Remington

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RemArms Wasting No Time

December 20, 2023 by

Now that RemArms has decided that the Remington plant in Ilion, NY will be closed, they are not wasting any time in selling off machinery that won’t be moved to Georgia. Indeed, there is an auction tomorrow that has 131 lots of machinery ranging from CNC machines to drill presses to milling machines.

The auction is online only and is being held by AllSurplus which is the surplus aggregator division of Liquidity Services, Inc.

Kingsbury Production Drill Machine

Most of the items for sale will require professional rigging services to load the items on 18-wheel flatbed trucks. According to the descriptions, some of these items can weigh up to seven tons. Many of the more valuable items such as CNC machines and broaching machines have reserves on them. Bids range from a high of $10,000 for a 2017 Unisig Gun Drill down to $25 for a number of smaller items such as belt sanders and drill motors. I don’t know the age of these machines but some such as a Delta drill press could date from WW2.

I imagine most of the equipment being sold is either not needed in the Georgia plant or would cost too much to move.

In addition to selling machine tools, RemArms has already been selling parts, frames, and other stuff. Dave Kiff of Pacific Tool and Gauge posted some pictures from the plant where he was buying the remainder of the Remington pre-bankruptcy Model 700 line among other things.

The saddest picture in my mind was this one. There were finished shotguns and rifles dating from the 1970s to present dotted with pigeon droppings.

Dave Kiff photo

Dave said it was like seeing a dying dinosaur waiting for its bones to be picked. That said, if you need older Remington parts, rifle chassises, stocks, AAC suppressors, etc., head to Pacific Tool and Gauge.

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Savage Chambers Firearms In 400 Legend

May 8, 2023 by 2 Comments

Winchester Ammunition, a division of Olin Corporation, announced a new cartridge called 400 Legend at the recent NRA Annual Meeting. It is a straight walled cartridge aimed at hunters in those states, primarily in the Mid-West, that prohibit the use of necked cartridges for deer hunting.

The cartridge is reported to have double the energy of a 12 gauge slug at 100 yards, 55% less recoil than a 12 gauge slug, and 20% more energy than the venerable .30-30 Winchester. It is an upgrade over the 350 Legend. The representative that I spoke with at the NRA Annual Meeting denied that they were trying to one-up the Federal/Remington 360 Buckhammer and that they had been working on it long before the SHOT Show.

In today’s email, I received a press release from Savage Arms announcing their plans to chamber a number of their rifles in 400 Legend.

Savage Arms is proud to partner with Winchester® Ammunition to bring deer hunters several rifles chambered in 400 Legend in time for 2023 hunting seasons. The new hard-hitting, yet mildly recoiling, caliber means new opportunities for deer hunters across the country. Savage will launch the 400 Legend in the 110 Apex Hunter XP, 110 Hog Hunter and Axis II XP—but will also chamber it in another 11 models in 2023.   

Straight-walled cartridges, and especially the 400 Legend’s predecessor the 350 Legend, were born for states like Ohio and Michigan. The premise being bring modern projectiles and cartridge technologies to areas, states and hunters originally limited to shotgun slug or historically limited rifle caliber options. Due to the popularity of these cartridges that has been driven by performance—straight-wall options have gained traction outside of traditional shotgun slug areas as well. The 400 Legend will no doubt continue this legacy and Savage has responded by adding it to so many rifles in its lineup.

You are probably saying to yourself, “That’s nice but so what!”.

Federal and Remington, makers of the 360 Buckhammer ammo, are part of the Sporting Products Division of Vista Outdoor. Savage Arms was a division of Vista Outdoor from 2013 until 2018 when it was spun off in a leveraged-buyout to return to its roots as an independent company. If they still had been part of Vista Outdoor, I would think that they would have gone with the Federal/Remington 360 Buckhammer from sister companies over the 400 Legend.

I am neither pro-Legend nor anti-Buckhammer. I just found it interesting that a former division of Vista Outdoor went with a competitor’s new cartridge instead of one from their old sister companies.

