IWI ACE Pistol Recall Update

IWI ACE Pistol Recall

When I broke the story that the ACE pistol was being recalled on the morning of Dec 23rd, little information was available at that time. I had contacted IWI to briefly discuss the recall once I caught wind, but they were still in the process of figuring out what went wrong and how it went wrong themselves. Now that things have settled a bit, I’ve been in communication with IWI and have the following update. Instead of paraphrasing, I’ll share the last email I received from Michael Kassnar, the VP of Sales and Marketing for IWI US.

We discovered this “3-pin” problem and when we did we acted immediately and “out of an abundance of caution”, not yet knowing what ATF would have to say about the pistol’s construction but knowing their historical stance on whether these types of receivers have 2 or 3 pins and whether they could be fired automatically or not.

 It was an honest mistake in communication between IWI US and IWI Israel. Our ACE pistol in 7.62x51mm is approved by ATF. It has 2 pins. IWI US didn’t know that IWI Israel had a model of ACE pistol that was different (other than by caliber) than what ATF approved and IWI Israel didn’t know that a 3-hole was automatically a machine gun (even though this model can’t be fired automatically) in the US, if that’s what ATF ultimately finds.

 IWI Israel is already at work building 2-hole ACE’s in 7.62×39. It won’t take us that long.

 In the meantime, consumers will have the option of a full refund or they can wait for a new replacement after returning their gun to us. We estimate the wait at no more than 90 to 120 days.

 Announcements are going up on our website and Facebook pages Monday morning. Distributors are providing us with FFL Dealer contacts and we trust that FFL Dealers will cooperate with us and assist with contacting any and all consumers that have bought this gun. We were fortunate this was discovered before there were 5,000 on the market. We estimate no more than 400 are in consumer hands, a manageable number.

 Commercially, the end result of this will be the 7.62×39 version of the line (pistol, pistol with stabilizing brace and rifle) will be back on the market relatively soon and the 7.62×51 will be moved up a couple months.

 And who knows, at the end of all of this, ATF may be fine the with construction of the 3-pin Galil as shipped.

This response should answer most of the questions regarding how the mistake happened and what steps IWI US is taking to make things right by their customers. I was assured by Micheal that IWI US will do everything possible to make sure all customers are taken care of either with a full refund (at purchase price) or an exchange with a new pistol once they’re in the country.

Once the BATF has made their determination, I will share that information with you. We should hear from them in the next few days. I know many of you with ACE pistols are waiting to hear the final word from them before sending your guns back to IWI.

If nothing else, this mistake has moved the release of the .308 version pistol up by a couple of months meaning we should see them around April/May.

Here’s a video I posted Christmas Eve that will further explain the issue.

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