User Panel
Quoted: Outside of a name, what is there to save? They made nothing in house. They were essentially an assembler. They came on at the right time, 2011 was right before Obama’s second term, he was re-elected in 2012 and people were worried about an AWB, then you had Dec 2012 after Sandyhook was nuts and the market didn’t calm down for almost two years. I love the story and I’m glad people like Richard Dyke were around to save peoples jobs back then. However, since 2016 the market has cooled in a big way and they started a decline that they never fully recovered from. They weren’t the cheapest and they couldn’t be since they were buying all the parts to make their rifles. They didn’t make the best rifles and as time went on they offered even less quality while prices went up. They simply couldn’t compete with PSA who makes similar products at even lower prices. I expect companies like Del-ton and Aero Precision to be not too far behind WW. Del-tons least expensive rifle kit is $450. While over at PSA you can get a rifle kit for $299 PSA would gain nothing with the Windham Weaponry name. View Quote From what I understand, they sold Bushmaster and was told they would keep the Windham factory open and keep the current employees. Then when Sandy Hook happened, Bushmaster got slammed with lawsuits that eventually led to them moving the plant from Windham to NY. The original owners decided to buy the plant in Windham, get back the employees that were let go, and continue making the Bushmaster line with the machines they had available. |
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Quoted: We’ve become kind of spoiled in the past 10-15 years when it comes to QC and ARs. Back in the 90s and early 00s, quality control was hit or miss, even with manufactures like Colt. A lot of issues that buyers fret over now days, were deemed acceptable by the masses back then. It is sad that Windham closed because Windham was Bushmaster and even though they were kind of low tier by todays standards, back in the day they were considered one of the better options. Windham closing is something else from my childhood that is no longer existing and is yet another thing reminding me that I am getting old. View Quote Yep. People still talk bad on the list but I think it molded the market for better. If you wanted a barrel with a bore that wasn’t bare steel, you had Armalite, Bushmaster, and Colt. Quality checked bolt? Colt was the only guarantee and you got non compatible pin sizes for it. Mil Spec forged buffer tubes? Colt only, see pin problems above. Staked gas keys? ABC only, and depends on the day. M16 carriers? Sounds like federal prison. M4 feed ramps? Colt and Bushmaster only. Gas port sizing specs? Witchcraft. Just drill a hole in it pussy. Rail systems? ARMS only. Using different buffer weights? Snake oil. Aftermarket triggers? Unreliable and shitty. LPVO’s? Fudd scopes. Collapsible stocks? There were two. 5.56 chambers? Who knows, and where do you buy anything but 223? Want to put brand A bolt in brand B rifle? Better have a will written out. Forged lower? If not ABC you never know. Short barrels? All cut down from carbines with no changes aside from Colt. See pin problems above. Staked castle nuts? Castle what? 4150 barrels? ABC only. 4140 is worth saving $1.27. |
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Quoted: From what I understand, they sold Bushmaster and was told they would keep the Windham factory open and keep the current employees. Then when Sandy Hook happened, Bushmaster got slammed with lawsuits that eventually led to them moving the plant from Windham to NY. The original owners decided to buy the plant in Windham, get back the employees that were let go, and continue making the Bushmaster line with the machines they had available. View Quote Sandy Hook had nothing to do with it. |
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Quoted: Another example of failing to recognize the market. wW was never going to compete with the big buys after they sold out to Freedom Group. They should have jumped into the niche market of A1 and A2 rifles like PSA/H&R is right now. Could have kept them alive. View Quote |
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https://keenanauction.com/auction.cgi?i=5261
The second Timed Online Auction #23-110 will include the ArmaLite Rifle (AR) inventory, lower receivers and remaining non-NFA parts inventory Please plan to attend a public preview being held on Friday, October 6th from 10AM-12PM to view the hundreds of items from this well established and respected firearms manufacturer. |
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Here's the direct link to the gun stuff auction.
