Via Insty, I see that Colt has decided to grace the civilian market with its presence again:
“There have been numerous articles recently published about Colt’s participation in the commercial rifle market,” Colt President and CEO Dennis Veilleux said last year. “Some of these articles have incorrectly stated or implied that Colt is not committed to the consumer market. We want to assure you that Colt is committed to the Second Amendment, highly values its customers and continues to manufacture the world’s finest quality firearms for the consumer market. The fact of the matter is that over the last few years, the market for modern sporting rifles has experienced significant excess manufacturing capacity,” Veilleux continued. “Given this level of manufacturing capacity, we believe there is adequate supply for modern sporting rifles for the foreseeable future.”
So for those of you who want to spend a premium for a commodity brand, here’s an alternative to POF (who I think give Colt a good run for the title of “world’s finest quality product”). Others can continue to call on Palmetto State (good luck with that, see stock availability at the link) or others of that ilk for the identical, and cheaper, product.
I love this high demand for eeeeevil assault rifles because it makes fools of the gun-confiscators (not that they needed any help).
Anyway, welcome back to Colt.
They’re in, they’re out, they’re in for how long this time?
Although early in Colt’s history they pursued government and law enforcement contracts, much of their earnings came from commercial and foreign sales. They have intermittently put commercial sales on the back burner since the 70s and 80s with lack of R&D and consistently putting their commercial products out of production. They never embraced the rise of cowboy action shooting and discontinued their iconic SAA. They stopped producing the iconic Python etc and its replacements the Colt Trooper etc with no replacement to the revolver line for decades. Once the police market started to drop revolvers, Colt had no competitive semi automatic pistols in the competition.
From what I understand, their AR15 models are considered middle of the road. They really should have an entry or budget level, a moderately priced model and some high end models. But someone else can speak to Colt’s ARs better than I can.
It’s very sad. I drive by Colt’s blue onion several times a month. It’s a shame that such an iconic company continues to be so poorly managed. THe Connecticut River Valley was once the arsenal of democracy with dozens of firearm manufacturers and suppliers. Now they’re all closed, absorbed by other firms or driven out of state by hoplophobic politicians.
JQ
I’ll continue on with my SP1……though for any serious shooting, I use self-assembled AR’s from my CA days…..that SP1 is getting too damn valuable.
“We pissed on you during the Clinton-Obama years, now that there are $$$ to be made, we’ve had an epiphany about how important you peons are.” Colt can bite me.
Yeah, they lost me when they stopped making the Python.
Not going to lie, I love my Colt 1911 .45 (1991A, basic black parkerized, no frills).
That said, I inherited it (Dad is still with us, but he had a stroke back in 97 and cant shoot, so the family arsenal came to me early). If I was shelling out my own scratch, no way would I pay the premium for those ponies on the grip. Pretty much figure you’re going to pay 10 to 15% brand premium minimum on anything new from Colt, and your left testicle along with your firstborn for anything classic like a Python.
Colt is a perfect example of continuity of management. They have been badly run since prior to ww1. They lost money during ww2!!! They have NEVER been managed properly. Textbook mismanagement. The latest batch mortgaged the company to the tune of ~$300 million+, making it unsaleable. They don’t even own the rights to their own name! They were a joke in the 80’s, and have just gotten more farcical over the years. They build a good AR, due to their government contracts, but the managers really don’t like selling guns to the unwashed public. They are riddled with the typical NorthEasterner’s antigun idiocy thinking. That’s why they never attempted to relocate. Why would they want to?