Colt-Now Outsourcing Almost Everything?

[Doc Safari]

Damn. I have another 6720 waiting for pickup at my FFL. How accurate is this and what should I look for?

I just got a 6720 literally about three weeks ago. Upper is marked 13629. Bolt carrier is not "C" marked. Bolt says "MPC". All other areas seem to be normal.

Here's one thing I'll say though: inspect it thoroughly.

The first 200 rounds out of the rifle ran fine. Then during cleaning and lubing I noticed the bolt would not go back into the bolt carrier even smacking it with the fatty part of my hand. I pulled the bolt back out and noticed one of the bolt rings was out of the groove and looked like it had been kinked during manufacturing. I replaced all three bolt rings and the rifle ran fine again at the next range session.

I think that bolt ring had been compromised all along and as long as the gun was fully assembled it was held in place. It didn't jump out of the groove until I removed the bolt for cleaning.

A thread on TOS shows a rear detent spring that was badly mangled during final assembly on another Colt model. A 6920 I bought in the middle of 2018 came with a hammer pin that wasn't pushed all the way in to "click" on the retaining spring. Once I pushed it in all the way it was fine.


My point being: It's odd that three problems in a few months have to do with "assembly" issues. I'm thinking Colt or whomever is putting rifles together may have some less than stellar laborers doing the work. I know it's anecdotal but I've owned Colts for years and it's odd for me to have two QC problems in a few months.

[Doc Safari]

Colt is like Harley Davidson for gun people.

You are a cruel, heartless bastard. That's like telling your five year old she is dying of cancer.

[OH58D]

It's been Lewis Machine & Tool for me since 2010. Never an issue.

[Esq.]

Colt is like Harley Davidson for gun people.

Still want a 9 milly mill Gold Cup though

A lot of truth in that. Harley sales dipped 25% last year. It would seem they have that in common too......

[Circle_10]

I certainly hope this is a temporary thing. According to Bartocci Colts businessmodel was HEAVILY focused on govt contracts (not a big secret) Their efforts to shift focus to the civilian market was slow and too little too late. He has mentioned several potentially lucrative designs Colt has scrapped for stupid reasons in the past. The CCU series showed promise though.

Up until like a couple months ago, you could buy complete Colt lowers from Brownells and other places. But Colt abruptly decided to pull the plug on that source of revenue. I don't know if it's true, but it was allegedly because of fears some pill-head incel would use the lower to assemble his next school-shooter homebuilt special and it would say "Colt" on the lower, and would get reported in the media as a Colt AR.
So Colt opted to just shoot themselves in the foot again and lose more money by halting sales of lower receivers.

[OldState]

He is the video where the comment was made. Fast forward to the 21 min mark. He does say “former employee” though.

[grizzlyblake]

So just got back from my FFL. This 6720 came from Sports South to Guns Midwest to my FFL.

Same as Doc posted above.

Upper not C marked, but 13629 instead, with the key forge mark.

No markings on the bolt carrier, bolt is marked MPC. They had a brand new 6920 that was exactly the same.

The 6720 I bought back in '17 has C on the bolt carrier and upper.

I bought this 6720 to leave in the box until my boy is old enough to shoot it.

So I'm not a gun nerd and more of the "buy a 6920 and get a life" type. I'm wondering if this is all minutia and doesn't matter for having a dead nuts reliable gun, or if I should start the conversation with Guns Midwest about maybe sending it back. I only paid $784 for the thing which would be a great deal if it was a normal Colt.

What do all the smarter guys here think? Does this matter or should I do something about it? Is there no more buying a 6920 and getting a life? WTF.

[Doc Safari]

So just got back from my FFL. This 6720 came from Sports South to Guns Midwest to my FFL.

Same as Doc posted above.

Upper not C marked, but 13629 instead, with the key forge mark.

No markings on the bolt carrier, bolt is marked MPC. They had a brand new 6920 that was exactly the same.

The 6720 I bought back in '17 has C on the bolt carrier and upper.

I bought this 6720 to leave in the box until my boy is old enough to shoot it.

So I'm not a gun nerd and more of the "buy a 6920 and get a life" type. I'm wondering if this is all minutia and doesn't matter for having a dead nuts reliable gun, or if I should start the conversation with Guns Midwest about maybe sending it back. I only paid $784 for the thing which would be a great deal if it was a normal Colt.

What do all the smarter guys here think? Does this matter or should I do something about it? Is there no more buying a 6920 and getting a life? WTF.

Here's another issue, not that it bothers me but I've read posts where people are going ape-shit over it: 6920's no longer have serial numbers with "LE" prefixes. Instead Colt is using a "CR" prefix.

Does that mean 6920's with an "LE" prefix serial number will command a premium on the collector market in 20 years? Do all those rifles with "restricted" markings on their lowers become more valuable as time goes by? Does a non-"C" marking mean it wasn't made to the same quality standards?

Remember the "C" marking is a military requirement so they know which manufacturer made what part. Its absence could mean it's outsourced or that Colt doesn't have to have the marking on a civilian component and therefore doesn't pay someone union wages to sit there and make the stamping. To muddy the waters even more, I've got a Colt from 2015 where the "C" is dot matrix engraved rather than stamped. I emailed Colt to confirm it was authentic and they stated that method had been used on occasion.

So these are somewhat unanswerable questions. You are never going to know if every last component on the rifle was made in-house or outsourced. A safe bet is that most components have been outsourced for a long, long time.

So then the bottom line is whether they are made to Colt quality standards despite an absence or altering of markings, and only over the long haul will we really know.

My take: Keep the rifle. Shoot it or put it away for a rainy day, but also have some quality spare parts on hand and learn how to make repairs yourself. That way you've got most contingencies covered.

You will drive yourself crazy worrying if every little part in the rifle (or even every big part) was actually made in the Colt factory in Hartford or not.

Unless you acquire a like new rifle from decades ago you probably can't count on it being 100% in-house Hartford Colt.

[grizzlyblake]

The whole point was to give my kid a carbine one day and be able to say it's a quality unit from a top tier manufacturer. If it's a "maybe Colt" I might rather get something else. I'm just not an insider enough to know if all these details matter or not.

Guns Midwest will take it back but I have to pay shipping, processing, and a 10% restock so I'm out about a hundred bucks. Not a huge deal but kind of a pisser.

[26 Inf]

HA! At least the Colt doesn't piss oil all over your driveway.

Old news. Manufacturing technology caught up at HD. I have two sitting in the garage, 2001 and 2017, nary a leak. And, I don't pee blood.