https://www.proxibid.com/Keenan-Auction-Company-Inc/23-110-WINDHAM-WEAPONRY-FIREARMS-PARTS-INVENTORY/event-catalog/249619 |
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Quoted: Well that sucks. First non Colt AR I ever bought was a Windham made Bushmaster. We are probably going to see more of this going forward, low prices are great, unless your a manufacturer. View Quote Based on my two rifles, an AR10 and an AR15, PSA is marketing to price-conscious buyers who are likely to need expert level abilities to rebuild and troubleshoot their poorly assembled rifles- or be comfortable with emailing customer support and trips to UPS with long boxes. Reliability has been fine, with little things like bolt catch pins falling out, but accuracy has been flat-out poor. It's not me. None of my other brands, including BCM, DD, Old Bushmaster, WW, RRA are nearly as problematic, although I did have to stake one BM gas key back in the day- well worth the effort to get accuracy from any of them that neither PSA can match after many attempts. |
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So who owns the I.P. rights to their MCS (aka MGI Hydra) now?
I was looking to get one of their 7.62x39 magazine wells, but they'd been OOS for a while. I had heard they re-engineered the AK mag well, and it's supposed to be better than the old MGI one. |
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Quoted:...back in the day they were considered one of the better options... ...yet another thing reminding me that I am getting old. View Quote Agree to both the gun part and the getting old part (same here). Correct me if I'm wrong; the "BM is crap" stuff started after Dyke sold out to Cerberus after the sunset. |
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Quoted: So who owns the I.P. rights to their MCS (aka MGI Hydra) now? I was looking to get one of their 7.62x39 magazine wells, but they'd been OOS for a while. I had heard they re-engineered the AK mag well, and it's supposed to be better than the old MGI one. View Quote I didn’t even know they had picked up that platform. I always wondered if it would survive. It always seemed like it was struggling. |
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Quoted: So who owns the I.P. rights to their MCS (aka MGI Hydra) now? I was looking to get one of their 7.62x39 magazine wells, but they'd been OOS for a while. I had heard they re-engineered the AK mag well, and it's supposed to be better than the old MGI one. View Quote That's the million-dollar question, IMO. The MGI Hydra was a really cool platform that never took off (probably for a few reasons) but MGI/Windham missed the boat in bringing a dedicated SR-47 type rifle to market. |
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Quoted: Agree to both the gun part and the getting old part (same here). Correct me if I'm wrong; the "BM is crap" stuff started after Dyke sold out to Cerberus after the sunset. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted:...back in the day they were considered one of the better options... ...yet another thing reminding me that I am getting old. Agree to both the gun part and the getting old part (same here). Correct me if I'm wrong; the "BM is crap" stuff started after Dyke sold out to Cerberus after the sunset. I think when the company was sold it became much bigger and QC suffered. The 90s and even early 00s were tough on American gun manufactures. You could visibly see some guns getting cheaper and cheaper quality wise while their cost went up and up. S&W guns come to mind when I think about this. You could see S&W start using cheaper parts, cost cutting processes in manufacturing as the giant conglomerate that owned S&W at the time was trying to squeeze every penny out of it. Those poor third generation semi autos. Bushmaster wasn’t immune to this. |
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They still couldn't sell the Polymer Carbin 15 lowers even at Liquidation blowout price of $30.00 per lower.
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Quoted: Based on my two rifles, an AR10 and an AR15, PSA is marketing to "poors" who are likely to need expert level abilities to rebuild and troubleshoot their poorly assembled rifles- or be comfortable with emailing customer support and trips to UPS with long boxes. Reliability has been fine, with little things like bolt catch pins falling out, but accuracy has been flat-out poor. It's not me. None of my other brands, including BCM, DD, Old Bushmaster, WW, RRA are nearly as problematic, although I did have to stake one BM gas key back in the day- well worth the effort to get accuracy from any of them that neither PSA can match after many attempts. View Quote FIXED IT! |
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From their Facebook and Instagram just now. Don’t know the details but they’re staying open apparently
Attached File |
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Quoted: From their Facebook and Instagram just now. Don’t know the details but they’re staying open apparently https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/304726/IMG_9262_jpeg-3029532.JPG View Quote WTF, didn't they just Liquidate all their inventory, tooling, and machinery |
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Maybe someone bought it all up on the cheap, hopefully they kept the same employees if that’s the case
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It could have been a corporate restructuring. Have Windham Weaponry declare bankruptcy, dissolve, shed debt, and get rid of shit that is an anchor. Form as a new company, buy up the IP during the dissolvement of the old company and have it operate under a doing business as name of Windham Weaponry.
