COLT I don't understand.

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Ever ran a manufacturing business?

Yes

I understand the challenges all too well.

But I sincerely doubt they are running at capacity. With overtime and second and third shifts, they could surely produce more product.

So assuming that this is the case (a good bet) why don't they?

A-The answer is either demand is not what some people think?
B-The union won't let them.
C-They don't have enough money to pay the OT or buy more raw materials

My guess is C.
But unless a Colt insider comes along...we will never know
 
I'm bettin' Colt has the monies to pay overtime(considering their stock figures), but I'll bet they don't want to. Doesn't paying overtime reduce profit and/or increase the price of the product? The demand for Colt 1911s has been temporarily influenced by the Obama scare two years ago and the 100th Anniversary this year. Does it make good business sense to retool, add expensive new machinery and increase employees with our economy in the toilet, just to deal with what may be a temporary situation? Wouldn't most folks wait a month for a new Colt than pay $100 more for it?

I like what I like and I appreciate what other like. Unlike others here, I don't feel the need to trash their choices in material things to make me feel better or to justify my choices. Opinions and likes are subjective. Whether a business is successful or not financially is not. All one needs to do is look at their annual report and balance sheet.
 
Between the Union and the Connecticut Development Authority deal, they may not be allowed to do a second shift.

BTW, Buck...I can't imagine caring what you like or buy. This is, or at least recently was, America. You can buy a pink Charter Arms with a bayonet, wear a "Obama 2012" t shirt and put 22' spinners on your Chevy Volt. It does not have any effect on me so go for it. And if you were to do so it would not change my opinion of my choices.

My point was that there is nothing that Colt does that is remarkable. If they evaporated tomorrow, except folks that worship the prancing pony, no new gun buyers would be affected.

My personal opinion is that I hope they stick around. They will still service the fine old revolvers they used to produce. If the Pony Worshipers help make that happen, I will tip my hat and say thank you.
 
Any time you find a Baer that is too tight for you, I will be happy to offer less than what you paid for the thing.

Amen Brother.

I have a Concept V that is absolutely the tightest fit handgun I have ever felt. Don't even try to remove the barrel bushing without unlocking the slide. I've heard many remark that Kimbers are tightly fitted...maybe compared to a pre-war version.
 
Guil,
Your original point about being able to buy a SIMILAR version of anything Colt sells is largely, but not entirely, true, but my original counter is that SIMILAR isn't necessarily the same quality.

Colt doesn't "make more", because they don't have the resources (money) to do so. Making more requires spending more, and money is loosening up over the past 10 years, but still tight.
Nothing whatever to do with the "Union won't let them."

Slam,
I do not associate tight fit with quality.
You & I have different criteria, and mine are not based on holes in paper. A "loose" pistol can & does shoot quite well without having a super-tight frame/slide fit.
It also will tend to be more forgiving of built up gunk internally.

I say that as a current owner of 6 "loose" Colts & a former owner of a Baer TRS.
The Baer was very nicely built, but it didn't shoot THAT much better for me than a well-set-up Colt, and manipulating it by hand was something of a chore.

Your Wilson accuracy improvement was just as likely due to a better barrel, better barrel fit, tighter bushing, or a combination.
I'd buy your attribution of increased accuracy to the frame/slide tightening, IF that was the only thing they did to it. Otherwise, no.

I'm not saying Colt is the only place to go for a 1911 or an AR, and this is not a brand war. It's been an attempt to address the original poster's question.
I am saying just because an AR looks like one of Colt's models, a 1911 looks like a 1911, or a single-action clone looks like a Peacemaker, that doesn't mean quality is equal.

On the ARs, Colt takes the same parts out of the same bins (where applicable) for both their military M16s and their civilian AR-15s.
That means a known mil-spec quality level, something you can't always get with another make.

I base my definition of quality on the parts & performance, not on the additional features a competitor may include on a model.
I'd much prefer a mil-spec basic Colt to a tricked-out non-mil-spec version by another maker.
Give me a sound core that's dependable over the long run, and I can tweak later on with sights, a different grip, handguard, whatever.

I fully realize there's a bunch of RR ARs out there in happy shooters' hands, and I'm not advocating buying a Colt over an RR. I'm just saying the RR product is not "better" than a Colt AR, which has been a known standard for decades. You'll find far more Colts in cop cars than RRs (or other makes), not to mention standards demanded by militaries here & abroad. There's a reason for that.

By all means, buy whatever you want.
Denis
 
That's equivalent to saying only Dodge sells pickups.

No other company makes Colts, they make whatever they make. Only Colt makes Colts. Unless you're reffering to a gun that Colt makes like the SAA as a Colt or the 1911 as a Colt.
 
A company is like a plant, an animal, an employee, a farm, a relationship, a lake or a planet.

If all you think about is your own short term needs, squeezing all the value out of it and never investing in it, running it for only your benefit without thought it might need some care and growth itself, then you end up with a husk of it's former self. The surest way to do this is allow the accountants to run the company.

