by Joseph P. Tartaro | Executive Editor
A lot of gun industry news these days centers around the changing world of ammunition and the new and growing consumer interest in the benefits of suppressors for both target shooting and hunting.
Let’s deal first with some items about new choices in fodder for existing guns.
Newington, NH-based arms SIG Sauer is expanding its ammunition offerings and adding at least 50 new jobs with a new manufacturing facility in Arkansas, according to the New Hampshire Business Review.
SIG isn’t the only gun manufacturer pursing the ammunition market. As recently reported in TGM, Browning and Ruger have already moved in that direction. In SIG’s case, while it has already been manufacturing and selling handgun ammunition, it will now be branching out into rifle fodder.
The new plant, which is expected to create about 50 new jobs at full production, will be located in the South because of favorable incentives.
“There is nothing negative about New Hampshire,” SIG Sauer marketing director Tom Taylor told the Business Review. “It’s just that Arkansas was very, very aggressive.”
Arkansas is giving SIG Sauer $800,000 from the governor’s Quick Action Closing Fund, along with an income tax credit based on maintaining a certain payroll level, and sales tax refunds on materials, machinery and equipment associated with the expansion, according to the publication Arkansas Business.
New Hampshire generally doesn’t offer tax breaks to individual companies.
SIG Sauer currently employs 1,100 workers in five facilities along the New Hampshire seacoast—in Portsmouth, Newington, Exeter and Epping. Taylor said he expects that New Hampshire number to grow as sales increase, especially in an election season when gun control and terrorism are major issues.
There is also a lot of movement in the ammunition industry due in part to a greater focus on lead-free ammunition and new bullet designs to overcome the loss of weight in the changeover from lead cores.
Hialeah, FL-based National Police Ammunition ((NPA), which focuses on lead-free ammo products, announced in December that it has been awarded a contract to provide Reduced Hazard Training Ammunition (RHTA) to the Department of Homeland Security/Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC) to supply FLETC as well as other DHS components and federal agencies. This contract covers a base year of 12 months and four 1-year options. Total estimated value for the five years is $10 million.
At the recent SHOT Show in Las Vegas, NPA introduced two new lead-free rounds and components.
The first was Z-CLEAN, which NPA believes is the world’s first 100% zinc projectile as a lead-free solution for the health and well-being of both shooters and the environment.
The other was their Frangible Simulated Duty Round (SDR), another 100% lead-free frangible round designed for reliable and accurate law enforcement training to simulate duty-carry ammunition. All of its components have been specially manufactured to address unique training needs within law enforcement agencies and have been rigorously tested by FLETC.
The SDR is claimed to reduce the risk of dangerous ricochets, especially within indoor training facilities, unlike many standard-issue brands.
NPA also produces HELO (High Expansion Lawman Ordnance), a 100% copper monolithic hollowpoint intended as law enforcement duty-carry and self-defense ammunition. HELO is a solid projectile without a jacket so there is no jacket separation.
In other ammunition news, Texas Armament & Technology/Aguila Ammunition is growing into the central and northeast regions of the US by adding six more distribution outlets.
Aguila Ammunition, founded in 1961, is manufactured in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico by Industrias Tecnos, S.A. de C.V. It offers a complete range of products for the self-defense, sport shooting, hunting, law enforcement and military markets. Texas Armament & Technology is the exclusive North American distributor for Aguila Ammunition.
The latest news in suppressors is that Sturm, Ruger has introduced its first suppressor, the Ruger® Silent-SR™, a .22 LR sound suppressor that features best-in-class materials and an advanced design, resulting in a lightweight, compact size and top-tier sound reduction.
The Silent-SR is designed for any threaded-barrel rimfire host, either pistol or rifle. At only 5-3/8” long and weighing just over 6 ounces, the Silent-SR’s combination of a titanium tube, stainless steel muzzle mount, stainless steel baffles and aluminum rear cap maximize strength and durability while minimizing weight. The compact 1-1/16” diameter tube allows the use of most standard iron sights. The black Cerakote™ finish is attractive and durable.
The new Ruger Silent-SR is well suited for use on threaded models of the Ruger 10/22 and Ruger American Rimfire® rifles as well as SR22, 22/45, Mark III™ and 22 Charger™ pistols. Utilizing an industry standard 1/2”-28 thread mount, the Silent-SR can be used on any threaded .22 LR, 22 WMR or 17 HMR caliber firearm. Being easy to disassemble for cleaning was among the top design priorities. The 17-4 PH stainless steel baffles, investment cast in Ruger’s Pine Tree Castings foundry, are CNC machined to snap together. This prevents the fouling associated with rimfire ammunition from reaching the tube and endcaps. A non-marring disassembly tool is included and a patent-pending muzzle mount interlock prevents disassembly while removing the Silent-SR from the firearm.
