New Owner of Remington Arms Talks of its FUTURE

[ndking1126]

I've heard that the real estate is going to be sold by the local gov't. Remington still owes about 12 mil. to them because of incentives, tax breaks, unfulfilled agreements, etc. Property supposedly worth in the neighborhood of 50 mil.

True, they did owe the city. They hadnt hired as many as they said they would as part of the agreement with the city either. I was hoping one of the bidding companies would want the facility and keep the employees employed. Hadnt heard either way, thanks. Mazda and Toyota are opening a MASSIVE plant about 4 miles the other way from my house. Maybe a lot of the Remington people can find employment there.

 

[Jud96]

This has mostly been said, but bears repeating: Remington will need to buck the current trends. Chasing the market with Fad Guns or Fad Calibers is a long term loser. Others have saturated that segment. Go back to a basic lineup of carefully produced bolt guns, and the more successful and iconic shotguns. Also concentrate on some of the original Remington calibers in iconic platforms. An updated 788 or M7 in 7MM-08 and .260 or the MSR in 7-08 or .260. The return of a revitalized M700. (Maybe that's what Ruger is looking for in Marlin. Being less a fan of Ruger than of Marlin, I hope they don't screw it up.) Make up for the "ho-hum" factor with some truly OCD quality focus. If the quality is here, you can sell it. And, yes, get the heck out of that state. Ilion has a history with Remington, and it's a nice place, but unless you can turn around the political culture in NY (and along with that the perceptions of gun owners) your location is a millstone around your neck. The kind of folks who work for Remington would be welcome here in NC. Far more than the socialist gun-hating trolls who too often come rolling downhill.

Remington is in the position they are in because they don't keep up with trends. Whether you or anyone loves it or not, the 260 is done for as a commercial cartridge and the Creedmoor is the future. They would just be leading themselves down the road of failure again if they just focus on Remington cartridges and not new "fads." They need rifles chambered in 6.5 PRC, 300 PRC, 6mm Creedmoor, 6.5 Creedmoor, 28 Nosler, etc. That will draw more people than you think towards them. Especially if they're one of the first manufacturers to jump on a new cartridge. Look at Savage, they don't mess around when it comes to bringing people what they want.

 

[startrek1761d]

Would love to see the old BDL rifles with gloss blue and nice walnut like the old days,

 

[RAGGED EDGE]

"Remington is in the position they are in because they don't keep up with trends."

Remington is where they are today because of bad management, poor quality control, and debt, period.

 

[Pdvdh]

One and the same.
I'll add poor customer service. They lost me as a customer 10yrs ago.

 

[Jud96]

Bad management as in sticking with the same twist rates and cartridge selection they have offered for the last 20 years and taking forever to catch up with the times. That's a big deal.

 

[clemens]

They even dropped the ball on the RUM cartridges especially on brass. Frivolous law suit didn't help the situation. Hopefully things will turn for the better

 

[Bruce Treloar]

Suggest Remington make precise bolt guns like the 40X, 700 788 783 Keep all existing calibers like the 6BR and add 6mm Dasher. Someone is making a fortune out of Dasher cases so why not Remington .

 

[Deputy Sheriff]

I think the faulty trigger was the final nail in the coffin.

 

[Tac-O]

I truly hope they make their quality better and more consistent. I've been wanting a nice high gloss BDL and one of their AWR 700s. When they do, I'll be first in line to have one to pass to my kid someday. I'd rather pass that on than my Tikka.

 

[Wyowind]

Maybe they'll learn how to a put a proper twist rate in a barrel and relearn to ream a somewhat concentric chamber. Hoping they do better this go round.

There have been many good comments on this situation already, but I thought I would add some personal experiences as additional fodder on the past state of Remington.

I have looked down a small number of Remington barrels with a bore scope. And I have been distressed to see so many non-concentric chambers, where lands start properly on one side but not the other. Some of these guns even shot reasonably well.

One of these was a new Remington 700 in .308. The owner was not a handloader, so he shot Remington factory .308 ammo. And he was getting unmistakable pressure signs on the brass. He was also getting OK groups from this gun and ammo. An inspection with the bore scope revealed a very non-concentric chamber as the cause of the problem. He opted to rebarrel the rifle, at his own expense, and then had a fine shooting rifle which no longer gave any pressure signs.

I was also party to the purchase of a new Remington 700 hunting rifle in .270 Winchester. On the first trip to the range, the bolt handle fell off before the first round could be chambered. Never even got to fire the first round before the rifle was useless. There was almost no solder on the two surfaces where the bolt handle attached to the bolt. Remington made it right, and they provided a new bolt fitted to the rifle, but it was too late. The magic was gone, and a new rougher bolt did not bring it back. The rifle shot fine, but that result came from a new owner.

Still, I like Remington bolt guns. Over the course of quite a few years, I have had much success with one. And no problems with it either. There is nothing wrong with a Remington 700 that can not be fixed, at least from a design, engineering, and manufacturing viewpoint.

To me it seems very possible for Remington to recover their lost status, if they have the resources and the management support and direction to do so. First off, they will have to make quality control a top priority! There are other issues as well, but becoming known once again as a top quality manufacturer would go a long ways to helping them get back to where they once were.

I wish them luck.

Wyowind

 

[DJohn59]

1. Leave NY
2. Move to red state.
3. Buy new machines
The inside of the plant looks like a pre WWII place.

Bet Idaho would welcome Remington with open arms!

 

[Bob Wright]

Bet Idaho would welcome Remington with open arms!

A lot of western states, sans Pelosifornia, would line up for that opportunity.

 

[Calvin45]

Remington employed too many hand operations where machining would have resulted in a better rifle. For instance: threading the receiver for the barrel by hand, resulting in off center and barrels not concentric to the action. Remington needs some engineers to straighten out their build processes to get things concentric, parallel, and perpendicular the why the prints specify! I love Remingtons, but their quality has fallen dramatically over the years!

Yeah you make a good point. People get romantic and nostalgic about doing things by hand, "the old fashioned way" .... there's a very good reason we don't do things that way anymore in applications that require perfection. There's an art to all of this and of course you want real people with experience and skill and knowledge and passion for what they do behind the wheel...but building precision instruments of any kind is science first, art very distant second (and the debacle with Remington falling from grace shows that no amount of marketing, hype, or spin can atone for a poor product, for scientific inferiority in the name of tradition)