Interesting. I just went to Colt's website as I hadn't checked it out in a while and they no longer have a section for commercial sales. Just LEO and Military.
I hope that is true but my experience with the words of "factory reps" has been less than encouraging.
An equally concerning fact is shown by Ed's post which is evidence of a statment made earlier by a Colt executive who stated that they did not need the civilian market (I'm sorry I do not have an exact quote but I think Dean can support the gist of it).
There is considerable speculation in the industry on Colt's ability to survive long term and I sincerely hope all that is wrong.
I would also question the truth of statements that they are going to install new equipment to make revolvers which for the last few decades have been Colt's smallest market and where there is formidable competition from both Ruger and Smith & Wesson.
If you look at Colt's market decisions it's hard to be hopeful. How long did it take them to come up with a .44 Magnum? They never had a .22 Target pistol to compete with High Standard and S&W.
When Kimber began to erode their 1911 market share they continued to make the same product and raise the price.
The last new handgun product they had was the All American 2000.
If they want to compete in the law enforcement market what can they sell? Law enforcement is still primarily a handgun market and while they will surely sell some ARs they've got pretty stiff competition there as well. How much longer is the military going to buy M-16 variants?
Maybe I'm completely out of step and everything really is as rosy as their guys say at the Shot Show but I'd sure like to see something tangible.
I thought I had the article on Colt's saying they could dump the civilians, but all I found was this article were they say they can get along without handguns in the line.
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