Not sure what is going on. I've heard of a round of layoffs, and they let the manager of their custom shop go. He was a class act on 1911forum.

They are also not taking on any new custom work.

2 year + backlog on work, AR's more popular than ever and they are laying people off.

ARs are definitely extremely popular, but the market is very crowded and prices are dropping like crazy.  There's also a ton of handgun options out there, which may be hurting Colt 1911 sales.

The AR market is dead and completely saturated.  Colt still builds the same 1911 they've built for fifty years.  They don't have a polymer striker pistol and show no signs of coming up with one. They are in a high cost state and no doubt have higher labor costs than most of their competitors.  They haven't innovated.  They haven't had anything new since the late sixties.  Nothing.  They haven't been a player in the police market since the fifties.  They are a text book example of a brand name and nothing more.  They are the Sears of the firearms industry.

The CM901 and free floated ARs existed in the 1960s?

I have always been puzzled by Colt's business decisions.
Take for example the SAA. They can not make enough of them for the market.
They sell all the 1911's they make but hardly any LGS has any.
Somebody is buying their products. They just can't seem to produce enough.
They should have moved from CT decades ago.

Yep, they sell everything they make yet can't seem to turn a profit. All of those Ruger single actions sold, most buyers would have probably went with a Colt if prices and availability were at least close.

They flew Ted Yost and another top 1911 guy in years ago to look over the guns and the line. In return they received a series of recommendations that they failed to implement. Some years later Ted wedged his business card in between the slide and rear sight of a new Delta Elite at their SHOT show booth in case they wanted him to come back and try again but last I heard they hadn't called.

Colt as much as I love them repeatedly put their head up their ass!
Also heard that their Combat Elite and Combat Unit Rail gun were not on the 2017 price sheet. Don't know if they dropped those models.

The 901 is the AR Colt should have made as soon as the AWB expired and they would've eaten the entire market. Fully ambi, multi-caliber without failure to retain zero as the MRP and MWS do, rigid as hell, gives you SR-25 accuracy for 2/5 the price, minor little problems that have persisted on the AR since forever (like the thin aluminum ears that like to break) were fixed, the lower is backward-compatible with practically everything made for the AR-15, and so on. Not to mention the handguard is, IMO, the best modular handguard on the market. Unlike slick handguards, its geometry makes it you can get a very solid grip without adding any texturing attachments or handstops, and the simple screw-style attachment points beat the hell out of the fad-of-the-month modular attachment systems. Attachments mount solid and stay there with proper sighting retention. No damaged rails or slipping like KeyMod, no fucking rage-inducing misbehaving cams like MLOK; it's durable and simple.

The fact that they haven't worked the 901's improvements backward into their 5.56 guns baffles me. That gun should be what Colt builds their near-term future around.

I think 1911 sales outside of magazine ban states have slowed dramatically with the run up to the election.  My LGS bought a bunch of Colt 1911s maybe 2 years ago and they all mostly seem to still be there.   And now Colt dropped their prices, my LGS is probably upside down on them compared to buying new ones.   Not to mention the guns still have some old features compared to new ones like no beavertail on a Delta.

AR market is just so saturated.  I think this is the beginning of the end for Colt.  I give them five more years at best.   There may be a Colt after that, but it will be a brand purchased by someone like Cerebus and QC will even be worse.

Their retro line would of sold pretty well, at an affordable price. Though.

They fired Brent?!!!

Crap- he was the best thing at Colt!

Yes they did.

Colt decided to focus too much on military sales.  That money looks to be gone and the commercial customers they've been taking for granted didn't wait around.

Not disputing the Yost/SHOT story, but didn't he pass away some years ago?  Could be wrong; just asking.

God no. He's still building guns and he's not even old.

I like my Colts but I sent a 1911 in for warranty repair and it was over 1 year before it came back.

At that point I knew they were a very fucked up shop and trouble would follow.

"They are the Sears of the firearms industry."

