Olin Corporation completed acquisition of White Flyer Targets—known for its ubiquitous orange clay targets used in recreational skeet, trap and sporting clays events—on Oct. 2. Winchester Ammunition, a member of the Olin family of businesses, will oversee company operations that include state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Coal Township, PA; Dalton, GA; Webb City, MO; Knox, IN; and San Bernardino, CA; as well as the recently announced ECO FLYER target product line.
“We welcome our new White Flyer teammates,” said Brett Flaugher, president of Winchester Ammunition. “Together, we can enhance the continued growth of trap, skeet, sporting clays and other shotgun sports. These two leading brands are renowned for unmatched quality and now offer increased value to our customers through comprehensive ammunition and clay target solutions for the thousands of shooting ranges across America.”
The White Flyer Targets story began more than 100 years ago, with an 1880 patent granted to George Ligowsky for a saucer-shaped target capable of flight. There were drawbacks to the original design, however, with many breaking on launch and those that got aloft had a habit of “ringing” on impact rather than producing that now-familiar break and cloud of dust. After developing a new composition and improving production processes, White Flyer officially opened for business in 1892.
By the early 1900s Western Cartridge—now known as Winchester Ammunition—owned and operated White Flyer. In 1979 it was sold to Reagent Chemical and Research (now part of Reagent Diversified Holdings), where it remained until this month.
“Winchester is the perfect choice to take ownership of our iconic brand,” Robert Lippert, president and CEO of Reagent Diversified Holdings, said last month when details of the agreement first emerged. “The pride our employees have in White Flyer Targets, LLC will only expand as they are welcomed into the Winchester team. We are confident that shooting sports, overall, will benefit from this pairing.”
