ITHACA GUN...forced to close its doors.....

[jcchartboy]

Ithaca Gun forced to close its doors.....

Ithaca Gun Co., a pillar in the production of firearms since 1880, shut down shortly after moving to Auburn, a company official said Tuesday.
?We?re just tapped out, we can?t do it any longer,? said Ithaca?s Andrew Sciarabba, one of seven investors who own the company.
Sciarabba said Ithaca Gun was several hundred thousand dollars in debt and was unable to compete profitably against foreign gun manufacturers.
The investors are hoping to find someone interested in buying the company?s well-known name and resuming production in Central New York, he said.
?We?re looking for someone to start up the business again, but I don?t know if that is going to happen or not,? Sciarabba said.
The demise of Ithaca Gun triggers potentially bad news for Cayuga County, which loaned $150,000 to the firm for operating expenses last fall when it had about 26 employees.
The county loaned the money from its federally funded business assistance revolving loan fund, said county Planning Director David Miller, who in his position oversees the loan program.
The company put up its equipment as collateral for the money, but had missed its May and June loan payments totaling $986.30, Miller said.
County Legislature Chairman Herbert Marshall, who sits on the committee that approved loaning the money, said he would prefer that the county work with the company in finding a buyer rather than seizing the equipment used as collateral.
?If there is the possibility to protect our financial interest and keep them running, that would be the best final solution,? Marshall said.
In late April and early May, Ithaca Gun relocated to the former Johnston Paper Co. building in Auburn?s tech park off Division Street. On Tuesday, there were two cars in the parking lot and a company van without license plates.
Prior to moving, the company had operated out of the former King Ferry Central School building since 1989.
Ithaca Gun opened for business at the base of Ithaca Falls in 1880 and forged a reputation for making affordable and durable shotguns like the Deerslayer and Deerslayer II slug guns and Model 87 field shotguns. Every part was hand-polished.
?Ithaca has been a well-established name in the firearms industry for a long time,? said Gary Mehalik, a spokesman for the National Shooting Sports Foundation in Newtown, Conn., a trade association for firearms manufacturers.
?The price was affordable, the quality good and they were nostalgic favorites. I imagine there are grandfathers who shot their first deer or duck with one of those guns and gave them to their grandchildren and those guns still work,? Mehalik said.
Sciarraba said his group of investors acquired Ithaca Gun out of bankruptcy in the mid-1990s. He said the group put an undisclosed amount of money into the business every year, but ?never made any money.?
The gun company also owed several years worth of back excise taxes to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, he said.
Gun manufacturers have to pay an 11 percent excise tax on rifles and shotguns and 10 percent tax on handguns, Mehalik said.
Auburn Mayor Timothy Lattimore was saddened to learn of the news. He used to hunt pheasants with an Ithaca shotgun.
?It?s unfortunate that a legacy such as Ithaca Gun, one of the premier gun manufacturers in the world, is out of business,? he said.

 

[Doohan]

This really sucks! I was in the market awhile back for a - Deer Slayer III

Almost impossible to find!


It is a sad day.. I hope they keep things going!

 

[PALefty]

This really sucks! I was in the market awhile back for a - Deer Slayer III

Almost impossible to find!

It is a sad day.. I hope they keep things going!

Yes, that is bad news. As a lefty growing up in NY, an Ithaca Deerslayer was my only gun (other than my first 22LR) until just a few years ago. I hope somebody picks them up and puts them back on track. I really thought they were going to do well with their Ithaca Guide gun.. but it was just as hard to find. I should have bought one when I had the chance....

 

[jcchartboy]

These guys were in very sad shape. I recently ordered a part from them, and received another persons order. That guys order was not even close to corect. It was missing parts etc. When I finally got mine, they never even asked for the other guys parts back....No business these days could afford to run like that...

 

[Rifleman]

Deerslayers show up all the time on the auction boards.

 

[Doohan]

I have seen many Deerslayer II's I want a III !

Pepper laminate and no irons..

 

[Rifleman]

JJ I will keep an eye out for one, bet I find one in the next few weeks or sooner. I will let you know when I do/ Rman

 

[jcchartboy]

I never knew the specs for the Deerslayer III.....it really is nothing like the other slayers......

....The Deerslayer III is on the heavy side, weighing about 11 1/2 pounds with scope, and features a 25-inch barrel...

...unlike most pump-action shotguns with interchangeable barrels that feature an extension that slides into the receiver, the Deerslayer III's barrel is screwed to an all-steel receiver, which is drilled and tapped for a scope (it will not be offered with open sights)...

...large diameter free-floated barrel...

