Guns: Winchester Factory Closing

Its a sad day when you see that an American icon, the US Repeating Arms Company which made the Winchester Repeating Rifle is closing its doors. This factory had made fine firearms at this factory since 1866. How sad for firearms enthusiasts as well as every American to see this history and tradition end....

January 23, 2006

NEW YORK: Come the northern spring, the Winchester rifle, immortalised as the gun that won the West, will be made in Portugal and Japan.

The US Repeating Arms Company, which has made rifles and shotguns in New Haven, Connecticut, since 1866, is set to shut its doors on March 31.

Workers were told of the decision to close the plant last week after executives learnt last month that sales this year were expected to decline by one third.

The Winchester repeating rifle was the gun of choice for Western settlers after it was introduced in 1866. The lever-action breech mechanism allowed the user to fire a number of shots before having to reload. The gun assumed a stock role in Hollywood westerns and became a kind of sidekick for the actor John Wayne.

"Instead of saying, 'Get me my gun,' he would say, 'Get me my Winchester,"' said Paul DeMennato, a company spokesman.

A three-metre-high bronze statute of Wayne, clutching a Winchester, stands in the lobby of the New Haven plant.