When the people who bought Bushmaster in 2006 decided to move it “lock, stock and barrel” out of Maine to New York in 2011, the original Bushmaster owner, Mr. Richard Dyke was left with both a dilemma and an opportunity. Almost to the day of the 2011 move, Mr. Dyke’s non-compete clause expired. He still owned the property where Bushmaster had been built and knew all the workers – now laid off – who had helped him build it. He made a decision to “get back in the game” and promptly put an email out to many of his former employees and friends asking if there was interest in joining him for a new project. With a resounding “yes” of support, he gathered the financing in two days and started bringing people back into their long-time Windham manufacturing home. Within three months, the first productions models of the new Windham Weaponry line had been perfected and delivered.

The firearms industry and consumers welcomed this new effort warmly, old friends and contacts were re-established, and sales grew. In less than a year and a half, Windham Weaponry had brought back almost 70 employees, benchmarked impressive sales numbers, and established their name as one of the pre-eminent firearms manufacturers in the country. The press heralded it as “truly an American success story”, and all due to the vision of its founder. Further growth for Windham Weaponry has already been planned and implemented.