Friday, October 23, 2009

Yes, I know, the flags are made in China. So's your SKS. So what?


I get at least one breathless e-mail a day, telling me that the Nyberg flags currently for sale are made in China. HOW DARE YOU? I am challenged.

Look, the decision was made for tactical reasons (not necessarily price, but mostly availability, turn-around time was faster from order date and we had events pressing), not philosophic. All I can tell you is that the philosophy is not made in China. Most of these guys who are pissed off at the discovery probably have SKS rifles for the same reasons, and buy their ammo at the PRC distribution center, WalMart. Sorry. We all have our hypocrisies of necessity. Some are less necessary than others. So check the mirror.

We have the tools we can afford. The guy who bought the flags is several thousands of dollars in the hole supporting the Three Percent concept. He sells the flags for the money to buy, drum roll please, more flags. He ain't making money on the enterprise, I assure you.

And not to be ugly, but I wonder how much the bitchers have contributed to the cause lately? Not to their own preps, but to getting the word out.

Again, sorry, but there will be a lot of that kind of operational necessity going around before we win this thing, IF we win this thing.

The Founders, before they were the Founders but merely ragtag colonials fighting the largest empire in the world, shot Spanish lead out of French muskets using Dutch powder. They would, I think, understand.

I ask that you cut him some slack, too.

Mike
III

42 comments:

^Hawk^ said...

It's amazing the stuff that people will bitch about.....just another reason why when the SHTF so many of us won't survive first contact. BTW my camo is made in China too, I can't afford Crye Percision Multi-Cam and figured it would be better than running around the woods in a white t-shirt and blue jeans.

^Hawk^
III

Antebellum said...

Very well written.

And thanks to the seller of the flag, $10?.. Thats the price of McLunch most days.

Cheers,
Antebellum

Snaggle-Tooth Jones said...

Sorry, my SKS was made in Russia. Can you arrange to have a flag made for me in Russia, therefore? Don't want no flag from China.

;-)

drjim said...

Just like many other things in life, you use what works.

Anonymous said...

I have no problems with that. I purchased two, & sent WRSA over the $20 to help cover the inevitable losses & "the cause".

We do what we must out of necessity.

B Woodman
III-per

Crustyrusty said...

Hey, I TRY to buy US when I can.

The operative words being "when I can".

Don't think I can afford to be a philosophical snob in this day and age.

If I need it, I don't care if it's made in Outer Mongolia, I'm getting it if it does the job.

Kent McManigal said...

My SKS is Russian, too (Tula arsenal). I have my own flag design and the ones I have were made in America, but the dang things are so expensive that I sell very few. If you want to get the word out you have got to make the flags cheap enough that they will SELL.

This is just an example of the silliness of nationalism. Stand up for FREEDOM, folks. It knows no "borders".

chris horton said...

It is what it is. NO apologies needed! FORWARD....
CIII

Flight-ER-Doc said...

I personally don't have a problem with buying chinese crap at walmart.

I have problems with buying crap, but if crap is what I'm going to buy, I want to buy it cheaply.

As an intellectual exercise, the next time you find yourself at crap-mart, count how many 'buy American' union bumper stickers there are on the cars in the (usually crowded) parking lot. If those folks want to buy American, good for them! However, they'd be less hypocritical if they realized that they have the power to change crap-mart, by NOT BUYING FROM THEM.

Pay more, at less convenient stores, just like the old days. Break a lawnmower pull-rope on Sunday? Wait until NEXT SATURDAY (maybe) to try and find one at the local ACE hardware store. More likely, they'll tell you they can order it and it'll take two weeks. Ah, the good old days....

45superman said...

If they're gonna bitch about China, they'd better ensure that nothing they buy is from California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Illinois . . .

Anonymous said...

III Flags here:

http://westernrifleshooters.blogspot.com/2009/09/iii-flags-now-available.html

I keep on forgetting to order one; that will be rectified as soon as I get home.

Anonymous said...

Bitching about something being made in china is socialist and anti-american. Capitalism is about free trade and sourcing parts from where they are best sourced. This country made its mark by exporting to the rest of the world, and importing from the rest of the world. Both countries more and less developed than us. As china gets richer they produce more consumers for our products. Their providing lower cost products for us now, makes us all BETTER off.

People just don't seem to understand basic economics.

Anonymous said...

My SKS is made in Albania. Can I get a flag that is made there? Maybe a few of them, so I can get more for them at gun and jerky shows as a rare curiousity.

FYI: Most of the hardware that plumbs in US natural gas wells is made in China. If not, it is made in Thailand, India, or Mexico. This US natural gas is what causes your furnace to light when you turn up your thermostat. If you don't like this factoid, then turn down the thermostat.

Sort of reminds me of a protester's poster I saw a pic of during the runup to 03's OIF: "No War for Oil! (I ride the bus.)

Thanks to Concerned American for his work on getting out these flags.

Doc Enigma said...

