With roots in the Empire State that date back to 1816, Remington is waving goodbye to New York and shifting all operations to its new Georgia plant. 

In a statement emailed to Guns.com late Thursday afternoon, RemArms CEO Kenneth D’Arcy announced the company will consolidate its firearms operations in a planned new facility in LaGrange, Georgia, southwest of Atlanta. In short, the time has come for the company to throw in the towel on its iconic factory in upstate New York. 

"We are deeply saddened by the closing of the historic facility in Ilion," said D'Arcy. "We have a dedicated workforce at the Ilion facility, but maintaining and operating those very old buildings is cost prohibitive, and NY’s legislative environment remains a concern for our industry."

Local media in New York reports that the 34-acre plant there will close in March 2024. In its heyday during the 1980s, it employed as many as 3,000 but in recent years the workforce has shrunk to around 200. When the company was founded by gunsmith Eliphat Remington, James Monroe was in the White House and Indiana was about to be admitted as the 19th U.S. state. 

RemArms, rebooted from the old Remington Outdoors in 2020, restarted operations in Ilion in May 2021, returning first the Model 870 pump action shotgun and then the Model 700 bolt-action rifle to production. 

Then, in November 2021, the company announced a new facility in Georgia, with D'Arcy saying the Peachtree State "not only welcomes business but enthusiastically supports and welcomes companies in the firearms industry." 

The new $100 million RemArms facility is billed at creating 856 jobs in Georgia. The state is already home to black rifle maker Daniel Defense, located in Black Creek; Heckler & Koch, located in Columbus; and Taurus/Heritage/Rossi, located in Bainbridge.  

The National Shooting Sports Foundation has named Georgia one of the top 10 states in the nation for firearms manufacturing, and the state has more than 80 gun-related enterprises scattered throughout the state. The trade group estimated in 2020 that these companies and their suppliers generated a healthy $1.5 billion in economic impact and employed more than 7,000 people.