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.360 Buckhammer – Another Straight-Walled Cartridge (Updated)

January 16, 2023 by 1 Comment

My morning email brought news that both Federal and Remington would be releasing a new straight-walled cartridge. It is called the .360 Buckhammer. The cartridge’s primary market appears to be those states where hunting regulations have changed to allow the use of a straight-walled cartridge in areas formerly restricted to shotgun or muzzle-loader only. From the comments by the marketing teams at both companies, they are aiming this initially for use in lever action rifles.

Federal will be releasing the cartridge in 180 and 200 grain jacketed soft point versions. The cartridge is intended to match the energy and velocity of the venerable .30-30 Winchester but with softer recoil and better accuracy.

Likewise, Remington will be releasing the .360 Buckhammer in 180 and 200 grain versions. However, it will be with their Core-Lokt bullet. From Remington:

360 Buckhammer’s key features include:

  • Ultimate straight wall cartridge
  • Accurate & deadly at 200 yards or more
  • Easy to shoot with low recoil
  • 35% more energy than 350 Legend
  • Muzzle velocity: 2,215-2,400 FPS
  • .358 diameter bullets deliver deadly results on-game

Remington and, I presume, Federal are partnering with Henry Rifles to introduce the new cartridge. It will be available today to shoot at Range Day in a Henry lever action rifle. If I get a chance to shoot it, I’ll give my impressions.

UPDATE: The weather at Industry Day at the Range was challenging. That is a nicer way of saying very windy and then it got worse. They had to close the ranges due to thunder and lightening in the area. I don’t know if it resumed after the storm as I had left by then.

Nonetheless, one of the first things I did after getting to the range was shoot the Henry rifle in .360 Buckhammer. I had never shot a Henry lever action before but it is slick. It had a very smooth lever stroke. As to the .360 Buckhammer, I found the recoil to be quite reasonable and I hit the steel target off-hand every time. For those that must use a straight-walled cartridge for big game hunting, I can’t see any reason not to give this combination serious consideration.

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A Trip Down Remington Memory Lane

September 2, 2021 by 3 Comments

Way back in the day before Remington was owned and run into the ground by Cerberus they made a pistol designed by John Pederson. It was called the Model 51 and was chambered in either .32 ACP or .380 ACP. Most importantly, it actually worked.

Not content with the 1911 pistols it was selling under its own label and that of Para-USA, Remington decided to reintroduce the R51 in 9mm in late 2013 and started to hit the market in early 2014. While the pre-production prototype models got generally good reviews, when it came to the production models it was hit and miss. Actually, it was mostly miss. So many were sent back to be fixed that they announced a voluntary recall. Not only did they promise to fix it but you would get it back with a Pelican case!

Thanks to a post on Facebook, I came across this YouTube which had me laughing so hard that the Complementary Spouse had to ask whether I was OK.

I miss the old Gun Nation Podcast where the R51 and its Pelican case were the source of a running joke between Doc Wesson and the rest.

H/T Richard J.

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The Trouble With Paying Dane-Geld

July 30, 2021 by 4 Comments

Earlier this week, news broke that Remington was offering to pay the Newtown families who had sued the company $33 million to settle the lawsuit.

From The Hill:

Gunmaker Remington Arms Co. has offered around $33 million to settle a lawsuit brought by nine families of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

Remington Arms Co. LLC and Remington Outdoors Co. Inc., collectively referred to as “Remington,” offered $3.66 million to each of the nine plaintiffs in the lawsuit against them over the 2012 Newtown, Conn., mass shooting, which left 20 children and six adults dead.

Actually as NBC Connecticut makes clear, it is the two insurance companies who might be on the hook in the case who are offering to settle. This is common practice for insurance companies who make the calculation that it is cheaper to pay off the plaintiffs rather than continue to rack up legal fees.

That the case is even going forward is due to a Connecticut Supreme Court ruling that said Remington could be sued for potentially violating the state’s unethical advertising statutes. This was an end around the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act which said firearms companies could not be sued for criminal misuse of a firearm. Unfortunately, the US Supreme Court denied certiorari to Remington when they appealed.

