Press release: Firearms manufacturer Weatherby, Inc., is relocating its manufacturing operations and corporate headquarters from California to Sheridan, Wyoming, company officials announced today from SHOT Show in Las Vegas, the world’s largest annual shooting, hunting and firearms industry trade show.

The move is expected to create 70 to 90 jobs and more than $5 million annually in payroll in the next five years.

Outdoor recreation is an economic driver in Wyoming, and manufacturing plays a vital role in any economy, according to Shawn Reese, chief executive officer of the Wyoming Business Council.

“So, to bring those two things together – an internationally-known manufacturer of outdoor equipment headquartered in Wyoming – it will pay dividends, not only to Sheridan and northeast Wyoming, but this is a project of which the entire state should be proud,” Reese said.

Wyoming wooed the renowned gunmaker with its expansive access to unrivaled big game hunting, low taxes, industry-friendly environment, Sheridan College’s workforce training program and a comprehensive incentives package.

“We wanted a place where we could retain a great workforce, and where our employees could live an outdoor lifestyle,” said Adam Weatherby, chief executive officer. “We wanted to move to a state where we can grow into our brand. Wyoming means new opportunities. We are not interested in maintaining; we are growing.”

Governor Matt Mead and the Wyoming Business Council, the state’s economic development agency, began recruiting Weatherby a year ago.

“Wyoming is a great place to do business and is excited to welcome Weatherby to Sheridan,” Mead said. “For over 70 years, Weatherby has been an innovator in firearms design and manufacturing. The company will add to our manufacturing base and fit well with our diversification objectives.

“I thank the Wyoming Business Council, the Sheridan Economic and Education Development Authority, and all who helped bring Weatherby, Inc. to Wyoming.”

Weatherby called Mead’s enthusiastic support and accessibility a major asset for a company operating in a highly-regulated industry.

“From the get go, when we met the governor, he said, ‘Here’s my number, shoot me a text any time,’” Weatherby said. “He responds to our needs quickly, and it shows a business like ours is important to Wyoming and that it’s a big deal here.”

Business Council staff took Weatherby officials on tours of potential sites for their facility around the state following the initial conversations.

Sheridan stood out to Weatherby executives because of its access to both the outdoors and a skilled workforce.

“There are a lot of great places in Wyoming, but Sheridan stood out as a New West community that’s progressive and growing, with a vibrant downtown in the shadow of the Bighorns and a mild climate,” Weatherby said. “Sheridan College, which is growing its manufacturing and machine tool program, was also a deciding factor.”

Sheridan College President Dr. Paul Young called Weatherby’s recruitment an example of the work it will take to diversify Wyoming’s economy.

“This is the direct result of years and years of visioning, planning and strategically investing in the things that matter for the future of our region,” Young said. “With the help of Whitney Benefits and others, we have been strengthening and growing our technical programs for this very reason, and we will continue to provide opportunities for students to learn valuable skills to secure a solid future.”

The Business Council worked with the Sheridan Economic and Education Development Authority (SEEDA) Joint Powers board to develop a $12.6 million grant package. SEEDA committed $2,283,074 in local match funds, of which $322,874 is cash. The other $1,960,200 is in-kind match for Lot 1 in the Sheridan High-Tech Business Park. The joint powers board will use the money to build a 100,000 square-foot building in the Sheridan High-Tech Business Park. SEEDA will own the facility and lease it to Weatherby.

Weatherby will invest an estimated $2 million in relocation expenses and cover all capital investment in the building and lot over the life of the 20-year lease, which is expected to be well over $4 million.

“We’re extremely excited to have this internationally recognized company choose Sheridan as their new corporate headquarters,” Sheridan Mayor Roger Miller said. “This relocation will translate to more skilled manufacturing jobs, an increased tax base and important economic diversification for our community and the region.”

Founded in 1945 by Adam Weatherby’s grandfather, Roy Weatherby, the family-owned and operated business has built a brand synonymous with quality craftmanship, a superior fit and finish and ballistic superiority.

The importance of family underlies much of Weatherby’s ethos.

“Our product is the main tool hunters use out in field. They may spend a lifetime trying to draw a tag or save for the hunt of their dreams, and we keep that foremost in our minds when we are building our guns,” Weatherby said. “This is an aspiration product; these are guns that are passed down from generation to generation.”

