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Time for Colt to make a comeback?

9K views 47 replies 17 participants last post by  M118LR 
#1 ·
Is it just me, but, with .45 Autos in very high demand, and guns moving all over the place, how is Colt not doing something big? I mean, ads, new 1911s, heck tacticalize a bit or re-release some classic models, do some fanfare?

It seems insane they aren't taking advantage of this period. Heck, they should be able to sell anything if they can get back to high prodution, as long as it is decent quality and goes bang.

Heck they also make AR-15s, I was wondering if they could get their AR-15s and AR-18s back into more of the consumer's eye with some kind of ad push? If they need to add production, maybe they could produce out of Japan with extra rifles? The Japanese could use business too so it would be win win for a joint venture.

Just brainstorming here. It seems a primo time for Colt to start making some noise again.
 
#37 ·
How many times can one be shot in the foot before they bleed out?

Colt doesn't deserve a decent burial... in fact I would truly hate to see the name die or be bastardized.

I caught lot of flak for defending S&W and their "deal" with the devil." They were truly amazed at the intensity of the public reaction. S&W recovered with a truly popular line of pistols... the M&P... and have carved out a chunk of the AR market for themselves with good products.

In a way Colt displayed the same sort of arrogance and believes that the name alone will sell guns. Sure it will, but with the entirety of their market segments (1911 and AR15) crowded by worthy competitors , unless they have a better mousetrap waiting in the wings a rocky road lies ahead.

Anyone remember the days of Dirty Harry when there were lines around the block to get a Model 29? How long did it take for Colt to offer a .44 Magnum when they had the basic design for one in the New Service?

What I would like to see is brilliant case hardening and blue so deep you can swim in it at a price an average Joe can afford. I think it could be done, but not easily.
 
#41 · (Edited)
I caught lot of flak for defending S&W and their "deal" with the devil." They were truly amazed at the intensity of the public reaction.

<snip>

In a way Colt displayed the same sort of arrogance and believes that the name alone will sell guns.

<snip>

What I would like to see is brilliant case hardening and blue so deep you can swim in it at a price an average Joe can afford. I think it could be done, but not easily.
I was a member of the "S&W must die" hoard for a long time. I absolutely refused to buy any Colt when they cut their product line to over priced SAAs, 1911s. I love the Colt 1911A1 I bought as a promotion gift from me to me when I made SSgt/E6. Paid $105 new in the box for it. I babble too much.
 
#38 ·
Charlie Petty,

AGREED & another thing that I would "stand in line" to buy is a new COBRA, at about 13-14 ounces unloaded.
(Titanium??)

In fact, I would buy a COBRA in each of: 2, 3, 4 & 5 inch barrels.
(YES, Colt did make at least a FEW 5" Cobras. - I saw one in a General's patent leather holster in a Latin American country in 1981. = The General had had it plated in heavy 18K gold & YEP, with genuine, engraved Mother of Pearl grips, too. - Evidently, he never met LTG George Patton, Jr.)

yours, sw
 
#39 · (Edited)
Questions: with Colt Defense (recently lost M-4 contract) allegedly separate from CPFM, exactly who would make and get the money from civilian AR production? Or is CD military sales only? If so, exactly what are they going to have left, besides foreign sales?

[Customer relations story: back in 1992 or so, we put out feelers for semi-automatic service pistol T&E samples. Colt sent us a .357 revolver with about a 22 lb DA pull. Included was a note that the sample pistol was a specially tuned example and any production guns were likely to have a heavier trigger pull. Since their Double Bird had been such a miserable flop, I guess it was their best fall back, but really?]

The incestuous and tangled skein of corporate entities at/surrounding Colt is likely worthy of another case study. Probably also doesn't help in the struggle to keep CPFM afloat.

BTW, does anyone have a production figure on the Anaconda? I've read about them but never actually seen one.

I may be excessively negative about Colt, but I have vivid memories of talking to the guy in charge of parts sales (mid 1980s) about the defective slides I'd been shipped and him telling me that he wasn't sure he could find anything better to send me. He did make good on all but one. I ended up eating that one-used it to build my own comp gun.
 
#44 ·
Back in the late 90's ? Colt split into Colt Manufacturing and Colt Defense.
They were in the same building, separated by a chain link fence between the two sides.
Within the last couple of years they reintegrated the company into Colt Manufacturing.

It's amazing.... every few months we're told that Colt has lost a contract to make M4 carbines for the government and will quickly fold, and that the military is going to buy a totally new rifle not made by Colt.
Then Colt gets a new contract and the new rifle never gets adopted.

I've heard any number of times from real experts that the decision was long ago made that no new rifle or caliber was going to be adopted until there was a major technology break through in rifle design or ammo technology.
Since the M16 series is entirely satisfactory they can't justify buying a new rifle for so little gain over the current series. You may see upgrades like the switch from the 3-shot burst M4 to the heavy barrel full-auto M4A1, but that's it.

So, until someone makes a technology break-through like a laser rifle in the 40 megawatt range, or a caseless ammunition that actually works, it's going to be the M16 series, and since Colt is a top maker, Colt will continue getting contracts to build it.

Another indication about the M16 series longevity is that every time I see some foreign military in some out of the way place, they're armed with the M16 series.
I recently saw on TV news some really obscure country somewhere in the "stans" that were armed with the M4.
I see even countries like England and France in various sand countries armed with the M4 even though they have their own designs of 5.56 rifles.
That may be to limit supply problems by arming with the same rifle the US uses, but it seems that a lot of countries Special Ops forces use the Colt M4 by choice.
 
#46 ·
The AK is a perfectly acceptable service rifle. I'm not sure how preferable it is, there are so many around the world that are just beat to death. A newly manufactured AK74 as made by Russia or Bulgaria are very good rifles.

That said, there are few soldiers who really want an AK over the M4. Stoner's invention has matured exceptionally well.
 
#48 ·
Way back in Colts hay days, when the CPD issued Colt Pythons, somehow a S&W Target Sighted 645 found its way into my holster. Since I was casually assigned as Marine Unit Diver, (with a couple of extra qualifications) perhaps I wasn't competent enough to understand the intricacies of how a .357 Mag Colt Revolver was preferential to the then most modern LEO version of the Service 1911? But once Colt ground it's craftsmen under thier thumb, (all those blue collared folks that gave wage concessions for Retirement benefits) the "COLT" brand became synonymous with chiseling misers in My Humble Opinion. Somehow it seems that there isn't a "COLT" product in any of my firearms lockers.
 
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