I found this interesting. You can follow the manufacture of typical firearms at the factory in this virtual tour.

John

Making of a Smith & Wesson - An Inside the Gun Factory Look

Update: Apparently the link is no longer active. Sorry.

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

In Mar. 99, I was privileged to go thru the S&W factory on tour. I called several days in advance and found they only gave tours on Tuesday and Thursday. My bro in law and I drove to Springfield from Lancaster and Leominster for the tour.

Started at 9AM and we had to leave at 1. We had finished the main factory by then, privileged to meet several notables to include, I believe, Roy Jinks, in the hallway.

All in all a very interesting tour. Would I do it again, yes. If they are still doing it.

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Slim, U.S. Army, Ret.

Interesting link. I enjoyed that. Thanks for posting.

I realize that everyone makes mistakes now and then, but this stood out to me, "...direct aerial booming attack."

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Freedom isn't free.

Very interesting John...thank you for pointing this out...Roger

A couple of comments based on the last time I went on a tour (2012).
You'll notice that there is no photo of the final assembly area. It's not only fenced off, but it has green sheeting on the fence you can't even look in. They told us it was an AFT rule post 9/11. I remember that when I went back in 1980 or so the area was fenced off, but you could look in.

Also, sometime in 2010 or 2011 they changed how the final assembly is done. It used to be that a fitter put all of the components together and was responsible for building the gun. Now, it's an assembly line, with each fitter putting on a small number of parts then passing the gun on to the next person.

They pretty much stopped doing tours, at least group tours, in 2012. They still seem to do tours for individuals now and then.

They've also stopped allowing customers to drop guns off at the guard shack for repair. Which used to be very convenient.

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Can open, worms everywhere.

OSHA finds that disturbing too. Food in an industrial area is not allowed and will bring a hefty fine.


This is why unions were started here. Of course, S&W might be a great place to work and the employees may be happy with this arrangement. Still, if I were working 12 hour shifts, I'd want a place to take a break now and then.

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Freedom isn't free.

Thanks for posting this. Oh, and congratulations on your book "101 Classic Firearms." I was fortunate enough to buy a signed copy and found it extremely informative. People often try to buy firearms books for me but they are almost always nothing more than coffee table type books with pretty pictures and captions such as, "The gun that won the West!" Not your book. Lots of great information (had not idea Gaston Glock was such a tough old bird!). Thanks again, m.

Was looking forward to watching this but all I get is a "404 error, page not found"
Bummer!

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GreyOwl

Bad link here as well

broken.... phooey!

Are they allowed to take other types of breaks?

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But then, what do I know?

I did the S&W tour in the 80s and indeed, security was strict. I remember that had massive forges which, I think, they used for punching out revolver frames.

Link not working here either.

Same here i also get the 404 error

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Dont shoot back,shoot first

12 hour shifts and eating on the fly... I see why they have quality problems.

Try this one. My guess is Ammoland was asked to take it down.

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Can open, worms everywhere.