CraigB5940
Aluminum
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2010
- Location
- SE PA USA
This summer I went on a two hour tour of the S&W Springfield Ma plant with my 12 year old son. As an afterthought, while we were on vacation I called two days in advance to arrange the trip. They let us tag along with a scheduled group, if you want to have your own group tour they will do that too if you have five or more members of the tour. You must be a US citizen and they do a background check on you, they do not allow felons on the tour.
We toured the whole plant except for the actual test range and the performance center shop. It is absolutely fascinating to see the process steps from the raw stock forging to the final hand fitting with lots of complex CNC machining stations in between. The tours last two full hours and are conducted by retired employees who volunteer their time for the task. What they do there took my breath away, and left me in awe, I am a serious target shooter and beginning home machinist & hobby gunsmith. It was a real treat to say the least. Well worth the time and they are really a great group of people who work there! The plant is working 24X7 and really humming along which is a good thing.
We toured the whole plant except for the actual test range and the performance center shop. It is absolutely fascinating to see the process steps from the raw stock forging to the final hand fitting with lots of complex CNC machining stations in between. The tours last two full hours and are conducted by retired employees who volunteer their time for the task. What they do there took my breath away, and left me in awe, I am a serious target shooter and beginning home machinist & hobby gunsmith. It was a real treat to say the least. Well worth the time and they are really a great group of people who work there! The plant is working 24X7 and really humming along which is a good thing.