 

[Loggy]

Sorry to see an ole firearms company tank. We certainly are in one vicious economy where only the strong will survive. I think such news as this will be the norm rather than the exception in coming times.

 

[Anonymous]

News

Ithaca Gun loses buyer, closes its doors

By Louise Hoffman Broach / The Citizen
AUBURN - It was late May and Ithaca Gun Co.'s future finally looked promising.

Andrew Gibson, the company's potential new owner, met with David Miller, Cayuga County's director of planning and economic development. Gibson, of Scituate, R.I., told Miller how the historically important firearms company was working to resolve some of its financial issues. He said there was new management in place and he showed Miller a new marketing plan, an extensive analysis of costs and a new labor structure. Gibson said he would be investing a significant amount of his own money.

"He had great enthusiasm and he seemed to understand the business," Miller said. "I was very impressed. I don't know what happened to change his mind. It was a complete shock to me."

Gibson decided not to go through with the purchase. The group of investors that owns the company - which moved from King Ferry to the city of Auburn technology park at the end of April - shut it down and is now looking for another buyer, Miller said.

"He was interested, but things just didn't work out," said Gibson's wife, Katherine, who is also one of his business partners.

As the Gibsons learned more about the 124-year-old company and delved deeper into its financials, they realized the numbers weren't going to add up, she said.

"He's a sportsman, and he wanted it to work," she said. "But it just didn't."

When Gibson backed out, Andrew Sciarabba, the major investor of the seven partners who bought the company in 1995 out of a bankruptcy, decided to close, Miller said.

The company is several hundred thousand dollars in debt. Part of that is most of a $150,000 loan from Cayuga County's revolving loan fund. Miller said Ithaca Gun has missed the May and June payments that total just less than $1,000. The money was loaned for equipment while the business was still in King Ferry.

As collateral, the company put up existing manufacturing equipment, as well as the Ithaca Gun trademark. The company was founded in 1880 in Ithaca and became world renown for manufacturing high-quality, affordable guns such as the Deerslayer and Deerslayer II.

It went out of business for a time, and then was re-established in the 1980s, when it came to King Ferry. When the company again fell on hard times, Sciarabba and his partners bought it.

It has struggled recently. Ithaca Gun earlier this year had a $12,000 judgment filed against it by a Watertown educational television station because the gun manufacturer had agreed to underwrite a hunting show, but never paid. Several other judgments were filed against the company for unpaid bills as well and there were problems with the state Department of Labor regarding unemployment benefits. The labor department judgment was satisfied earlier this month.

While they were still in King Ferry, Miller said, Sciarabba and his partners pointed out one of the company's greatest difficulties was operating in an antiquated former school building that was energy-inefficient.

Miller said he helped connect Ithaca Gun officials with representatives of Johnston Paper, the firm that owns the Allen Street property in the technology park. Johnston Paper moved to a new facility in Aurelius in 2004.

On May 5, at an Auburn City Council meeting, Katrinka Ryan, Ithaca Gun's finance manager, announced the company was under new management, was in Auburn and was working with the city's Office of Planning and Economic Development. Eventually, the company, which had employed 26 people in King Ferry, would have 50 workers, Ryan said.

Miller said he and Sciarabba talk weekly and he's convinced Ithaca Gun is actively working to find a buyer. He said the county won't foreclose on the loan yet.

"It would be premature to call it in and foreclose," Miller said. "We desire to see the company survive and prosper, but we're not going to let this go on indefinitely."

Miller is confident the county will get its money. He said if it does foreclose, it will "be in the first position" to own the gun manufacturing equipment, worth about $183,000, that the company put up as collateral. Subject to legal interpretation, Cayuga County will also likely own the company's famous trademark, an intangible that was also offered as loan security.

The county would contract with experts in the firearms manufacturing field to help sell the equipment and trademark.

Sciarabba could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

When Gibson and his business partners looked like they would step in and save the company, Miller said there was a great degree of optimism.

The purpose of the meeting with Miller was to see if the revolving loan could be transferred from Sciarabba's group to Gibson's. Miller said he was prepared to arrange a meeting with Gibson and the loan committee for further investigation.

"That's why this is such a surprise," Miller said.

"It wasn't like they were this moribund company that we hadn't heard anything about for a long time. And the new people coming in were all young, in their late 20s and early 30s. That's why this one is kind of disappointing. We thought it was on the right track."

Staff writer Louise Hoffman Broach can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or [email protected]

 

[jcchartboy]

Unquestionable bankruptcy/reorg leaves the county realizing that although Ithaca is an incredible trademark, it is absolutly worthless without a functioning operations unit. In fact I believe they find themselves paying many more debts before they recieve any payments whatsoever. "Senior debt holder" sounds good until you have to make use of the designation....