Former Bushmaster owner opens new plant
Richard Dyke, former owner of Bushmaster Firearms Inc., is starting a new company in Windham to manufacture and sell rifles.
Dyke sold Bushmaster to private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management in 2006 where it was put under ownership of a subsidiary, North Carolina-based Freedom Group Inc. In March of this year, Freedom Group announced it was relocating the Bushmaster operation to out-of-state facilities and intended to lay off 73 Maine employees. Dyke said in a press release Bushmaster's departure provided an opportunity to restore weapons manufacturing using Windham's skilled work force. The new company, Windham Weaponry Inc., will be located in the Windham Business Park at the former Bushmaster site.
Dyke said he and a group of investors intend to rehire about half of the former Bushmaster workers and begin production in July, anticipating a first shipment of rifles in September, and then hire more former workers by the end of the year.
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