WTF.....Colt halts civilian sales of long guns.

Ironically, I think if they sold this exact configuration with all the period correct accessories they would make a nice amount of money as a civilian retro series :)

& brought back the PYTHON.{in 4.2"!} They would make as much $ as they wanted..
 
Hardly anyone who actually has a genuine interest has been buying Colt ar15's for a while anyways, why bother with the plethora of better options available?

I'll stick with my KAC's. There's plenty of other great manufacturers making ar15's as well. Colt has been pretty irrelevant for a while amongst the ar15 enthusiasts.
 
Even when Colt was in their heyday their quality control was not super great. I've got a Series 70 1911 that has some machining er ah irregularities for lack of a better word. It works fine but it's a little asymmetrical. I've also got a Series 80 Delta Elite with chatter marks inside the slide.

If I were to buy another 1911 it would not be a Colt.
 
We have Colt Canada. Oh well. Colt USA will be back. Plus they have lots of parts to supply for years. The AR market is dead anyways. Military & Law Enforcement contracts will take over again in the industry I would wager. Civilian sales are tapped out.
 
Colt USA lost ground in mil-contracts, there's tons of info from them saying they're focusing on mil For now and expanded handgun lines instead
 
The end is near for the AR15/M4 line, the US is going to some new 6.8 mm ammunition and rifle/squad automatic platform.
Colt probably did not want to spend anymore money on the production line, if they do win the contract to manufacture the new rifle system they will have to retool the whole production line anyway.
They will probably finish whatever order they have on hand and then shutdown the M4 production line.
 
In a Jan. 30, 2009, report on the bailout program, the Congressional Research Service noted that Ford “is counting on $5 billion from the DOE loan program to support a $14 billion plan to reorient its lineup toward more fuel-efficient vehicles.” On June 23, 2009, the Department of Energy announced it would provide $5.9 billion to Ford “to transform factories across Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, and Ohio to produce 13 more fuel efficient models.”

Didn't Ford simply take the cash hand-out, close the plants, tell the American labour to hit the bricks and move their assembly plants to Mexico?

What a genuine America success story.
 
Word is that Colt got a 42 million multi year contract from DoD to supply foreign militaries with M4 through FMS, til 2024.

So depending when the bulk of the order is to to be filled, they have 50,000 rifles to make. Still not a big number compared to the height of GWOT.
 
The end is near for the AR15/M4 line, the US is going to some new 6.8 mm ammunition and rifle/squad automatic platform.

Believe it when you see it. ANY change to Army-issue, even just improvements, on the M16 and M4 require a literal (as in they require legislation to alter) Act of Congress. This is why you see the Marines trying new stuff and dragging Big Army kicking and screaming on things like rails, optics etc. It's pretty much going to take a *significant* performance improvement to get those schmucks and the Pentagon to get past "this is what we've got, it's already paid for and it's good enough dammit now make do or die trying!"
 
Innovate or die. What innovative products has Colt released since the 60s?

They actually innovated a lot in the 1980’s. Just there was little demand for newer models. Then the 90’s came. Cold War ended. Plus the company was taken over by leftest owners and workers largely. So there.
 
Something I said on another forum... if the current CEO kicked the bucket tomorrow and I were named his replacement, here's my playbook for improving the company's position:

1. Get the hell out of Damnyankeestan. Offer relocation assistance for employees, but shut down Hartford aside from whatever required for military contracts--turn much of it into a museum/"Gun Disneyland," maybe if a legal way can be found offer a "make YOUR own Single Action Army or 1911 on the historic Colt tooling" premium "experience" activity. Even then, automate as much as possible.
2. No more union shop--instead make shares a part of the compensation package so every employee is a part owner, and run things more like Toyota/Nissan/etc's auto plants in the South where everybody has a voice. Be visible on the floor occasionally running a machine myself, otherwise directly engage with employees as Alan Mulally did running Boeing Everett when his people worked like slaves for him because they knew he had their backs to the point that he would sacrifice his own bonuses to save as many of them as he could when Condit and Stonecipher wanted to fire everybody they could and then fire some more. (Traditionally BA rollouts have been insider-only events, but A.M. announced to everyone in the company that "if you get yourself and your family to Everett, we will make sure there is room for you to join the celebration and a hot lunch for everyone." Heck of a party, but I assisted with volunteer checkin and the vegetarian-option Boca Brats on the grill next tent still linger in my snotlocker all these decades later... but he went the extra mile trying to accommodate
3. Reduce outsourcing to only those things it makes sense to outsource. Things like inviting John Thomas's Retro Arms Works to spearhead the "Retro AR" line, finding someone similar to do the Retro 1911's.
4. Streamline the catalog--focus each line on a handful of core models to be offered every year, and have another handful of slots for things to be rotated in and out of production every year. (Using 1911s for example, the "core line" would be one each Blued and Stainless in Government, Commander and Officers sizes, the Combat Commander and a "basic plain-jane milspec" Government. WWI Repro, WWII Repro, nickeled .38 Super would be among the "rotators.")
5. Engage with the customer base at NRAAM, SHOT, etc for Market Research. Focus the "rotating production slots" on most demanded models, with the understanding that after one year in production every "rotator" model will be taking at least a year off.
6. Now that the AR is "open source," work with SAAMI, other manufacturers and the suppliers to establish a "TDP Compliance" working group governing industry standards to help weed out the Fly By Night garbage-builders--loudly add "Meets or Exceeds TDP Standards" on participants' certified models, and run an ad campaign stressing "if it's not good enough for us to put in our servicemembers' rifles, it's not good enough for us to put in YOURS." Same with the 1911.

After that, adjust and fine tune as needed.
 
Back
Top Bottom