“We build the most popular rimfire silencer hosts in the United States,” noted Ruger CEO Michael Fifer, in a press release. “The Ruger 10/22® rifle and the SR22® and 22/45™ pistols have long been the go-to platforms for rimfire silencers. Now our customers have a rimfire sound suppressor from the name they trust most in rimfire firearms—Ruger,” he concluded.
The company says effective sound signature reduction in the Ruger Silent-SR was achieved through advanced fluid dynamic modeling. The five primary baffles feature patent-pending pushed-cone geometry to create effective cross-jetting within the suppressor, slowing and cooling the gasses, ultimately reducing the sound pressure level at the muzzle by up to 40 dB. First round pop—when the first round fired is noticeably louder than subsequent shots—is minimized due to the Silent-SR’s optimally-sized blast chamber. Accuracy is preserved by the symmetrical blast baffles.
By the way, Colt Defense LLC announced on Jan. 13 that it has completed its financial restructuring and emerged from its Chapter 11 process. The company concluded its restructuring after completing all required actions and satisfying all remaining closing conditions to its Amended Joint Plan of Reorganization, which was confirmed by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware last December.
Under the plan, Colt has significantly restructured and reduced its debt, improved its capital structure, and enhanced its liquidity profile. Specifically, Colt Defense has reduced its debt by approximately $200 million, after giving effect to $50 million of new capital raised through the restructuring process.
In addition, the Company has executed a long-term lease for its West Hartford Facility and has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the United Auto Workers that reaffirms its strong relationship with the union and its workforce.
Speaking of labor relations, Union Sportsmen’s Alliance and Carhartt have renewed their partnership. Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA) announced that Carhartt—the nation’s leading brand manufacturer of rugged work wear produced in the US—has agreed to a multi-year renewal of its corporate partnership.
“Carhartt is pleased to continue its partnership, now entering its fourth year, with the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance, an organization that aligns with our passion for hard work and love of the outdoors,” said Tony Ambroza, senior vice president of marketing at Carhartt, in a press release. “The outdoor conservation efforts made by the USA’s union members are invaluable because they allow all of us to continue to enjoy hunting, fishing and other outdoor activities year round.”
According to USA Deputy Director Mike d’Oliveira, Carhartt’s established presence as an industry leader in work wear and its commitment to the American worker makes a continued partnership an easy choice. Between Carhartt’s Detroit-area headquarters and factories in Kentucky and Tennessee, the company employs more than 2,100 hard working men and women—including more than 900 United Food & Commercial Workers International Union members—who design, cut, sew, market and sell garments. Over the past 15 years, Carhartt has produced more than 80 million garments in its American factories and since its start in 1889, has never stopped crafting products domestically.
There is always a financial side to any business and there is news on that score as well.
A group of outdoor industry veterans announced recently the formation of Origin Outdoor Group, the first-ever firm devoted exclusively to investing in early-stage outdoor product companies and scaling them for sustainable long-term success. Origin will utilize a go-to-market approach that not only creates new brand offerings for consumers, but also leverages product line extensions for manufacturers and addresses the private-label needs of retailer partners.
Origin Outdoor Group is led by CEO Scott Blackwell, the former President of Remington Outdoor Company/Freedom Group. Serving as Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer is John Giambrone, formerly of Shikari Group. The group’s Founders and Board of Directors includes Jay Scholes, Founder & President of Outtech Inc, Matt Tatusko, Founder & CEO of TrueSight Media, and Rick Chomik, who leads the Stress OutdoorTM practice at Stress Engineering Services.
One final item on the marketing and manufacturing side.
Caracal and Wilcox Industries announced in Las Vegas a new strategic partnership that will see Caracal firearms produced for the first time in the US from Wilcox’s world-class manufacturing facility in Newington, NH.
On the new partnership, Hamad Al Ameri, CEO of Caracal said, “This partnership takes Caracal to the next level, and supports our long-term strategic goals for the United States. Our two highly-experienced teams will be working hand-in-hand, collaborating and sharing expertise on the design and development as well as the manufacturing and testing of new, exciting Caracal products customized for the US market.”
Wilcox is well-known to the industry as an innovation leader when it comes to tactical products developed to support special forces units in the United States and globally, and are highly sought after by many of the top gunmakers.
Under the terms of the partnership, Caracal’s US-based subsidiary, Caracal USA, will co-locate its headquarters with Wilcox, with its Idaho office serving as its marketing arm. Target weapons for production at the facility include the 5.56mm CAR 814 direct impingement, semi-automatic rifle and the CAR 816 short stroke gas-piston semi-automatic rifle, both of which are designed for the US sporting market. Select-fire variants of these rifles will also be made for the defense and security market. Caracal’s new generation Enhanced F 9mm pistol will also be made in the facility.
The production of the CAR family of rifles will also enable Caracal USA and Wilcox to now compete for US government arms contracts.
The partnership will also provide Caracal with manufacturing and distribution rights for the Wilcox fusion system and the 40mm Grenade Launcher Module (GLM).
