Producer
Olin Corporation (Winchester Ammunition)
Olin Corporation ammunition division; operates East Alton IL (historic Winchester site) and Oxford MS factories; ~30% of US primer production through Winchester-branded primers; East Alton has produced primers since 1892; also makes lead styphnate in-house for Winchester ammunition
4
Inputs supplied
4
Goods downstream
2
Facilities
0
Stories
What they make
4 inputs Olin Corporation (Winchester Ammunition) supplies
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Goods downstream
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Where they make it
2 facilities
Lake City Army Ammunition Plant →
USIndependence, Missouri · small arms ammunition manufacturing (GOCO)
Only US government-owned small arms ammunition plant; 1.6 billion rounds/year certified capacity. Operated by Olin Winchester since October 2020. Produces 5.56mm, 7.62mm, 9mm NATO, .308, .50 BMG for military. Supplies ~30% of US commercial 5.56mm market. Groundbreaking for new 6.8mm NGSW facility February 2025.
Olin Winchester Oxford Plant →
USOxford, Mississippi · commercial ammunition production
Primary commercial centerfire rifle and handgun ammunition production facility; relocated from East Alton, IL (2010). Expanded with Manitowoc, WI (2025) and acquisition of AMMO Inc. Wisconsin facility.
What else they do
Business segments
The company's full revenue map — where this supply-chain role fits within their broader business.
Chlor-Alkali (Olin Chemicals — Largest Segment)
52%Epoxy Resins (Also From Dow Acquisition)
15%Winchester Ammunition (Consumer Brand)
25%Chemical Distribution (Winchester-Olin-Dow Channels)
8%
Intelligence
What's known
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Did you know2023
Olin Corporation — consumer-known for Winchester .22LR rifle cartridges and hunting ammunition — is the largest North American producer of chlorine used in municipal drinking water treatment. Olin's chlor-alkali plants supply chlorine and sodium hypochlorite (bleach) to water utilities across North America. A supply disruption at Olin's Freeport, TX or McIntosh, AL plants would directly threaten the ability of municipal water systems to maintain water safety standards. The same NYSE-listed company makes the M855A1 5.56mm round for the US Army AND the chlorine that disinfects drinking water for tens of millions of Americans. The Winchester brand makes Olin visible in firearms culture; the chlor-alkali business makes Olin invisible in — but essential to — civilian water infrastructure.
Olin Corporation ↗Origin2023
Olin Corporation has a split personality that confuses investors. Public brand awareness: Winchester ammunition (founded 1866 by Oliver Winchester). Actual revenue composition: chlor-alkali chemicals (~52% of revenue) acquired from Dow Chemical in 2015 for ~$5B. The 2015 Dow acquisition was transformative: Olin essentially reverse-merged with Dow's commodity chlor-alkali assets, taking on much larger chemical manufacturing operations than its Winchester firearms heritage. NYSE ticker: OLN. The company is simultaneously one of the most recognized consumer firearms brands in America AND one of the largest industrial chemical companies in North America — categories so distant from each other that most casual observers of either industry are unaware of the overlap.
Olin Corporation ↗Capacity2023
Olin's Winchester division holds approximately 30% of the US small arms primer market — a critical upstream component for all ammunition (factory-loaded and handloaded). Primers are the initiating explosive charge that ignites propellant powder; without primers, no cartridge functions. Winchester manufactures lead styphnate in-house at East Alton, IL — a rare self-sufficient capability in the primer supply chain. During the 2020-2021 US ammunition shortage (COVID-19 gun-buying surge + component shortages), primer availability was the binding constraint: firearms retailers had bullets, brass cases, and powder but no primers. Winchester's East Alton primer production was running continuously at 100% capacity. The US commercial and military small arms systems depend on a handful of primer manufacturers — Olin/Winchester, CCI/Alliant (Vista Outdoor), Federal/ATK — and primer supply is the most constrained chokepoint in the US ammunition industrial base.
Winchester (Olin Corporation) ↗