So....just a thought...will my flag made in China fly in the face of tyranny any less proudly than others? Will my Norinco M-14 type rifle, rebuilt (except for the receiver) and rehardened by Fulton Armory kill any less reliably than a Springfield Armory, Inc, "SOCOM"? (Probably better, as it's just about a geometrically perfect receiver now and USGI parts)...will my CRKT combat folder cut any less fatally than a nice, but outlandishly priced Randall knife?

Like I said..just a thought....because we are at the point of needing what we need rather than what we'd like....

Diogenes said...

My PSL is from Romania, My ammo is from Bulgaria and Russia, My scope is Japanese and my Truck (while it says America) is Mexican.


I'm Over it.

We will fight,
we WILL win.

Anonymous said...

Even if the guy were making money on it, so what? It's tough to make a living these days.

What is wrong with good old-fashioned capitalism? Why should anyone apologize for making a buck in an honest endeavor? Offering value for value is as American as it gets. No one is being forced to buy the flags and the product is not being misrepresented. Buyers are satisfied with their purchase and aware of what they are buying before the purchase is made, aren't they? That sounds like an economic transaction freely made, so what's the problem?

The idea that trying to make money is bad is a key tenet of collectivism, isn't it?

azcIII

EbalNolom said...

No one can force anyone to buy anything. And no one can stop someone from having their own flags made in the U.S. and selling them. Freedom of choice. ::shrugs:: 'Twas me, sir, I'd ignore them instead of giving them blogtime.

Anonymous said...

WTF is wrong with making money? Why is that question not being asked? We are Americans after all.

And while you are wiping your ass (if you do that sort of thing) take a look at that tag on your tighty whities and tell us where they were made.

Cory

USMC VET said...

What isn't made in China?

ParaPacem said...

If people don't - as my old Grandma says- just STFU and start doing something real, then there is a good chance in a few years, that THEY may end up chained to their work benches in the Democratic People's Union of States formerly known as the USA, sewing flags and banners for Czar for Life Hussein Obongo. Ten hours a day with a fifteen minute lunch break to eat a cup of rice seasoned with Soylent Green.
Yippee-ki-yay....

TypicalClinger said...

My SKS,Mosin91/30,and my AK are all former commies. I Love the irony of fighting marxist tyranny with the products of marxist tyranny. And all three were purchased for the same price as one carbine made in the USA.

Feral said...

My dear old Grampa Luther was fond of saying, "Some people would bitch if you hung 'em with a new rope".

'nuff said.

III

Carl Bussjaeger said...

So my flag (of course, I bought one; it goes with my patches) was made in China. So what?

I like to think that some poor Chinese serf made it past the Great Firewall of China and learned that..

"Hey, Wang."

"Yes, Li?"

"Those funny-looking flags we've been making?"

"Yes, Li?"

"Well, they're for people who are opposed to tyranny."

"Yes, Li."

"So how many did you sneak out of the factory?"

"Enough for my village, Li. And I moonlight at the Norinco factory, too."

Ga Cracker said...

Tools are tools, no matter where they originate. Willie Whiner needs to grow up, methinks...

III

Anonymous said...

I'll be happy when the three I ordered show up. I figure when they're at the top of a flagpole, nobody will be to see where they were made.
emdfl

DD said...

Carl Bussjaeger summed it up. Nice thought... Hopefully they'll figure out the "3%" thing for themselves too!

We SHOULD be worried about our inability to make much of ANYTHING in this country, but this isn't it.

Did you know we can no longer make ANTIBIOTICS without imports?

True fact.

Our tyrannical government has run most all business out of this country, and Dear Reader is poised to kill what little is left in Copenhagen in just a few weeks.

I can't think of anything more fitting than for us to use commie weapons and ammo under a commie-sewn flag to take it back.

God Save Our Republic!

PS: WV="ingshl" -- is that like "ingSOC"?

Anonymous said...

Not my SKS. Not Yugoslavia either. Russia.

However, my Norinco 1911A1 is made in China and is a better constructed firearm than Colt's.

All Colt's parts will interchange in it, but the tolerances are sloppier.

Anonymous said...

Pragmatism is great, we always operated on the principle of flexibility, doing what could be done with the resources on hand. However, besides the tactical view you also have to consider just what the devil your overall strategy is all about. So, while it may be temporarily expedient to use Chinese made flags for patriotic US of A activities, in the long run it is of course best not to do that.

Betsy Ross supposedly made the first flag sewing it by hand, my grandmother and great grandmother spent considerable time sewing quilts, knitting sweaters, etc. In the long run it might be nice to see like minded folk getting together for instead of quilting bees, for making flags and what ever else would be bought and shared among the III-per community. You have to look at banding together and supporting each other as best you can so investigate such opportunities and see what you can do as a band of brothers and as a community of patriots dedicated to preserving and strengthening their country and way of life.

De Oppresso Liber
bacsi

Anonymous said...

I Salute you and all that you stand for, I am a Veteran,, a disabled veteran,, and even a 10 dollar lat out is quite beyond my measure at the moment,, but I to agree, catch where ya can,, perhaps the future will allow made in AMERICA, but untill then we do what we have to do. A Salute to you and to Your Service to Our Great Country

Anonymous said...