The problem with settling is that it sets a bad precedent. So bad that it encourages other plaintiffs attorneys to sue other manufacturers when their products are criminally misused.

Thus, we have notice today of a case in Ohio where Cooper Elliott, a torts law firm that has colluded with the Brady Center in the past, plans to sue the US affiliate of a South Korean magazine manufacturer. This is based upon the use of their 100-round magazine in a mass casualty event in Dayton, Ohio in 2019.

From WBNS Channel 10:

Family members of some of the Dayton mass shooting victims will be filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the manufacturer of the 100-round magazine used in the attack.

In a news release, Columbus-based law firm Cooper Elliott said the lawsuit will be filed against Kyung Chang Industry USA Inc. and its related South Korean company on Monday. Claims against the company include negligence, negligent entrustment and public nuisance…

According to Cooper Elliott, their client claims there are only two uses of a 100-round magazine: by the military or in a mass shooting.

“The risks to public safety of making and selling these to civilians outweigh any benefits. They are also not aware of any meaningful protocols, checks, or oversight KCI has in place to make sure its product isn’t used in a mass shooting. Therefore, it was foreseeable that, without sufficient safeguards, providing 100-round magazines to the general public would likely result in them being used in a mass shooting.”

Cooper Elliott says the lawsuit will be filed in state court in Clark County, Nevada where KCI is located.

This is a BS lawsuit but once ambulance chasers start to see “dane-geld” being paid, they will start chasing it. This is what the PLCAA was supposed to prevent.

I think Rudyard Kipling said it best in his poem Dane-Geld. 

It is always a temptation to an armed and agile nation
  To call upon a neighbour and to say: --
"We invaded you last night--we are quite prepared to fight,
  Unless you pay us cash to go away."

And that is called asking for Dane-geld,
  And the people who ask it explain
That you've only to pay 'em the Dane-geld
  And then  you'll get rid of the Dane!

It is always a temptation for a rich and lazy nation,
  To puff and look important and to say: --
"Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you.
  We will therefore pay you cash to go away."

And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
  But we've  proved it again and  again,
That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
  You never get rid of the Dane.

It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,
  For fear they should succumb and go astray;
So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
  You will find it better policy to say: --

"We never pay any-one Dane-geld,
  No matter how trifling the cost;
For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
  And the nation that pays it is lost!"

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This And That

March 13, 2017 by

I was out of town at the end of last week at a company meeting. I missed that the House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee was having a hearing regarding the death of ICE Special Agent Jaime Zapata. However, David Codrea didn’t miss it nor the fact that two BATFE officials on their own accord skipped the meeting despite being “invited” to appear.

He (former Agent Vince Cefalu) was referring to Thursday’s appearance (video below) before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Activities by Thomas E. Brandon, Acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The hearing was held to further explore the ambush murder of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent Jaime Zapata by cartel operatives in Mexico, where “straw-purchased” guns allowed by ATF to “walk” across the border were recovered from the scene.

Two of Brandon’s agents, Associate Deputy Director Ronald Turk and Dallas Field Division Special Agent in Charge William Temple, were no-shows to the hearing. They decided on their own not to come testify, and Brandon informed Committee Chair Jason Chaffetz that he agreed with their decision.

Recognizing a continuation of the stonewalling that was dragged on for years by ATF and the Department of Justice under the Obama administration, Chaffetz was having none of it. He immediately issued subpoenas for Temple and Turk to appear on March 22.

Ronald Turk, you may recall, is the one who wrote a white paper discussing, among other things, removing suppressors from the NFA. You’d think a guy who is clearly aiming to be named the new Director of BATFE would want some face time with Congress even if it wasn’t going to be all favorable.

I also missed that Remington Arms Company is again laying off employees at their Ilion, New York plant due to slowing sales. My friend Rob Morse didn’t miss it. He noted:

Remington Arms is moving out of anti-gun New York..one layoff at a time. They expand their production in Alabama during a market increase, and cut from the New York plant during the downturns. I guess elections have consequences as New York voters raised both the price of doing business and of owning a gun in NY.

