Colt to stop civilian sales??

[iamhistory]

Hey All,

I was at a show last weekend and was told by a dealer there that he received a notice from Colt that they were going to be discontinuing their civilian manufacturing and sales to focus on LEO, government, military, etc. contracts.

The reason this guy brought up the notice was that we were discussing Colt handguns and he offered this information to me to say that any Colt for sale, in collections, etc. would probably be going up in price.

Now I have not confirmed this information for accuracy. I was hoping to see if anyone else has heard that info. or actually received the aforementioned notice from Colt about their announcement.

Any input??

 

[dakotasin]

that rumor has been circulating for at least 5 years...

i'm gonna take a wild guess here... the dealer had a colt or 12 on the table you were eyeballing?

 

[TexasRifleman]

They split out the defense and civilian websites a while back and it sent the rumor mill into full blast.

 

[V4Vendetta]

When they split the sites I couldn't find the civilian website. I just wondered if I could be classafied as a "Private Security".

 

[Flatfender]

#1. Don't believe anything gun dealers say.

#2. Here's the civilian site : http://www.coltsmfg.com/cmci/home.asp

 

[Flatfender]

1. Don't believe anything gun dealers say.

2. Here's the civilian site : http://www.coltsmfg.com/cmci/home.asp

 

[larry starling]

Colt is alive and selling guns to the civilian market.Maybe said dealer was trying to push his kimber and springfield 1911's? Almost every gun store I go to have or had Colts. Went to a local store today and he had 4 new colts he had just gotten in....

 

[Aguila Blanca]

The "civilian" side is not a side, it is a separate corporation. It manufactures and sells ONLY handguns and target AR-15s. If they stop producing those, they are out of business. And they cannot focus on military and LEO sales, because they don't have any to speak of. That's the other corporation.

In addition, they would have to answer to the State of Connecticut before they could close the doors. I believe I read recently that a number of years ago, during a lean period, Colt either got a loan from the state or got some tax breaks that were secured by, among other things, rights to the Colt trade name and trademark. Colt defaulted, and according to this report (which I have NOT verified), the actual Colt trade name is now owned by the State of Connecticut.

I would really, REALLY like to see a copy of this supposed "notice" that all these dealers supposedly received, because IMHO either it doesn't exist, or they can't read.

 

[paul45]

Any input??

........Yes, the dealer is a complete MORON and a LIAR just trying to rip people off. It truly amazes me how long that rumor has been around....

 

[Lone_Gunman]

Is Colt being propped up by the State of Connecticut?

If not, I don't see how they are still alive. Their product line continues to shrink. The dealers around here might have one or two new Colts, and about a dozen Kimbers or Springfields.

There are few companies that can be as poorly run as Colt and remain in business.

That said, their product is actually very good. The just have really really bad management and marketing.

 

[PlayboyPenguin]

The company was probably run by "gun people" and not "numbers people". I see that alot in small business. It makes for a great product but lousy business.

 

[Smokey Joe]

Good company

PlayboyPenguin--The problem is, that any manufacturer needs BOTH types! If run exclusively by "gun people," the company will, as you say, be poorly managed and have ongoing financial problems, while perhaps putting out a fine product. However, if run exclusively by MBA's and the like, the company will be very well run, and the product line cheaped down or outsourced to China or some such.

"Gun people" and MBA's usually don't get along so well in the same office, especially when the 2 types have to decide on something for a company. But both are necessary to long-term survival.

 

[thorazine]

My dealer told me that all COLT LE/GOVT sales are shipped with complimentary boxes of chocolate chip and thin mint cookies!

That just goes to show you where (or who) their priorities are.

 

[KaceCoyote]

Colt needs to price cut, step up production and start selling us what we want.

 

[goste]

Based on their product line, It would seem(to me at least), that they are NOT run by gun people. I mean they have umpteen models of 1911, which I love by the way, $1200 single action army's, from the custom shop, Python"s from the custom shop, and not much else. The best selling cartridge is the .22. I don't think they offer pistol in that cal. anymore.

