Tag Archives: H&R shotgun

Inside Remington’s super factory in Huntsville

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I had the opportunity to look behind the curtain at Big Green’s plant in Alabama and see how everything from .22s to black rifles are born.

In 2014, Remington announced after an eight-month courtship it would invest $110 million into a 500,000-square-foot facility formerly used by Chrysler just outside of Huntsville with an aim to consolidate production.

Though Remington owns nearly a score of subsidiaries, just eight were selected to move to the plant in Alabama. Those included suppressor maker Advanced Armament Corp. from Lawrence, Georgia; Montana Rifleman from Kalispell, Montana; Tapco from Kennesaw, Georgia; LAR Manufacturing from West Jordan, Utah; Para-Ordnance from Pineville, North Carolina; DPMS from St. Cloud, Minnesota; the Bushmaster and Remington 1911 production lines in Ilion, New York; and a research and development facility in Elizabethtown, Kentucky.

In 2016, the Remington elected to close their Mayfield, Kentucky, plant and move the operations conducted there to Huntsville as well.

Currently, the Remington family of companies operates from 12 locations across nine states employing over 3,500 people and distributes its products throughout the U.S. and in over 55 foreign countries. Besides its original plant located in Ilion, NY, Huntsville — which employs almost 500 — is among the largest of their facilities.

And they let me go for a look inside.

More in my column at Guns.com. 

Break Action Shotguns

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Whether you call them single barrels, one-shots, break-action, or hinge-break, the single shot shotgun is a firearm legacy. Tucked in the back of your closet, peeking out somewhere, at least once in your life, you had a hinge break.

As you can see from this 1900’s advert, the basic design has remained the same for a century.

These simple and effective firearms came about just after the US Civil War. Originally, with Damascus barrels, they fired 2.5-inch paper hulled black powder shells. Over time, the shells became brass and then plastic while the barrels became steel. I got my first break action, a wood stocked, blue steel Stevens .410 in the early 1980s. With a sling made from an old leather belt and a pocketful of shells, I was invincible at age 9. As time marched on, I upgraded, and long ago got rid of that little single shot. However, it never really got rid of me.

The rest at my column at Firearms Talk.com.