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Considering that Richard Dyke died in March of 2023, this may have been an estate sale
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Quoted: From their Facebook and Instagram just now. Don’t know the details but they’re staying open apparently https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/304726/IMG_9262_jpeg-3029532.JPG View Quote Interesting...... |
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Quoted: Quoted: From their Facebook and Instagram just now. Don’t know the details but they’re staying open apparently https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/304726/IMG_9262_jpeg-3029532.JPG Interesting...... Yep! |
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Quoted: It could have been a corporate restructuring. Have Windham Weaponry declare bankruptcy, dissolve, shed debt, and get rid of shit that is an anchor. Form as a new company, buy up the IP during the dissolvement of the old company and have it operate under a doing business as name of Windham Weaponry. View Quote This seems to be the most likely series of events. If Windham wants to survive now they will need to be creative. The retro and clone market is huge right now and they have a lot of knowledge about making those types of rifles and parts. It would be nice to see a run of dissys, A2, A1, and Car 15 rifles coming out of Windham. Doing something like a DOE 9mm carbine would be a good start. Braces are back on the table again so I think something like that would do well. When PSA announced their 9mm AR that was a pretty common request from people. I have no interest in a 9mm AR but I would buy a DOE clone in a heartbeat. Making regular AR rifles isn’t going to work for Windham. They can’t compete with PSA on that front. Not my picture, just for reference. They need to make stuff like this. Attached File |
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View Quote Dang |
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I need that 20 inch barrel with M4 ramps and old A2 front sight base. my only other "quality" option seems to be tnte.
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Quoted: It could have been a corporate restructuring. Have Windham Weaponry declare bankruptcy, dissolve, shed debt, and get rid of shit that is an anchor. Form as a new company, buy up the IP during the dissolvement of the old company and have it operate under a doing business as name of Windham Weaponry. View Quote I don’t believe that this is the case in this instance as some guy from Bangladesh bought the rights to WW and I’ve been told he’s trying to hire back some of the senior talent. My source was in senior management with Bushmaster and had strong ties with WW. I’ve known him for many years and believe this is correct. |
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I just read a Bangor Daily News story (essentially the local paper) who said the powers that be are trying to re-open the manufacturing side and bring folks back.
This may back up the other fellow who posted something similar from a different source. |
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That would be encouraging if they can pull it off.
I pitch my Turkish made Winchesters as Muslim child labor working for you, we could have Muslim made guns in the US. |
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If you look at their website, the website logo (if you’re using Safari on an iPhone) has changed, and they have a banner advertising Black Friday deals. It also let me add something to my cart, although I’m not gonna order anything until more info comes out
https://www.windhamweaponry.com/ |
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Quoted: If you look at their website, the website logo (if you’re using Safari on an iPhone) has changed, and they have a banner advertising Black Friday deals. It also let me add something to my cart, although I’m not gonna order anything until more info comes out https://www.windhamweaponry.com/ View Quote Certainly looks like they're still in business. I asked their chatbot, but it wanted an email addy. |
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They have posted on their LinkedIn page that they are in business.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/windham-weaponry-inc-_yes-we-are-open-and-we-are-in-business-activity-7130015050152493056-OAIL?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_android |
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I think they need to publicize the rescue plan and who bought the remains of the company to be convincing. Until product in in folks hands, this could be a hacking operation that is harvesting credit card #s.
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Quoted: I think they need to publicize the rescue plan and who bought the remains of the company to be convincing. Until product in in folks hands, this could be a hacking operation that is harvesting credit card #s. View Quote Some of their employees (that I can confirm due to them posting in a Windham AR Facebook group), have been sharing the posts about them reopening, so it’s not a scam. One is their LE sales rep I’ve spoken to on the phone and by email in the past two years. They do need to put some info out, although I’m sure they’re trying to get the logistics sorted out at the moment. |
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Quoted: Some of their employees (that I can confirm due to them posting in a Windham AR Facebook group), have been sharing the posts about them reopening, so it’s not a scam. One is their LE sales rep I’ve spoken to on the phone and by email in the past two years. They do need to put some info out, although I’m sure they’re trying to get the logistics sorted out at the moment. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: I think they need to publicize the rescue plan and who bought the remains of the company to be convincing. Until product in in folks hands, this could be a hacking operation that is harvesting credit card #s. Some of their employees (that I can confirm due to them posting in a Windham AR Facebook group), have been sharing the posts about them reopening, so it’s not a scam. One is their LE sales rep I’ve spoken to on the phone and by email in the past two years. They do need to put some info out, although I’m sure they’re trying to get the logistics sorted out at the moment. That's good news. I wonder what their strategy is going forward, seeing as the previous strategy took them into the ground. |
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Please make more MCS AK mag wells, and the standard 5.56mm wells too, so I can be like @amphibian.
