WINCHESTER ? WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM ?

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  • diver dan

    Sharpshooter
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    Jan 21, 2013
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    DeMotte
    How come we dont hear much from winchester ? Dont they make rifles anymore ? I cant remember seeing a winchester rifle in gun shops for a very long time. Seems very strange , no advertizing , posters , talk about them even. Seems they disappeared ? Kind of afraid buying one when you dont know about quality anymore. Or if they could service their guns .
     

    Kirk Freeman

    Grandmaster
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    Mar 9, 2008
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    How come we dont hear much from winchester ? Dont they make rifles anymore ? I cant remember seeing a winchester rifle in gun shops for a very long time. Seems very strange , no advertizing , posters , talk about them even. Seems they disappeared ? Kind of afraid buying one when you dont know about quality anymore. Or if they could service their guns .
    1. Think of Winchester as a hermit crab. It exists but only as IP. Olin, a giant chemical company (chlorine), bought Winchester then sold it to the Winchester employees as USRA. USRA went bankrupt, but Olin still owns the name "Winchester".

    2. There is no Winchester around to make rifles. The New Haven plant closed in '06. Think of Winchester as a hermit crab, it crawls over to different gun makers and finds a home for each contract: "Winchester" rifles are made by FNH in South Carolina and Portugal or in France by GIAT or by Miroku in Japan.

    3. There is nothing to advertise. The guns, made overseas, are sold at SHOT by the Sales Garys of FNH to Bass Pro and other giant boxes by the container.
     

    Kirk Freeman

    Grandmaster
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    Winchester as far as guns are concerned has just been a marketing scheme for years. After USRA declared bankruptcy the name was licensed by FN Herstal from Olin Corp. and the actual manufacturing was done by several different overseas makers.

    Marketing scheme? Well, intellectual property, but scheme works too.

    A certain segment of the COTS market knows the name and will by guns from GIAT or Miroku as the name "Winchester" gives them reassurance.

    1672832745116.png 1672832982204.png
     

    two70

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    Feb 5, 2016
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    Johnson
    Most people seem to want either the cheapest rifle they can find or if looking for something more expensive, it will usually be intended for indulging long range shooting fantasies. Winchester's rifles are typically in the middle of those two extremes or in the case of the high end rifles, not marketed at the long range shooting crowd. Their budget rifles are somewhat more expensive than Ruger's American rifle or the Savage Axis for bolt actions and Henry rifles for lever actions which is probably the main reason you do not see them at local shops. The higher end rifles are produced in more limited numbers as well.
     

    two70

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    Johnson
    Marketing scheme? Well, intellectual property, but scheme works too.

    A certain segment of the COTS market knows the name and will by guns from GIAT or Miroku as the name "Winchester" gives them reassurance.
    Yes, they rely on name recognition because they would have to actually market for there to be an actual marketing scheme. They don't even do enough marketing to overcome the (rather silly) assumption that the rifles made in Japan are in some way inferior to domestic produced rifles.
     

    Kirk Freeman

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    Mar 9, 2008
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    Yes, they rely on name recognition because they would have to actually market for there to be an actual marketing scheme. They don't even do enough marketing to overcome the (rather silly) assumption that the rifles made in Japan are in some way inferior to domestic produced rifles.
    The Japanese make amazing guns.
     
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    Oct 3, 2008
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    On a hill in Perry C
    Marketing scheme? Well, intellectual property, but scheme works too.

    A certain segment of the COTS market knows the name and will by guns from GIAT or Miroku as the name "Winchester" gives them reassurance.

    View attachment 246025 View attachment 246026
    Reason I went with scheme is that they are very quiet about the fact it is no longer a US arms maker. IIRC the last US made Winchester was the Model 70, and even it is now made overseas.

    Maybe scheme was the wrong term to use but I was having brain lock trying to find the term I wanted to use.
     

    bgcatty

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    Sep 9, 2011
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    Carmel
    Winchester is nothing but a shell of its former itself. The name Winchester is nothing but a marketing name upon which they peddle often all manner of inferior firearms and accessories to an unsuspecting public. They put the name on everything and anything to make a buck. What used to be a great manufacturer and innovator in firearms often using designs invented by JMB or other even modern inventors of like caliber has not existed for scores and scores of years. Sad but true. IMHO!
     
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