The historic Remington flagship factory in Ilion, New York, is back up and running this week, as employees who have been laid off since last year returned and reportedly began work on new shotguns.
Shut down in the aftermath of Remington Outdoors' federal bankruptcy filing and resulting auction last September, the New York factory along with a Tennessee-based pistol barrel plant was acquired by Roundhill Group for $13 million. Now, as Vista Outdoors is moving forward with the traditional Remington branding for a wide range of outdoor products as well as the former company's primary ammo lines, Roundhill has rebooted the storied gun-making concern as RemArms.
The (Herkimer) Times Telegram reports that 230 now-RemArms employees have been called back and production of the classic Model 870 pump-action shotgun, a staple of Remington's catalog since 1950, is set to resume.
“We are going to stabilize at that number for the next few months, to better understand the needs of that facility before we go forward with more hires,” Richmond Italia, a managing partner for the Roundhill Group, told the paper in an email.
The workers, laid off last year, are back at work after an agreement was reached early last month with local labor union officials. Some 585 employees of the plant were sent home when it closed on Oct. 26, 2020.
“This letter of agreement was a long time in the making,” said UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts in a statement last month. “It is the first step toward reestablishing a normal relationship between the union and the operators of that plant, one that will allow the professional craftspeople who have built firearms in Ilion to return to doing what they do better than anyone.”
Meanwhile, other elements of the former Remington Outdoors are nearing a return to the market as well. The Bushmaster black rifle brand, acquired by Nevada-based Franklin Armory, has been teasing a forthcoming rebirth, as has the Marlin Firearms line of lever-action rifles, which was purchased by gun giant Ruger at auction.
Banner photo: Remington 870 in the Guns.com Vault.