Definately not gun people......... IMHO.......My $.02.....

 

[Creeping Incrementalism]

I don't see what not having enough "gun people" around would make any difference. Most corporations are run by MBA's--people only in it for the money--and not aficionados.

 

[Taurus 66]

The US military is just over 2 million troops. Law enforcement personnel is how many? And contracts? What does this mean exactly?

The civilian population in the US is 300 million. Is it safe to say approximately 20% (1 in every 5) are gun owners? It would make good business sense to always have a line of products available for us common folks. I think there's more money in selling to civilians than to the military or law enforcement.

 

[iamhistory]

Well thanks for confirming my suspicions guys..........this particular dealer didn't seem like he was all that knowledgeable and I didn't make much conversation with him. I happened to be passing his booth just browsing his wares and he was trying to lure me in for a sale.

I pretty much knew he was full of it when I was interested in buying a Colt single action army and his reply was "oh ya, the old 1911........I've got lots of them."

I said........it's a Single Action Army..........you know, the old revolver? It's not a 1911.

He's seemed a bit embarassed after that. I moved on to the next guy.

Anyway, thanks again. I figured it was bogus and of course he DID NOT have the actual letter to show. He had left that back at the shop of course.

 

[Stainless Chili]

"oh ya, the old 1911........I've got lots of them."

Confusing a revolver and a semi-auto ...

Maybe he is not a gun guy, but just looking after his boyfriend's table for a bit.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

I think some of y'all are confused, sort of, and part is apparently due to the original post about stopping sales to "civilians." This seems to be a remake of the rumor that Colt is no longer selling to the public. This is true and has been true for several years now.

With that said, not selling to the public is not the same as not making guns for the public market or 'civilian' market. Before the split and after, the 'civilian' side of Colt does not sell to the public, but they do sell to retailers who sell to the public. I don't know if they still have the disclaimer on their site or not, but when posted on their site that they were not selling to the public, many folks construed this as not making guns available for the public and several dealers either intentionally played up the rumor so as to get more sales at better prices, or were just as ignorant and failed to comprehend what Colt was actually saying at the time. I am sure some dealers correctly reported what was going on, but many did not.

Some of y'all are saying Colt isn't run by gun people. That is an interesting opinion. They have been a struggling company fraught with some very bad decisions. Given some of the crappy 1911s they produced in the 80s and 90s that still managed to sell quite well, there are a lot of buyers who aren't gun people either.

 

[LAK]

Despite the fact that this has been circulated off and on as rumor - and selling tactic - one of these days it will probably be fact. On the present overall course it is just a matter of time. And no doubt some other makers will precede or follow.

-------------------------------------

http://ussliberty.org
http://ssunitedstates.org

 

[Lone_Gunman]

I am not sure there are any "gun people" or "business people" running Colt at all when you consider some of the dumb things they have done over the years.

They let Ruger take away most of the single action revolver market.

They let Bushmaster take away most of the civilian AR market.

They failed miserably to produce a decent hi-cap 9mm during the days of the Wonder Nine.

They let Kimber and Springfield steal away the 1911 market.

They violated another companies patents to produce the Pocket Nine, which they had to then withdraw from the market.

They have totally stopped production of DA revolvers, despite the fact that S&W and Ruger sell all they can make.

They havent produced a decent 22 caliber handgun in years, despite the fact that the 22 is the most popular caliber of all time.

The only thing they do well is make a decent 1911, but even those are overpriced for most people.

 

[Lobotomy Boy]

Colt made the same mistakes that the Indian motorcycle company made during WWI and WWII: they put all their eggs in the military basket. They were lulled into complacency because of lucrative government contracts and failed to develop innovative new products. They got fat and lazy suckling at the government teat, then, when for whatever reason that teat ran dry they found themselves without a market.

 

[allmons]

The government teat did run dry, but my last new

Colt cost me another $400 just to get it to function!

Ruger, Glock and Smith pistols work right out of the box without spending an extra dime. Have not, will not buy another Colt ANYTHING.

 

[larry starling]

And the Colt bashing continues......