COLT Going Away?

[Ghost]

All of my recent XSE's have been flawless.

[Ron Burgundy]

Their quality control is total garbage and has been for over a year. They came out with the new tiny 1911's without sights, and both case samples at Gander had thumb safeties that didn't work. This isn't the same company that made the Python. Sure, the name and logo are, but it's not running how it came into power in decades past.

A savvy investor would buy them up and dump all their management (down to the shop floor leads), and start over. They have the name recognition, they have the history, they have the tooling; they can be turned around and made great again.

I dunno, did that work with any of the Freedom Group brands?

[FJ540]

Did any of them up their quality after being absorbed?

[LePetomane]

I would hate to see the Chinese get their hands on Colt.

[UnaStamus]

Did any of them up their quality after being absorbed?

No. They all declined.

[ex-LT]

Their quality control is total garbage and has been for over a year. They came out with the new tiny 1911's without sights, and both case samples at Gander had thumb safeties that didn't work. This isn't the same company that made the Python. Sure, the name and logo are, but it's not running how it came into power in decades past.

A savvy investor would buy them up and dump all their management (down to the shop floor leads), and start over. They have the name recognition, they have the history, they have the tooling; they can be turned around and made great again.

I dunno, did that work with any of the Freedom Group brands?

I found the fallacy in your query....

Freedom Group <> savvy investor

[FJ540]

Imagine if Colt were run like Wilson Combat instead of Sears.

[Ron Burgundy]

Their quality control is total garbage and has been for over a year. They came out with the new tiny 1911's without sights, and both case samples at Gander had thumb safeties that didn't work. This isn't the same company that made the Python. Sure, the name and logo are, but it's not running how it came into power in decades past.

A savvy investor would buy them up and dump all their management (down to the shop floor leads), and start over. They have the name recognition, they have the history, they have the tooling; they can be turned around and made great again.

I dunno, did that work with any of the Freedom Group brands?

I found the fallacy in your query....

Freedom Group <> savvy investor

Admittedly I haven't followed Freedom Group very closely. What did their returns look like?

[UnaStamus]

The problem with the Freedom Group umbrella is that they were about making money, so the focus was on producing quantity and not quality. It started with Remington, and people saw the difference with the M700 receivers, as not a single one is concentrically round anymore. Shotguns had more stamped and MIM parts put in, and the finishing machining was cut out, which is why new guns have a lot of burrs and sharp edges.

Bushmaster was purchased in 2006 and DPMS in 2007, and both companies went from mid-level companies to low-grade companies with lots of QC issues. Currently, DPMS and Remington parts are produced in St.Cloud, MN, shipped to Ilion, NY and assembled there. Everything is now shipped to the combined Remington plant in Alabama. Parts for Bushmaster are also shipped back and forth between DPMS and Bushmaster. All companies have the same QC, which is based around parts quantity and not quality. They regularly use low grade components to meet production demands. They also use tolerance stacking to reduce rejected components, which is a proven recipe for problems.

Remington and Bushmaster effectively screwed up the Masada and skipped several design elements before they started producing the ACR. To date, Remington and Bushmaster have still not produced the 7.62x39 conversion barrels that boosted its marketing and sales appeal, let alone the 6.8 and 5.45x39 barrels that were rumored.

AAC has had continuous ongiong problems, and they lost numerous members of their development team after the Remington/Freedom Group purchase. After numerous contract issues and a push to reduce quality to meet quantity demands, as well as a lot of hinky ATF violations by Freedom Group (some negligent, and some possibly intentional), Kevin Brittingham was fired and later won a substantial lawsuit against Freedom Group for screwing him over. AAC was always meant to run independent of the Freedom Group parts chain, but they are getting pulled in.

The ParaOrd TTR rifle was a giant flop and Freedom Group had their hand in that one from the start.

[cgrant26]

Colt's been slowly driving a stake into it's own heart for decades. Selling so-so products at exorbitant prices based on brand name alone has an expiration date and Colt has been stale for a long, long time now. The only thing Colt has added to their catalog in the last 20 years is their competition series rifles and they had to outsource them. I mean really!!! Colt has to pay someone else to build AR's for them!

It would be sad to see them die, but the only way they are going to save themselves is to fire everyone at the top, completely re-structure the company, move to a more freedom loving and business friendly state and start producing products people actually want. Your fat cat days of living off government contracts are gone, time to evolve or die.

[OldmanFCSA]

Colt needs to sell their license back to the original owners for manufacturing = ArmaLite.

[AFTERMATH]

Why buy from Colt when you can buy Colt? Who's in? Could probably round up enough people to make it cheaper than buying a Colt.

[Ghost]

Why buy from Colt when you can buy Colt? Who's in? Could probably round up enough people to make it cheaper than buying a Colt.

There are great prices on Colt 1911's and their current quality is some of the best it has ever been.

[gun_fan111v2]

Why buy from Colt when you can buy Colt? Who's in? Could probably round up enough people to make it cheaper than buying a Colt.

With all their debts, no thanks

[Rip Van Winkle]

The Colt name is worth money. The problem is almost everyone with enough capital to buy it won't be gun people, and the Colt brand will go the way of the fore mentioned Freedom Group brands.