Is Colt gone?

CraigC said:

Colt has been repeatedly pillaged and needs to get away from Hartford and the UAW before it ever has a chance. They need to be run like a proper firearms manufacturer, in a right to work state.

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The UAW is not Colt's biggest problem. In the grand scheme of things it is pretty minor. Colt had a good run based on selling M16s to various military organizations. That run is long gone and they never replaced it with any other product. they never really embraced the civilian AR15 market either, and have done little to make the 1911 which is pretty much their premier product a market leader. they let other companies take away the best parts of the 1911 market.

There are still people who would buy a Python if it was available and affordable, and close to what it was 30 years ago. I doubt you could make one with all the hand work that the original Pythons had but modern CNCs can very closely duplicate most of that. I doubt the current incarnation of Colt has the capital available to invest in machines to make Pythons and other DA revolvers that Colt was once famous for. The people who made them largely by hand are long gone and won't be coming back.

The current owners of Colt have no interest in building or selling firearms. They are just loading the company up with debt while lining their pockets. The company is currently something like $400 million in debt.

Cannibul said:

The current owners of Colt have no interest in building or selling firearms. They are just loading the company up with debt while lining their pockets. The company is currently something like $400 million in debt.

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who would be dumb enough to loan a near bankrupt company that kind of money?

The new Cobra and other revolvers that they have implied are in the works based on it could help to renew interest in Colt and help them become profitable but it wouldn't be enough to save them. One big problem is that if there are lay offs, how will they get enough of these new products to the market in time to help?

Jonesy814 said:

The new Cobra and other revolvers that they have implied are in the works based on it could help to renew interest in Colt and help them become profitable but it wouldn't be enough to save them. One big problem is that if there are lay offs, how will they get enough of these new products to the market in time to help?

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It would not surprise me at all if these announcements are all there is for the moment. You may be right in your assessment that they may not be able to make the products even if they could design them. Could be just something to interest potential customers of their products and a potential buyer of the company.

Same principle as vaporware.

The real mystery about Colt is not whether or when they will go belly up, it is how they have stayed afloat for so long. Their post-WWII history has been one disaster after another, case after case where Colt zigged when the rest of the industry zagged. Their only real success was with the M16, and that was not a Colt development. And even that was a case that after having one success, they put all their eggs in that basket, neglecting everything else in the search for the Holy Grail of big government contracts. They totally ignored the civilian and even the police markets, with Colt executives even sneering at the "gun nuts" they wouldn't need since they planned to unload their civilian production and become solely a military supplier.

Jim

Jim K said:

The real mystery about Colt is not whether or when they will go belly up, it is how they have stayed afloat for so long.

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Perhaps they are just good at getting people to loan them money. It is always amazing to me to see people lining up to loan money to companies they know are in deep trouble. It is like they want to lose money.

Colt has not made good business decisions for years and CraigC is correct. Colt let Ruger take over the SAA revolvers and let both S&W and Ruger out flank them on DA and everybody on pistols. I hope they survive but it is doubtful.

It's a shame they didn't bring their new marketing scheme in a few years ago. It seems like they are trying to bring to market good newer products are a competitive price. Too little too late? I hope not.

It's bad enough Winchester is gone, not Colt too.

ArchAngelCD said:

It's bad enough Winchester is gone, not Colt too.

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Winchester is not "gone". It has just had to shift its business model to suit the times.

Also shifted countries, which the Colt brand may end up doing.
Denis

ilbob said:

Winchester is not "gone". It has just had to shift its business model to suit the times.

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The name is still being used but Winchester is gone. It's much more than a change in business model when a foreign buyer takes over. The only thing that was not so bad is at least it was FN who bought them, a company John Browning was connected to.

That all ended in 2006 when FN shut down the plant in New Haven, Connecticut and in turn Winchester Repeating Arms Company under the name of the U.S. Repeating Arms Company.

The name might be on guns but Winchester is no more. I would hate to see Colt go the same route. I'm sorry to sound like an old romantic but it's part of our heritage and history.

I would not mind Freedom Group buying them since they have a history of preserving the companies they buy as wholly owned subsidiaries. (until Marlin that is)

There is no "Winchester" company, it's a brand name licensed by Browning (owned by FN) from Olin Corp to allow Browning to import Winchester-marked products into the US from foreign sources & market them here by Browning.
Denis

ArchAngelCD said:

I would not mind Freedom Group buying them since they have a history of preserving the companies they buy as wholly owned subsidiaries. (until Marlin that is)

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Like they did with Para?

And Rohrbaugh....?
Denis

For a company that supposedly is the leader in quality AR's and is in trouble, you'd think they'd be pumping 'em out. It's difficult to even find someone that has a regular Colt AR for sale. Forget the new model that's diluting the Colt name. People like lightweight AR's, try and find a 6720. Hen's teeth.

Bad decisions from a company that can't afford to make any more. Typical for corporate America, CEO only wants to know how much am I going to make.

The very best thing that could happen to Colt, would be to be bought by Beretta. It would be a win for both companies.

ilbob said:

who would be dumb enough to loan a near bankrupt company

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Colt has already filed for BK chapter 11 , but yes layoff's and closing division's of Colt is happening just look up Colt files
bankruptcy lots of articles on it believe they filed it back in june 2015 guess we will wait and see if Colt pulls through and lasts years to come

farm23 said:

Colt has not made good business decisions for years and CraigC is correct. Colt let Ruger take over the SAA revolvers and let both S&W and Ruger out flank them on DA and everybody on pistols. I hope they survive but it is doubtful.

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That is my take as well. Colt seems to be letting go the best technical people. These are the people who know guns, how they work, and can possibly design new product. I am not hopeful for Colt's future.

I'm afraid that when or if the Cobra is finally released they will go for inflated value over fears of the demise of Colt. Which will be disappointing since I really want one!

Colt is releasing a AR a1 retro but with a price of $2500 it todays AR market Colt is NUTS $2500 AR thats funny just because the pony stamp ?
I bet if they reintroduce revolvers they will be in the $2000 range just insane when Ruger and S&W revolvers are well under 1k ,
even if Colt continues to make firearms they will price them self out of business, Their new AR a1 you can by a full sized AR service rifle from FN , Windham and many others and FN,Windham and S&W all have lifetime guaranty's at half the price of Colt, I think Colt is in BIG Trouble

Colt can move to Texas.. We have Right-To-Work laws! Ditch the liberal union states and move here!

Deaf

There are many hurdles to overcome for a company like Colt to move out of state, not the least of which is the labor force.
Most would not follow, which would mean recruiting from the local population & training them.
That'd take time. Which would be downtime for production.
Denis

Even if successful, I don't see this "Cobra" revolver significantly changing Colt's fortunes. Say Colt introduced a "new and improved Python", that would sell for $1500 due to internal and external manufacturing economies as has been done with the "Cobra". Colt's fortunes would not change IMHO. I suspect intermittent Government contracts will continue to transfuse money into Colt as Colt limps along into an increasingly uncertain future........ymmv

DPris said:

There are many hurdles to overcome for a company like Colt to move out of state, not the least of which is the labor force.
Most would not follow, which would mean recruiting from the local population & training them.
That'd take time. Which would be downtime for production.
Denis

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That's ok. They can declare bankruptcy, lay 'em off, move, reorganize, and re-train new staff.

Not like Colt is in super high production right now.

Deaf