Vista Outdoors is why I never buy from REI anymore. As in, will pay more to buy identical item elsewhere if I have to (and I have).

REI stopped carrying excellent products from Giro, Bell, CamelBak, Blackburn and Camp Chef simply and only because they were owned by Vista which also own ammo Mfg companies as noted upthread. I don't go to Dicks sporting goods either as they activly hire anti-gun lobbiests.

https://www.rei.com/newsroom/a...p-with-vista-outdoor

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Originally posted by captain127:

quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:
The US Government probably welcomed the sale as it removes a source of ammunition from the American people.

...
I do a lot of 22 shooting, and it wouldn’t entirely surprise me if the new owners of vista make a run at producing match grade 22 ammo domestically

OOOoooOOo, be still my heart. That would be so nice.

If this goes through, would it preclude them from running Lake City? Federal did a turn in the past and I'm tracking OLIN\Winchester has it now.

i prefer US owned, but US made is a must

I disappointedly understand why Vista did what they did, first selling Savage Arms five years ago and then doing the same last year with the ammo division. But I will never like that reason, or their obvious cowardice with these acts. I'll never buy a Bell riding helmet or a Camelback hydration pack as a result (a Bell racing helmet is another matter, since that organization is owned by an Italian group that licenses the Bell name)...but here's where I'm now torn about them and their "gun-shy" practices.

I really like the M-Pro 7 cleaning fluid. I really prefer using the Hoppe's bore snakes for the majority of my barrel-cleaning needs. I guess I could find an alternative to the M-Pro 7, but the bore snakes? Allen sells their version of the snake, but they're not color coded and virtually everything they sell comes from some anonymous sweat shop out of the PEE-ARR-CEE.

I suppose I could hope that cowering Vista decides that even making and marketing gun cleaning supplies is 'bad' for their corporate image, and then decide to sell that part of their business off as well. I can always hope, I guess.

Those that fear negativity- did Chrysler stop making cars in American when Mercedes bought them out? The opportunity to make money in ammo manufacturing and sales lies squarely in the U.S. I would not be surprised if on the civilian side of things if the U.S. consumes more ammo than all the rest of world combined

I happened to be in the truck when Tom Gresham did a Gun Talk Radio interview with the new owner and the operations executive. (an American) The owner seemed very excited about the prospects for expansion and as did the exec. Very cognizant that people would have concerns about off-shore ownership and said he wanted to reaffirm his commitment to the civilian market.

Of course things can turn on a dime dealing with corporate concerns and overseas owners, but I though it was a positive message for continued supplies.

I have a simple question. As I understand small arms ammunition for the US Military was produced at Lake City. So my question is where is the US military going to purchase their small arms ammunition from?

Yellen Asked to Probe Issues in an Ammunition Maker’s Sale
(Bloomberg) -- Representative Clay Higgins, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, has asked Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to “thoroughly review national security concerns” in the proposed sale of a US ammunition manufacturer to a firm based in the Czech Republic.

The concerns involve the sale of Vista Outdoor’s ammunition business to the holding company Czechoslovak Group, or CSG, which Higgins said would weaken national security if the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, or Cfius, approves the sale.

The Louisiana Republican said in a letter that the sale of Vista Sporting Products to CSG would result in the firm controlling “nearly 70% of production capacity for primers in the Western world.” Primers are the component of a bullet that ignites the charge, sending the projectile down the barrel of a pistol or rifle.

“For these reasons, I request Cfius to carefully examine national security concerns of the proposed acquisition,” Higgins wrote in his letter to Yellen, adding that Cfius should also examine any “past or current relationship between CSG’s owners and foreign adversaries.” Higgins contended that CSG had “ties to Russia and China.”

CSG spokesman Andrej Cirtek said in a statement that “any speculations about CSG’s ties to Russia or China are nonsense. This is proved by facts: We support Ukraine with much-needed deliveries of artillery ammunition, tanks or artillery systems.”

Cirtek said that companies under the CSG banner have secret-level security clearances in the Czech Republic and North Atlantic Treaty Organization and work with US defense contractors, which wouldn’t be possible if the company had ties to US adversaries such as Russia and China.

Army, FBI

CSG acquired a 70% stake in Italian ammunition manufacturer Fiocchi Munizioni in 2022. CSG’s acquisition of Fiocci’s US production sites was previously approved by Cfius, according to Cirtek.

Higgins cited Vista’s contracts to provide ammunition to the US Army, the FBI, the Secret Service, the Customs and Border Protection agency and local law enforcement agencies in his concerns about Vista’s ammunition business being sold to a foreign company.

In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on March 4, Vista Outdoor, which also makes camping and sporting goods such as bike helmets and binoculars, disclosed that Cfius would need to clear the transaction. The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the Higgins letter.

A complicating angle to the proposed sale: Higgins said the deal could jeopardize the US Army’s ability to procure ammunition from its Lake City Ammunition Plant in Independence, Missouri. The plant is owned by the military but managed by one of two manufacturers — Olin Corp.-owned Winchester or Vista and its predecessors — that have traded contracts for the work since the plant’s founding in 1941, according to Higgins.

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/...ssues-100000305.html

quote:

CSG spokesman Andrej Cirtek said in a statement that “any speculations about CSG’s ties to Russia or China are nonsense.

I can pretty well guarantee that Czech Republic wants nothing to do with Russia.