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Now a days when Brand names have been bought and sold so many times that there is no resemblance between product origin and parent company, it is not hard to see the Colt persona may have morphed itself into oblivion.
BREAKING: Colt Lays Off Custom Shop Director, Other Employees, Company Rumored Gutted - The Firearm Blog
If true, I rather hope some enthusiastic firearm loving entrepreneur will pick up the brand pieces and run with it with respect instead of the Pillsbury Doughboy or Bayer big boys sort of conglomerates.
I don't own a real Colt, and would hate to see its demise albeit I prefer the idea of honest R.I.P., over continued name bastardization.
 
Colt has been in financial trouble for a long time and was in the process of restructuring after losing the military contract.

I own a couple of Colt ARs a SOCOM and a standard both good rifles but I think they screwed themselves when the drop the public market for the military only and there prices where way to high for what you got. You paid for the name.

Too many companies passed them up in price, quality and availability so to the new kids in the market Colt is not a name well known like Daniel Defense, BCM and the hundreds of others out there.

Only us old folks know what Colt stood for in its day but in my mind it is just another company and no longer top dog.
 
Colt has been in financial trouble for a long time and was in the process of restructuring after losing the military contract.

I own a couple of Colt ARs a SOCOM and a standard both good rifles but I think they screwed themselves when the drop the public market for the military only and there prices where way to high for what you got. You paid for the name.

Too many companies passed them up in price, quality and availability so to the new kids in the market Colt is not a name well known like Daniel Defense, BCM and the hundreds of others out there.

Only us old folks know what Colt stood for in its day but in my mind it is just another company and no longer top dog.
I've been through a few ARs but never could bring myself to pony up for a Colt. Nice name, but there are still other brands that catch my eye for better reasons.
 
Well I hope they make it. I like the name, brand, history etc. ....maybe thats the only reason they are still around?
 
The only reason I have mine is I was working at a sports shop when Colt was losing the military contract and so they starting dumping a number of rifles to us civilians trying to stay afloat. Prices where what they should have been so I snagged a couple before there might be any quality issues if they started to truly go under.

I hope they can make it but I have my doubts.
 
Now I'll need to make that Gold Cup investment, finally...

Seems they forgot about the civilian market, thus putting the nails in their own coffin... So sad because they really seemed to be bringing back some of the most beloved firearms... Let's hope they regroup and can bring to market some of the great arms they are known for...
 
The sad part is they're one of the few that uses a 1911 slide I like (those angled, flanged, lowered, w/e slides annoy me).

And I heard they announced bringing revolvers to the market. Sucks, I was excited for that.
 
The guy at top of Custom Shop who they fired was very active at 1911 Forum both in his official role and in helping people with defects, and brought many people back top Colt who otherwise wouldn't.

The first thing they need to do is get out of Connecticut and the UAW so they can have competitive production costs... I'm not paying the ridiculous "brand premium" for a stupid prancing pony any more than I would the Nike swoosh or Rolex crown.
 
As others have mentioned, Colt has had financial difficulties for some time now. The ownership has been passed around quite a bit in modern history.

For whatever it is worth, Forgotten Weapons did a history of Colt. It also includes the latter history which touches upon their woes. Just passing it along in case it is of interest:

 
It's the old 'a little too late' mantra for Colt it seems. It's only been a couple years since Brent took over the custom shop and they started offering the production 1911's people were asking for. From what I've been hearing quality was coming back, customer service was becoming more attentive, things were starting to look up. I heard the new Gold Cup is a great gun, they're offering custom level production 1911's for right around $2k which is priced about right for what you get. Overall prices have come down and become more competitive w/Springers. Personally I'm a Springfield guy but have found myself looking and wondering about the latest offerings. I have enough production 1911's and custom shop work is getting backed up, Colt custom shop was a good option and like I mentioned Brent had really increased the visibility of Colt and the custom shop.

Too much baggage due to over and over banking on something that may not happen and ignoring the people who genuinely want to buy Colt guns. The brand has gotten so big that anything attached to it carries a premium and management actually believes that it's worth it without having to deliver the goods and arrogantly overlook an eager market. So many bad decisions, like a government carrying the old administrations garbage, adding to it and passing it along until eventually the bag breaks and you're left standing in a pile of bubblegum and everyone's tired of cleaning it up.

I'd like to see them survive but I don't think I would appreciate the mechanism that would allow that to happen. If they can shave it to the core and rebuild it might work but they don't have a very good history at that. The market is getting a little tired of it too.

I remember when Winchester New Haven went under. I thought, NO WAY, how can that happen, it broke my heart. My 1st centerfire rifle was a '94 built in '03 in 25-35 w/an octagon barrel I got from my grandpa when I was 12, I hated and loved that gun.
 
I dont really follow the companies politics so I will go out on a limb and say that Im not writing them off, first the OP article is just a blog second companies restructure all the time, successfully... nobody will know if Colt will go under for a while, not based on one layoff incident.

The brand is too huge to just go away IMO. I don't see why they cant compete especially with 1911s and AR15s in the civilian market. Heck, look at Kimbers shoddy 1911 reputation and they still churn them out no layoff drama.
 
As others have mentioned, Colt has had financial difficulties for some time now. The ownership has been passed around quite a bit in modern history.

For whatever it is worth, Forgotten Weapons did a history of Colt. It also includes the latter history which touches upon their woes. Just passing it along in case it is of interest:

That was fascinating. Really glad that Ian plans to do more of these. I like his oratory style.

Stomper, before you start, Definition of ORATORY
:D
 
Colt is FAR from done!!! You gays have no idea how big COLT really is, they are so big they make Remington look like a closet smith churning out a hand full of products. COLT is Parent of a number of defense related companies including Fairbanks Morris, Waukesha, COLT-Pielstick, and several other BIG time military suppliers, as well as controlling interest in Dahlgren and U.S. subsidiaries of RhineMettal Borsig AG, and Orlikon AG, and Hispano-Suiza SPA.
COLT will most likely re group and re start with Civilian Market based production in short order, and I expect to see them back with a vengeance, Don't count Colt out!
 

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