Perhaps I need to go to a greater degree of absurdity to reach you. By your logic, the guy that wants a toothpick has more influence than the dealer that wants 40 acres of timber cut, dried, and processed into boards.
I think we crossed the line of absurdity when you presented the hypothetical about the lumberjack and Lowes, (and now toothpicks for some reason) which I was foolish enough to play along with. Apparently I was too obscure in my response for you to understand.
We are not talking about 2X4's and Lowes, we are talking about the Allen Foundry and the failures in their output. The Allen foundry was once a very prolific supplier of muzzleloading gun parts for the entire trade. Unfortunately, for many and varied reasons (which will not be discussed here), they are not able to keep up with demand. Complaining to one of the many retailers, who have gone blue in the face trying to get them to increase output over the years, will not have any impact. Been there, done that. The only way to have any leverage with them is to contact them directly as an end user.
As you know, shooting waxes is not the same as cutting 2x4's or making toothpicks. Some molds are much more temperamental, and yield low dollar parts, and some are easy to run with high dollar parts per wax. The pain in the butt waxes with low dollar pay off, don't get run nearly as much as the high profit, easy ones. That is just human nature. When there is poor management in the production line, there are molds that get run rarely or not at all leading to horrendous wait times. The OP was wondering about when a breech plug for a TC Seneca was going to be made. I can guarantee you that is a mold that will not be run more than every couple years, if ever again. A retailer is not going to risk an already tenuous relationship with a supplier to try and leverage for a obscure part, that has probably already been on order for years.
