I still think it goes back to what I said earlier about how they can sell all they make of the “cheap” stuff, so there’s little to gain from continuing to offer stuff that’s not doing well in the market, especially if that would mean adding employees and/or equipment.
Some months ago, CZ announced a new line of guns, and also the discontinuation of a number of their rifles to stay within their production capacity. Clearly, they don’t want to add capacity to keep those models in their catalog. Perhaps sales are lagging, or like with the 550s, the cost is beginning to exceed what the market will bear. Firearms are definitely durable goods, and once a company is in the position of competing against the used market in their own products, the party’s over. Anyone old enough to have voted for Nixon has seen this happen over and over, including FN Mausers, pre-64 Winchesters, and Savage 99s, to mention a few. Younger/newer shooters don’t have the same perceptions of quality as the more “seasoned” ones do. They’re all about price, and performance, mostly price I think based on what I see at the public range near me. Cheap guns mean more money for ammo, and more cheap guns. With fewer quality arms being made, the price of existing ones will go up due to increased demand on fewer goods from those who still appreciate them. Markets evolve.
