Interesting…

We all heard about Colt’s layoff of people a week or so ago…

One article from The Firearms Blog, HERE. This is really interesting in light of Colt just coming out with a new Cobra.

And now, there’s this!

Colt’s Manufacturing Co., the gun maker that emerged from bankruptcy last year, is purchasing its West Hartford headquarters and manufacturing plant as part of a $23 million investment in Connecticut, Gov. Daniel P. Malloy said Friday.

Colt’s intends to keep its workforce of 600 workers and create 100 jobs over five years, Malloy said. The state Department of Economic and Community Development is providing a $10 million loan, with as much as $2 million forgiven if Colt’s meets job milestones.

Full article, HERE.

Now I’m confused as hell…

As a result of a side discussion, I’ve talked to a couple of gun stores, Colts CAN be had, but the stores normally have to get them from a distributor. Colt doesn’t seem to have any ‘direct’ sales to gun stores unless they are the big boys, like Cabelas, Bass Pro, and Wally World, e.g. those who buy in LARGE volume.

I’ll try to run this particular rabbit to ground at NRA, assuming I can get one of the Colt reps there to actually answer my questions.

Your thoughts?

 

Comments

Interesting… — 16 Comments

  1. Good luck on that. Colt is in trouble because it’s ignored the civilian market during the largest surge in gun purchasing in our history. I see little that will make them do it now.

  2. If it wasn’t for bad management, Colt wouldn’t have any management at all. Their products and their quality would appear to be great, if there were no other manufacturers making similar products with far better quality for the dollar. It appears that their quality and innovation went away about 50 years ago, never to return. Their survival in a highly competitive market place is questionable at best.

  3. Colt ran for a very long time manufacturing someone else’s designs for Government orders.

    There hasn’t been much innovation over there for a long time.

    • X2

      Staying in CT is a really bad idea. Why? If you wish to be competitive, why?

  4. They don’t sale to Gander because of their dealings with Academy. Sti’ll trying to wrap my head around that one.

  5. DB- That’s what I’m wondering too…

    Roger- Ouch, but good point!

    McThag- Agreed!

    SPE- Huh, didn’t know that. Strange!

  6. Here’s a good presentation on the history of Colt. Easy to understand how they got where they are now.

  7. Hey Old NFO;

    Colt was the premier brand, but the last innovation was the super cobra revolver in 357 or .44, I might have it wrong on the name, it HAS been a while. THe problem is that they rested on their laurals for years as other companies got better and better. Look at S&W, in the 90’s they were the pariah of the firearm industries and today they are kicking butt as is Springfield.

  8. Connecticut fought to keep a firearms manufacturer in the state? Wow. I wish Maryland tried a little harder to keep Beretta.

  9. Rev- Good point!

    RHT- That is an excellent one! Thanks!!!

    Bob- It was the Anaconda, which was a response to the M&W Model 29. And yes, they sat on their asses, partially because the State of CT had a large ownership share… Sigh

    Matt- That IS strange… But CT has finally woken up to the fact that like them or not, they pay well and pay taxes….

  10. As a CT resident….I have to wonder what exactly is going on. It certainly is not likely to be an attempt to actually keep a business in the state. Far more likely is some interesting discussions in back rooms over who owes whom.

  11. Latest American Rifleman magazine has a full page ad for the Colt Cobra. The high resolution photo shows an texture on the revolver that makes it look like it were cast rather than forged-milled.
    When you’re at NRA’s annual meeting could you look into that?

  12. The last Colt I owned was a Gold Cup that would not reliably feed hardball ammo. Lots of different magazines, lots of different loads, two trips back to the factory, and it still wouldn’t feed hardball, or anything else. Sold it for what I had in it, and went to Springields. (Once upon a time, you could buy a Springfield 1911-A1, in kit form, and build it yourself, for about $100 less than the assembled version.)

    Don’t see me ever buying anything from Colt that I can get somewhere else, cheaper and with better quality.

  13. Colt needs to start with getting out of that god awful state and ditching the UAW.