I have been a fan of both Colt and Sears for many years, but this about says it all.  In the business world evolve, adapt, innovate or die.  An old school northeastern union shop style manufacturing model is tough to make work these days, you better have attractive & competitive products, or ongoing government contracts for revenue.  If you have relied on government contracts and they dry up, better have a market to take its place.  (Not really sure how much this fits Colt but I have read that they have.)

I was thinking aloud on another forum, South Dakota might be a nice place to locate a business now days, or Missouri, in addition to the obvious choice, the south.  Maybe there's hope in Wisconsin.

That sucks! He fixed a lot of problems people had getting warranty work done in the shop.

This is terrible...I had hoped things would get better. I tried to buy a LW Commander a little over a year ago, and found several examples at multiple gun shops, but QC issues with each one kept me from buying, including ALL of the Colts I handled had horrible overtravel on the thumb safeties. Some of them were ridiculous.

Well, actually...

I bought a Delta Elite NIB in January.  It came with a beavertail, Novak sights, high cut front strap, and all the things you expect a modern 1911 to have.

That said, the extractor measured about 0 oz on my Weigand gauge and I had to tweak the leaf spring to get the trigger pull down to 4.5 lbs since out of the box it was about 9 and most of that was the Series 80 components...

Not perfect, but it was an improvement over the retro ones they had out a couple of years ago.

And they're not doing anything to get those. No innovation. Just throw up the same old stuff. USMC is about to buy a ton of HK's because Colt (and FN) can't pull their heads out of their behinds.

They're little better in the consumer market.

Colt is going the way of Sears, JC Penney, Radio Shack etc...  Once great names...

It's just sad to see really. But they need to go into receivership and be bought by someone that knows what they are doing.

They are just emerging from bankruptcy.

I just bought a combat commander.  Love it.     Hope they get it together.

Guess it's time to bring back the 1911s of the 1990s and their revolver line.

Was looking at getting a colt officer for a carry gun but I don't think they make me anymore and the ones people try to sell are commanding a premium.

Colt has been dying in slow motion for several decades. Sad.

It would be interesting to see what would happen just by reintroducing the Python and Diamondback.

That might give them time to get out a polymer pistol.

I would think it probably has something to do with the election of Donald Trump. No Panic buying at the moment, I'm sure that sales so he even Colts have dropped quite a bit

They haven't made an officers in years, since the Defender is basically all around superior to it.

Replace the Series 70 with non-limited production Pre-war Government Model. Small thumb safety, wide hammer, everything checkered instead of serrated, and such.

....and old commercial rollmark and make sure the price is affordable.

I'm new to the Colt cult. I bought my first two Colt AR's in 2016. I am getting my first two Colt 1911's this year.

A question I have is, if Colt goes out of business and becomes irrelevant in the firearms market, do you think the value of their weapons will continue to increase or will the values drop?

My guess is that the values will increase but I have never looked at firearms from a collectors standpoint like I am now.

They're not going anywhere. They're just restructuring and trying to reduce debt.

That moment when you realize that your question is really F'in stupid but you can't delete it.

They leased a building in Orlando a few years ago. Were supposed to start manufacturing there, but nothing ever happened.

LOL

Samuel Colt would roll over very in his grave!

At one time owned the patent and/or military contract on Many of the most popular guns in history.

And they can't make it?

Not going anywhere. If they were I'd expect values to go up, though. I know I for one would probably set aside a few thousand at the earliest opportunity to gobble up components for spare parts for my Colts down the road to keep them running indefinitely.

Imagine how much they could bring in by selling true retro lowers and barrels.

Working at the LGS.  Not sure of the source but owner said he heard that Colt is folding.  Other manufacturers have recently closed their doors.  Maybe this is it for what is left of Colt?

Either way, we have two older Colts in the shop I am eyeing and thinking that if Colt does go away, the guns will become more coveted.

The two are a blue Commander and a blue New Agent.  Probably a couple of years old.  Not the newest batch.  

Wondering if I should pick one up.  I only have one Colt left.

My unit is deployed through December. Colt is working with us on commemorative 1911's and 6920's. I wouldn't imagine them working with us if they were closing up shop.

Double post..sorry.

Colt's not folding.  They are restructuring, which is what companies do when there's less demand for product (less people buying guns) and too many employees.

