Just Daym!

Please tell me they aren't really going to shut down the Winchester rifle factory.
I know, it's a fact of capitalism and all, but that's an American Icon. Hell, even the Union is helping management look for a buyer.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- U.S. Repeating Arms Co. Inc. said Tuesday it will close its Winchester firearm factory, threatening the future of a rifle that was once called "The Gun that Won the West."

"It's part of who we are as a nation just like it's part of who we are as a city," Mayor John DeStefano said.

The announcement touched off a lobbying effort by city officials and union leaders who hoped to find a buyer for the plant before it closes March 31. If no buyer comes forward, it could spell the end for nearly all commercially produced Winchesters, said Everett Corey, a representative of the International Association of Machinists District 26.


I've never owned a Winchester, but have shot several of them sweet thangs. There is a sense of history in just the name, it's the 'gun that won the west', Teddy Roosevelt used them. Chuck Conners wouldn't have been "The Rifleman" without a Winchester. Sure there were other makes, Henry, Marlin, Spencer, Remington- but the one that resonates is the Winchester-with visions of the lone cowboy holding off a horde of Cheyenne Indians.

I wish I had the money to buy one right now.

Via Rob