Economy catching up with the shooting industry?

[imschur]

FNH Herstal has had layoffs, Freedom Group Announced layoffs, we are seeing AR-15's for $650, plentiful inexpensive ammo.....  What a difference two years makes. 

[buc378]

hate to hear that.as long as they are still built well the cheap prices are always good.well the more ammo the merrier .

[branson1369]

All of the FFL trade magazines are commiting on the market slowing and trying to give educating advice to dealers. Glad I did not take the plunge on a large inventory investment (shop is a side business)

[imschur]

I worry that it can be devastating to the manufacturers who went balls to the wall with a year or two backlog. If everyone starts canceling orders it's going to get ugly.

[J.Boyette]

I think the Ar market is to full of options and brands.

Every company from the big green to a mom and pop builds Ar-15's. Its just flooded right now.

Then to make it worse the rifle system is so simple to build that most people that own a complete rifle, order uppers for one lower, and that limits sales.

We will see how it goes, but with the AWB sun setting the sale of AR-15/10/LR-308 went nuts and kept on going up and up. Also the lack of control from most military units letting Joe E-1 put stuff on his rifle, get a picture and your sales go up.

Now since the military has a process and a package for each M-4's few Soldiers and Marines are going out of pocket for equipment.

We will see how this comes out but like both of you two, its not going to be good for some. With Freedom Group owning Bushmaster and DPMS and building rifles for Rem, I think it will soon be under one roof, at one factory, and three names of rifles.   

[TacBlade]

J.B. What is your company about?  I may have missed that somewhere?  I am just interest in it by just reading the name? Duh!  I will click on it, but would like to here your take on it also. Thanks!!

[TacBlade]

Im a member over there now J.B.  I may have to come over and you show me how to shoot!!

[imschur]

The Shooting Wire published this today

NEWS

Freedom Group Closing Bushmaster, S&W Wesson Closing T/C

Effective March 31, 2011, Bushmaster Firearms International's manufacturing facilities in Windham, Maine will be closed and manufacturing of all Bushmaster products moved to other Freedom Group facilities. Smith & Wesson, meanwhile, has announced that the Thompson/Center manufacturing facilities in Rochester, New Hampshire will also be closing. Complete details in the feature below.

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FEATURE

Closures Signal Economic Tightening?

Both Freedom Group and Smith & Wesson Holdings broke bad news for employees last week.

Late Friday afternoon, Freedom Group issued a news release announcing the March 31, 2011 closure of the Wyndham, Maine facilities of Bushmaster Firearms International.

Simultaneously, Smith & Wesson's announcement of the decision to close Thompson/Center's manufacturing facilities in Rochester, New Hampshire, initially announced in the company's second quarter financial results, was front-page news there. Thompson/Center employees got the news of the closure on Wednesday.

Both closures have been the subject of industry conjecture for some time, but the formal announcements have once again raised the question of the overall economy's recovery.

While the firearms industry ran at a near-frantic pace through the first eighteen months of the current economic downturn, sales numbers seem to indicate that the doldrums of the rest of the nation's businesses has finally arrived.

Manufacturers, distributors and retailers report even the most-scarce categories of firearms and ammunition only months ago are sitting on their shelves in a critical retail season. At the same time, new products are being rolled into a marketplace that is said to still be receptive to new gear.

In the Freedom Group's Bushmaster announcement Chairman John Blystone said "We are continuing to adjust our operations in order to remain competitive and continue to grow. Given increasing costs and pricing pressures affecting the entire firearms industry, this action is clearly necessary and responsible."

The explanation offered by Smith & Wesson CEO Michael Golden was similar, describing the Thompson/Center closure as a move to "streamline our firearms manufacturing processes and improve our margins."

No word on the disposition of Bushmaster's Wyndham, Maine facilities, but Smith and Wesson says they're looking for a buyer for the New Hampshire foundry that will be among the T/C facilities shuttered "sometime next year".

Some Thompson employees are being offered relocation packages to Smith and Wesson's headquarters in Springfield, Massachusetts; the remainder will be given severance packages.

Acquired three years ago - at what appears to have been peak profitability- T/C has been hit hard by a change in purchasing by the firearms consumers.

Bushmaster, one of the hard-charging companies during last year's boom in "black rifles" seems to be another smaller facility being phased out by Freedom Group's unrelenting drive to achieve manufacturing and distribution efficiencies.

From a business efficiencies standpoint, absorption of Bushmaster into the Freedom Group's overall manufacturing facilities and Thompson/Center's rolling into Smith's Massachusetts facilities both make sense.

That's small consolation, however, for the employees who will find themselves unemployed in what is a tough job market nationwide. That job market is even more challenging in the northeast where high taxes, operating costs and employee compensation packages have already driven other companies to more friendly locales.

Bushmaster joins Marlin Firearms in the ranks of purchased/consolidated brands of the Freedom Group. In March of this year, Freedom Group announced they would close the North Haven, Connecticut facilities that for 140 years had been that brand's home.

The Freedom Group consolidations aren't new. Beginning in 2008 with the closure of the Remington manufacturing facility in Gardner, Massachusetts, the company has continued to consolidate its holdings.

The Smith & Wesson closure of Thompson/Center will also bring product lines to a central facility with sufficient space and capacity to accommodate the additions.

While smaller "boutique" facilities continue in the firearms industry, it is no longer realistic to believe that acquisition targets will remain in their current locations when folded into larger portfolios.

[benjammin]

I have a real hard time believing that.  There have been a small lull, but in this area gun and ammo sales still not keeping up with demand.  I know at least three dealers here who tell me they have done more gun sales so far this year than in the previous 6 months.  Ammo prices are good, especially for 223, but local stores are hard pressed to keep stock in, and I note several web vendors who still are running heavy on backorders. 

People still seem plenty greedy for ammo and guns, and it appears their greed is finally being well fed.  My shelves are well stocked, but competition season is starting up again and I will be going through 100 rounds a week soon enough.  10K rounds doesn't seem like that much anymore.

[imschur]

The original post has is pretty much outdated. The Arizona shooting has tilted the table against us once again.

[benjammin]

Which I believe indicates how precarious any sense of stability in the firearms/ammo market is under the current administration.  So long as certain people remain in power, we should expect any sort of gun-control insinuation to foment a run on products.  The threat, whether real or perceived, is nonetheless tangible at the marketplace.