You guys excited for the inevitable resurgence of Colt?

I like Colt---but already own as many Colts as I care to---so probably won't be buying any more.

I'm curious to see what they change, they've come out with some nice products the last few years. I shoulda bought a Competition 9 when they were plentiful.

Not excited. I couldn't care less about Colt, I would never buy one of their guns.

I like CZ though, and would definitely like to buy a CZ-75 at some point

I am a true Colt fan, and have many. Having said that, I don't own any newer than 1973. Back in the day, Colt was known for superior quality and workmanship. And they lived up to it.

What happened to Colt, is what happened to so many other industries today.

First of all, being made in one of the most taxed, anti gun states in the union can't be a good thing. Connecticut is just horrible Which is sad since in the day most great American firearms were built in Connecticut. Ruger has moved all production to other states but still maintains HQ in CT. Remington filed bankruptcy twice in two years due in large part to litigation related to Sandy Hook.

The cost of a new Colt was seriously affected by the Union. Colt union problems border on legendary. Remember the four year long strike at Colt? How about the more recent union litigation trying to force Colt to NOT move manufacturing to other states, and to bring manufacturing already MOVED to other states back to Hartford? How about the recent litigation by the union to REHIRE laid off workers the company couldn't afford to pay which is why they were laid off in the first place? Smaller companies like Charter, which make a decent product for much less money, don't have the labor issues of a big company like Colt.

I doubt CZ will make a Colt Anaconda in .45 LC with the quality and craftsmanship of the original. Colt is another American company that was just eaten up from within.

I am cautiously optimistic. I have always counted myself as a very critical fan of Colt. At times, very critical but some of the rhetoric here even makes me cringe. I think the name has been looted and pillaged to the point that there is little trust in the market for what they produce. Which is sad, because for the last ten or more years, the SAA has been the absolute best it has ever been. A far cry from the dark days of the 1980's. I would like to see the SAA line expand and become more available. I'd like to see a return of the New Frontier, which was a more recent revival. I'd also like to see legacy models like the Anaconda and Diamondback return, or some modern revision of the New Service/Shooting Master. Maybe a new Woodsman. If they offered percussion and cartridge conversion guns as good as the SAA, I'd probably wet myself. I think there is a lot of potential there but it's going to require getting production out of CT and into friendlier territory.

KarateHottie93 said:

I hope they'll do a less expensive SAA with a transfer bar or Uberti style floating pin safety.

I'm one of those people that mainly carries wheel guns and feels perfectly safe with a single action.

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This... would interest me.

I've been idly thinking I need a Blackhawk in .45 LC.

But if Colt produced a modern SAA for a reasonable price ... Yeah, I could do that.

Uberti has been making many of the Colt clones for years, they function well. Beretta bought
Uberti and now produces the guns on computerized state of the art equipment. As far as
cowboy guns the Ubertis are Colt's equal. And for half the money. We love the Colt brand
but you can only ride so long on your brand name. And it is not worth twice the money.
Insist on American? Think Ruger.

BEEMAX said:

Uberti has been making many of the Colt clones for years, they function well. Beretta bought
Uberti and now produces the guns on computerized state of the art equipment. As far as
cowboy guns the Ubertis are Colt's equal. And for half the money. We love the Colt brand
but you can only ride so long on your brand name. And it is not worth twice the money.
Insist on American? Think Ruger.

Click to expand...

Uberti's are excellent and I own a bunch of them but they still don't hold a candle to a late model Colt.

JR24 said:

I've been idly thinking I need a Blackhawk in .45 LC.

But if Colt produced a modern SAA for a reasonable price ... Yeah, I could do that.

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I will tell you that I have a 1975 New Model Blackhawk in .45 LC and .45 ACP. Interchangeable cylinders. I actually traded it years and years ago for a P14 automatic. Well, I ended up selling the P14 and buying my Blackhawk back from the guy I sold it to!!!!! So, except for the year and a half I DIDN'T own it, I'm the original owner.

I tend to baby my SAA Colts. BUT the Blackhawk is a "go to" gun every time. I don't worry about holster wear, or wearing out "original" parts, or shooting hot loads....etc. So it shows signs of use, and sports a set of oversize grips I had made for it decades ago that fit my hand perfectly. It is kind of like an old girl friend I don't want to give up.

It would be so nice to have a SAA that isn't elevated to the level of "collectible" by virtue of being a Colt. If CZ can make them at a reasonable price, with the quality of old, I'm probably going to get one.

One other thing with Colt to remember. The guns were almost all hand made to a degree. In the 70's, all the old time gunsmithing workers at Colt were retiring. The loss of all those "old HANDS" really put a hurt on the company. You may remember that Colt stopped doing repairs for a long while. A lot of that had to do with having no one with the know how to repair them.

The new, younger, workers became "part swappers". Just keep swapping out parts until the gun worked. And Colt was expected to contend with the union while all these new "gunsmiths" punched the clock. No more hand fitting meant that quality suffered. And union troubles resulted in the same thing that happened to Harley Davidson, internal sabotage.