Olin - Winchester acquires Ammo Inc

[LV Gun]

Just seen this today I was a little shocked by it, I hope this is a good thing though for Ammo Inc and its employees. I was not aware this was happening.

 

[Bazoo]

Thanks for sharing.

 

[jeff-10]

Ammo Inc had the most horrific reviews I've seen of large ammunition companies online. I wonder what Olin intends.

 

[DT Guy]

Ammo Inc had the most horrific reviews I've seen of large ammunition companies online. I wonder what Olin intends.

Hopefully they'll create an actual QC process, fix/replace the machinery as needed and retrain the employees.... that stuff has an AWFUL reputation, and I've personally seen some bad examples of it in use.

Larry

 

[BreechFace]

Ammo Inc’s reputation was terrible, but from what I’ve seen of Winchester this acquisition may improve their QC.

 

[reddog81]

FWIW it looks like AMMO inc will still own gunbroker. I wonder why Winchester was interested? Was sale price so low they couldn’t refuse doing a deal or are their niche products that good?

 

[LV Gun]

Here is a little more information about Winchester buying Ammo Inc. Looks like they are trying to achieve several different goals with this acquisition. ​

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Olin Purchase Of Ammo, Inc. Assets to Streamline Ammo Production​

​

by

• GUY J. SAGI

posted on February 20, 2025
NEWS, AMMUNITION, GUNS





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Logo courtesy of Winchester.com.
Olin Corporation announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase the small-caliber ammunition manufacturing assets from Ammo Inc.—parent firm of Gunbroker.com—for $75 million. Olin’s legendary Winchester Ammunition business will assume management of the assets—including a world-class, 185,000-sq.-ft. shell case production facility in Manitowoc, Wis.—once the acquisition is complete.
“The Manitowoc assets will extend Winchester’s leadership position and expand the reach and value of our near full integration,” said Brett Flaugher, president of Winchester Ammunition. “The acquired assets will enable our legacy plants to lower costs of existing high-volume products and increase our ability to participate in higher-margin specialty rounds at a cost advantage.”
The Wisconsin site, which was built in 2022, and its employees will complement Winchester’s existing production capabilities. The addition of the plant will enable the company to increase specialization and enhance offerings in specialty calibers. Combined with Winchester's industry-leading economies of scale the acquisition is anticipated to yield realized synergies of $40 million. The transaction is expected to close sometime in the second quarter of this year and is subject to customary terms and closing conditions.
“As highlighted during our recent Investor Day, this investment continues the Winchester acquisition strategy, which began with our White Flyer acquisition in 2023, to identify and secure small bolt-on opportunities that are highly strategic and immediately accretive to Olin,” said Ken Lane, Olin president and CEO. “We expect the Manitowoc assets to generate $15 million to $20 million of incremental adjusted EBITDA in the first year and, by the third year, we expect to have paid less than two times adjusted EBITDA.”
In 2022, Ammo, Inc., separated Gunbroker.com and its Wisconsin ammunition operations into two companies—Outdoor Online and Action Outdoor Sports, respectively. Commercial cartridges currently available from the latter firm include Streak, Signature, Blackline, stelTH, Blueline, Ammo Brass and Hunt Ammunition.
In this article
NEWS, OLIN CORPORATION, WINCHESTER AMMUNITION, AMMO INC., GUNBROKER.COM, MANITOWOC, WISCONSIN, KEN LANE, BRETT FLAUGHER, ACQUISITION, GUY J. SAGI

 

[dogtown tom]

Thread title is wrong.
Winchester didn't buy Ammo, Inc.
Winchester bought the ammunition assets of Ammo, Inc.

Says so right in the title of the linked article.

 

[unclenunzie]

It's never good for acquired employees, but as DT above has clarified, it's an assets purchase. Words like economies of scale mean what they say but almost always also mean staff cuts. So it goes.

 

[Speedo66]

Purchase may have been protective, to keep another conglomerate, i.e. CZ, from buying it.

The separation from Gunbroker might have been the writing on the wall they were looking to sell.

 

[danez71]

Winchester seems to be saying they plan on using their buying power and manufacturing strength to increase production and efficiency at Ammo so they can leverage that while decreasing the production of overlap cartridges of the 2 at the Winchester factory thereby reducing the # of line cartridge changes and increasing productivity there.


There appears to be no integration of facilities so head count will likely stay similar but like administrative positions that overlap would be targets



Similar happened to me when I worked for Allen Bradley motion controls and Rockwell automation bought them. It actually was nothing but upside for me. Better pay, better health insurance better vacation/sick time policies, good credit union, and they forced upper management to at least attempt to improve because they were scared, lol.

 

[armoredman]

I like Ammo Inc products, hope things keep going well after the merger.

 

[Pat Riot]

That reads like corporate BS.

 

[someguy2800]

When the Olin people found out someone was challenging them for the title of the worst ammo manufacturer in the United States they couldn't have that so they decided to buy them to make sure the quality never drops below their own flagship garbage tier ammo brand.

 

[Galil5.56]

When the Olin people found out someone was challenging them for the title of the worst ammo manufacturer in the United States they couldn't have that so they decided to buy them to make sure the quality never drops below their own flagship garbage tier ammo brand.

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So my already crappy OLN forever dividend will be lucky to stay .20/share per quarter... How bout these numbers for Ammo INC? Good luck Olin / WW.

 

[sequins]

Winchester white box is one of the reasons I reload. They say never shoot anyone else’s reloads, well factory loads are just some else’s reloads where they didn’t even look.

 

[Shanvanvocht]

It appears like Olin wanted the case plant and an opportunity to reduce their own investment in less popular loadings

 

[doubleh]

When the Olin people found out someone was challenging them for the title of the worst ammo manufacturer in the United States they couldn't have that so they decided to buy them to make sure the quality never drops below their own flagship garbage tier ammo brand.

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I wouldn't touch any of Winchester's rimfire ammo with someone else's hand. To me it's walk on by ammo. However I have to give their 9mm NATO ammo credit for making my Canik work. I was a bit leery of the purchase but decided to give it a chance since it and Monarch were my only easy choices. Monarch failed though.