There are two basic segments of the revolver market, the serious (defense/carry) guns and the fun guns. S&W, lock or not, has a large part of the former and a good chunk of the latter. Ruger has a large part of the latter and a piece of the former. The Traditional Single Action (fun) segment is split between Colt and foreign makers. Others divide the rest. (While it might seem to the vociferous folks who hate "the lock" that it would have a large influence against S&W, the fact is that it simply doesn't make any difference to most buyers in either market segment.)
In order to gain a profitable share of the "serious" market, Colt would have to produce a revolver that would be obviously superior to the S&W, Ruger (and yes) Taurus competition. That is a pretty tall order. It can be done, but the "serious" market is not that large; once a person buys a gun for SD/HD, he/she will usually not buy any more. The "fun" shooter and collector market is where repeat sales are, so if Colt wants to go for the long term, it will have to try to break into that market as well. True, its SAA is in that market, and not doing badly, but it seems to me that a high quality DA/SA will be needed as well to compete with the S&W target models.
Jim
In order to gain a profitable share of the "serious" market, Colt would have to produce a revolver that would be obviously superior to the S&W, Ruger (and yes) Taurus competition. That is a pretty tall order. It can be done, but the "serious" market is not that large; once a person buys a gun for SD/HD, he/she will usually not buy any more. The "fun" shooter and collector market is where repeat sales are, so if Colt wants to go for the long term, it will have to try to break into that market as well. True, its SAA is in that market, and not doing badly, but it seems to me that a high quality DA/SA will be needed as well to compete with the S&W target models.
Jim