Winchester closing it's doors after 140 years.

[OU4LIFE]

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2006-01-20T003954Z_01_N19183655_RTRUKOC_0_US-LIFE-GUNS.xml&archived=False

man, that's just sad.

[SoonerWood]

I get this from that link:

We're sorry... this story is not currently available


© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

[crawfish]

Well, not a surprise after it got destroyed by zombies.

[1stTimeCaller]

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut (Reuters) - The Connecticut factory that produced the Winchester rifle, celebrated in cowboy movies as the gun frontiersmen used to settle the American West, is shutting down after 140 years in New Haven.

Belgian-based Herstal Group told its 186 workers this week it plans to shutter the U.S. Repeating Arms plant, formerly known as Winchester Rifle Company, on March 31 due to slow sales.

That would end production of the Model 70 bolt-action rifle and the Model 94 lever-action rifle, known as "The Gun that Won the West" because of its use by frontiersmen in the late 19th century.

Newer models carrying the Winchester name still will be produced in Belgium, Japan and Portugal, the company said.

"If this plant does close, it will be the end of an era," said facility director Paul DeMennato, speaking from the New Haven factory, which employed more than 15,000 people during the 1940s and produced millions of guns over the decades.

The Winchester rifle became a symbol of the American West as wielded by movie star John Wayne and was later used on a popular U.S. TV series called, "The Rifleman."

Earlier, President Theodore Roosevelt helped popularize the gun by using it on a much-publicized African safari.

The company met with a prospective buyer late Wednesday, DeMennato said on Thursday, adding it was too early to tell if a sale was a serious possibility.

"Something like this isn't like buying a house," he said.

In the past year the plant dropped production by 50 percent, DeMennato said, noting that a strong international market producing less expensive rifles prompted the company to make the decision to shutter the plant.

The former owner of the factory, Missouri-based Olin Corp., still owns the rights to the Winchester brand name and licenses it to Herstal. That license expires in 2007.

Workers expressed a mix of frustration and anger after hearing the news on Tuesday.

"We've given up a lot, everything to keep this place going," said Mary O'Toole, an assembly worker with 18 years at the company. "You have generation upon generation working here and to see it go under now just doesn't seem right."



© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

[colleyvillesooner]

Shaun is gonna be ****ed.

[colleyvillesooner]

Well, not a surprise after it got destroyed by zombies.

damn you.

[critical_phil]

but the drive-in is still open, right?

[Rhino]

FREAKIN' LIBZZ TRYING TO TAKE OUR GUNS!!!!!!!!!!!!

[n8v_ndn]

...strong international market producing less expensive rifles prompted the company to make the decision to shutter the plant.

I believe Marion Morrison would tell you sissies to buy one for each trigger finger...now.

[Okla-homey]

Here's the thing. I hate this, but there is no way that Winchester is gone for good. The brand is simply too valuable. Some group of investers will buy the company, probably set up shop somewhere more gun manufacturing friendly, and will be cranking out model 94's again in no time flat. Just watch.

That's the way it went down with Colt BTW.

[william_brasky]

Workers expressed a mix of frustration and anger after hearing the news on Tuesday.

People making firearms frustrated and angry. :eek:

[AlbqSooner]

Here's the thing. I hate this, but there is no way that Winchester is gone for good. The brand is simply too valuable. Some group of investers will buy the company, probably set up shop somewhere more gun manufacturing friendly, and will be cranking out model 94's again in no time flat. Just watch.

That's the way it went down with Colt BTW.
Anybody found a use for the GM plant in OKC yet?

[Okla-homey]

Anybody found a use for the GM plant in OKC yet?

That would be waaay cool to have Winchester in Oklahoma. I wonder if T. Boone would come off some more dough?

[BajaOklahoma]

Does this means they are going to stop working on the Winchester mansion?

[oumartin]

Why not. Pickens already has thrown over 200 million at a big pile of sheep poop. surely he can spend a little bit of his cash on something a little more useful.

[Okla-homey]

Does this means they are going to stop working on the Winchester mansion?

hee hee. That place is craaazy. I saw something about it on that old "Ripley's Believe It or Not" TV series -- the one Jack Palance hosted. Palance made that flippin' series BTW.

[Okla-homey]

Why not. Pickens already has thrown over 200 million at a big pile of sheep poop. surely he can spend a little bit of his cash on something a little more useful.

I wouldn't even mind too much if he named it the "T. Boone House of Boom-Boom Winchester Plant #1" and put an orange roof on it.

[Widescreen]

This is what happens when frickin Euros buy American companies.

[StoopTroup]

This is all Bush's fault. :D