U.S. Repeating Arms Announces Plans To Close Winchester Plant

Hartford Courant (Connecticut) ^ | 1/17/06 | n/a

[kiriath_jearim]

U.S. Repeating Arms Announces Plans To Close Winchester Plant

3:23 PM EST, January 17, 2006

Associated Press NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- U.S. Repeating Arms said Tuesday it will close its Winchester firearm factory, threatening the future of a rifle that pioneers toted into the Wild West and John Wayne hoisted onto the big screen.

"It's part of who we are as a nation just like it's part of who we are as a city. It's the gun that won the West," Mayor John DeStefano said. "What are we going to have, Winchester rifles manufactured in China? Is this what we're coming to?"

The announcement touched off a lobbying effort by city officials and union leaders who hoped to find someone to buy the plant before it closes March 31. If no buyer comes forward, it could spell the end for nearly all commercially produced Winchesters, said Everett Corey, a representative of the International Association of Machinists District 26.

"Winchester would be pretty much defunct," he said. "They're not going to produce them, other than a couple custom-type models."

The company has been plagued by slumping firearm sales. More than 19,000 worked there during World War II, but the plant employs fewer than 200 now.

"Several generations have worked at this place, a lot of fathers and brothers, sons, uncles and daughters," said Paul DeMennato, facility director at U.S. Repeating Arms. "A lot of marriages were people who met at Winchester."

U.S. Repeating Arms, which is owned by the Herstal Group, a Belgium company, has said for years that it was on the brink of closing the plant.

DeMennato said the company is negotiating the sale of its plant. The Winchester name is owned by Missouri-based Olin Corp., which had sold U.S. Repeating Arms the right to use the name until next year.

Olin had no immediate word on its plans for the Winchester name. DeMennato said he hopes the name will be sold along with the plant.

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On the Web:

U.S. Repeating Arms: http://www.usracmfg.com

Winchester firearms: http://www.winchesterguns.com

[Uriah_lost]

Olin is from MO, so we'll take that Winchester plant too. Just not in StLouis or KC.

[paddles]

"A lot of marriages were people who met at Winchester."

And there were a lot of marriages arranged at the muzzle of a Winchester, too!

[joesnuffy]

FN owns Winchester...

[joesnuffy]

Good time to buy that 30-30 lever action

[mugs99]

Ditto hunting licenses and shooting sports in general

Americans no longer enjoy the outdoors. The campers and hikers that once flocked to the mountains in the summer are gone. It's been years since I've seen a pickup with a camper.

Roads and trails have been closed by the forest service. Outdoorsmen are now herded into parks that don't allow firearms. We've moved into an age where people live, work and travel in air conditioned boxes. We've become a nation of girlymen.
.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Anyone comtemplating a lever gun should realize that the second rennaisance has arrived, with Hornady's pointed tip (but safe for tube mags) LeverEvolution cartridges.

Makes the 30-30 a real long range deer gun.

http://www.hornady.com/story.php?s=198

[vetvetdoug]

I got my 1200 on my 24th birthday 29 years ago. It is still my primary wing shooter.

[billhilly]

Sixty years ago I fired my first Winchester Model 12. It belonged to an uncle, and his two sons who had just returned home from world War II got quite a kick out of seeing me shoot that big 12 gauge. Of course, being only eight years old at the time I got quite a kick out of it too.

Memories of hunting ducks around Reelfoot Lake as a boy always include the Model 12, and I own two of them now. That same uncle had an old Winchester Model 97 pump in a twelve gauge. Those early experiences provided lasting joy, and I have hunted all my life. In sixty years of hunting I have owned and shot quite a few guns, a few of them I would call "fine" guns. None of them ever had the appeal for me that the Model 12 did, or does.

One other Winchester that I have in my gun case is a Winchester Model 70 in a .270 cal. That is all the rifle I could ever want, and the only one I have. I have taken deer, bobcat, and turkey with it, and under the right conditions and with the proper load, it would take larger game, even though I don't have much opportunity for that.

So I say thanks to Winchester. I'm sorry to see them go, but the guns they made for me will last another generation or two I am sure.

[USS Alaska]

"Good time to buy that 30-30 lever action"

I have one, but it's a Marlin. Just put a 3x9 scope on it for my 12 year old grandson for next deer season. He can't wait, and neither can I.

The union and gummit officials, after years of screwing gun companies, cry when gun companies close.

[wildcatf4f3]

double damn

[Jack Black]

Remington seems to be doing OK. Lots of newer and smaller companies too.

[OKSooner]

"Makes the 30-30 a real long range deer gun."

More importantly, does it mean we'll see a tube magazine, lever action rifle in .358 Winchester sometime soon?

[Gefreiter]

Maybe the Winchester facility will go the way of the Springfield Armory in Springfield, MA. They made M1s there for years- produced somewhere between a million and a bazillion of them.

Now it's a museum and historic site maintained and staffed by the Park Service.

And it's in a terrific part of town too.

By which I mean it's in a terrible part of town.

[Tijeras_Slim]

[Tijeras_Slim]

Those new polymer tips are such an obvious solution, one of those forehead slapping moments when you see them

[OldArmy52]

Sorry to hear Winchester going down. The Model 12 pump shotgun is a classic (sorry all you 1200 fans). Ithica (sp?) gone. Now Winchester?

Antigun/antihunting liberals...thanks a bunch!

Maybe we eventually, like Iraq, will buy our guns from Russia (or China).

Smooth move.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Those new polymer tips are such an obvious solution, one of those forehead slapping moments when you see them...

---

As a patent attorney, I can tell you that if it makes you slap your forehead, is probably isn't legally "obvious."

And while rigid polymer tips are old as the hills, the idea of a soft/safe tip is really clever.

[lwd]

Are they still going to produce ammo? The winchester white box is the best deal in town.

[Gefreiter]

Well to add another firm to your list, consider S&W, also in Springfield, MA.

Sure it's still in business, but it's pissing against the wind having your headquarters in what's become one of the most anti-gun states in the Union.

Maybe to save itself S&W ought to move to someplace friendlier. TX? AZ...?

[conservonator]

Love my SX2, ducks, however, have a rather negative view of that particular shotgun ;)