Marlin Firearms Co. To Close North Haven Plant

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Marlin Firearms Co. To Close North Haven Plant

LAYOFFS

March 26, 2010|By ERIC GERSHON, The Hartford Courant
Marlin Firearms Co., a Connecticut gun manufacturer founded in 1870, will close its North Haven plant and lay off 265 employees.
A statement from Remington Arms, the North Carolina firm that owns Marlin, said the plant will close in mid-2011. The statement did not say whether the work will move, or be absorbed into other plants owned by Remington.

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Remington agreed to buy Marlin in late 2007 and acquired it in 2008. At the time, the North Haven plant had 345 employees and a Marlin plant in Gardner, Mass. Had 225 workers.
Remington, which began in upstate New York in 1816 and later was based in Bridgeport, is part of a group of gunmakers owned by private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, called Freedom Group Inc. Executives told investors in early 2009 that the profit margin in its firearms division had dropped, even as sales surged after Obama's election – in part because of Marlin.
"This decrease was primarily due to an unfavorable product mix during the first quarter of '09 including product sales attributable to the Marlin acquisition," said Chief Financial Officer Steve Jackson, who also named other factors.
Marlin was founded by John M. Marlin, who worked in Hartford for Colt during the Civil War. In 1870, Marlin "hung out his sign on State Street in New Haven, manufacturing his own line of revolvers and derringers," according to Marlin's website. In 1924, Frank Kenna bought Marlin and the Kennas owned and operated it until the sale to Remington.
Marlin's brands have included Marlin, Harrington and Richardson, New England Firearms and L.C. Smith.
Legendary sharpshooter Annie Oakley, who toured with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in the 1880s, is said to have owned a Marlin lever-action .22 repeater rifle.
 
Marlin to Shut Down Connecticut Plant and Lay Off 265 Workers

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Marlin Firearms, now owned by Remington Arms (part of Cerberus Capital Management’s Freedom Group), is going to shut down its North Haven, Connecticut manufacturing facility. This marks the end of a legendary period of gun-making in New England. Marlin has produced firearms in Connecticut since 1870, when the company was founded by John M. Marlin.
A Marlin spokesman indicated that the plant will be closed by June, 2011, and all 265 employees will be terminated via phased lay-offs starting in May, 2010. The Marlin plant closure, announced late Thursday (March 24th), came as a surprise to both Marlin employees and North Haven community leaders. Marlin plant workers reported being “blindsided”. One worker told WTNH Channel 8 that: “We never saw this coming… we were told to attend a mandatory meeting at 3:30… And then boom [that was it].” Remington has not yet issued an official statement about the factory closure, but one insider speculated that the plant was closed to “avoid union wage pressure driving retail cost upward and making the product less competitive in the modern firearms market.”
Marlin is currently head-quartered in Madison, North Carolina. There is no indication that the production of Marlin rifles will be halted — production will likely be shifted to Freedom Group factories in other states. The Shooting Wire reports that: “According to Remington Arms sources, the facility is being decommissioned and the manufacturing relocated to Remington’s Ilion, New York facilities; the Marlin lines are not moving offshore.” The production relocation will apply to Marlin products, and, presumably, to the other brands made by Marlin: Harrington & Richardson, New England Firearms, and L.C. Smith.
Marlin’s founder, John M. Marlin, learned his trade during the Civil war, working at the Colt plant in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1870, according to Marlin’s website, Marlin “hung out his sign on State Street in New Haven, manufacturing his own line of revolvers and derringers.” The Marlin enterprise was purchased by Frank Kenna in 1924, and the Kenna family maintained ownership until Remington acquired Marlin in 2008.
Click Arrow Lower Left to Play Report from WTNH-TV Channel 8 in New Haven:
 
I knew this was going to happen and now Marlin is going to go right into the toilet! As soon as I heard the rumblings of this in 2005 I went out and bought a 336 in 30-30 made by Marlin and Marlin alone, no Remington influence!

This is a crying a$$ shame, I liked marlin for their lever guns and they also made some nice .22 bolt actions. Figures
 
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