According to a press release on sec.gov, Colt Defense LLC has acquired New Colt Holding Corp., which owns Colt’s Manufacturing Company LLC. Here’s the 8K. This seemed to be a possibility when Colt bought out Blackstone’s (an investment group) shares in Colt Defense back in March.
Back in 2003, Colt split itself in two in an effort to shield their substantial defense assets from civil liability. Such lawsuits haven’t had much of an effect on any company in the industry and the split probably had a significant (negative) effect on Colt’s efforts to develop new products. Meanwhile, the rest of the industry went full speed ahead with all kinds of new product development. Companies such as Smith & Wesson and Ruger sold zillions of AR-15s while Colt commercial rifle sales flatlined. Defense sales are down and will be down for the foreseeable future.
Therefore, it makes sense for Colt to consolidate and invest some money in bringing new consumer products to market and perhaps improving their ability to produce and market old ones. There appears to be no intent to move the company out of Connecticut, but their factory is a bit out of date compared to other companies in the industry, and they’ll need to make big strides to catch up to where they could have been a few years ago.
What does this mean for consumers?
It should mean a lot more Colt rifles on the civil market. It should also mean that Colt handguns (pistols and revolvers) will have more money and time devoted to them from a design and manufacturing standpoint.
I’m looking forward to seeing what Colt has to offer at SHOT 2014 and 2015.
Would be good news if they would dump the UAW.
So maybe there’s hope that Colt will finally make a gun that didn’t exist 50 years ago?
I lol’d.
I’m disappointed they didn’t leave CT and have remained union, yet I’m not at all surprised. Many of these places puff their chests about leaving and then do nothing – usually because of some sweet tax deal that never makes it to the public. I applaud PTR for leaving that horrible state (much like I did in 2001), I wish the rest would follow them. We’ll see if Stag follows thru on their claim (along with Beretta in MD).
There are always significant costs to moving. In Hartford, Colt has a workforce with considerable tribal knowledge, an infrastructure of support (suppliers, consultants, lawyers, you name it), and a physical infrastructure of buildings and machines. Remington faces the same hostility in NY, but they are thorougly embedded in the town of Ilion.
What makes the most sense is probably to do what Beretta claims to be doing — drive any new construction into friendly states. Kahr seems to be doing the same thing.
I would like them to get back into DA revolvers. There was something special about (most of) those.
Does this mean Colt will start selling Retro style ARs?!?
Sigh…A boy can dream.
That would be cool. I just spent 1000 to replace an SP1 I foolishly sold years back which I practically stole at the time for 600. The replacement is in nicer shape, but still…
“Back in 2003, Colt split itself in two in an effort to shield their substantial defense assets from civil liability. ”
And, rumor has it, in an attempt to get someone, anyone, to buy what was left of the civvie sales half of the business. Nobody bit.
It’s kinda sad; I just got into the gun biz right as Colt was commencing its death spiral. Between QC problems, the AA2000 fiasco, the Kahr suit… things were looking grim for them
It’s good to see they’ve fought their way back this far.
This ought to be interesting. I wonder if they will attempt to engineer/design new products or if they will try to buy and market someone else’s product. Given the debacle that was the AA2000 and Double Eagle, I kind of hope they dont attempt another DIY…
While I wouldn’t mind them doing a mid-length version of the 6920, I just hope that they won’t drop the 6920, or any of their other proven performers. I like knowing that I can drive to my gun store and pick up a 6920, and know that I have a weapon that is good to go out of the box. No need to upgrade the weapon itself, I can just start buying ammo, and going to the range. It’s also nice being able to tell my buddies to just “get a Colt”, and know that I’ve steered them in the right direction. That way we can spend our time shooting instead of troubleshooting. Kind of like you used to be able to tell your buddies to just “get a Glock 17” back when buying a Gen 3 Glock 17 or 19 didn’t come with the likeliness of problems they might now.
http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/colt-appears-be-moving-forward-military-weapons-fa/ncnkS/
colt is moving its colt firearms llc to central Florida,this has been going in in the mix since 2011 but was held up because of the merger ,,,