When will Browning start making Winchesters?

[mdatlanta]

As mentioned before in this thread, Matt Williams of Williams Firearms has posted some interesting "insight" as to the future of Winchester rifles over on the 24hr Campfire forum.  His "handle" in their thread on the subject is triggerguard1.  He did elaborate a little bit more than before.  Here's the link: http://24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/1438379/Board/29/page/2/fpart/all/gonew/1#UNREAD

[banen]

[/quote]

There is no shortage of them out there still new in box in warehouses waiting on someone to buy them. That's really the reason the factory was closed, the guns were NOT selling. No body wanted them enough to buy them and so the factory was shut down. NEWS ITEM: Folks still aren't buying them. Those models are NOT in high demand by shooters in the US or anywhere else. They got left behind in the dust. I strongly suspect any future attempts to reserect them will meet with about the same level of success.
[/quote]

Graybeard,
Maybe you are seeing something different than me, but the only Model 70s I see left on the shelf are short mags and other "odd ball" calibers.  I haven't seen any "Traditional" calibers (30-06, 270, 308, 7-08m etc).  My father has been using one of their compacts for a couple years now and right about the time I was convinced and going to buy one was when they stopped production then I couldn't find one in 308.  I think they will be back eventually.  Maybe even made in the US???  I hope so. 

[goodconcretecolor]

Making the Winchester models in South Carolina would make a lot of sense. FN already has plant there making M16's and light machineguns. Unions are also pretty weak there compared to the northeast and Great Lakes regions.

[pahuntr]

gander mountain is the only one around here that has any featherweights left and they are 25 super shorts. and thats probably because they jacked their prices up right after winchester announced they were going out of business. grice's which is the largest gunshop in my end of the state has none. and hasn't for awhile now.  walmart may still have some of the black shadows in 300 short. thats all I could find. slim pickin's at best. hopefully we'll see american made winchesters again.

[Skeezix]

I'll tell you why the Winchester M70 wasn't selling in this part of the country:  They quit chambering them in the cartridges that the folks around here wanted.  All we could find around here were those damn WSM's or WSSM's, and that is NOT what most folks wanted.  Hell, I can't tell you how many times I was in gunshops in the midwest and folks would be looking at the M70 and it would be chambered in one of those short-fats and the guy would ask "You got this in '06" or .270, or .308, or .25-06, or 7 Mag., or .280, or 7-08, or some other "normal" chambering.  And the guy behind the counter would shrug his shoulders and say "Sorry, that's all I have.  I've ordered 'em, but all they're shipping are the WSM's and WSSM's."  So the guy either does without or buys another brand, or a used rifle. 

There are still plenty of short-fats to be found around here, but nobody wants them.  The short mags are definitely killers.  They killed Winchester, or at least drove the last couple of nails into their coffin.

[Minnesota1]

About 5-6 years ago I really wanted to buy a bolt action rifle.  I really wanted a Winchester model 70 because it was an American Classic.  I went to every gun shop in the area and tried all the triggers and not 1 broke clean.  All of them were rough dual staged horrific triggers.  All I could think about was if I purchased this gun I would have to either buy a timney type trigger or have a gunsmith smooth it out-either way I would be into the gun another $60-$90.  I was so disappointed and angry I called up Winchester and spoke with a guy who had been there for quite some time.  I told him that the average Joe would go and try out Winchester guns and the first thing he would encounter is that horrible trigger.  He told me he knew that and for some time had been telling the uppers that they needed to get better triggers.  They didn't follow his advice and he said all they could think about was shaving a dime off of this part or that or putting cheaper parts in their rifles.

I believe that is why nobody wants their rifles.  Cheap parts that don't work very well.  If they had just added a little more to their guns they would have had my sale and who knows how many other sales they lost to that.  It's like the Toyota or Honda guy said when asked how they were beating the American car company's and he replied,"We put a dime part in where they put a nickle."  Some times the small things add up to a better value to the consumer.  I would have paid more for a M70 if it would have just function correctly.

Bob