Fingers crossed. lol |
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I took a gamble and placed an order for a 14.5 p/w M4 barrel kit. The chatbot said they are backordered but will be in stock in 6-8 weeks. Fingers crossed. I'm building a 727ish clone and I don't know anywhere else that sells M4 barrels with non-F FSBs.
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If you get what you ordered, it would be nice if OP changes the title to the current reality.
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Quoted: That's good news. I wonder what their strategy is going forward, seeing as the previous strategy took them into the ground. View Quote In retrospect, their strategy all along should've been cashing in on the retro market. They could've made a killing! That is if they would've jumped in before Brownells, PSA, and H&R. Kind of late in the game now. I guess they always got dissipators though. All they ever really built and sold was basic AR15 rifles. They had the means to give the people what they wanted and build C7 commando uppers, M16A1 uppers, M16A2 uppers, XM4 uppers, CAR15 uppers, and so on. They just kind of missed their shot. |
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Quoted: In retrospect, their strategy all along should've been cashing in on the retro market. They could've made a killing! That is if they would've jumped in before Brownells, PSA, and H&R. Kind of late in the game now. I guess they always got dissipators though. All they ever really built and sold was basic AR15 rifles. They had the means to give the people what they wanted and build C7 commando uppers, M16A1 uppers, M16A2 uppers, XM4 uppers, CAR15 uppers, and so on. They just kind of missed their shot. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: That's good news. I wonder what their strategy is going forward, seeing as the previous strategy took them into the ground. In retrospect, their strategy all along should've been cashing in on the retro market. They could've made a killing! That is if they would've jumped in before Brownells, PSA, and H&R. Kind of late in the game now. I guess they always got dissipators though. All they ever really built and sold was basic AR15 rifles. They had the means to give the people what they wanted and build C7 commando uppers, M16A1 uppers, M16A2 uppers, XM4 uppers, CAR15 uppers, and so on. They just kind of missed their shot. Agreed. But I don't think the retro/old school demand is going away. They could probably still do alright even just offering retro components like their awesome barrels and handguards, and maybe stripped uppers. |
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Quoted: Agreed. But I don't think the retro/old school demand is going away. They could probably still do alright even just offering retro components like their awesome barrels and handguards, and maybe stripped uppers. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: That's good news. I wonder what their strategy is going forward, seeing as the previous strategy took them into the ground. In retrospect, their strategy all along should've been cashing in on the retro market. They could've made a killing! That is if they would've jumped in before Brownells, PSA, and H&R. Kind of late in the game now. I guess they always got dissipators though. All they ever really built and sold was basic AR15 rifles. They had the means to give the people what they wanted and build C7 commando uppers, M16A1 uppers, M16A2 uppers, XM4 uppers, CAR15 uppers, and so on. They just kind of missed their shot. Agreed. But I don't think the retro/old school demand is going away. They could probably still do alright even just offering retro components like their awesome barrels and handguards, and maybe stripped uppers. There's certainly demand, but H&R is seemingly filling that niche, grey A1s in stock right now. A recently bankrupt company would probably do well to avoid going up directly against JJE's juggernaut. |
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Email from Windham to my account that has bought from them before:
Hello from your friends at Windham Weaponry, Inc. We have been made aware of a website out there called Windham Weaponry USA, who is using our logo and our products to sell. This website is not ours. You can tell because they have no physical address or contact number. They also do not have any payment method and want payment a different way. We have no affiliation with them whatsoever. Be careful placing any orders on that website. Our website is: www.windhamweaponry.com We have just launched our website. Our website has our address, contact numbers, emails. You will find the same fine products & services our loyal customers are accustomed to. We look forward to hearing from you in the near future. Happy New Year !!!! -- Best Regards Windham Weaponry Team |
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