It has been confirmed in a Janury 2006 Winchester press release to the media (and subsequently in conversation with Winchester/USRAC representatives at the 2006 SHOT Show) that the Belgian Herstal Group that owns both Browning and USRAC/Winchester will be closing the Winchester factory in New Haven Connecticut on March 31, 2006. Winchester ammunition is produced by the Olin Corporation, a separate corporate entity, and is not affected by the closure.

This is not entirely unexpected. Guns and Shooting Online Senior Contributing Editor Randy Wakeman had informed me a couple of months before the official announcement that the Herstal Group were trying to sell Winchester, with no apparent success, and might close down the factory. During the recent 2005 Christmas holidays I had heard that Winchester was closing, but it was not clear if just for the holidays, or permanently. I chose to believe the former, and did not pursue the story. Actually, it is not a story that I wished to pursue, or have confirmed, or write.

A couple of weeks later Guns and Shooting Online contributor Terry Hart again brought Winchester's closing to my attention. Again I did nothing to pursue the story. Finally, after the USRAC press release, I reluctantly visited the New Haven Register's web site to get their take on the story. (Here is their Home Page URL: www.nhregister.com )

On 18 January 2006, Damian J. Troise of the Register Staff reported that U.S. Repeating Arms had officially announced that, after 140 years in New Haven, they would be closing their doors by March 31, 2006, ending the production of Winchester brand firearms in the United States. 186 New Haven jobs will be lost.

Troise reported in his article that, "USRAC Facility Director Paul DeMennato said the move will essentially result in the end of the Winchester-brand firearm. However, Scott Grange, a spokesman for Browning/Winchester, a Herstal division based in Morgan, Utah, said the Winchester brand will continue."

Future Winchester brand guns will be manufactured in Japan and Europe, as has been the case with the Model 1885 High Wall and Low Wall single shot rifles, Model 1886 and 1895 lever action rifles, the new SXR autoloading rifle (a version of the BAR), X2/SX3 autoloading shotguns (relabeled Browning Gold models), and Select O/U shotguns in recent years. And these models will continue to be offered under the Winchester name, as will a cheap line of Eastern European .22 rifles. But the heart of the Winchester line, the Model 70 bolt action rifles ("The Rifleman's Rifle), Model 94 Lever action rifles (descendent of the "Gun that Won the West"), and Model 1300 pump shotguns have always been manufactured in New Haven. These models are now officially discontinued and there are no plans to revive them by overseas manufacture.

During the Company's time in the sun, under the leadership of industry giants such as Oliver Winchester and John Olin, the Winchester name was synonymous with quality. But the great Winchester rifles mentioned in the paragraph above, which anchored the Company's reputation in the 20th Century, were labor intensive to produce.

In 1964 most Winchester firearms were redesigned for more economical manufacture. Winchester's chief competitor in those days, Remington, had done the same thing in the previous decade with great success, particularly in the case of their 700 series bolt action rifles and Model 870 pump shotguns. But in Winchester's case the market refused to accept the revised Model 70 and Model 94 rifles or the new shotguns, the Model 1300 pump (a replacement for the beloved Model 12) and 1400 autoloader (intended to compete with Remington's Model 1100). I guess people simply held Winchester to a higher standard. I date the beginning of the end for Winchester from that time; the Company never really recovered from the debacle of 1964.

Eventually the much-maligned post-'64 Winchesters were sorted out and the Model 70 Classic and Model 94 returned to a reasonable facsimile of the original models. But the damage had been done. Ultimately, Olin Corp. sold the Winchester factory in New Haven to the newly created USRAC and licensed USRAC to use the Winchester name on its firearms.

This arrangement seemed to work for a while, but USRAC was later acquired by the Herstal group, who have basically run USRAC/Winchester into the ground. Competition from cheaper guns produced overseas was a big factor in Winchester's demise as a U.S. gun maker, but so was an inability to maintain the level of quality expected in a gun bearing the proud Winchester name. And, of course, from the (Belgian) Corporate viewpoint, the Model 70 and Model 94 were simply competing with their more economically produced and more profitable Browning A-Bolt and BLR models for market share.

The last U.S. made Winchester reviewed by Guns and Shooting Online, just a couple of months ago, was a beautiful .25-35 caliber Model 94 rifle dubbed the "Trail's End Hunter Octagon." (You can find that article on the Product Review Page.) But that rifle's beauty only went skin deep. While the fundamental quality was good, its assembly and workmanship were sloppy. As I pointed out in the review, it was a nice rifle, but produced by people who clearly didn't give a damm. If the rifle were completely disassembled, the parts fitted and polished properly and then reassembled it would have been a sweet rifle. But at a retail price of $816, such drastic measures should not be necessary. In fact, they should never be necessary with any Winchester firearm, a statement with which I am confident that Oliver Winchester would have wholeheartedly agreed.

In his Register article, Damian Troise quoted a Winchester press release from Tuesday, Jan. 17th as saying, "This action is a realignment of resources to make Winchester Firearms a stronger, more viable organization. Winchester Firearms plans to continue the great Winchester legacy and is very excited about the future."

Sure they are . . ..

Winchester Spokesman Scott Grange was quoted by Troise as saying that it was strictly a financial decision. "After years of attempting to make the facility profitable, our owners have decided that's just not going to happen," said Grange. "The bottom line was we were losing money on every gun we built." Grange also commented that USRAC has been up for sale "for a lot of years. That's not a new idea." USRAC's right to use the Winchester name on the firearms that it produces expires in 2007.