Winchester new guns
I am so busy collecting and looking for guns from the 1950s to the very early 80s that I know very very very little about new guns. I don't even look at the new stuff. Someone told me they bought a new Winchester lever action in a 44 yesterady.
I know Winchester went out of buisness a few years back. Are they back in buisness now and is it the same company?
I know Winchester went out of buisness a few years back. Are they back in buisness now and is it the same company?
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Not really.
Winchester has been a division of the FN conglomerate for some time, but until 2006 still operating out of the New Haven location.
Now the bolt actions are made at the FNH plant in South Carolina and the lever actions are from Miroku in Japan.0 -
newest one is win 92 take down trapper in 357/44/45clt 0 -
briguy,
Actually, Everything Winchester has been owned by the Olin Chemical Company since 1931. In 1981, U.S. Repeating Arms Company is formed and manufactured Winchester-branded rifles and shotguns in New Haven, Connecticut, under license from Olin Corporation. When U.S. Repeating Arms went bankrupt in 1989 it was acquired by a French holding company, then sold to an arms making cartel sponsored by the Belgian Herstal Group, which also owns gun makers Fabrique Nationale d'Herstal (FN) and Browning Arms Company.
On January 16, 2006 U.S. Repeating Arms announced it was closing the New Haven, Connecticut, plant where Winchester rifles and shotguns were produced for 140 years. Along with the closing of the plant, the Model 94 rifle, Model 70 rifle and Model 1300 shotgun would be discontinued.
On August 15, 2006, Olin Corporation, owner of the Winchester trademarks, announced that it had entered into a new license agreement with Browning to make Winchester brand rifles and shotguns, though not at the closed Winchester plant in New Haven.
In 2008 Fabrique Nationale announced that it would produce Model 70 rifles at its plant in Columbia, SC. In the summer of 2010 Browning Arms resumed production of the Winchester model 1894 and the evolution of the Winchester 1300, now called the Winchester SXP. The Model 94 is produced in Japan, as a limited edition model.
So, while the original Winchester company has not been around for a long time, what we have today is a longtime owner of its assets, Olin, licensing the rights to use the name "Winchester", and to manufacture Winchester designs.
Whew![;)]
Sources:
http://www.leverguns.com/leverguns/winchester_history.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester_Repeating_Arms_Company
"Made in Japan" on the barrels of the Model 940
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