From YouTube: a factory tour of the Smith and Wesson plant in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Why, yes, as a matter of fact, I have been on that tour…
From YouTube: a factory tour of the Smith and Wesson plant in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Why, yes, as a matter of fact, I have been on that tour…
The factory that I spent over 35 years of my life toiling away made the metal for those types of forgings/castings. We didn’t make metal directly for Smith and Wesson, but no doubt the company received our alloy via other companies castings. A very huge customer of ours was Pine Tree Castings, a supplier for Sturm Ruger, who moved to Prescott, AZ.
We made metal for the investment cast industry, which is a close knit industry, and yet a huge market as well. Some of the strange things that I saw come back in our alloy scrap was things like the tail fins of the side winder missile, the mold for the Mickey Mouse head balloons. Spurs for fighting cocks, parts for automatic milking machines for large farming operations, equipment for food service plants, from places that I have seen on seen tv shows like How Is That Made.
And of course, gun parts of all sorts. I forgot, we got the entire Mexican government money supply one year, to be melted down, when they replaced their one type of coin. We got boxes and boxes of coins, each weighing between 3-4000 pounds. They sent in representatives from their government to watch for the first few days, as we melted it down and processed it, to make sure that we did not endanger the integrity of their new monetary supply. After just a few days, they were happy with us and left us to our own devices. I think we made 6 days of alloy, which would be 5 heats at 20,000 per day, at that time. So 600,000 pounds of alloy. I don’t know for sure if we were their soul source, or not.
Before NAFTA, we made alloy for golf clubs, it was 17-4, the same alloy that is used in gun frames often times. After NAFTA, it moved to Mexico, and then it eventually moved to China. We worked 24 hours a day, 2 days a week, just filling that one contract. So it was definitely a hit when we lost that job. I did get a nice set of golf club heads out of the deal. They came back in boxes, for remelt, due to the next years design coming out. I got a takeout slip signed by a supervisor so it was legal and no problem.
Have a great week, and stay safe.