Get off the Colt bandwagon, already!
First things first: Happy New
Year!
Now, down to business: once again, I feel it necessary to inject some sanity into a topic that is all over the internet forums.
The latest concerns Colt and their supposed "re-entry" into the revolver market. Several months ago, a Colt executive was quoted in (if memory serves) Shotgun News to the effect that Colt was working on new revolver models.
As you can imagine, this set off a firestorm on the 'net. People were opining like there was no tomorrow about the possible wonderfulness that Colt could be coming up with. I still, months later, am reading the occasional thread wherein some eager enthusiast gleefully anticipates something new from Hartford "any day now!"
Let's look at this logically, OK?
Developing a new gun takes money and talent - and Colt has all but two of those. It's been fairly well established that they have little ready capital, and their massive layoffs over the last several years means that their pool of talent is a fraction of what it used to be - and I doubt that they had anyone as talented as the late, great Karl Lewis to begin with, let alone now.
What they do have, though, is a mothballed line of proven sellers - in this case, the Anaconda, King Cobra, and Magnum Carry revolvers. All are well regarded (even the King Cobra, which always lived in the shadow of the more famous Python), and are made of modern materials and designed from the ground up for automated production. They're sitting in the vaults, waiting to see the light of day, because Colt just voluntarily stopped producing them a few years ago.
So, imagine that you're the CEO of Colt. On the one hand, you've got some ready products that you know will sell, just waiting for you to flip the "on" switch. On the other hand, you could choose to design a new gun from scratch, even though you don't have the resources to do so. Which are you going to choose?
Well, if you're smart (and Colt hasn't been accused of that recently), you bring back the designs you have in the safe and simply start up the production lines again. Easy. Built in market. No development costs. Just start shipping.
But Colt isn't doing that.
Look at it this way: just the Magnum Carry alone would put them back squarely in the hottest segment of the market, which is concealed carry. The MC is a superb gun, and used examples are selling at multiples of their original prices. There is nothing on the market that is competitive with it; it could have a niche all to itself. Scarcely bigger than a S&W "J" frame, it carries a full 6 rounds of .357 goodness! What other gun can boast that? None.
Be absolutely clear on this concept: these are guns that have a built-in market, that they have facilities to produce, that they know how to produce, and that they've chosen not to produce. (That is, if they really wanted to be in the revolver market...)
So why would Colt imply that they're working on a new revolver design, when they won't even produce the proven sellers they have now, and likely don't even have the resources to come up with a new product?
Well, we know that they're up for sale, and the company has reportedly garnered little-to-no interest from potential buyers. But maybe, they're thinking, if they start a rumor that they've got this new, exciting design, it will stimulate enough industry buzz to interest someone in what's left of the grand old name.
Could I be wrong? You bet. In fact, if I am, I'm willing to eat a hearty plate of crow. But actions speak louder than press releases, and Colt's actions say that they have no interest in selling their existing revolvers - let alone make a new one.
(Hey - maybe CZ-USA could buy Colt, which would give them even more revolvers to not make!)
-=[ Grant ]=-
Now, down to business: once again, I feel it necessary to inject some sanity into a topic that is all over the internet forums.
The latest concerns Colt and their supposed "re-entry" into the revolver market. Several months ago, a Colt executive was quoted in (if memory serves) Shotgun News to the effect that Colt was working on new revolver models.
As you can imagine, this set off a firestorm on the 'net. People were opining like there was no tomorrow about the possible wonderfulness that Colt could be coming up with. I still, months later, am reading the occasional thread wherein some eager enthusiast gleefully anticipates something new from Hartford "any day now!"
Let's look at this logically, OK?
Developing a new gun takes money and talent - and Colt has all but two of those. It's been fairly well established that they have little ready capital, and their massive layoffs over the last several years means that their pool of talent is a fraction of what it used to be - and I doubt that they had anyone as talented as the late, great Karl Lewis to begin with, let alone now.
What they do have, though, is a mothballed line of proven sellers - in this case, the Anaconda, King Cobra, and Magnum Carry revolvers. All are well regarded (even the King Cobra, which always lived in the shadow of the more famous Python), and are made of modern materials and designed from the ground up for automated production. They're sitting in the vaults, waiting to see the light of day, because Colt just voluntarily stopped producing them a few years ago.
So, imagine that you're the CEO of Colt. On the one hand, you've got some ready products that you know will sell, just waiting for you to flip the "on" switch. On the other hand, you could choose to design a new gun from scratch, even though you don't have the resources to do so. Which are you going to choose?
Well, if you're smart (and Colt hasn't been accused of that recently), you bring back the designs you have in the safe and simply start up the production lines again. Easy. Built in market. No development costs. Just start shipping.
But Colt isn't doing that.
Look at it this way: just the Magnum Carry alone would put them back squarely in the hottest segment of the market, which is concealed carry. The MC is a superb gun, and used examples are selling at multiples of their original prices. There is nothing on the market that is competitive with it; it could have a niche all to itself. Scarcely bigger than a S&W "J" frame, it carries a full 6 rounds of .357 goodness! What other gun can boast that? None.
Be absolutely clear on this concept: these are guns that have a built-in market, that they have facilities to produce, that they know how to produce, and that they've chosen not to produce. (That is, if they really wanted to be in the revolver market...)
So why would Colt imply that they're working on a new revolver design, when they won't even produce the proven sellers they have now, and likely don't even have the resources to come up with a new product?
Well, we know that they're up for sale, and the company has reportedly garnered little-to-no interest from potential buyers. But maybe, they're thinking, if they start a rumor that they've got this new, exciting design, it will stimulate enough industry buzz to interest someone in what's left of the grand old name.
Could I be wrong? You bet. In fact, if I am, I'm willing to eat a hearty plate of crow. But actions speak louder than press releases, and Colt's actions say that they have no interest in selling their existing revolvers - let alone make a new one.
(Hey - maybe CZ-USA could buy Colt, which would give them even more revolvers to not make!)
-=[ Grant ]=-
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