Worthy of a collector’s piece? Hudson is filing chapter 7. (Photo: Hudson)
Hudson Manufacturing has filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy. The company is shuttering their doors, leaving H9 owners with more questions than answers.
Hudson Manufacturing started up just two years ago with the goal of making a different kind of handgun. Their design, the H9, was very leading-edge but the company quickly ran into problems completing orders and performing warranty services.
Hudson cited problems sourcing parts made to the correct specifications, leading to shortages and in some cases, poor or non-functioning products shipping. Many H9 owners returned their pistols for service, which will no longer take place.
It’s clear that the company is closing for good, with its remaining assets to be sold off to repay its debtors. Some assets are exempt, and customers who have sent in their handguns for warranty repairs should have their guns returned, although details about the returns are still up in the air.
According to the H9 Owners Group, it’s possible that the ATF may need to step in to guide the return process, as Hudson may not have the capital to pay for return shipping. Unfortunately, there’s no guarantee that customers will receive working or even complete firearms.
The H9 Owners Group was created by H9 owners looking to file a class action lawsuit against Hudson Manufacturing over their problematic products and failures to perform proper warranty work.
A surprising detail about the bankruptcy filing is that Hudson is claiming a minimum of $10 million and up to $50 million in liabilities, with only $50,000 or less in assets.
See Also: Hudson H9: A Case for Practical Accuracy
The H9 was a different kind of gun, a steel-framed, striker-fired pistol with a very low bore axis. The designers moved the recoil assembly and takedown system to sit in front of the trigger. It turned a lot of heads when it was announced in 2017.
But any design can suffer from inadequate manufacturing, bad quality control, and poor management. By filing for chapter 7 bankruptcy, it appears that Hudson Manufacturing suffered from all three.
Time will tell if the H9 goes down as a curiosity or if it will be acquired by another gun company and returned to production. The limited run may have some appeal to collectors.
“Roughly 8,000-9,000 H9s were ever made. Hudson operated on a no-inventory model on hand, so there’s nothing left of production guns at the factory,” detailed the H9 Owners Group. “Three hundred threaded barrels were made. These have all sold. One hundred HR-D slides were made and as of the end of September roughly one-third of them had sold.”
“There are only 4 prototypes of the H9A in existence. Rest in peace Hudson Manufacturing. You will be missed.”
I am one of the unlucky few who still is out of a broken Hudson because it is at there facility. Yes I’m disappointed in the events that have unfolded but having carried and handled one, the product was awesome, minus the small parts quality. I will be honest and say that I will miss the gun itself by not the crappy service or lack thereof when I needed repair.
It was a new gun manufacturer. They made a unique gun that only appealed to a certain genre of gun buyers. The price was astronomical. The gun was huge and heavy therefore it would not appeal to the carry conceal crowd. Therefore sales were limited. It was kind of like the Coonan .357 auto.
Firearms like that just don’t survive in todays market unless they are made on a limited run by an established manufacturer.
I sent my gun to Hudson for repairs and they kept it. Does anyone know what I can do? Please advise
An interesting bit of history is that John M. Browning, one of the most brilliant names in firearms design, never commercially produced any of his designs, he entrusted well known manufacturers to do it for him. To this day, Browning does not make any firearms themselves, everything is manufactured elsewhere.
John M. Browning was not merely “one of the most brilliant names in firearms design,” he was unquestionably the greatest mind to ever be involved with firearms designs. It’s hard to imagine where firearm design would be today without the countless contributions made by Mr. Browning.
Looked like a really nice gun. However, the price made me shy away. Also, many reviews referred to accuracy issues.
When you outsource your product you lose all control. Real companies make their own stuff.
Typical made in US product.
An innovative product? Yes. Poor execution of said product? Yes.
RIP Hudson… We hardly got to know you. Hopefully someone will pick up the pieces and apply the proper manufacturing and QT and make it a solid gun to own in the future.
One reason I will never jump on the ‘newest, latest, and greatest thing’ hyped bandwagon. I’d rather buy a product that has all the bugs worked out, from a company that has been around for a few years, preferably decades. I’ve seen a lot of ‘interesting’ guns come on the market only to fizzle out very soon afterwards.
No they won’t be missed…their inability to run a company left a lot of people with pieces of junk that broke after the first several hundred rounds. The fact that they put guns out their, knowing the parts they were building them out of were non-conforming to the design specifications, is border line criminal.
Could not have said it better!
A niche opportunity for someone to mill replacement parts
Between $10 million and $50 million in liabilities, with only $50,000 or less in assets? That’s looks a lot like tunneled out shell of a company. Can’t say anything positive or negative about the product, it never interested me enough to check it out in nature.
They won’t be missed one bit.
We as consumers and dealers caused this.
Reviewers get all excited with something new and then talk about how they prefer Glock, or Smith & Wesson or Sig, the list goes on and on.
We as dealers don’t stock the product and then sell what we have a lot of in inventory.
Or whatever brand is giving us cash back to sell their product.
We’ll all stand around saying they’ll be missed, but in reality, we never gave them a chance.
LOL, wut?
It’s our fault that the Hudson produced a piece of crap gun with little to no QC, horrible customer service and satisfaction, and apparently couldn’t manage the finances of a lemonade stand?
What crack are you smoking, pal?
Maybe his theory is that
1) if the consumers never shot the Hudson then the poor quality would never have come to light, (these guns were meant to be safe queens!)
2) if the guns never shot then they never broke, then the company would not have had to try and fix
3)!they would never failed to fix causing owners to complain
4) consumers complained about not getting there guns back
5) others heard complaints and did not buy
6) no new sales means no cash to pay for parts to make or fix more guns.
7) no cash and lots of debts means bankruptcy!
It’s all the customers and industries fault! Lol