Taking a Devil's Advocate stance for a moment here.

I can understand being annoyed with a III flag made in China.

Lots of US shooters have been burned by unscrupulous dealers at gunshows(and online!) selling fake Chinese-produced Aimpoint and Eotech sights, represented as genuine and priced accordingly.

It's got to the point that you have to assume it's fake unless you bought it from a known good-guy dealer, as the bootleggers even replicate the manuals/paperwork and packaging to near perfection.

The sights themselves, while externally identical, are usually complete junk internally, designed for airsoft replicas.

Many newbies (and some vets) in the gun community have been fooled by Chinese fakes like this, and I suspect that's driving at least some of the negative sentiment displayed by the email correspondents.

With all that said, as long as no attempt is/was made to hide the origin, it's all good.

Ordering one myself.

Dumb O'l Country Boy said...

Just received my flag a few days ago, Thanks for the quick turn-around. I don't see how ya'll sell them so cheap with shipping included no less. Once again, Thanks and keep up the good work.

Mike H said...

I have a cap I got from the Alamo gift shop. It has the quote from Crockett: 'You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas'.

The label says 'Made in China'. What a hoot.

Sure, some things are obviously substandard, but hey I agree we use our enemie's efforts against us in reverse.

Commies hate it.

Anonymous said...

Ayn Rand.
"Atlas Shrugged"
"The Fountainhead"

'Nuff said.
B Woodman
III-per

tjbbpgobIII said...

It was my understanding that he tried to have US produced flags but they came out fucked up. Didn't you say that Mike in your post about the march in DC or Lexington or somewhere?

ParaPacem said...

Well, Im gonna be really ticked off if I get mine and find that instead of China as the label said, it was really a bootleg from California!!!!

RJMcKee said...

China, Smina, it represents my outlook and was purchased from a patriot.
It looks nice. The price was great.
What's not to like?
Some people will kick if you cut both their legs off. There are a lot of unhappy people in this world. The only thing about that is that they want to share their unhappiness.
Ray
III

Anonymous said...

It's not like CabinBoy didn't take a stab at getting a US mfg to do it and since they couldn't get the job done, on to another supplier. Simple as that. Thanks for your efforts, CB.

As for them being made in China, you don't suppose that the folks making the flag might wonder what in the heck all these 'III' flags are for? (They aren't stupid, uneducated in the labor dept probably, but not stupid.) -And the effect that may have on them when they find out? What a great way to introduce LIBERTY to those folks. =^]

Tee, hee, ain't capitalism wonderful?!

Bob Katt

Anonymous said...

Got me a cheap ugly black Chinese rifle of a particularly politically incorrect type, when they passed the first ban.

I never intended to have one before they did. I had my eye on a sweet little bolt action. They changed my mind for me and made me realize that they were after me and my guns and that they would never go away. I resolved that day my final thoughts and decisions on the matter.

They are traitors, I am not, and that really is the only issue.

A flag is only the representation of a people and their ideals and ours has special meaning not only to us but throughout the world. The reason we buy a Chinese representation of our ideals is that our public servants have spent all the money, and forced American businesses to close, among other things. That and causing prices to skyrocket, and we haven't seen the end of that yet.

In fact it may come to a point where we're making flags with bedsheets and crayons. But even if we don't have one to fly at all, I will forever have her in my heart because I know what she cost and how much I owe and will never be able to repay those who bought her for me and mine.

jon said...

right. and oil comes from saudi arabia -- their second biggest export, after suicidal terrorist airline hijackers. anybody here walk to work, or avoid buying plastic products of any kind?

manual labor, if anything, is fitting for a people willing to bear a communist dictatorship. now there is a teachable moment for trade protectionists, if i ever saw one: what are you willing to bear to make others "buy american?"

idahohunter said...

A fight is comming, and I will fight, but only under an AMERICAN flag and not some made up lookalike. The object is RESTORATION not replacement, right?

Concerned American said...

Folks:

Two observations:

1) The very first Nyberg Battle Flag was assembled a la Betsy Ross by a patriot. Score one for the traditionalists.

2) Anyone who wants to go into the "made in USA III flag" biz, contact me at westernshooters@gmail.com. I have the info from another flag vendor whose sales of a similarly-motivated product at a 2X price point above the current III flag are being impacted (I suspect).

You'll need $7500 front money just to get inventory, plus the ability to process and fill orders.

Signed,

More than Happy to Pass the Torch
The Road
Oceanbound

PS: Sure wish people were as concerned about their ability to aim, shoot, and hit moving bad guys....

Happy D said...

Hey comrade Lenin promised the Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them. How they gonna hang us if they sold us their rifles? Lenin lied to me? How reassuring.

A lot of my stuff is of commie origins. It gives me a warm feeling that I will oppose them with commie built stuff. My Mauser is Nazi by way of Israel. Oh the irony is delicious. I will bet my Israeli predecessor was glad to have it. I know I am.

I will bet the Founders are looking down on Mao and laughing.

My SKS is Yugoslavian and my Enfield is Indian.