Remington Closes Ilion, New York Factory after 200+ Years
Remington is closing its Ilion, New York firearms factory after 208 years of operation — more than two centuries. Over 300 jobs have been lost with operations moved to Georgia. Get the full story from this Fox News video. Ilion’s Mayor, John Stephens, is interviewed. He notes that the factory closure will have a huge negative impact on the city’s tax base and budget and the “nostalgic and historic loss is a bigger burden to bear”. City, county, and state officials are now “actively working on a re-use for the facility”.
Founded in 1816, Remington Firearms remains one of the United States’ largest domestic producers of shotguns and rifles. Several of the company’s strategic products will be manufactured in Georgia. The new headquarters will also become home to an innovative research and development center.
Remington Has a Storied History
Founded in 1816 by Eliphalet Remington in New York, Remington is the oldest continuously-operating gun manufacturer in the United States. Prior to the re-organization, Remington sold more sporting rifles and shotguns than any other American company. Remington has developed more cartridges than any other U.S. company. And for decades Remington was the only American company that sells firearms AND ammunition under its own name. Now Remington ammo is produced in Arkansas, as a separate business. Remington’s ammunition business was acquired by Vista Outdoor, parent of CCI, Federal, RCBS and other major shooting/outdoor industry brands.
Remington Outdoor Company (Remington) will open a big new factory in Alabama. Remington, formerly the Freedom Group, encompasses 18 brands in the gun-making and outdoor industry. According to the Military Times and Alabama news media, Remington will be opening a 500,000-square-foot production facility near Huntsville, Alabama. This could bring as many as 2,000 jobs to the Huntsville area. The new plant is not earmarked for a specific brand in the Remington family, so it could produce a variety of firearms products. (Remington also operates factories in Kentucky and New York, and an ammunition plant in Arkansas.) After necessary build-outs, the Huntsville plant is expected to start production in 2015.
