US domestic firearms manufacturing

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Slater

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Given the demise of Winchester and the recent loss (again) of Ithaca, it makes me wonder about the future of firearms production in the US. Profitability is the bottom line, and companies can obviously make more money by having their products manufactured overseas. Remington, Savage, Mossberg,etc. are still here but what are the chances of them shipping everything to China, Mexico, and wherever?
 
seems thats the way things are going we are losing more and more to other Countries, something needs to be done Im just not sure what the answer is ??? I have my own opinion but that just starts a whole new arguement.
 
Maybe if winchester had been making rifles people wanted they'd still be around. There are only two companies currently making rifles that actually look nice for less than $1000. Ruger and CZ. Everyone else is either expensive or cheap looking.
 
For many nostalgic gunowners there was a myth that the best (quality) guns were American made....for the record nearly all Brownings, Lugers, Mausers, etc never had their birth on American soil. Only difference now and 100 years ago, is more quality guns are being produced overseas.

Really don't care what flag my firearms are manufactured under as long they are of the highest quality.
 
Standing Wolf said:
For every tired old big name company that falls by the wayside as a result of mismanagement, five new companies spring up.
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OVERSEAS
 
f4t9r said:
OVERSEAS
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Wrong. Kahr, NAA, and USFA have all found a way to be profitable in the US. US companies like these have exploited unfilled market niches and inadequacies. Companies are either growing or dying. Some of the old, tired companies either need to adapt or they'll go out of business.

S&W is a shining example of an old company that can adapt and stay competitive. Continous special releases of "classic" guns, short run manufacturing made efficient by state of the art production machinery, and their current horizontal integration should keep them competitive for a long time to come (unless they get stale - like Colt).

Standing Wolf is spot on with his comment.
 
Wrong. Kahr, NAA, and USFA have all found a way to be profitable
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Also Springfield and Kimber, not to mention the old ones like S&W, Remington (not sure how it is doing really) and Ruger. The key is to make something innovative that can get you a lot of new sales or a goverment contract. Gun owners tend to despise change so they hate to see the old names go. The reality is that companies get fat overtime and they run into problems. Not to mention we like our German firearms, and have for the past century or so, at the expense of domestic manufacturers.
 
Dan Wesson reinvigorated, SIG expanding domestic production.

What we see are manufacturers that make new innovative products doing well, and companies that sit back and spectate floundering.

Is that any surprise? They teach that in first year business school.
 
Standing Wolf said:
For every tired old big name company that falls by the wayside as a result of mismanagement, five new companies spring up.
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In the South as far away from unions as possible:neener: HA HA Right to work!
 
Winchester name has been owned by FN for decades. I would not really call it a US company, since many of the guns where made overseas by FN. Anyway, there are plenty of American owned gun manufactures that are doing very well.
 
Slater said:
Given the demise of Winchester and the recent loss (again) of Ithaca, it makes me wonder about the future of firearms production in the US. Profitability is the bottom line, and companies can obviously make more money by having their products manufactured overseas. Remington, Savage, Mossberg,etc. are still here but what are the chances of them shipping everything to China, Mexico, and wherever?
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i wont buy a guns made overseas by american companies trying to save a buck. look at all the stuff that is made in china and its all crap.... i think an american worker who takes pride in his american company will do a much more quality job than some chinese person punching out model 94's. (nothing against chinese people) i'm surprised that winchester is closing this plant and giving up part of their legacy. guess we'll all have to buy marlins from now on.:)
 
Kel-Tec! 100% made in the USA. Doing very well. Well the metal stock is improted but that's it.
 
palerider1 said:
i'm surprised that winchester is closing this plant and giving up part of their legacy. guess we'll all have to buy marlins from now on.:)
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Winchester hasn't existed as a corporation for years. The name is owned by Olin, a chemical company, which happens to manufacture ammunition, so I imagine we'll continue to see Winchester ammo on the shelves. Olin has been licensing the rights to produce firearms with the Winchester name to Herstal, a Belgian company that also has the rights to produce firearms under the Browning name, as well as their own FN logo. Herstal, which owns the old Winchester factory, is the one that made the decision to close the plant.

I would expect that Olin will try to license the Winchester name to another firearms producer, perhaps Uberti, since they are already building the most popular Winchester designs, primarily for the cowboy action shooting market. Such a licensing agreement would allow Uberti to produce Model 1866 and Model 1873 rifles with the Winchester name.

There are other companies that might be interested in using the Winchester name. Perhaps USFA, if they want to expand into rifle production; or the folks who make the Henry brand rifles. It could be a good fit for them. I seriously doubt that we've seen the end of the Winchester name on firearms.
 
jerkface11 said:
Maybe if winchester had been making rifles people wanted they'd still be around. There are only two companies currently making rifles that actually look nice for less than $1000. Ruger and CZ. Everyone else is either expensive or cheap looking.
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I pretty much agree with you here; and I am reminded of how nice the wood stocks are on a great number of Rugers I have seen, even recently.
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It seems to me that manufacturers in foreign countries should be moving their factories here. With the UN disarming more and more nations, those companies are eventually going to run low on LE and military people to sell weapons too. There will be a very small civilian market for them to make money on, except for in the US.
 
IndianaDean said:
It seems to me that manufacturers in foreign countries should be moving their factories here.
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They already have moved here. Beretta and Sig already make firearms here. HK is building a plant in Georgia. They are doing this for the same reason Toyota, Honda, Nissan, BMW, Mercedes and Hyndai build there cars and trucks here, simple economics.
 
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