Charles Daly / KBI gone out of business

Steve Johnson
by Steve Johnson

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.

Charles Daly Defense AR-15

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. ]

Steve Johnson
Steve Johnson

I founded TFB in 2007 and over 10 years worked tirelessly, with the help of my team, to build it up into the largest gun blog online. I retired as Editor in Chief in 2017. During my decade at TFB I was fortunate to work with the most amazing talented writers and genuinely good people!

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  • DonDale DonDale on Feb 13, 2013

    I bought a Charles Daly HP new in the box. Great pistol. However, the front sight moves in the dove tail slot. I removed the front sight and discovered a hole in the slide inside the dove tail slot. It appears that the hole was purposely placed there - symetrical and covers about half of the dove tail base. I've tried using glue to hold the sight and "dimpled" the base of the sight - didn't work. After about 10 rounds, the front sight moves to the left. Is anyone familar with this problem? Is there a glue that will hold the sight? thanks

  • JBar595 JBar595 on May 26, 2014

    The only comments I've heard about their 1911s was poor quality and questionable service.

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