Posted on 12/07/2014 8:24:06 AM PST by Kaslin
Given that our Commander in Chief is a surprisingly decent firearm salesman, its a little odd that one of Americas most prolific gun manufacturers might soon be facing an agonizing financial death. But, thats exactly where Colt is headed if things dont change drastically. It takes a very specialized form of failure for a gun company to miss out on the Obama-inspired run on guns, the assault weapon craze of the 2000s, and the proliferation of Concealed Carry in the 1990s, but thats exactly what happened. And, worse, this isnt Colts first foray into fiscal failure.
In fact, this tendency of Colt to stumble onto hard times has a name in the industry: Its called the Colt curse. Its been around since Samuel Colt first bankrupted his hopeful arms company in the 1830s. God may have made man, and Samuel Colt may be credited with making men equal; but, it has always been an uphill battle. It turns out that Colt was pretty good at making guns but he was a failure at marketing and selling his contribution to the world of weaponry.
Lucky for Colt (and the generations that would later benefit from his contribution to the industry), the war with Mexico broke out in the 1840s, and Samuel Colt saw his opportunity. The aspiring gunsmith quickly found an audience with the US Government for his innovative firearm designs. Realizing the full potential of crony-capitalism, the entrepreneur almost went broke entertaining politicians, generals, and frontiersmen. He was, undoubtedly, the Solyndra lobbyist of his day. With the helpful contract from Americas military, Colt quickly etched his name in America as the creator of the gun that won the West.
The company, however, was never quite capable of shaking their addiction to government contracts. In fact, it quickly became a centerpiece of their business model.
In the 1970s firearm manufacturing in the US was adopting the model of Americas automotive giants. Unionization was prolific, and innovation was an afterthought. Yeah It didnt work out for Detroit; and it almost ended in disaster for the firearm industry as well. While most American companies scrambled for ways to avoid the Union-led decline into mediocrity, Colt happily hummed along with the help of military contracts, and large government shipping orders.
The iconic manufacturers business was booming Right up until the moment that Unions decided to do what they do best: Go on strike. By 1988, the company had lost a number of high-dollar contracts, and the end of their beginning was clearly at hand.
In the decade to follow, their competitors warmly embraced Americas newfound fascination with the civilian market, concealed carry, and home defense. Colt, on the other hand, decided to take a more pragmatic approach. And, by pragmatic, I mean liberal approach:
A wealthy industrialist, from the heart of a non-gun-owning Manhattan family, decided he could steer the company to better times. With a man who knew nothing about guns at the helm, Colt embarked on their reimagined path to prosperity by introducing (and supporting) the idea of smart guns and federal gun permits. Yeah As strange as it might seem, telling your most ardent customers that they should ask a fickle and hostile Federal government for permission to handle your product, isnt a great business practice.
The new CEO (yeah the last one was fired pretty quickly) still decided to put civilian ownership on the back-burner as he focused on appealing to the same Pentagon cronies that nearly drove the company into the trash-bin of history. There are only a handful of industries that relish the advent of war And they all have something in common: They work (in effect) for the Pentagon. With their sudden boom in government contracts, as the Iraq war picked up, it looked like good times might finally be on the horizon.
Good times, in fact, seemed like it couldnt be avoided. Well, at least in theory. But if Colt had proven anything in its 178 years of existence, its that turning a profit is kinda tough sometimes. The companys decision to whittle their civilian division down to a few obligatory 1911s wasnt really doing them any favors, given that their competitors were rushing to fill the demand of a gun-hungry republic. While Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and Harry Reid rambled on about gun control, Colt casually dismissed the idea of focusing on the civilian market. Heck, it was only within the last few years that Colt finally got around to deciding that a pocket pistol (the .380 Mustang) might be a good idea.
Colts civilian offerings are proving to be too little, too late for a market that is currently saturated with high-quality alternatives. And so, with a very specialized degree of failure, Colt has managed to paint itself into near bankruptcy. Their corporate bonds are rated as junk, and theyre continuing to pile on millions of dollars worth of debt.
The company might still survive. After all, they represent a history, a quality, and a heritage that is rare in todays world. Their guns are quality products (even if you do pay a premium for those ponies on the slide) and their reputation is strong. But the company embraced too many values of the left to survive long in a world that has proven to be hostile to their industry.
In the end, there are really only three things that are responsible for killing Colt: cronyism, support for gun control, and labor Unions
You would think a gun manufacturer would know better than to sleep with government. But, I guess nobody shared that lesson with Colts management.
Those old WWII 1911’s were all clapped out.
There’s that little thing called a sonic boom above 1100.
I’d be interested in a new Detective Special.
$1,500 will buy a pretty good used Python.
The new in the box Pythons will command twice that figure.
IIRC, the army had Colt down and it was a contract with the Texas Rangers buying pistols with which to fight the Comanches that saved the company well before the Mexican War.
Sad and annoying. Colt stopped making 38 snubs. No more Cadillac python revolvers. They stopped making 380s and 32s. Now that the market is saturated they roll one out and barely produce it.
For a few years their website was difficult to find, and when you got there it was basically like a website for General Dynamics. Very clearly aimed at government.
Most sinful of all. .. their peacemakers sucked until the market was flooded with Italian clones of better quality at half the price. I love colt, but they are run by idiots, in the northeast.
Python, stainless 6”.
My favorite, next to my XD subcompact and my five-seven.
Leupold scopes are the heet. The other stuff? Apparently you’ve got the money to waste on inferior products.
Of course, but liberals often don’t know about guns beyond the fake silent noise you hear in movies or on TV.
Yep.
They’re inferior.
Never jam.
Shoot any manufacturer of ammo.
Depended upon by our military and competition shooters.
Blah, blah, blah.
However, I do have a Remington 770 and I hate that POS. Still has a Luepold on it but, I hate the chatter of the bolt, the fk’d up mag it came with, the dorky safety that I painted so I would be certain it was in safe or fire mode and it beats the hell out out of my shoulder.
Someday, I’ll get around to Mod’ing it and I guess another $600 bucks won’t be such a big deal but, I love every other gun exactly the way it came.
Why the hell do women change their looks, in hopes of being more attractive.
They’ll never be more attractive than the day I find em and I don’t need a new version.
The original was fine.
Dos Centavos.
Colt has been on the ropes for years. This is not a new development.
About a year ago went into our local pawn/gun shop and bought a .38 S&W snub nose detective special for about $300. It was in the original box with the original sales receipt from 1960’s mr C4E took it to our local gun shop for a going over and the gun guy said I had made a very good purchase.
When you’re taking regular orders from the government for M-4’s, it’s probably not too difficult to turn a profit. But you should always have a plan for what to do if or when the govt. contract ends.
Having your company headquarters in one of the most anti-gun states probably doesn’t help much either.
The M1A is inferior to the SCAR 17. I can get a SCAR with a Geissele trigger for less than the match M1A from Springfield. If you want to spend more money on older inferior technology, so be it. I’d rather upgrade to newer technology. I’m saving for a FN SCAR17 to replace my Para FAL.
Lol, wtf is your problem? The weapon was never designed for accuracy, it was designed to STOP the enemy at close range.
You KNEW that...right?
I’m US Air Force Distinguished Riflemans Badge #300.
Sell those M1A’s for a huge profit and buy a modern SCAR-17 unless you’re into shooting CMP or NRA service rifle stuff. I gave up on that game when uncle sam stopped paying for my travel and ammo.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.