Winchester and Browning Enter Firearms License Agreement
 

8/15/2006


East Alton, IL, August 15, 2006 --Winchester announced today that it has entered into a long-term license agreement with Browning for the manufacture and distribution of Winchester brand rifles and shotguns.

“With this new agreement, Winchester is confident that Browning will produce innovative firearms worthy of the Winchester name, continuing a tradition that people around the world associate with the Winchester brand,” stated Richard Hammett, President Winchester Ammunition. “We are proud of our heritage as The Gun That Won the West and consider this arrangement as entering a new era for the legendary Winchester firearms brand.”
Charles Guevremont, President of Browning is equally optimistic and excited about the opportunity to continue the production and distribution of Winchester firearms. “We are more committed today than ever before to the development of exciting new Winchester firearms designs,” said Guevremont. “We will continually strive to build the quality products that generations of loyal Winchester customers have come to expect and will be proud to own and use for decades to come.”

Winchester is a division of Olin Corporation. Olin Corporation is a manufacturer concentrated in three business segments: Metals, Chlor Alkali Products and Winchester. Winchester products include sporting ammunition, reloading components, small caliber military ammunition and industrial cartridges.

For more information on Winchester products, including press releases and images, visit www.winchester.com, and then click on Press Room.

For more information on Winchester firearms, including press releases and images, visit www.winchesterguns.com.

RE: Winchester and Browning Enter Firearms License Agreement
 

Sounds good for winchester fans.

RE: Winchester and Browning Enter Firearms License Agreement
 

I was wondering who was going to pick up the name. It makes sense to me, Browning is owned by or otherwise connected to FN, who uses several winchester designs already.

RE: Winchester and Browning Enter Firearms License Agreement
 

Hooray for the firearms industry! It has sickened me since I heard Winchester was quitting, but this news is a bright spot for the whole industry.

RE: Winchester and Browning Enter Firearms License Agreement
 

A great arms company just got better!

RE: Winchester and Browning Enter Firearms License Agreement
 

Great! I'm not ashamed to admit I'm a big Winchester fan! Hopefully they will be made in the good old US of A!

RE: Winchester and Browning Enter Firearms License Agreement
 

:D. Good luck.

RE: Winchester and Browning Enter Firearms License Agreement
 

Thats all good! Lets hope they keep making them here also. I wonder how the folks who paid the big bucks gobbling up the last Winchesters feel..ouch!!

RE: Winchester and Browning Enter Firearms License Agreement
 

You guys ready for some Jap-made Model 70s? I can't say that I am. However, they'll probably be made with better quality.

RE: Winchester and Browning Enter Firearms License Agreement
 

I don't know if I can fully support this statement.
There is a chance that FN will make the rifles, they are of high quality but also not made in the US. Does anyone know who purchased the manufacturing facilities from US Repeating Arms? Might see Model 70's made in the US under a new name?

RE: Winchester and Browning Enter Firearms License Agreement
 

I thought the US repeating arms factory was owned by FN herstal.....

so in other words OLIN corp. aka winchester is pretty much just renewing the winchester name rights back to FN to make winchester guns in Japan along with the brownings

which in my opinion is a load of BS........

RE: Winchester and Browning Enter Firearms License Agreement
 

Thanks for the education HDW! Sounds like a crock to me also. Doesn't FN manufacture arms in Blegium? Are the FN Guns made in Japan then? I have a few and never bothered to look. Any ideas what will happen to manufcaturing facility here in the US? Sorry to bombard you with questions but you are a great source of info!

RE: Winchester and Browning Enter Firearms License Agreement
 

Great questions USMC PMI!!
I'm anxiously waiting for the answers myself!!

RE: Winchester and Browning Enter Firearms License Agreement
 

Encouraging. I hope it works out.

RE: Winchester and Browning Enter Firearms License Agreement
 

The U.S. companies are being closed down. Moriko in japan is where they'll be made, as is browning a bolts. I think winchesters will be made alot better now and I look forward to seeing them under better quality standards. We all know how good the browning a bolt is put together. One of the best out of the box rifles out there is the a bolt.

RE: Winchester and Browning Enter Firearms License Agreement
 

I have to hand it to the japanese they do have it in the bag when it comes to machining. Just I have a hard time with the idea of feeding japanese mouths with my money when there are Americans in need of jobs now to feed their families just because FN decided they didnt want to pay American wages at the US repeating arms plant.

RE: Winchester and Browning Enter Firearms License Agreement
 

Now mabey there wil be a decent Winchester. winchester has been lacking since the 1960's in my opinon. I hope Browning will give then the boost they need.

RE: Winchester and Browning Enter Firearms License Agreement
 

I still wont be buying one if they are made over there...Im with hdw on that one.