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Founded in 1945, Weatherby, Inc. is a family-owned company that continues to fuel the passion of hunters and shooters around the globe by building some of the world’s finest firearms. With a legacy of setting new standards in ballistics and performance, the company is committed to redefining excellence on the range and in the field.

The Weatherby line features the legendary Mark V® rifles (production and custom), popular Vanguard® rifles, Weatherby Shooting Systems™ Rifles and shotguns like the Orion®, Element® and SA-08™. Weatherby’s premium ammunition and shooting accessories are also the choice for discerning shooters worldwide.

The company is based in Paso Robles, CA and invites all hunters and shooters to visit their free online communities at www.weatherbynation.com,www.facebook.com/Weatherbyinc and @weatherbyinc on Twitter and Instagram. The latest Weatherby films can be viewed at www.wby-tv.com. For more information, go to www.weatherby.com.

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60 COMMENTS

  4. No sooner was a major federal tax cut signed into law than a couple of dipshit California Democrat Assemblymen proposed adding a 7% income tax surcharge on businesses earning more than $1 million, to fund social welfare programs whose finances have been cut by Governor Brown. The current top rate is 8.9% for corporations. With friends like these, what company wants to stay? I think this is called “killing the goose that lays the golden egg.”

    • 7 percent?

      Mark, the version I heard was that that a *50 percent* tax on the Trump tax savings was proposed, but they pissed and whined since they no longer had a super-majority, there was no way they could ram it through to “punish” the companies that got the savings. That’s their shit mentality. It’s *their* money, and they will take it.

      When I heard that, I said to myself – “Just like Negan (The Walking Dead). Negan demands half of everything you have or find…”.

      Here it is –

      “Two Democratic state assemblymen want to raise the state’s business taxes in response to President Trump’s federal tax overhaul.

      Assemblymen Kevin McCarty of Sacramento and Phil Ting of San Francisco introduced Assembly Constitutional Amendment 22 Thursday that would raise corporate taxes on California companies with revenues higher than $1 million. The state tax hike would be for an amount equivalent to half what they received from the federal tax cut.

      “I’ve seen enough billionaire justice in the first 11 months of this presidency to last my lifetime,” McCarty said in a statement. “At a time when reckless federal tax policy favors billionaires over middle-class workers, ACA 22 will help ensure that California can continue to grow and support middle-class families throughout the state.”

      McCarty and Ting’s proposal faces long odds. It requires supermajority support in both houses of the Legislature and, if passed, would also need voter approval on the November 2018 ballot.”

      http://ktla.com/2018/01/18/california-democrats-pitch-business-tax-increase-after-trumps-tax-cut/

      • You know those maps that show blue states pay more into the federal government per capita than red states?
        Once you account for the effective subsidy paid by red states to blue states though underwriting of their high state and local income, property taxes and sales taxes through the local tax deduction on federal taxes, it is the red (GOP) states that are subsidizing the blue ones.

        people in Texas and lower tax states have been paying for roads, state employee salaries and public welfare befits of people in California to the tune of billions due to that deduction.

        California and high tax blue states are SCARED to death of facing their own taxpayers and explaining the constant growth in spending over cost of living/inflation. You want that kind of spending at the state level — then pay for it yourself instead of using a deduction scheme that causes half of it paid for by other states.

        US corporations parked more money overseas every year under Obama. Every year. The big ones are coming out of the woodwork to return investments and jobs to the US now that their is not an environment that hates job providers

    • that’s ok….they can tax the living crap out of the Kardashians or any other wack job liberal actor/actress….they have to subsidize all the illegal help for all these limousine liberal.

    • You are dead on. The liberals only care about how to be political correct. They don’t care about the capitalistic system. They will have more people on the welfare rolls now.

  9. Whew. We we’re planning a nighttime extraction by helo. Good to see you’re smart enough to beat us to it.

    Liked what they wrote about the waiting a lifetime for a tag, or saving for a hunt. Hasn’t been me, but I know a few of those types and It’s nice that a gun manufacturer is thinking about their clients out past the sale.

    WY is lucky to win you, and we’re sure you’ll take good care of WY.

  10. I agree with Keith. CA, NY, MA would really prefer if gun manufacturers for sure, and in their heart of hearts, most other “dirty” companies would leave, along with their largely white male employees, so that the snowflakes would have no opposition, and Bambi could run free without fear of hunters with the thunder stick. Meanwhile, good move for Weatherby. I hope it takes its decent employees along. Their dollar will go so much farther and they will probably live longer.

