Posted on 06/15/2011 11:19:17 AM PDT by re_tail20
For nearly a decade, Colt Defense went without a lobbyist. The legendary gun maker based in West Hartford, Conn., had an exclusive deal to provide combat rifles to the U.S. military and didn't need a hired gun looking out for the company's interests in Washington.
Times have changed. After buying more than 700,000 Colt M4 carbines, the Defense Department has started a search for the rifle's successor, giving Colt's competitors the long-awaited chance to break the company's grip on the market. So Colt turned to Roger Smith, a former deputy assistant Navy secretary-turned-lobbyist, to be the company's voice in D.C. His fee is $120,000 a year.
The move highlights the importance of a contest that is the Super Bowl and World Series rolled into one for the small arms industry. The Pentagon may buy hundreds of thousands of the new carbine, which should be more accurate, lethal and reliable than the M4 used by troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. At stake is millions of dollars in business for the winner at a time when budgets are tightening and opportunities for long-term weapons contracts are dwindling.
There are major side benefits to being the primary rifle supplier. The American military's seal of approval paves the way for gun sales to U.S. allies. Colt has sold 100,000 M4s overseas, and millions of its M16s — a rifle first fielded during the Vietnam War — are used by armies and law enforcement agencies around the world.
Remington Arms and other gun makers already had lobbyists in place long before the Army announced it wanted a better combat rifle. Remington has spent nearly $500,000 on lobbyists over the last two years alone in a push to get more of its weapons into the hands of U.S. troops, according to lobbying records filed with Congress.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted2.ap.org ...
Pictures coming.
Here’s an earlier post with some pictures of some of the contenders.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2701751/posts
The Remington Adaptive Combat Rifle system seems to have it all over the old M4.
An interesting (at least to me) related question is whether the Army would also make this an opportunity to change calibers - maybe 6.8SPC? Just a thought. Of course, when the Garand was adopted, the Army spec’d it out as .30-06 simply because they had so much of it in warehouses after WWI. Today, OTOH, at the rate that ammo is being used in the Mideast, that particular issue may not be a problem.
They said it was supposed to be more accurate, lethal and reliable than the M4...
Actually it couldn’t happen to a better company.You can’t even buy an AR15 in Connecticut that hasn’t been mutilated.
To bad to hear of their problems but that’s the way of the weapons business.
Colt has had a sweet deal for a long time.
They have stated they want more operational range than the M4. That strongly infers a new caliber and while the 6.8spc isn’t bad by any means, I would prefer the 6.5Grendel.
In this June 25, 2010, file photo Britain's Prince Harry fires a Colt M4 assault riffle on a United States Military Academy range in West Point, N.Y. The Defense Department is searching for the successor to the M4 combat rifle and gun makers are loading with lobbyists to win the work. Colt Defense of West Hartford, Conn., had an exclusive deal to provide M4s to the U.S. military and didn't need a hired gun looking out for its interests in Washington.
You said it. I work in a very large and busy gun shop, and that is a frequent topic of conversation among both shop staff and our customers. Prices for used Pythons and Diamondbacks in excellent condition are now astronomical; Colt could sell them easily if they would reintroduce them. They seem to have lost all interest in the Colt revolver fan. Somewhere, Sam Colt is spinning in his grave.
If Colt went broke and had to be bought out by an American, I would cheer.
I would love to see a sort of hybrid between a hk416 an a FN P90 style mag an ejection port using the 77gr black hills ammo in hundred round mags. Still leave room for a M203 .....
Wish list # 2,322,408 ......:o)
Either the 6.5 or the 6.8 is a great middle ground between the 5.56 and the 7.62.
The bullet has to cover lightness, range, and knockdown power.
The 5.56 has the lightness and range at the expense of knockdown power.
The 7.62 has the knockdown power at the expense of lightness and range - (but you get the range back if you use a 30.06)
Agreed. Colt dumped on the civilian market, stopped production of its popular guns, let quality control go to hell, and depended on government contracts they thought they had permanently. They earned their problems.
Actually, he's probably rotating in a very precise, measured manner, one cylinder at a time ;-)
It used to be that the American way was to develop a better product, now it is to hire more lobbyists.
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