Colt going-ons...Co is changing

[1168]

Sorry Nope

care to elaborate?

[Slater]

The current market is so awash with AR's that the casual/entry level buyer might not even miss Colt.

[mack7.62]

The only thing Colt brought to the party was a high level of quality assurance which was a carry over from their government/military contracts. As documented here they screwed around with their lowers for many years to keep you from using a mil spec upper or bolt carrier or fcg just generally being dicks about the whole thing for no reason. They made good barrels so once they went to small pivot pins and you could slap their uppers on any of the other many lowers that would accept a mil spec upper you could put together a pretty good frankengun. After they lost the mil contracts and started to cater to the lowly civilian market a little they put out some decent rifles, but by then it was too late, they had to share the market with other companies producing decent product equal to or better than what Colt made. If they started out giving the SP1 a push out pivot pin, then add the A1 fences, keep the cost down and produce to market demand the AR world would be very different today. Would Oly or Bushmaster have had a chance to start up if Colt would have provided a true AR version of what they were making for the military? But no they had to pull their PC crap and now in their twilight we have lots of choices that might not have been. So karma is a bitch, they pissed on us for 20+ years, if they go under I won't miss them that much, but they did make a fine M16A1 like I was issued in the early 70's. But I still get pissed off thinking about cleaning the SP1 I bought in 76, that stupid screw.

[Doc Safari]

The current market is so awash with AR's that the casual/entry level buyer might not even miss Colt.

Sadly, this might be their epitaph. I would love to know the demographics of the average buyer of a Colt AR. It the mean age is over fifty I suspect Colt is doomed.

[sidewaysil80]

Sadly, this might be their epitaph. I would love to know the demographics of the average buyer of a Colt AR. It the mean age is over fifty I suspect Colt is doomed.

I dunno, but personally after trying a handful of other off the shelf brands and building, I ultimately swapped to Colts. Their reputation combined with my experience with them in the USMC made it a no brainer. I wonder if a large market share is due to guys/gals getting out and "buying what they carried". I think their name carries a lot of weight and time will tell if it's enough to carry them forward. But the one thing they absolutely cannot do is risk quality or start turning out substandard products. They are often (whether right or wrong) heralded as the epitome of AR-15 quality and build spec and I think that is realistically their biggest selling point.

[Outlander Systems]

This.

After picking up a 6920, I have little use for any of the other offerings on the market.

I dunno, but personally after trying a handful of other off the shelf brands and building, I ultimately swapped to Colts. Their reputation combined with my experience with them in the USMC made it a no brainer. I wonder if a large market share is due to guys/gals getting out and "buying what they carried". I think their name carries a lot of weight and time will tell if it's enough to carry them forward. But the one thing they absolutely cannot do is risk quality or start turning out substandard products. They are often (whether right or wrong) heralded as the epitome of AR-15 quality and build spec and I think that is realistically their biggest selling point.

[yellowfin]

When Colt does something to impress me they'll have my money, not unless and not until. Like actually be run by guys like us instead of bean counters, corporate raiders, and stooges and model their business accordingly for a change. If I want to drop coin on a name brand it'll be LaRue, LMT, or Noveske. You've gotta suck pretty bad to have been making what is now the most popular rifle on the market for 30-40 years before anyone else and have companies that started in the last 15 be kicking your butt like an NFL team stomping on pee wees.

[opngrnd]

Can anyone else match their production while maintaining their QC?

I always feel like the next actual shooting war will kick off and they will receive a gigantic order just in time.

[Pilot1]

Early in my AR career, I bought an Olympic, then a Bushmaster, and a pre-Ban DPMS as the AWB was in full effect, but they weren't a Colt. The Olympic was a very accurate rifle, and functioned flawlessly, but it was a heavy barrel H-BAR, and unwieldy. The Bushmaster short stroked, and I could never get it to run reliably. The DPMS was OK, but also had issues. I sold them all, and the day after Sandy Hook bought a Colt LE6920 FDE Magpul Edition. By this time they were branded, as an M4. The fit, and finish is superb, and to me it is a beautiful rifle. It shoots as good as it looks, and never hiccups. It is more accurate than it should be also.

I sincerely hope Colt continues to make a great AR.

[Moose-Knuckle]

People who are not there then don't understand that. Half moon bolt carrier groups, mags were not that available, unless you bought up beat up Surplus.

H&K 91s were slightly less to buy, had similar mag availability, and were much more reliable then Colt ARs of that era. Which is how I ended up with a 91 in college. And a close friend had the first car 15 I ever saw. We shot both extensively. You could get cheap German 762 in the green sleeves, cheaper than I could buy 223 until ppmc came along

I bought my first mini 14 for a quarter the cost of a Colt at that time. And factory mags were almost identical in cost between the two.

Not saying the mini is as good as modern Colts. Just that back then, the Colts were not what we have now. There were valid reasons the mini became as popular as it did.

Ace Hardware stores locally sold ruger's including the mini 14, and had mags in the sales counter. Probably 20:1 more retail distribution relative to Colts.

Then again, the local mall Sporting Goods chain (oshman's) briefly carried both H&K and Colt. Most LGSs could not get the Colts, not that different than what it was 5 to 10 years ago.

Ahhh memories....

The above was my childhood. I even scored my first Swiss Army knife (a Wegner) from an Oshman's in the mall. They had a better price than the tobacco / cutlery shop. Before the internet, the average bea got their info from gun rags and guys like Col. Cooper and Mel Tappan.

Tappan lauded the Mini-14 over the Colt AR for the reasons you mentioned. My dad being a young working class father at the time couldn't afford the Colt and went with the 91. Looking back from today's market it's crazy to think one could acquire an imported HK for less than an AR. He then picked up a couple of Mini's and being a kid I thought they were cool thanks to The A-Team lol. Fast forward to when I was a young man and got married (the first time oops) during the ban I received a Colt MT6731 as a wedding gift. It came with a LW neutered barrel, sans bayo lug, A2 upper, A2 stock, big hole lower with front screw pin, and sear block. I swear, with that A2 stock the thing would have made an ideal boat oar.

I never drank the 6920 Kool-Aid as I don't have need for a 16" govt profile barrel with M203 cut outs, I think flare launchers are homo and I'm not a clone dork. Prior to the last Obama panic I acquired and squirreled away several 6720s for future generations, to me they are the ideal Colt / kiss carbine.

I wish I had hung on to mine. Did still have it when the $1 mags and other German surplus were available. I still have the Hensoldt scope and claw mount.

As late as two years ago I was scoring NIW (new surplus) OEM "paratrooper" G3 five packs for under $5 a mag. These were still in the wrapper with German writing on them and date stamps from the 60's/70's. Now these have even all dried up.

If you ever want to part with that Hensoldt scope and claw mount shoot me a PM.