http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c06_QmXR16g
New York Governor Cuomo’s response to the news of Remington’s “expansion” into Huntsville, Alabama: deafening silence. No surprise there. Big Green’s move south hits Cuomo on two key fronts: his administration’s middle-of-the-night suppression of residents’ gun rights and the ongoing, not-to-say unstoppable exodus of manufacturing from the Empire State. Which are now linked. Not that New York Republicans are making hay while the sun doesn’t shine. They’re keeping their mouths shut too, afraid that speaking-up for gun rights will queer their chances of reelection. Meanwhile, more news from Alabama that gunmakers are doing just fine, thank you very much. Check this from a Steyr Arms email blast . . .
Finally after months of hard labor, organizing, and moving, Steyr Arms has purchased and moved into its new 33,000 square foot facility in Bessemer, Alabama. The new facility almost doubles the size of our former location and gives us ample room for growth in the future. Although our old numbers are forwarding to us, please make a note that our new phone number is 205-417-8644 if you should need to reach us. (Yes, I am aware the footer shows our old phone number, but we are awaiting our IT department to make that change.)
“Steyr Arms is excited about its future plans and grateful for the thoughtful work the City of Bessemer has put into our expansion plan,” said Scott O’Brien, CEO of Steyr Arms. “Moving to a larger facility will enable Steyr to utilize the region’s talented workforce to increase our customer base and capacity to meet market demand. That could lead to even further expansions down the road.”
Cuomo’s New York should be so lucky. Actually, luck has nothing to do with it.
Link please if one becomes available.
Remington isn’t yet getting rid of its NY location, just expanding in a more friendly neighborhood. Maybe that’ll change, though.
It’s a real shame how the northeast used to be a major center of gun innovation before people got all scared of the nasty bang-sticks.
I can see them phasing out the NY plant entirely over time.
That handwriting is now on the wall in day-glo orange spray paint in letters 10 feet high.
There is no “if” as to Remington leaving NY State. The only questions will be “when?” and “at what rate?”
The writing was on the wall for gunmakers in New England/NJ/NY long before the last 10 years and their various bits of gun control legislation. Unionized workforces have driven up the price of labor to a point where it was no longer economically viable to base production there.
Review the history of the Winchester New Haven plant (and Winchester in general) and you see in only one company the future of all gun companies in the northeast. Winchester was pretty much done for in New Haven at the end of the 70’s.
The future of almost all agile, rapidly changing and adaptive manufacturing in the US will be in right-to-work states. There’s a reason why the European gun companies are locating in the RTW states, and for larger companies, there’s very good reasons for setting up shop in places like Texas.
Watch “the shooting wire ” space. Jim Shepherd alluded to more of big green coming to Alabama over time than the announced 2k.
As a gun lover and an engineering student all these companies moving to tax and gun friendly states will make my post college job search easier
Find any customer service or PR jobs while you’re on the hunt and feel free to share with the class 😛
Great,come the 2nd American Civil War we will have all the manufacturing in the South this time. Between Remington and Steyr in Alabama and Beretta and Barret in Tennessee and other I could mention We should win this time…
But the slave states will have weed!
And no food. We can starve them out. Or drive them away with death metal.
Read “Brave New World” again and substitute “weed” for “soma.” That should help you cope at least some.
Just wondering, but is there a faster way to reload an AUG than the guy in the video is doing?
He could be faster. Its definitely different from an AR, and takes getting used to. The best description I heard is not to be repeated in polite company ☻
It seems that the bolt does not lock back. Seems an unfortunate deficit.
Umm yea, it does?
Have AUG, it locks back. Guy in video not using bolt release. The NATO version does not lock back (The ones that take STANAG mags).
They announced back in December:
http://www.steyrarms.com/fileadmin/user/pdf/2013_Steyr_Move_PR.pdf
Cool. Can I buy an AUG now? I’ve wanted one ever since I saw Hans Grubers brother shooting one..
Isn’t it ironic that the North had most of the industrial advantage during the Civil War. It’s 150 years later and most of the manufacturing industries have left the North and settled abroad. Many have gone South to greener pastures.
Kinda but not really. The bastions of statism are pursuing a form of slavery after all.
I confess, I’ve never understood the appeal of the AUG. Yes, it’s compact. Other than that, I don’t “get” it.
It’s the “other.” It’s not an AR, it’s not an AK, it’s about as common as a Maserati (I’ve seen more Maseratis than AUGs), and it’s expensive, so there’s the unobtanium factor for most gun owners.
It’s like looking at a fine sports car, but it’s a rifle instead.
Speaking of Maseratis, have they made a big change in their marketing or pricing in the last year or two? I’ve lived in Orlando for a decade, basically, and while at the beginning of that period I might see one a month or so, over the last twelve months I’ve probably seen more Maseratis per month than I saw in my entire life prior to 2004. I’ve often wondered what caused that change.
The size is awesome. Really compact and maneuverable. But the trigger just sucks so hard that it negates any of the redeeming qualities.
Did you ever get a chance to compare it with Tavor trigger? I’m thinking of getting myself a bullpup sometime later this year, and those are the two most obvious choices. Aesthetically, I like the AUG more, but Tavor is a later design and arguably a better one… but I’d love to hear personal experiences to confirm or refute that.
I’ve got both a AUG and a Tavor(and FS2000 and a few ARs). The AUG trigger is by far the best on all the bullpups I own, Im not sure why so many folk bash it. Its really not that bad, a little worse than a mil-spec trigger on a AR. Now the Tavor is awful, so bad I pulled the optics off mine and stored it till I get one of the trigger upgrades I read about at SHOT.
It should be said if you swap the AUG stock out for the NATO version you lose one fo the connectors between the trigger and the fire control group. I imagine this would introduce more squishy-ness.
YMMV
J-Bone
Exactly what I’ve thought. It’s nice and compact. After that, I run out of virtues to extol.
SBR compactness without a NFA stamp. That right there should be a huge plus.
At the same time one doesn’t lose muzzle velocity since it uses a standard length barrel or reliability compared to a true SBR AR-15.
Great for home defense being compact and close in to you so one doesn’t have to knock into things or be clumsy with a long barrel like on most rifles or shotguns. Makes it harder for an intruder to grab being so close in to you.
Balances well with the weight in the back going into your shoulder making it feel lighter and easier to maneuver with like above.
With companies like Timney and Geisselle coming out with triggers the grittiness/spongy feel should be a thing of the past.
More room for storage in my safe and in general since they are much shorter than a conventional rifle. I could easily fire them from inside a vehicle.
Plus you always get looks from the range with them. People always want to know what they are.
If those reasons don’t convince you I don’t know what will.
It’s captain kirks phaser rifle!
This is what happens: You build a plant in a lower cost, right to work, business friendly state. Slowly you move work that is higher and higher skilled over to your new plant, you transfer some key people and slowly wind down your old plant.
Remington will eventually either close or mostly Mothball their plant in NY, it may take years but it will happen.
Hey if you want to act like The gestapo , people gonna hate you.
The only ones who work under the cover of darkness are thieves, demons, and politicians. The fact that they passed the law under the cloak of darkness speaks volumes. Sorta reminds me of how they drafted the ACA behind closed door.
Queer? Really? Is this middle school?
queer – transitive verb – to ruin, spoil or thwart (as in plans)
It’s a perfectly acceptable and literate word.
If you don’t know the meaning look it up…
Your mention of luck at the end of your article automatically prompts the great Heinlein quote: “Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as “bad luck.” “
We welcome Steyr to Alabama!
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