The car companies almost did this in the 80's but managed to pry the accountant's hand's from the wheel and take over while their was time to correct. Companies that care for their people, and their infrastructure, thrive. Companies like Wallmart, no longer with Sam Wall's vision have an arcing trajectory, but are headed down, and no vision to change the course.

So with Colt.
 
Denis,

Obviously you have an opinion concerning Colt's AR's. They are not the only Mil-Spec.

That cops carry them more often than other brands (if this is true...I have no way of knowing) means little. Glocks are the most carried sidearm. (Let's not go there!!:eek:)

As to why Colt does not make more firearms, a non Colt insider will probably never know.

I have not read the union agreement. My guess (yes...guess) is that they are working one shift only.
Their only options are

A- OT (increasing the already high labor cost, shrinking profit margins).
or

B- Hire new people. With the cost of training and high union labor costs, they don't see a dependable enough market to chance it. And unlike in right-to-work states, they can't simply adjust their workforce as needed. They are married to their employees.

Of course it could be that the demand is not as great as people say either.
 
Guil,
I'm not a Colt insider, but I talk to people who are. Along with others in the industry.
The reason for Colt's current production levels is the one I gave you.
The reasons behind my statements are partly because of talks with Colt, talks with others, personal experience, and 21 years of involvement in the Industry.

I'm also aware that Colt is not the only mil-spec option.
This is degenerating to the point of silliness.
Denis
 
The reason for Colt's current production levels is the one I gave you
which is precisely one of the reasons that I offered

(FYI, regarding the meaningless and unprovable statement concerning what brand of AR is most likely to ride in cop cars ...according to out local cop shop, GT distributors, S&W ARs sold to more cops than any other brand. YMMV)

This is degenerating to the point of silliness
I could not agree more.
 
Trying to make a point but perhaps by trying to be outrageous I hit too close to home.

If such is the case I apologize. :neener:

No...you were just being condescending, just as you intended. As I said before, some folk feel the need to belittle others to make themselves feel good. These are the same folks that feel the need to resort to name calling like "fanboys" and "Pony Worshipers" when they lose an argument based on facts. :D
 
In my time shooting I've never seen a Colt product that wasn't available in a more attractive offering, price and quality-wise, from a competing manufacturer. It's a historic name, but they don't have anything I'm interested in.
 
Many other companies make superior versions of just about everything in Colt's catalog.

"It's not a Colt" has zero value to me. I'm sure it does to some.
 
. All one needs to do is look at their annual report and balance sheet.

According to my buddy the #2 bean counter for a fortune 500 companies nearby plant, cooking the books is rampant. Every EOQ, he works buko OT, while the GM and #1 bean counter execute creative accounting.

Every stock I've ever owned that tanked, was followed a year later by an invitation to join the class action law suit against the management for fraud.
 
With overtime and second and third shifts, they could surely produce more product.

Every time we add shifts we have the same problem.... Supervision!

Unless you are actively training and developing you people ($$$) you wind up with week supervisors on the added shifts, which usually translates into low productivity and quality problems.
 
Unless you are actively training and developing you people ($$$) you wind up with week supervisors on the added shifts, which usually translates into low productivity and quality problems

And with their giraffe ass high union labor costs, they probably can't afford to.

My guess is that through mismanagement, the union and the deal they made w the state to bail them out...treading water is the best they can do.
 
Guil,
My final comment in this thread will be that your continual uniformed guessing adds nothing of value to either the subject or your credibility.
And with that I'm done. :)
Denis
 
Your Wilson accuracy improvement was just as likely due to a better barrel, better barrel fit, tighter bushing, or a combination.
I'd buy your attribution of increased accuracy to the frame/slide tightening, IF that was the only thing they did to it. Otherwise, no.

I paid Wilson Arms about double the purchase price in work to finally get a decent M1911.

Wilson Arms put in a new barrel, new bushing, Bomar sights, beavertail, tightened slide to frame, probably some other stuff.

And it does shoot better.

A combat pistol does not need 3 inch accuracy 50 yards. But it is great to own a pistol that shoots like a laser beam. :D

DSCN0747ColtCombatreduced.jpg
 
Denis,

I have always enjoyed reading your comments and have (and do) find you a valuable member of THR.

It is true that I extrapolate from things that I know, and qualify them for what they are. I find this much more accurate than listening to "industry rumors". That you do it your business. That said..."industry insiders" have spoken of a return of the Python for years.

There are several things that we know.
Colt has been severely mismanaged.
The union has ruled in contract agreements.
The bail out w the state came with huge strings attached.
Colt has a poor record for innovation.

You like the prancing pony on your guns...great.
As I mentioned before...I am glad.
 
bah, i like my colts! combat elite never has hung up, and with her i clean off iron at 50m quite well, and out to 100m well enough. detective special outshots my smith snubbies. model 357 outshoots any other handgun that i own. i'm happy with my new frontier. i guess that i'm good with all of that. sorry.
 
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