Douglas Healey for The New York Times
Posted on 01/21/2006 3:25:46 AM PST by Pharmboy
Douglas Healey for The New York Times
Unless a rescue plan is worked out or a new buyer comes forward, the gun-manufacturing plant in New Haven, with about
200 employees, will close on March 31.
Come spring, the Winchester rifle, immortalized as the gun that won the West and rode into the sunset with John Wayne, will be made in Portugal and Japan.
The U.S. Repeating Arms Company, which has manufactured rifles and shotguns in New Haven since 1866, is set to shut its doors on March 31. About 200 people will lose their jobs, many having worked for decades on the plant's assembly line.
snip
Paul DeMennato, a company spokesman, did not provide production and sales numbers, but the New Haven mayor's office released a statement saying that only 80,000 guns had been produced at the plant last year. The factory is capable of producing 300,000 a year.
snip
"I still have my dad's guns. These products don't have a built-in obsolescence."
The Winchester repeating rifle became the gun of choice for Western settlers after it was introduced in 1866, Mr. DeMennato said. The lever-action breech mechanism allowed the user to fire a number of shots before having to reload.snip
"Instead of saying, 'Get me my gun,' he'd say, 'Get me my Winchester,' " Mr. DeMennato said.
A 10-foot-high bronze statute of Wayne, eyes narrowed in concentration and left hand clutching a Winchester, stands in the lobby of the New Haven plant. On the wall behind it are the mounted heads of a stag and wild boar and a turkey in its entirety.
snip
Connecticut has a history of firearm production with companies like Colt's Manufacturing in Hartford; Sturm, Ruger in Fairfield; and Marlin Firearms in North Haven.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I wonder if CZUSA would be interested in yet another American Firearms company? They bought Dan Wesson last year.
Moving your manufacturing site to a different country does not preclude you from lawsuits involving the use of your product.
Leni
The leftist tick sucks another host dead.
I've got an 1892 Winchester down in my shop for repair due to a broken spring. Darned thing is only 106 years old and and it already needs work!
If you write them, they might replace the spring...free.
It was a cool gun. It is outclassed by modern firearms, though. This like being upset that a flintlock will no longer be made.
What saddens me is that they are closing the plant. If I had the money, I would buy the plant and re-tool it to make the best modern firearms possible.
Either that, or liability or both....
I thought the ability to sue gun manufacturers for crime in your area was struck down recently. I think it was the unions....isn't it obvious that unions have cost more Americans jobs than anyone else? It seems like every company that has a union these days recieves some sort of handout from the Federal government in order to continue to exist. The airlines were bailed out and are still facing bankrupcy in some cases because of this union or that. Don't the wokers understand that businesses exist to make a profit? If you erode that opportunity enough, companies will fold or seek the next best idea (usually somewhere with a less oppressive tax system). Outsourcing isn't the issue, it's a fact of life with a global economy. Unions are the issue if you ask me.
While the article never states it, it does say repeating rifle so I assume they are Model 94's. Miroku has been building the 1885's for decades and I thought I was the only one that complained. Just wait until the new 94's roll off the line with pencil thin barrels and pimp shined stocks.
IMHO, its a result of the management and bean counters running amok. The latest fad, short magnums, was an answer to a question nobody asked.There are gun makers who are doing just fine in America...
bump
Hornady just came out with a polymer tipped spitzer in .30-30, .45-70, 450 Marlin, .444 Marlin that will keep the lever actions going another 150 years. Makes [according to the reviews] a .30-30 a 250 yd. rifle. Takes a .45-70 zeroed at 100 yds., and reduces the bullet drop at 300 yds. from 9' to 25".
Lever guns are the best brush guns in the business. More deer have probably been dropped with .30-30s than any other caliber.
Winchester will continue to build shotguns. They are also discontinuing their model 70 bolt actions. This is probably because Winchester is owned by the same company that owns Browning. Browning will be the company that makes the bolt actions.Looks more like bean counting than anything else.
Same, same.
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