IMO, Colt needs to move to a RTW state like Texas and invest in new machinery. It can't be easy trying to operate a gun manufacturing business in big union, anti gun, high tax Connecticut.

Enought with the commemorative limited edition horseshit, MAKE A WWII REPRO AGAIN, and make it more historically accurate than the crap first run and the Series 70 repros.

/thread

Read this to better understand who really calls the shots at Colt.
This might enlighten some of the "experts" commenting here.

Up...up...and away!  Prices would sky rocket. But mostly with the older, pistol stuff. ARs, not so much.

I was kind of thinking of unloading an Officer's Model until I read this thread.  Sounds like "hold" is a smarter play in light of the difficulties Colt seems to be having.

Both of which were designs they bought from others.

Colt has never really been that innovative, either in firearms design or manufacturing processes.

Sam Colt invented the first successful revolving pistol and perfected it with his many black powder models.

Colt Firearms invented the Single Action Army.

Colt invented the modern double action, swing-out cylinder revolver in 1889 and all other revolver brands are versions of what Colt invented.
This was the Colt New Navy and later New Army .38 Long Colt revolvers that were America's first double action Service pistol, and the first swing-out cylinder revolver used by any military.

John Browning invented the Colt .32, .380, and Model 1911 pistols, but Colt perfected them.

Colt bought but perfected and convinced the military to adopt the M16 series.  A large number of foreign military and police organizations use the M16 series as standard or special ops weapons.
The Colt M16 also convinced the world to go with a smaller caliber bullet.  Even the Soviets followed to a smaller caliber.
Colt didn't invent the rifle or ammo, but did play a major part in convincing the world to follow.

Sam Colt and his employees invented and perfected modern machine tools and processes.
Prior to Colt, almost all gun makers were small shops with only a few workers turning out small numbers of guns, most with non-interchangeable parts.

The tools he invented were the tools still used to build the weapons we used in WWII.
The tools he invented and perfected to make revolvers went on to be used by others to build bicycles, sewing machines, typewriters, cars, and airplanes.  
It was Sam Colt's machine tools and processes that kick started the American industrial revolution.
These tools and processes largely remained the standard until the invention of modern CNC machine processes.
Until Colt invented and perfected the tools, even American and foreign government armories were more or less small boutique makers, making comparatively small numbers of hand crafted guns.
The Europeans especially, were absolutely astounded at Colt's London factory and how many top quality guns he could make a day.
They'd never seen anything like the tools and processes he used or the high quality of the mass produced guns.

Sam Colt essentially invented mass production.

Colt firearms had a lot of "firsts" in the gun business beside the revolver.
As example, the Colt Python was intended to be America's finest and most accurate DA revolver, and it was.
Almost every DA revolver designed since has basically copied the Python barrel profile.

The various models of the Colt Officer's Model target revolvers held all the records and were used by the top shooters from the early 1900's up until the automatic became the standard Match Pistol.

The Colt Detective Special was used by virtually every detective, undercover, and off duty cop from 1927 to the early 80's.  It was so ground breaking S&W didn't even try to compete until the Chief's Special of 1950.

The Colt Official Police was just that....THE official police revolver for a great many police departments and federal agencies, including the FBI from 1908 to the early 70's.  
(It started out as the Army Special in 1908 and was renamed the Official Police in 1927).

In 1953 Colt brought out the .357 Model revolver based on a medium frame.  That was both the model name and caliber.  Until that, all .357 Magnum revolvers were based on large frames, like Colt's New Service and S&W's "N" frame.

In 1969 Colt brought out the worlds first "machine fitted" revolver with the Mark III series.  This was built by pulling parts from a bin and just assembling the gun with very little fitting or adjustment needed.
It also was the first revolver to make heavy use of powdered metal technology (sintered steel) a fore runner of MIM.

The Mark III was also the first modern transfer bar safety-ignition revolver, and every brand of revolver designed since uses Colt's basic design.

Colt was probably the first gun company in the world to make aluminum pistols, the Colt Commander, Cobra and Agent.

So, it was only in the 1970's that Colt began to loose it's edge on innovation in design.