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Where's Kip???


OhioM4

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I haven't seen any posts from Kip lately. Somehow I can imagine Kip getting up 2 hours before he goes to sleep and working 26 hours a day at the shop to catch up on the tube orders!

 

I ordered my tube on one of his auctions on gunbroker.com. I thought I pulled a fast one, as he had two auctions at the old $189.00 price while his website showed the increased price of $236.25 (before his "sale"). I have not had any communication regarding the auction to confirm I'm on the waiting list for future production.

 

I was anxiously awaiting word on the new muzzle brakes, rails, and charging handles. I want to make sure I get on the waiting list or prepay for one of each. I'm new to the forum and I get the impression all of you old timers will swoop down and buy up the entire stock before us new guys are even aware they are available. I'm a nervous wreck monitoring this site, www.shop.carriercomp.com, and gunbroker.com. Where do I go and what is the secret handshake???:cool:

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I haven't seen any posts from Kip lately. Somehow I can imagine Kip getting up 2 hours before he goes to sleep and working 26 hours a day at the shop to catch up on the tube orders!

 

I ordered my tube on one of his auctions on gunbroker.com. I thought I pulled a fast one, as he had two auctions at the old $189.00 price while his website showed the increased price of $236.25 (before his "sale"). I have not had any communication regarding the auction to confirm I'm on the waiting list for future production.

 

I was anxiously awaiting word on the new muzzle brakes, rails, and charging handles. I want to make sure I get on the waiting list or prepay for one of each. I'm new to the forum and I get the impression all of you old timers will swoop down and buy up the entire stock before us new guys are even aware they are available. I'm a nervous wreck monitoring this site, www.shop.carriercomp.com, and gunbroker.com. Where do I go and what is the secret handshake???:cool:

 

Pick up the telephone and call him. Don't talk to him all the time. Just once. You will learn all you need to know from 1 phone call and then you can let Kip go back to producing his awesome wares.

 

I just got one of those Ti tubes. Noone is exaggerating. They are works of functional art.

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Guest cleefurd

We are carriercomp,

Please excuse the brief price increase at the store. We had to enter a date when the sale price would end, and it expired before we caught it. We cancelled them so the customers could re-order at the ongoing price which will be honored for 1 year, and likely beyond that barring significant price hike in material. One I believe has been unreachable, but will not have to pay the higher price either once we reach him.

 

Our third replacement machinist this month is showing promise. Half stepping while training cuts production by 75% from 2 at full speed, to 2 at half speed humping the same football...... Agonizing delays.

 

Best machinist I ever had decided to semi-retire, fake Dr appointments, buy an '09 Mustang and slam Margaritas at the beach while I was anticipating his recovery from fictitious maladies. Almost went to prison for what I contemplated when I realized I had been duped. Worst part was the effect it has had on my ETA's. Hate making people wait worse than anything, at least not beyond best projections.

 

Re-course is in full swing, and yet another learning curve/growing pain entering rear view mirror.

 

10PM to 10AM shift is working better too. Fewer heat strokes. (Kidding sort of)

 

Back to work. Expect I'll create a new thread that gives week by week updates on EXACTLY what order dates are shipping...

 

i.e.

orders placed through (x) date have shipped ;

orders placed through (x) date will be in next shipment.

[shipments occuring roughly 10-14 days apart]

 

This will greatly alleviate our hit or miss ability to catch the phones while we pound out procedure for new product, employees, and pending transition into much larger facilities with more equipment so our govt orders can run side by side with civilian product lines. Switching back and forth is like sharing a fork.... lets the meals get cold. And not many people like a cold meal.

 

Thank you for your contimued support and understanding. The only constant has been quality, and that is written in stone.

 

More soon.

Kip Carrier

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Back to work. Expect I'll create a new thread that gives week by week updates on EXACTLY what order dates are shipping...

 

i.e.

orders placed through (x) date have shipped ;

orders placed through (x) date will be in next shipment.

[shipments occuring roughly 10-14 days apart]

 

Boy would that be appreciated. Managing expectations is always the best way to keep people happy. Most won't throw a fit about a delay if they know the delay is going to occur, and why. We've also been chomping at the bit for the compensators, rails, and charging handles, so any time you have to post an update on availability to satiate our curiosity, the better, as long as it doesn't impact production negatively ;)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Kip, if you're out there can you give us a quick bi-weekly update?

Tubes, muzzle brakes, rails, charging handles, and whatever else you have in the works. A magazine follower might be a simple item that would count towards the import parts limit compliance.

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  • 1 month later...

I spoke to kip this afternoon. The next batch of magazine tubes will be shipping later this week, scheduled to go out on Thursday. He is making progress on the backlog and is down to about 40-50 tubes still on backorder. He is processing them in the order received. He will not completely catch up for another 3-4 weeks.

 

I used to be a machinist and spoke to him at length about his production process. He still refuses to send out any of the work for the sake of catching up. He is very demanding of quality and holds very tight tolerences. It is evident he takes great pride in the quality of his work and is unwilling to sacrifice that for speed. He had said in previous posts he uses CNC (computer numerical control) machines to produce the mag tubes. I am familiar with CNC turning centers and often wondered at his apparently slow pace of production. The machines I ran could have knocked off a completed mag tube in about 15 minutes. Kip relies on CNC for the threads and part of the profile. However, he does not use self centering chucks or other jigs and fixtures to speed up setup. He still meticulously centers and adjusts each cut manually to ensure tight tolerences. The threads are taped to prevent marring. There is close to two hours of machine work in each tube. As a side business it consumes a great deal of time. The Obama election fueled hi-cap magazine ordering frenzy has been tapering off so hopefully he can catch up and resume a normal production schedule.

 

The muzzle brakes and Picatinny rails were put on hold while he caught up with the mag tube orders. His rational was that people had already commited and paid money for the mag tubes. To shift any resources to new products would just put him farther behind and further grate on customers nerves. The rails are still awaiting tooling to complete the bottom profile. The first batch of muzzle brakes is machined and ready to finish. He will send all the components out in one batch to the anodizer when the rails are done. No firm date on those but obviously after the mags are completely caught up.

 

Kip is excited about a new type of finish for the proposed bolt charger handles. The process is in the early stages but the finish on the knurled titanium was a concern of his. You cannot anodize titanium and the cerekote finish would not be suitable for the knurled finish. He believes he has a working, high tech solution to that problem. Good to think ahead on things like that.

 

And thats the news.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Cleefurd,

 

You are an amazing businessman. Not only did you give me personal service, but you also called me FOUR times to ensure that I was completely, thoroughly satisfied!

 

That is "old world" craftsmanship, pride, and integrity at its best. May all your problems disappear like fog in the morning sun. Keep up the great work, and I'm looking forward to the new products when they become available.

 

To anyone considering the purchase of a fine CarrierComp product: you will NOT be disappointed! It is worth every moment of waiting and every penny you spend. My tube is a work of art, a marvel of the gunsmith's craft. Give Kip every support and consideration you can muster.

Edited by Jogusto
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