If you listen to the news lately, you would think that the mainstream media has been teleported to the 1950s with all the hysteria over Russia. It is almost like that 60s move The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming! Lest you think that we in the gun culture are exempt from the Russian hysteria, Sebastian discusses a Daily Beast article trying to tie the NRA to Vlad (the Impaler) Putin.

I did work the GRNC booth Saturday morning at the Asheville Gun Show. While our business was a bit slow, the crowds seemed bigger than this time last year. I don’t know whether it was bargain shopping on the part of attendees or because we were supposed to get snow Saturday night.

I didn’t check the prices of ARs at the show but they did seem down at the Winston-Salem show I attended the preceding weekend. If anyone is looking for an AR15, now is as good a time as you’ll ever get to buy one. I have seen Ruger AR-555s selling under $500 at multiple locations, off-brands for under $400, and the S&W M&P-15 in the low $500 range. If you want to look for deals, check the Reddit sub group called gun deals.

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Gun Industry News – 3

May 3, 2016 by 1 Comment

In the third bit of gun industry news, Remington Arms has announced a limited lifetime warranty for all Remington firearms produced after January 1, 2016.

In celebration of its 200th year in business, Remington Arms is introducing a new limited lifetime warranty for all Remington firearms purchased on or after Jan. 1, 2016.

“We take pride in crafting dependable, quality firearms designed to last a lifetime in the field or on the range,” said Leland Nichols, Senior Vice President/General Manager of Firearms & Accessories. “We’re proud of the Americans who manufacture our products and want to showcase their skill by offering a limited lifetime warranty on all of our firearms.”

The warranty covers the original purchaser of a new firearm from defects in materials and workmanship for the duration of their ownership of the firearm. It allows for repair or replacement of any part(s) of the firearm, or replacement of the firearm if un-repairable, so long as all other requirements of the warranty are fulfilled*.

All products purchased Jan. 1, 2016, or after are covered by the limited lifetime warranty offer.

Remington Arms was born in 1816 when Eliphalet Remington II turned his first rifle barrel in his father’s New York State forge. He soon began making his own flintlock rifle, selling thousands to American gunsmiths and creating a name for himself in the firearms business.

Twelve years later he and the factory were in Ilion, a city that has become synonymous with Eliphalet’s firearms. From there Remington won military contracts, armed the Federals in the Civil War, and saw his three sons join him in what became a family business.

In its 200 years Remington has introduced truly paradigm-shifting creations, from the Model 700 to the 870. With handgun designs providing an important piece of the company’s portfolio in its early years, Remington once again offers pistols with its 1911 and .380 ACP varieties.

For more information on the warranty and to learn more about Remington’s history, visit remington.com.

* Remington does not warrant against any type of defect to the firearm that Remington did not cause, including but not limited to:

  • Failure to provide proper care and maintenance
  • Accidents, abuse, or misuse
  • Barrel obstruction
  • Handloaded, reloaded, or improper ammunition
  • Unauthorized adjustments, repairs, or modifications
  • Normal wear and tear

Coming on the heels of Remington’s troubles regarding triggers in the Model 700 and the R-51 debacle, perhaps this is an effort to assure consumers that their troubles are in the past. I will be checking out their booth at the NRA Annual Meeting later this month.

Commentary on Facebook hasn’t been too generous. Grant Cunningham posted news of the new warranty with this comment, “Somehow I don’t think many R51 owners will be impressed.” The other comments were even less generous.

Speaking of the R-51, Richard Johnson of Guns, Holsters and Gear reports that he is hearing rumors that Remington will reintroduce the pistol at the NRA Annual Meeting. If so, that lifetime warranty was announced in the nick of time for potential buyers!

PS: I don’t think it is smart business for a company headquartered in Madison, North Carolina with their largest operations in Huntsville, Alabama to be bragging that they “armed the Federals in the Civil War.”  Are they trying to appease the anti-gun social justice warriors who want any vestige of the Confederacy erased by saying “we were for the other side”?

