Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Kimber Moves south to Alabama

Kimber Finally Turns Southward
BY HERSCHEL SMITH
8 hours, 35 minutes ago
Many times I’ve asked to know why firearms manufacturers would continue to do business in states that hate their business, fleece them with taxes, and force them to deal with collective bargaining. I’ve specifically mentioned Kimber, among other manufacturers.

It appears that Kimber finally figured it out.

Kimber Manufacturing, a company that makes a variety of firearms and ammunition, is transitioning its corporate headquarters from New York to its facility in Troy, Alabama.

The decision to change the location of the company’s headquarters was first announced last week, and much of the work has already been completed.

A release from the company notes that “leadership, R&D and manufacturing resources” are now in place at the 225,000 square-foot facility in Troy.

Kimber is now “adding staff across all departments” to complete the transition.

The gunmaker’s massive presence in the Wiregrass is still relatively new. Governor Kay Ivey first announced it in her state of the state address in 2018. At the time, it was described as a manufacturing capacity expansion, not a new headquarters, but the executives at Kimber appear to have grown fond of the Yellowhammer State.

The gunmaker was founded in Yonkers, New York, in 1979 and remained headquartered there until its recent transition to Alabama.

The company says it completed an exhaustive search for its new headquarters, and Troy stood out for its “proximity to top-tier engineering schools as well as gun- and business-friendly support from the city of Troy and the great state of Alabama.”

State Representative Wes Allen (R-Troy) praised the move in a statement sent to Yellowhammer News on Monday afternoon.

“I am very proud that Kimber is moving their headquarters from New York to Troy, AL. Kimber recognizes our business friendly environment, our strong support of the 2nd Amendment & our hard working people,” he remarked.

“This is a testament to the conservative leadership of Mayor Jason Reeves & the Troy City Council & the Pike County Commission,” Allen added in his statement.

As for the many positions that Kimber is now seeking to fill, the company lists “CNC technicians, machinists, quality control specialists, lean technicians, design engineers, compliance analysts, customer service representatives, materials planners, maintenance technicians, finishing operators, and assembly technicians,” as among the available jobs.

“Kimber is a great place to work, especially if you love firearms,” promised Pedi Gega, Kimber’s director of assembly and product finishing, in a statement.

“We have two indoor gun ranges, one outdoor range, a state-of-the-art design and prototype fabrication center, and a dynamic team of professionals who pride themselves in producing firearms with unmatched attention to detail, design and performance,” Gega continued.

Those interested in applying for a job at Kimber Manufacturing can do so here.

Give it time. I predict there will be little left in New York. Alabama and New York had a contest. Alabama won.

Intersting town to pick. Troy isn't very big. It's about 30 miles from Montgomery and Auburn. Troy is a college town. No lake nearby that I recall. Surrounded by rural farmland. There is hunting galore for deer with a long season. Waffle House is near the pinnacle of haute cuisine. All them New Yorkers in that part of Alabama? Hope they are into college football!

Come on down....

It would be interesting to see how many New Yawkers actually move to Troy.

Maybe now they'll turn their attention to producing reliable & accurate firearms.

SWEET HOME ALABAMA OH SWEET HOME

Smart move on managements part. Put another nail in the coffin of high tax states that dont even like the product they are making.
F New York
Congrats to Alabama.

When Weatherby moved to Wyoming from Kommiefornia, the lost 80% of their work force and they paid a price quality-wise with new rifles coming out of Wyoming. I think they've got that ironed out, bit lots of complaints out there with QA issues with new rifles.

But, they get addressed, right?

It starts with their management, they have an emphasis on $$ not product. They use way too much MIM for my likes. They have been abused by NY for a few decades, did the lightbulb just come on just recently?

I’ve only had one Kimber of NY rifle. That’s is needed improvement on their part.

very much so!

Very cool. My first thought was they were taking over the plant Remington left in Huntsville.

Great to have them move to AL........and to hear that they're expanding the mag box in the 84M to 3" and the 7-08 twist to 1/8!.......Well, great to hear they're moving to AL anyhow.........

I wouldn't be surprised if they brought a lot of their skilled labor with them. It takes a bit of time to break in a crew of machinists.

Kimber suffered the same quality plunge when they moved from Oregon to New Yawk. Those 8000 wonderful Oregon produced 1911's made Kimbers reputation. Then for 4 or 5 years after the move, their quality on 1911's got so bad, a friend who owned a gunshop said he quit carrying them due to so many complaints from his customers after sending their pistols to Kimber. They would get returned and told not to send them back unless they had run at least 500 rounds through them. I guess Kimber, after their move, thought they could get a trained monkey to assemble 1911's out of parts bins and everything would be hunky dory. Friend said a couple other gun shops around him quit carrying them also. Kimber finally found some good 1911 mechanics after a few years.

Outdoor Life just wrote that the Kimber sales manager has left to head up Sportsmen for Biden. Might be related.

Lower wages....local tax dollars given away.....savings not passed on to consumers.

Yippie.

You got it.

Lower cost of living. Lower taxes. No Yankees.

Having spent a good chunk of my life in the Wiregrass region, it will be interesting to see what kind of quality they put out.