This passing of an American icon seems sadder than most, for some reason:
The traditional Winchester rifles carried by pioneers, movie stars and Wild West lawmen will be discontinued in March, a Belgian manufacturer said Wednesday, confirming the end of an American icon that became known as "The Gun that Won the West."
One of the problems apparently is that the Winchester is just too good:
While collectors were drawn to Winchester's many commemorative or special-edition rifles, sportsmen often still hunt with rifles that are generations old, a longevity that historian R.L. Wilson said became both the hallmark of the Winchester brand and part of its demise.
Can't say that about too many things these days. I have a few things meant to last long enough to pass along -- a Mont Blanc pen, a beautiful wooden hutch, an old coffee table. Most of what I have is merely functional. Need to replace it, no tears shed.
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It has been both a blessing and a curse that gun collectors and enthusiasts would often prefer to own a vintage Winchester rather than a new one.
It is expected that the Winchester name, and possibly the manufacturing plant, will be sold to another owner and Winchester will continue to grace gun store shelves, but of course that won't be quite the same to the purists, and will only increase, in some quarters, the desire to acquire one of the older products.
It is my impression that Winchester's current management could have done what other gun manufacturers do, and that is to solve their relatively minor quality issues, and introduce new products with more useful advanced features, giving gunners a reason to buy new. But Winchester preferred to stick with its mainstays, the lever action rifles and the shotguns, and a small line of well respected hunter/sniper bolt action rifles.
Unfortunately, when Winchester did try to update products, the "improvements" were not always well conceived. "Gun Test" magazine reports that the rear sight on their test Winchester 1300 shotgun fell off after only two or three rounds being fired! That is hardly "old Winchester" quality.
Fresh corporate management could most likely have fixed Winchester by tweaking quality and introducing new guns, but as too often happens to companies in trouble, the current management elected to stay and preside over a good company's demise.
For the sake of accuracy, an update from the manufacturer sounds somewhat different from initial news reports. The following excerpt is from "Gun List" magazine's news updates section:
"U.S. Repeating Arms, the maker of both Winchester and Browning firearms, recently announced plans to close its New Haven, Conn., manufacturing facility. As a result, three classic Winchester firearms will be discontinued.
"Effective March 31, the New Haven facility will stop making the Winchester Model 70, a classic bolt-action rifle, the Model 94, a classic lever-action rifle, and the Model 1300, a venerable pump-action shotgun...
"USRAC is owned by Herstal Group of Belgium...
"The action [of closing the New Haven plant]is a realignment of resources to make Winchester Firearms a stronger, more viable organization. Winchester Firearms plans to continue the great Winchester legacy...
"USRAC said it planned to expand its current line... [including] the new Super 3X shotgun, the new Super X autoloading rifle, and select over-and-under shotguns.
"The company also plans to introduce new models..."
I guess rumors of Winchester's death have been greatly exaggerated.