    • They talk big but big government needs big money. They don’t want any revenue source leaving the grasp of the State Treasurer.

    • “Meanwhile, good move for Weatherby. I hope it takes its decent employees along.”

      Their older and more skilled employees may not want to go the deep and cold winters in Wyoming. The culture shock will be unpleasant.

      The local college may have a ‘jobs program’, but what they will need are skilled machinists who fully “Grock” gun-making.

      I wonder how far Dyspeptic’s college is from Sheridan…

        • What is better than wide open emptiness? I can’t remember, don’t you live in a social tumor somewhere?

        • I like it in and around the Wind River reservation where the only thing on the FM dial is an indian drum jam. No chai bars either. Hipsters and progressive in general cannot survive in such an environment. That is a beautiful thing.

        • No Vic, I don’t live in a “social tumor”. I live in small town North of the Denver Metro area. We don’t even have legal weed here.

          Sorry, but if you want to see “the middle of nowhere” drive up US30 to Medicine Bow. After Laramie that stretch of road gets mighty lonely and I say that having grown up in a town of less than 5K people where if you needed an appliance like a fridge or stove you had to drive 4+ hours to go get it.

          Driving up to the Darin Fink last year, along US 30 and then WY487 I could, quite literally, have counted the number of other vehicles on my fingers. In fact, if I added in literally a toe or two I could count all the cars and trucks we saw along that route between Laramie and Casper. We spend a good half hour joking about how fucked we’d be if my buddy’s truck broke down.

        • Toxic Crystalline Alkaloid, I apologize. I am very aware that that you are one of the good guys and was not shooting at you. I just mixed up your circumstances with the likes of JWM, Former Water Walker and our other brave fifth columnists in enemy territory and was razzing you for insulting a desolate wasteland. I have a place above Dubois abutting the Wind River National Forest and picked the area because it reminded me of the empty mountainous/desert parts of Baja (only in the summer of course). I love the solitude, I use to spend months on alone my boat in forlorn anchorages in the Sea of Cortez. The only problem there was that firearms were illegal and the Mexican Navy and Marines boarded my boat from time to time. I really really wanted to avoid a Mexican prison so I didn’t hide any firearms aboard even though I likely would have gotten away with it. WY is better.

        • Vic. Me and the missus will be in Montana this summer. She has family there. In 6 years when she gets old enough to retire we will probably move to Utah. Some of our spawn our moving back there this summer.

          Even if federal troops march into CA to restore civil and human rights the tax schemes are just too damn much here.

          Mostly I’ve stayed for family. More of them are leaving because of the cost of living here.

        • How far north? Do you shoot matches or otherwise out at Weld County F&W, Pawnee Sportsman’s, Otto Rd. (Cheyenne, WY), or Owl Canyon?

        • Vic,

          Parts of Wyoming are quite nice. It’s that specific area that is… well there’s nothing there. It’s one of the most boring areas I’ve ever seen. No rivers… not even streams. Hell, not even rocks bigger than a fist. Just small rocks and dust. Even the cows look like they hate it. It’s a lot like Northern New Mexico South of Raton down to Wagon Mound only it’s a hell of a lot bigger.

          Really, for the most part I just like to give my Northern neighbors shit. That said, that particular area around Medicine Bow is damn desolate. Some hills but that’s about it. It’s not even very pretty because the mountains are so far away you can barely see them on a clear day. A bit farther North, up closer to Casper is quite nice.

          When it comes right down to it I like to fish in the afternoons. I suck at fishing so I don’t mind not catching anything but the idea I’d have to drive 60+ miles to find a puddle to drop a line into isn’t something that appeals to me. All that said, there’s some damn fine places for long range shooting out there and you don’t have to worry much at all about hitting someone by accident.

      • An entire (10th largest) state with fewer people than OKC, or (IIRC) ABQ. The largest “city” is ~60K. (Even in MO, 60K’s considered a podunk town. Sure it’s got a Wally World and a McD’s, but it’s still a tiny shithole. Like Jefferson City, or Cape…)

        I agree completely that the lack of people means that there is “lots there”, but I also agree with strych9, that the ‘surplus’ is strictly dependent on the esoteric reality that “nothing quantifiable happening” is something.

        Matter of viewpoint and all that….

