, helping us find and distribute guns and parts necessary to keep the business going. I applaud Brian for picking up the M76 adaptors and to John A for filling his dad's shoes in a most excellent way. 

With Andrey out of the picture, one possible solution may be Jason at IO. He manufactured a M.P. 18,I bolt for me (I lent him the original as a pattern) that works just great. He might be able to look at the M76 bolts......

[BillinBama]

Well, usually what is necessary to push someone into manufacturing parts is to convince them there is enough demand for their work to pay for itself with a bit extra for their effort.  the CIII family is too small to support many (if any) full-time jobs, but, like Brian, a good machinist with a going business concern can supplement his/her business by adding the manufacture   of parts/accessories for our guns.  We're pretty patient, after all, since we often wait close to a year just to get our hands on a weapon we paid for long ago.  And since the price of our toys has risen astronomically, we're used to paying top dollar for these things, so there should be a decent profit margin for anyone willing to take the plunge.  I would hazard a guess that lots of well-trained young machinists/CNC operators are gun nuts like we are, so that passion adds to their willingness to dive into some gun-related business.  And, if all they are making is parts, then the ATF isn't going to be a problem for them, unless they also get into repairing/modifying existing CIII firearms or building some from registered receivers.  But with more risk comes more reward, so who knows, maybe a few would eventually take up that part of the business after a few years of supplying parts for us junkies?  Somewhere, somebody fits this bill, we've just got to identify them and encourage them.   

[Rekraps]

Agree....