Posted on 01/06/2014 10:12:52 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
(VIDEO-AT-LINK)
Horry County's newest manufacturer is open for business. PTR Industries began its first day in South Carolina by welcoming its new local employees.
The rifle manufacturer decided last year to move from its home base in Connecticut, after that state's legislature passed restrictive gun laws in the wake of a mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown.
PTR's new building in the Cool Springs Business Park near Aynor is still mostly empty and a few weeks away from being at full production, so the first day on the job for the eleven local workers the company has brought on board so far consisted mostly of having them sort and inventory boxes of gun parts.
But the company plans to have rifle assembly operations up and running by January 20, after a massive move-in and set-up operation.
"We've got our entire crew up in Connecticut, plus a crew of about 40 movers, 32 trucks and everybody's going to be working basically from now until the 20th to get all that done, so it's a project, it's a challenge," said PTR CEO Josh Fiorini.
Fiorini says a second wave of local employees will come on board in February, joining the 21 employees moving here from PTR's current base in Connecticut, to make a total contingent of nearly 50 workers.
He says the company plans to quickly add many more.
"The eventual goal is 120 (employees), short term within the next 3 years."
Stan Parker is among those Horry County residents starting a career with PTR.
Parker says he's long been a gun enthusiast, so being able to make rifles for a living is a dream come true.
He expects the company to have a big impact on the county.
"There's the trickle down effect of the incomes we make, we spend in local businesses," Parker said. "The company's growing, or going to grow. They have projected plans for that. I think it will effect the community as a whole in a positive way."
PTR now has much more room to grow that it did before. The plant is 58,000 square feet under one roof, which means the company can add two new gun models to its product line.
"We've really been kind of sitting on our projects, waiting until we could run with them and now we can," Fiorini said.
Fiorini says he's happy with the local people he's hired so far and with the initial training they've been able to get through the SC Works program and Horry Georgetown Technical College.
About 2,000 people applied for the 30 job openings posted by PTR in November.
I wouldn’t buy either if they came from Century. Too many problems, too many weapons they’ve sold without proper assembly (headspacing, etc.)
Except when you try it on a Century gun and you find the stupid thing has rusted in place.
My gunsmith told me he could not buy the HK parts for the price of the rifle, and he was right. I checked.
That’s like saying “Hey, it’s too bad these Pintos burst into flames, but hey, if you have a talent you can fix them up.” Yeah, fact remains that out of the box you’re looking at a potentially unsafe weapon and that’s a no-no.
$350 and 15 minutes 0r $1200? for the same thing?
That is my point.
Sarco had them in 2012 (before the Panic) for $199, IIRC.
My point is that they are knowingly shipping defective and dangerous product *and they don’t care.*
You want to patronize such a business, go right ahead. There are other options.
The century’s were made with HK parts kits.
Te parts are not bad and the design is not bad.
That would be a steal.
That’s nice, but they’re still being shipped out the door knowing that most of them are improperly and dangerously assembled. I don’t like people who ship rifles that can explode as used out of the box.
FYI, they’re not all H&K ‘made in Germany’ parts. Most of the parts they are using are ex-Malaysian surplus, with many of the parts ‘local’ sourced, i.e., made in Malaysia.
If they go kaboom they get sued.
I think Century does a good job for a good price and brings us lots of goodies for cheap.
I aint paying $2500 for an MP5
No, they do a terrible job for a meh price. These are the people who managed to make AKs that didn’t work (and in fact, actually explode.)
Think about that. Uneducated peasant blacksmiths can make copies of AKs that actually work, but Century can’t assemble AKs from parts kits. They’re that bad.
I have NEVER heard of someone being maimed by a century build.
I do now someone that was maimed by a brand new Springfield Armory M1A.
The real lesson here is if its a big hucking gun you had better look it over and be sure.
Buyer beware.
My research shows me that Century did not do the conversion. They only imported it.
The conversion was done at the factory in FRance, hence my trepidation ☺
Exploding Century guns:
http://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=4&f=79&t=107893
Classic Century customer service:
http://www.surplusrifleforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&p=955847
More:
http://www.thehighroad.org/archive/index.php/t-566362.html
There’s plenty of horror stories about Century on damn near every gun forum on the internet. Seriously, go look.
Man injured by exploding Century-assembled FAL:
http://www.falfiles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=322626
As the late and very funny comedian Phil Foster used to say, “That’s what I like about the South”.
Another old saying was: “Hey Granny, throw some yeast in the Mississippi River. The South shall rise again!”
As Phil Robertson would say about this new So. Carolina business - “Happy, Happy, Happy”.
The real money right now is in manufacturing ammunition not just the completed cartridge but also the components. Bullets, brass, primers, powder and primer powder.
Lost one in a boating accident. POS. My fascination with semi-autos in .308 ended about the same time: I love the round, but I only use it in a Ruger Scout now, and I savor every last shot.
My SHTF “battle rifle” is once again the AK-47 or Norinco SKS. It’ll last longer than I will, and with far better accuracy and less maintenance. :)
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