Tag Archives: cci

Schism in the ammo industry

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Minnesota-based Vista Outdoor has made an agreement to sell its expansive ammo brands to the Prauge-based Czechoslovak Group.

The $1.9 billion all-cash deal, announced Monday, will see Vista divest a number of classic American ammunition brands including CCI, Federal, Hevi, Remington, and Speer – some of which date back over a century. These are made across four factories in Minnesota and Arkansas and employ approximately 4,000 people.

Other than possibly Olin, who runs the Army’s Lake City Ammo Plant as well as produces Browning and Winchester-branded commercial ammo, Vista was the largest ammo concern in the U.S.

More in my column at Guns.com.

SUB2000s in Ukraine?

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Florida-based firearms maker KelTec made the most of a sudden surplus of 9mm carbines and donated them to Ukraine. 

Adrian Kellgren, director of industrial production at KelTec– and son of the company’s legendary founder, George Kellgren– told local media the company was recently left with a $200,000 order for SUB2000 carbines. The original order, to a longtime vendor in the Black Sea Ukrainian port city of Odesa, was unpaid for, and the vendor was unable to be contacted.

The 400 9mm carbines had been ordered last year, but by the time the red tape cleared the client was unable to accept them and Ukraine is now fighting off a Russian invasion– with enemy troops closing in on Odesa. The solution hit on by Kellgren was to donate the guns to the Ukrainian government to aid in the resistance to the invasion. 

Introduced in 2001, the KelTec SUB2000 9mm pistol-caliber carbine is now in its second generation. Lightweight at just 4-pounds while still retaining a 16.1-inch barrel, it folds in half for easy storage and transport, able to be carried in a pack.

The SUB2000, while not a frontline weapon by any means, can for example fill a role with static defense/home guard-style units posted at local infrastructure to keep an eye out for sabotage, or in guarding POWs, of which there seems to be an increasing amount.