Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Compass Lake Engineering

Sad day, from Facebook...................

This is a hard post to make, but here goes. After decades of faithful service to the shooting community we are closing to the public, as you know everyone is having to pay more for everything and we’re no different. The cost of staying open has become to great to continue on. Please be advised if you have an existing order we’re working diligently to get them filled in the quickest time possible and we’re not taking any new orders. If it’s on our website we have it here and we’ll leave it up for awhile longer. We will still be running production jobs for a couple of great companies. Thank you all for your support over the years!!

Oh no!!!!

Seriously, they made great products. Loved their barrels!

That Sucks!

I’d read yesterday their lead times kept getting pushed out /delayed. I’d guess labor shortage/lack of qualified workers.

Geez. That sucks. Frank and Theresa are good people and always have been.

Thank your local democrats.

“ We will still be running production jobs for a couple of great companies.”

It sounds like they’re getting out of selling to the public and are focusing on wholesale.

Sad to hear. Frank White built my first Service Rifle upper when I moved to the AR. He was an innovator and a creative force in accurate ARs. He always treated me fairly and made things right when they weren't.

I had been on the CLE webpage over the Holidays and learned that Frank had retired and his son Conrad was now running the business. I also noticed reduced offerings at CLE. I'm going to guess an unsuccessful transition.

That sucks. I know some manufactures say they have CLE chambers. Wondering if those barrels are actually put out by CLE, then redistributed through those manufactures? For example: the Windham Weaponry barrels I use. They are not inexpensive barrels either, and shoot lights out.

If it was, it sure wasn't because of any reduction in quality. I've been using them for supplies as of late and everything was top-notch.

Or perhaps they just got a couple of big contracts. After all, there are a couple of wars going on.

+1

I drove to visit Frank when I was at Ft. Benning with the Army Marksmanship uni. There was a scheduling mishap, but he cleared his schedule and barreled my Service rifle on the spot.

Spoke to Theresa yesterday. She and Frank are healthy and enjoying life. Frank still does some machine work outside of the shooting realm. Compass Lake Engineering LLC (Conrad's company) will continue to do contract machine work. Best wishes to the Whites.

CLE chamber is a design. Like a Wylde. Or Holliger.

Sorry to seem them get out of the consumer market but I'm sure it was strictly a financial business decision.

Less inventory, faster through put with fewer setups & probably fewer people.

Probably a lower margin per unit, but there must be enough volume to compensate.

I won't be too surprised to see the same thing happen with Craddock Precision in the not too distant future.

MM

I talked to Theresa at CLE today and she said they could not honor my order because I had stipulated a Bartlein barrel. CLE will no longer deal with Bartlein barrels because Bartlien will not warranty their barrels. I changed my order to allow a Kreiger barrel and Theresa said shipment should be possible by the end of the month. She also said that Paul will continue custom work but not under the CLE banner. I wonder what caused the sudden shift to no warranty at Bartlein?

Dang, sorry to hear that. Then again, they did seem a little overloaded at the 4th when I was over there, so with all these wars and [bleep] I'm not super surprised.

It might be that CLE and Bartlein have competing ideas on what was/is a warranty issue or not. Bartlein says "gunsmith screwed up" - CLE says "bad barrel" and they never come to an agreement. CLE refuses to do business and says "they don't honor warranty" Bartlein goes about working on their backlog of orders.

Happens a lot in B2B beefs. I wouldn't shy away from EITHER vendor because of it. Both solid/known brands (until they aren't but I don't believe we're at that point)

Well Hollinger is still around. I wonder how much longer?

https://www.whiteoakarmament.com/company/meet-the-team.html

I got an e-mail that my 6.5 Grendel Barrel shipped last week (02/01/2024). I hope to see it in the next day or two. I am sure that it will be a tack driver.

Bob R