RE: Winchester and Browning Enter Firearms License Agreement
 

I think I'll just look for a Model 70 with a beat up stock and shot out barrel...install and after market synth stock and get a new barrel screwed into it. Like maybe a .325 win, or .338, .. maybe even a .375 H&H.

Makes me angry about the sweet little Model 70 featherwieght in 7 X 57 I let get away from me. A buddy offered it to me for $275.00 in 1991 and I thought I couldn't afford it. I should've known that I couldn't afford not to!!

RE: Winchester and Browning Enter Firearms License Agreement
 

You may hope that they make them in the "good old U.S. of A". Though it's possible, it's likely Browning will ship their manufacturing of Winchester brand firearms overseas, just like they've done with their own brand.
I own a Belgian "sweet 14" I used for years and liked it a lot. I'm not particularly impressed by their current models of shotguns though.

RE: Winchester and Browning Enter Firearms License Agreement
 

brownings not gonna be making winchesters..... Im not sure but I want to say FN has been making rifles under the browning name for 50 or 60 years or so. so an actuall browning company is technically non existant other then just a name.... Since the 1960's FN herstal has also been making winchesters in the US repeating arms plant here in the USA but not untill about 1 year ago and after losing the rights to the winchester name from OLIN corp. FN decided to shut down the US repeating arms plant. Then now FN renews the contract with Olin corp. to use the winchester name again but only they will be made in Japan along with the Brownings... technically browning and winchester dont exist other then the just being names that FN pays the rights holders to use the names and patents under contract. You following me here? browning wont be giving anything a boost...

RE: Winchester and Browning Enter Firearms License Agreement
 

So it turns out to be a corporate whoodoo with the sole purpose of shutting the plant down to move production overseas...they can shove em either way.

RE: Winchester and Browning Enter Firearms License Agreement
 

Browning has always been a trademark not a manufacturer. I don't think fn has owned usrac from its beginning. Does anyone know when fn bought usrac? Winchester has been a trademark only for over a half decade. It just so happens that US repeating arms co. chose to use the old winchester plant. This trademark thing is also showing up in the remington line in the form of eastern European firearms sold under the remington name.

RE: Winchester and Browning Enter Firearms License Agreement
 

"FOR SIMPLICITY I'M REFERING TO THE CO. BY THERE LOGO"

for my 18th birthday I was gonna get a model 70 in .458,(First gun I waslegally gonna buy) but then my hopes were crashed and now Im confused, Is Browning actually gonna make Winchester guns or is the Model 70 gonna bear the Browning logo? Maybe somebody can help me out. and explain what Winchesters gonna be for the younger generations.
Because I always dreamed of my American made model 70 but it would feel funny to me ifI knew "The Gun That Won The West' was made in another country. ohh well my 2 cents

RE: Winchester and Browning Enter Firearms License Agreement
 

the gun that won the west lol.... if you want to know which guns actually won the west they were sharps and springfield trapdoors.

winchester may have won the interest of the west when the 30-30 win was developed in the 1890's. to be honest a real winchester hasnt been made for over 40 years.

RE: Winchester and Browning Enter Firearms License Agreement
 

"Winchester, the gun that CLAIMED to have won the west."

lol thanks for the update. still though I hope somebody will continue their products. ohh yea and HighDesertWolfIf what i think is right the Sharps was a .45-70 right? I know they were single shots, but were the cartridges paper or brass? I have never actually even seen a sharps replica and ive been wondering that for a while now.

RE: Winchester and Browning Enter Firearms License Agreement
 

Griz,

The sharps started life as a paper cartidge (of sorts) rifle and later models used brass cases. The paper cartridges were kinda like a snow cone with powder in the cone and a bullet on top. That was loaded in the breech end and then a percussion cap placed on the nipple.

RE: Winchester and Browning Enter Firearms License Agreement
 

Actually, Winchester almostLOST the West. The Indians that Custer was fighting had him severely out-gunned - they had Winchester 94s, Henrys, etc to the Sharp 45-70 single shots. [:@]

RE: Winchester and Browning Enter Firearms License Agreement
 

the paper cartridge sharps were 54 cal. but when the sharps began using brass cased ammo they were available in many calibers. heres a list of the calibers I know of.

40/50 (Bottle necked cartridge)
40/70 (Bottle necked cartridge)
40/70 Sharps Straight (straight wall)
40/90
45/70
45/90
45/100
45/110
45/120
50/90
56/50 Spencer

RE: Winchester and Browning Enter Firearms License Agreement
 

FN doesn't seem to make a bad rifle under their name, the Brownings seem to be made well in the Jap. plant also. I just do not like the idea of an American icon being used to sell foriegn made products. Something about it stinks, just like the Winchester name being sold out.