Has anyone heard that Kotonics/Cardinal Armory is having problems?

[maximus83]

I've seen some discussion around about issues with their 6.8 spc barrels, and today there's a message up on their site that their web store is shut down, due to "several events that have occurred which have severely impacted our business."

http://cardinalarmory.com/cardarm-pcart/pc/msg.asp?message=83

Does anyone know anything about this (preferably firsthand)?

[maximus83]

OK, I found a post directly by Cardinal themselves, over at Arfcom, that seems to explain the facts firsthand.

"My business is in deep trouble. Superior Plating has been applying too much chrome to SOME of my barrels. This results in a constriction of single-digit ten-thousandths of an inch. This results in higher pressure and lower velocity."

The rest of the information is in the post from "CardinalArmory", here:

http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=121&t=389933&page=2


This is too bad; everything I've heard was that these guys were trying to do good quality work, only to get stung by an external vendor. I hope Tim can find a way to stay in business.

[bushmasterar15]

He's going back to the original chrome vendor. They will be air gauging all barrels so hopefully everything will be back in order again.

[maximus83]

I hope so. He seems like a great guy, from my few interactions with him through email. I've been considering getting a 6.8 from him within the next year, and was really disappointed (and sorry for Tim personally) to hear that his business was going through all this.

[avmech]

The problem is when using SSA Combat loads...regular loads are OK to use. Hopefully Tim can work his way through this and come back bigger and stronger. He is one of the driving forces behind the 6.8.

Mentioned in an earlier thread: https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=17633