Charles Daly / KBI gone out of business
Sadly Charles Daly / KBI are no longer trading ...
To all our friends, fans, supporters and consumers of Charles Daly and by extension, KBI products, I regret to inform you that the rumors of our demise are true.
KBI is going out of business and closing its doors, effective today.
I don't want to go into each and every detail as to why this has occurred, except to say that there have been a multitude of events over the past five years that have contributed to our current situation.
For those of you with ongoing service requirements, please be advised that we are currently negotiating with several companies that will be performing after-sale service of Charles Daly, CD Defense and Jericho firearms. As soon as we have finalized a contract with one of these companies we will post the name, address and contact details of that company so you will know who to contact to obtain service on your KBI firearm.
I wonder if financial difficulties were the reason why negotiations with Bul, to sell what was supposed to be named the Charles Daly G4 1911, fell through. The pistol was recently brought to the market by Magnum Research and branded the Desert Eagle 1911.
From the companies' "About" page ...
The modern era of Charles Daly began in 1996 when K.B.I. Inc.'s president, Michael Kassnar acquired the brand. Kassnar and his family had been involved in importing firearms from around the globe for more than half a century and had actually been supplying Outdoor Sports Headquarters with Charles Daly products from 1976 to 1985.
In keeping with the Charles Daly tradition of selling custom crafted firearms, K.B.I. Inc., began importing Italian and Spanish over-and-under and side-by-side shotguns and marketing them under the Charles Daly name. The line expanded with the inclusion of Charles Daly 1911 pistols and took off with the addition of a line of semi-automatic and pump action shotguns.
[ Many thanks to James for emailing me the info. ]
I own a Charles Daly M4LE and I was very impressed with the rifle. It was comparable in TDP/features to the Colt 6920 and was going for about 30% less at the time.
sad news but really to be expected. the explosion of weapons manufacturers has only been rivaled by the number of ‘gear’ makers. have you seen how many pouch, mag and pack makers there are out there? we can probably expect to see alot more of this once the wars wind down.
So, who will IWI hook up with?
Sad, sad day. Weren’t these guys supposed to be importing the Tavor?
AP, they were with another company before KBI, so I guess they will find another.
As sad as this is, I’m really surprised this doesn’t happen more often. If things get much worse, company shutdowns will become commonplace.
I hope that even with KDI gone, Charles Daly will continue to exist. It’s one of the better brands around, and I imagine it’ll find a way to stick around in one form or another.
It’s crappy to see a company go out of business, but I’m proud to own a CD D-M4 rifle as the fit and finish rivals that of the best!
Oooh someone’s going to import the TAVOR! Now that I will spend money on!
That’s a shame. KBI/CD had some interesting stuff over the years. I was several times on the verge of buying one of their Hi Powers with the improved safety and XS big dot sights.
The vast majority of gear and firearms maker relies on LEA and civilian sells, not the US military.
The US military don’t procure gear and firearms from just anybody. They have to go through a process of testing and paper works before they decide to go with the product.
I bought a new CD Browning HI-Power few years back for around $200 with XS Sight (a $100 value) from CDNN. The gun work great and IMO a steal.
I had hoped this would not be true.
I really liked CD’s products…
IWI was previously letting Magnum Research import the Jericho (aka Baby Eagle) guns, and I suppose they could go back. But I got the impression the parting of IWI and MRI wasn’t all that friendly. Who knows. IWI could probably set up their own importer here if they wanted to.
The Tavor is a disappointment, hopefully it will still get here somehow.
If you read Mr. Kassnar’s message carefully (follow the link, not all of it is quoted here), it sounds like many products might be coming back shortly under a different name or company.
I sure hope they find somebody to pick up the Tavor.
We use Charles Daly semi-auto shotguns at the Boy Scout camp I worked at the last few summers. Good guns that held up very well to a lot of shooting.
Oh man! Just when they started importing Jerichos with rails and compatible holsters! That is really too bad, their management even participated in their forums and listened to their customers. Bummer.
I had also heard that Charles Daly was supposed to importing the Tavor, which is one of my favorite .223 Bullpups on the market. Charles Daly has imported some rather interesting things over the years, but often as soon as I found something they were importing that I really wanted, or relized I needed, they stopped importing it! A shame nonetheless.
That is amazing. Last week the tavor came up in conversation on AR-15.com and someone said Charles Daley was going out of business and a guy from the company flipped out on them
I guess maybe they were trying to save or sell it still at the time.
Perhaps some connection to the SHOT shot arrests?
Raoul, I do not think so. They are a small company, S&W is in a different league.
I won a CD Turkey gun at a gun raffle that ironically was made in Turkey. It is a nice shotgun and functions very well. It has a factory applied realtree camo pattern covering the entire weapon that has held up very well over the last couple years of use.
I just tried to visit their old website. All pages are replaced with the notice that they are out of business. While I understand the need to distribute this information, I wish their page still worked as a temporary reference tool. Where else can we get accurate and concise information on all of the CD models? They may be out of business but there are a lot of NIB guns online. I’d like a reference point.
As another note: I’d love to have one of the Little Sharps rifles.
WTF I just bought a CD 12 gauge shotgun and i haven’t even shot it yet. Now what?
Just bought a lightly used CD 12 ga. auto….Turkish import. Took it out to shoot a round of sporting clays…at the 94th round the firing pin broke. Rumor has it that Numrich’s just bought out KBI stock…but parts appear to be few and far between! Any ideas on where to get a firing pin?
Anyone know anything about the 44-40 Liberty Limited Model 1973 from KBI?
I meant an 1873
i have a little sharps rifel this gun come with a life time warranty now that you are no longer in buiss who will work on my gun
I have a brand new auto shotgun that will not shoot because the firing pin is drilled in the wrong place i would like to have it fixed but dont know who to ge in touch with. Does any one else know?
i have a daly automatic that has problems shooting and ejecting the shells. now that the company is out of buisness who will work on the gun??? we boughtit for the lifetime warranty!
I think its well deserved they go out of business. Their quality on semi auto shotguns was absolute crap. In a nutshell, bought my dad a supreme II 12ga. He’s had to return it 3 times for various parts breaking. Cheap pot metal castings. He was accused of using bad reloads, and every other thing. That was so they didn’t have to accept liability. He only used factory ammo. I used it today, bolt broke AGAIN! Junk.
I just bought a new 12ga pump today. Hope it is ok, since they are out of business.
No box, no paperwork, no nothing? Not sure yet if it was worth $300