Bayrat
04-22-2009, 07:40 PM
Last Summer my brother and his wife were here cruising the Erie Cannel. Living only about 40 minutes from Illion, I drove up and met them there so we could do some "landlubber site-seeing.
First on the list was the Remington factory right there in Illion.
Mind you, I'm not a Remington fan (I know, that's Savage of me), but if you've never been to the Remington factory and you like guns, no matter what make guns you like, the tour is fantastic.
The tour starts out in their very extensive museum and goes through all of one of the largest gun factories in the country..... except for the "government and paramilitary sensitive" areas. Darn! that's what I'd realy like to have seen.
Anyway, since it was a weekday no big tour groups so I got to hang back a bit and talk with some of the workers.
Two were the custom engraver, and the other was the head gunsmith in charge of the whole custom gun shop. I had to know so I asked, what's the max they allow. He said all the guns are tested on their range to 1/2 inch maximum at 100 yards before they let it out the door.
The guy was very freindly and I got the impression he'd have loved to sit down and chat longer, but the tour must go on.
And on it went. The place is enormous !!!! Seemed like there were endless carts full of barrels, especially for shotguns. In fact there was so much of the factory doing shotguns that I began to wonder if they made rifles there.
We finally came to the area where they make rifle barrels. It was neat seeing all the machines that are involved in making a rifle barrel. Got to watch how they start with a short blank of steel and in a machine as big as a pickup, they draw it out to form the taper, then all the other operations there after. They even provide display boards and samples for you to handle to show what the steps are.
If you ever find yourself in central NY state, make the trip to Illion and take the tour. It's well worth it.
To finish our day, we headed over to Utica and toured the F.X. Matts Brewery. Another good tour through one of the oldest brewerys in the country.
Nothing like getting to spend a day around guns and beer ! ;)
Bayrat.
First on the list was the Remington factory right there in Illion.
Mind you, I'm not a Remington fan (I know, that's Savage of me), but if you've never been to the Remington factory and you like guns, no matter what make guns you like, the tour is fantastic.
The tour starts out in their very extensive museum and goes through all of one of the largest gun factories in the country..... except for the "government and paramilitary sensitive" areas. Darn! that's what I'd realy like to have seen.
Anyway, since it was a weekday no big tour groups so I got to hang back a bit and talk with some of the workers.
Two were the custom engraver, and the other was the head gunsmith in charge of the whole custom gun shop. I had to know so I asked, what's the max they allow. He said all the guns are tested on their range to 1/2 inch maximum at 100 yards before they let it out the door.
The guy was very freindly and I got the impression he'd have loved to sit down and chat longer, but the tour must go on.
And on it went. The place is enormous !!!! Seemed like there were endless carts full of barrels, especially for shotguns. In fact there was so much of the factory doing shotguns that I began to wonder if they made rifles there.
We finally came to the area where they make rifle barrels. It was neat seeing all the machines that are involved in making a rifle barrel. Got to watch how they start with a short blank of steel and in a machine as big as a pickup, they draw it out to form the taper, then all the other operations there after. They even provide display boards and samples for you to handle to show what the steps are.
If you ever find yourself in central NY state, make the trip to Illion and take the tour. It's well worth it.
To finish our day, we headed over to Utica and toured the F.X. Matts Brewery. Another good tour through one of the oldest brewerys in the country.
Nothing like getting to spend a day around guns and beer ! ;)
Bayrat.