        • I actually like parts of Wyoming. The area around Medicine Bow is flat out desolate though.

          Casper is a pretty cool town in reality. I just like giving my Northern neighbors shit.

          That said, The Virginian the hotel in Medicine Bow (basically the only thing in Medicine Bow) is creepy as fuck. I’m fairly certain that it’s going to be the set for the next American Horror Story. I can’t swear to it but I wouldn’t be surprised if the giant pots they had on the stove when I was there contained the people who were foolish enough to try to stay at that place.

          When I was headed up to the Fink we met a couple other teams at that hotel. Not a single team stayed there for lunch. Every single team drove another 100 miles to Casper for food. Yes, it’s THAT creepy.

      • Nope. They’re not the first ones. RTGPARTS.com relocated to Sheridan last year from AZ. One of largest HK parts dealers in the US.

    • We call it the Great Nothingness. If you really want to be isolated go NW of Rawlins. That is the true Great Nothingness. As far as Medicine Bow goes, it even creeps out WY citizens. Hills have eyes kind of stuff…

  15. Congratulations to Weatherby for making a wise move! So glad that the sensible businesses are taking the cue to up and leave that socialist workers paradise.

  18. Good move by Weatherby, moving from a state that despises them to the welcoming arms of Wyoming. They’re not the first and certainly won’t be the last.

  20. Congrats on the move, Weatherby. I spent a lot of time in Sheridan, when I lived in WY in the 80’s. I do wonder what he meant about how “progressive” Sheridan is. I hope not in the current, Commie meaning.

    • That’s what I was thinking. I hope he meant “progressive” as in generally forward-thinking, and not the current political sense, where it’s a convenient euphemism for regressive Leftist authoritarians.

      If they want California-lite, they’re probably going to be disappointed…

  21. Good for Weatherby! A great decision by a long established US company. I would encourage that ALL companies that have anything to do with the manufacture of firearms, ammunition and firearms related equipment/accessories who are based in Kommiefornia, move their facilities and headquarters out of that Anti-American craphole. Let States and the citizens of States that believe in and abide by the Constitution and our National laws reap the benefits of jobs with those companies.

  22. Too bad the Wyoming government gave so much taxpayer money to this company. Would be much better if they’d done the move on their own, but this is the sad reality of current government… no matter where you are.

    Anyway, welcome to Wyoming.

  23. “There are a lot of great places in Wyoming, but Sheridan stood out as a New West community that’s progressive and growing, …”

    I’m curious how a Firearms manufacturer defines progressive.

    This site needs a better comment system.

  25. I commend Weatherby for the move. There is a surge of companies moving to Montana, Idaho and Wyoming because they are business friendly. I don’t believe the state of California will be able to pull themselves out of debt. Tax rates are bleeding the state dry.
    Anyone with any brains will flee, it’s a matter of self preservation and quality of life.
    L.A., Sacramento and San Francisco will look like Detroit in a few years. It can’t end any other way.

  26. The voters of California made a choice. They did not choose guns and liberty. They chose communism and legal pot. Even the legal pot dealers have left sunny California for low tax and less business regulation states. The progressive is so stupid they would lose money in the legal pot business.

    President Trump is correct. Lower taxes and cut regulations. You will never hear the three L’s Libertarians, Liberals and the Left admit he is correct. But they do still have their weed. That should keep them distracted as always.

    I have not forgotten the Tracy gun store owners who are being told by the state government they can’t have over sized pictures of guns in their store front windows.

    But you can have in California dressed and equipped male mannequins having gay sex in window displays, used to sell clothing.

    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/11/11/gun-dealers-sue-over-california-law-barring-window-displays.html

    This native Californian moved away a long time ago.

  27. It was a few pages back that I vented my refusal to buy a Weatherby firearm after reading several years ago about how they couldn’t leave their employees behind. I understand that point but I promptly sold my vanguard and swore I would never buy another Weatherby while they were being made in California. It’s a shame too, outstanding rifle. I’m tickled pink I can purchase another as of 2019.

  28. Good on Weatherby for leaving California
    Too bad they did not choose Florida
    We are very gun friendly and business friendly
    Our Governor has established an office to lure companies here with all the usual corporate welfare
    The Space Coast has a well educated workforce that can build anything from firearms to rockets
    Lots of other gun companies already here
    And the weather is better than Wyoming!

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