More details on Remington's break-up sale

A while back, we told you US-based firearms manufacturer Ruger was buying Marlin, a subsidiary of Remington, in the wake of Remington's bankruptcy. We also said other pieces of Remington were being sold off elsewhere. Now we have a few more details on that process.

First off, the sale of Barnes Bullets. Unlike some of Remington's other subsidiaries, this one is likely to affect Canadian shooters, providing the supply of reloading components from the US doesn't completely dry up in coming months (supposedly, the US will see 20 million gun sales this year). Sierra Bullets confirmed it did indeed buy up Barnes. For now, the plan is to continue manufacturing Barnes' products in its existing Utah factory. In theory, production should keep right on chugging along. There's plenty of demand in the US, and Sierra says it plans to invest further into Barnes. And why not? Barnes' lead-free bullets are the way of the future for many hunters, so Sierra's acquisition is a very smart move.

What about Remington?

What about Remington itself? Big Green didn't just sell off its subsidiaries; the whole company was pieced off. A relatively unknown entity called The Roundhill Group bought Remington itself, which raised new questions. Since nobody knew Roundhill's history, there were suspicions of another takeover like Cerberus' buyout of Remington a few years back. Cerberus' reign drove Remington into debt, and ultimately, financial disaster. Indeed, some firearms enthusiasts speculated this was the plan all along—call it a back-door shutdown of one of America's oldest gunmakers. The conspiracy theorists wondered if Roundhill might do the same.

While the people behind Roundhill might not be as well-known as Ruger or Sierra Bullets, they did send out a press release saying their interest is just as genuine:

"Our intent with this acquisition is to return the company to its traditional place as an iconic American hunting brand. We intend to maintain, care for and nurture the brand and all of the dedicated employees who have crafted these products over the years for outdoorsmen and women both here in the USA and abroad. More than anything, we want to make Remington a household name that is spoken with pride," said spokesman Jeff Edwards in the press release. “The Roundhill Group is comprised of a group of individuals all of whom have years of experience in engineering, manufacturing and marketing both in and outside of the firearms space. They are all life-long hunting advocates and staunch Remington brand loyalists."

Hunters first

Hrm. Sounds like Roundhill isn't keen on building a boatload of AR-15s, then, but can you blame them? Remington was in the middle of a lawsuit over the Sandy Hook shooting before it went into bankruptcy, and no doubt the company would like to leave that all behind. And, to be fair, Remington does have a long history of producing hunting firearms (Model 1100 and 870 shotguns, Model 700 and 740/742/7400/750 rifles, and so on). Although the company certainly has made wartime production rifles and dabbled in tactical firearms production, that's never been Remington's main business.

With its purchase, Roundhill gets Remington's existing stock of firearms, its production facility and even the company museum in Ilion, New York.