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The Effects Of The NY SAFE Act Coming Home To Roost

February 16, 2014 by 1 Comment

The backers of the New York SAFE Act said the law would make New Yorkers safer. About the only thing I can see that it has done is to cost good, hard working New Yorkers their jobs.

This view is shared by Fran Madore, President of United Mine Workers Local 717. The union represents the overwhelming majority of the workers at Remington’s Ilion, New York plant.

A union official said Saturday the Remington Arms Co.’s decision to open a manufacturing plant in Alabama does not bode well for Ilion, and he’s blaming New York’s SAFE Act restrictions on assault weapons.

“It can’t be good,” said Fran Madore, president of United Mine Workers Local 717, which represents 1,180 of the 1,300 Remington employees in Ilion. “How can it be good?”

Madore said plant officials told him they wanted to meet with him Monday. They did not say what they wanted to talk about, but Madore said he assumes it will be about the company’s reported plans to open a 500,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Huntsville, Ala.

In his interview with the Syracuse Post-Standard, Madore goes on to say that the NY SAFE Act crippled them and that he is worried that jobs will lost in Ilion.

I think Mr. Madore has good reason to be worried.

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A Way To Commemorate The War To End War

January 29, 2014 by 3 Comments

World War I was first called the war to end war in August 1914 by H. G. Wells. It was thought that defeating “German militarism” would bring about an end to war. How naive some were at the beginning of that brutal and horrible war which introduced tanks, planes, and chemical warfare to the arsenal of battlefield implements.

Also introduced to more widespread use in World War I was the 1911 pistol which first saw use in the latter stages of the Moro Rebellion in the Philippines. While originally only manufactured by Colt and the Army’s Springfield Armory, the need for more pistols saw other manufacturers given contracts to make the 1911. Included in this list of manufacturers was Remington-UMC.


To commemorate the 100th anniversary of World War One, Remington is teaming up with Turnbull Manufacturing to reintroduce a historically accurate Remington-UMC 1911. They will only be making 1,000 sets which include the 1911, the holster, 2 magazines, a lanyard, and mag pouch. I don’t know how much this commemorative set will be but I guess it won’t be cheap. According to the comments, you will be able to order this through your local Remington dealer.

Nice!

 

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Remington Looking At Georgia?

December 9, 2013 by 1 Comment

Georgia is home to both Glock and Daniel Defense. It is also being considered by Beretta who was reported to have scouted a central Georgia location earlier this year. Now it appears that Georgia officials are working hard to convince Remington Arms to relocate from Ilion, New York to their state.

State Sen. Burt Jone (R-Jackson) discussed this in a Q&A session with the Butts County Partners for Smart Growth this past week. Butts County is midway between Atlanta and Macon along Interstate 75.

Jones, R-Jackson, said that while Beretta has narrowed its focus to two Georgia locations — not in Butts County — the Remington Arms Company is considering relocating from New York, where its Ilion Firearms Plant and Custom Shop is located. He said state officials are working to try to bring the plant to Georgia and he’s hoping to land it in his district, possibly his home county.

Jones discussed the possibility during a question-and-answer session after his remarks Thursday to the group Partners for Smart Growth.

Remington, he said, “is looking to leave New York due to taxes, due to the unions, due to all the factors that run businesses away from your community, and they have zeroed in on the state of Georgia as being one of the states that they’re considering.”

He said he is working to get Butts County and District 25 on a list of “potential landing spots” for Remington.

“It could mean literally thousands of jobs for a community, wherever it might land,” Jones said.

It may only be wishful thinking on the part of the state of Georgia and Sen. Jones that Remington would leave New York. However, it is a fact that the NY SAFE Act has cost that state jobs. American Tactical and Kahr Arms are relocating out of state and others have decided any expansions will be made in outside of New York.

UPDATE: Tom at Fill Yer Hands reminded me that Heckler & Koch has operations down in Columbus, Georgia.

H/T Tim Glance