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Llama shutting down

Wehrmacht_45Wehrmacht_45 Member Posts: 3,377
edited August 2005 in Ask the Experts
Heard that production is ceasing and that the company is shutting down. Is it true?

Comments

  • boeboeboeboe Member Posts: 3,331
    edited November -1
    If it is true, it is probably a multiple point blessing. Fist would be that existing Llama owners can start claiming some sort of colletor's status (as if anyone else would believe them, or even care} and second blessing, no more new Llamas that will add to their spotty reputation are being made.

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    MEMBER SINCE 10/24/1999.

    To err is human, to moo is bovine.
  • TPSmith-LyonTPSmith-Lyon Member Posts: 10 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Thank Goodness! I was in the gunsmith business for 21 years. I really hate to hear that a gun manufacturer is biting the bullet, but I hated working on Llama's. Parts were almost non-existent, and expensive, when you could get them. Lots of poorly cast parts, that were very soft. Those guns were good for the person who wants to own a handgun, and never shoots it.

    Tim Smith-Lyon
  • rufe-snowrufe-snow Member Posts: 18,649 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I was just on the Star pistol site, getting some information for another poster. The Moderator of that site believes that Llama went out of business in June. Heres the link.

    http://www.star-firearms.com/_vti_script/gm1/

    As far as the quality of Llama pistols was concerned, it varied tremendously. A lot of their guns were of medicore quality. BUT some of their pistols like the Spanish Army Contract Models 82's were top notch. Of cource they sold for $900, when you could buy a Beretta 92 for $500, during the same time frame.

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  • PX15PX15 Member Posts: 43 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    My friend brought his girlfriends Llama MiniMax X380 (1999 manufactured) over for me to look at a few days ago. It's nickel/stainless/chrome,whatever, and has spent it's entire life under her mattress, unfired. It has a cracked grip on one side, but other than that it looks very good. The mag was loaded, but no round was chambered.

    In a crisis she would NEVER, EVER have been able to pull the slide back to chamber a round. That little sucker must have a 700lb recoil spring.

    It shot just fine, altho poi was slightly r/l poa. Could have been partially my fault tho.

    It's one of the few pistols/revolvers that after shooting I did not want. I hate that powerful recoil spring.

    I thought I might want to buy the little Llama, but it just for some reason didn't grow on me like most firearms do.

    Why buy a 6yr old Llama of questionable quality when if I wanted a 380cal pistol I could pick up a new Bersa Thunder 380 for less than $200, new w/lifetime warranty?

    Oh yeah, I don't want a 380....[:D]
  • ATFATF Member Posts: 11,683 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Here's a picture of my one and only Llama,this one is a real gem.[^] [8D] [^]
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    When a worm wants to relax,does he go fishing?  "And remember a wet dog doesn't fly at night"  "My memory's not as sharp as it used to be. Also, my memory's not as sharp as it used to be."   ATF,Eagle Guns
  • TWalkerTWalker Member Posts: 2,372 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have two LLama's, both are the small frame ones that look and function similar to a Colt 1911 style, just much smaller. The .380 Micromax works fine and shoots good. So does the .22 caliber one, but it jams occasionally with standard velocity rounds. It likes Velocitor ammo and rarely jams with it. I am keeping both as more a novelty than anything, I doubt if I'll shoot them much. I do like them for some strange reason. I paid $150 for the .22 and $120 for the .380, both in excellent condition, so I can't lose too much, even if someday they are used solely for paperweights.

    "Let him step to the music he hears, however measured or far away." Thoreau
  • WaltherP-38WaltherP-38 Member Posts: 76 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I've got a Llama 1-XA in .45 cal.Shoots great,always goes bang when trigger is pulled and it's quite accurate;nice pistol;never had a problem,other than replacing the recoil spring with a heavier one. Dan

    U.S. Army 1964-1967
  • Bert H.Bert H. Member Posts: 11,279 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I too own a Llama, a .45 ACP Government Model (IX-C) that I have owned for over 12 years. It has never once failed to fire when I pull the trigger, and I have fed it every type of ball ammo ever made (and several types of HP ammo). It is the most accurate out-of-the-box .45 ACP that I have ever shot (I can put 8 rounds into a ragged hole at 15 yards with it, and I have pictures to proove it). Now, maybe I got extremely lucky with my first Llama, but one thing is for sure... I will not trade it for any other production .45 currently made.

    Bert H.

    Real Men use a SINGLE-SHOT!
  • jonkjonk Member Posts: 10,121
    edited November -1
    I have a Llama extra, made from the first year of production, in 1931 if I remember right... chambered for 9mm Largo. And it swaps barrels with a modern 9mm Luger barrel just fine, so manufacture tolerances on this 1911 clone were quite tight. Fine gun, though I have seen some of their later models, and I'm not impressed.

    "...hit your enemy in the belly, and kick him when he is down, and boil his prisoners in oil- if you take any- and torture his women and children. Then people will keep clear of you..." -Admiral of the Fleet Lord Fisher, speaking at the Hague Peace Conf
  • CountryGunsmithCountryGunsmith Member Posts: 617 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    To answer the question, yes, Llama is closing its doors. The Max series of pistols will still be covered under the lifetime warranty as long as the parts supply holds out.


    Scrappy Doo sleeps with the fishes.
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