Vista Outdoors Sells Off Gun Business

[Ben]

Vista Outdoors is selling off the Savage line. It's not clear to me from reporting so far (some of which varies from the NYT story below) if this is a business decision or a political decision. If a business decision, I have no problem with it. If political, I've bought my last Camelbak.

Vista intends to narrow its focus on outdoors enthusiasts, its primary customer base, and to winnow its portfolio of goods to emphasize ammunition, hunting and shooting accessories, outdoor cooking products and CamelBak hydration bottles and packs.

So people who shoot are no longer "outdoor enthusiasts"? That's a fishy comment if this is a simple business decision, especially as they keep ammo and "hunting and shooting supplies". This almost appears to me to be them caving to the REI crowd (I recall REI made some statements about possibly not carrying Vista products anymore after Parkland).

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/01/business/vista-outdoor-firearms.html

On the tangent, I hope someone good buys Savage. They produce quality, affordable products.

[K Frame]

Bullshit speak for "We're skeered that David Hogg will say something mean about us!"

[T.O.M.]

Looks like it is a business move.  I went to read about the Savage sale and found this:

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/vista-outdoor-to-sell-bell-giro-and-blackburn.html

Long story short, Bell helmets and other sports gear brands are up for sale as well.  The article indicates that the plan is to "(focus) their business on ammunition, hunting and shooting accessories, hydration bottles and packs, and outdoor cooking products."  If they still plan on selling accessories and ammo, it doesn't look so political.

[Hawkmoon]

What ammo brand(s) do they make/sell?

[TechMan]

What ammo brand(s) do they make/sell?

This is a list of all of their shooting sports brands:

Federal, CCI, Speer, Blazer, Estate Cartridge, Savage, Savage Range Systems, Stevens, Independence, Fusion, American Eagle, Force N Force, Fox

https://vistaoutdoor.com/brands/

[BlueStarLizzard]

They have Federal and are selling Savage?

Business. Federal is the bigger name in the world of guns.

[Ben]

They have Federal and are selling Savage?

Business. Federal is the bigger name in the world of guns.

The opposing argument is that one makes guns (including, to my understanding, having recently introduced an AR platform) but the other does not. To the non-gun community, "ending gun production" would be the big selling point. REI threatened them not because they sold ammo, but because they sold guns (AFAIK).