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Colt headed for bankruptcy?


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The boom/bust cycle, and a long history of less than stellar management, may be coming to a head:

 

http://money.cnn.com/2015/06/10/news/companies/colt-bankruptcy/index.html?iid=ob_homepage_deskrecommended_pool&iid=obnetwork

 

Hmmm....if S&W or Ruger buy Colt, I wonder if they will submit their products to the testing required in order to be sold here in MA? And if they would pass? The possibilities are intriguing....

 

LL

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My Colts will be worth even more if they go bankrupt! :lol:

 

 

Methinks bad management for a loooong time is the reason why! :ph34r:

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Mrs. Doc and I were discussing this yesterday after she read about it and asked me. Sadly, I'm not surprised. When the big Colt news out of the 2015 SHOT show is the reintroduction of the 1903 Hammerless Pocket Pistol at $1,400, they aren't exactly being innovative. Even their polymer offering, the Mustang XSP is based on the older Mustang Pocketlite. Military contracts only get you so far, as does nostalgia.

 

I hope they can muddle their way through, but I have my doubts.

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Mrs. Doc and I were discussing this yesterday after she read about it and asked me. Sadly, I'm not surprised. When the big Colt news out of the 2015 SHOT show is the reintroduction of the 1903 Hammerless Pocket Pistol at $1,400, they aren't exactly being innovative. Even their polymer offering, the Mustang XSP is based on the older Mustang Pocketlite. Military contracts only get you so far, as does nostalgia.

 

I hope they can muddle their way through, but I have my doubts.

It's kind of reminiscent of the old GM before the bailouts. The innovation was severely lacking and the name Colt alone was going to keep them in business. I doubt a government bailout is in the cards on this one.

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The government bail out a firearms manufacturer. :ph34r::wacko::unsure: As we used to say in the Navy time for you to pee in the bottle. :D:lol:

 

Given the high markup that Colt firearms have I wonder if another firearms manufacturer will buy them to keep the name alive and make niche firearms.

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Some company will buy the name to prevent any other company from having it, even if they have no intention of using it.

 

It will indeed be a sad day when this icon of Americana is bought by the Chinese.

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Some company will buy the name to prevent any other company from having it, even if they have no intention of using it.

 

It will indeed be a sad day when this icon of Americana is bought by the Chinese.

It happened to Baldwin Piano Co., they went bankrupt and were bought by the owners of Gibson guitars, who then farmed out the production to a chinese co. So, now you can buy a chinese Baldwin! Chinese Colts in the future??? Yea, possible! :blink:

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I'm having horrid imaginings of the name Colt going the way of Abercrombie & Fitch...

 

And for those of you too young to know, long before A&F was a trendy label for clothes nobody I know would wear, it was the world's most prestigious purveyor of outdoors adventure equipment. And even the actual outdoors adventures; walk in with your checkbook and they'd organize an African safari for you.

 

I think I'd cry if I ever saw cute li'l Colt beach sandals. :(

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did Winchester go broke before the Japanese took them over and will Colt firearms do the same as Winchester firearms did and price higher than the new ones?

 

Winchester isn't owned by a Japanese company. They are still owned by Olin Corp.

 

 

On August 15, 2006, Olin Corporation, owner of the Winchester trademarks, announced that it had entered into a new license agreement with Browning[6] to make Winchester brand rifles and shotguns, though not at the closed Winchester plant in New Haven. The production of Model 1885 falling block action,Model 1892 and Model 1886 lever action rifles are produced under licensed agreement by Miroku Corp. of Japan and imported back to the United States by Browning.[7]

In 2008 Fabrique Nationale announced that it would produce Model 70 rifles at its plant in Columbia, SC. In 2013, assembly was moved to Portugal.

In the summer of 2010 Fabrique Nationale d'Herstal (FN) resumed production of the Winchester model 1894 and the evolution of the Winchester 1300, now called the Winchester SXP.[8][9]

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester_Repeating_Arms_Company#Revival

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I believe that FN owns Winchester Repeating Arms, a belgian corporation that also owns Browning and Herstal.

I could see the Colt trade being bought by FN or a small outfit like Para-USA. Hopefully any manufacturing would still take place in the US.

Sad but true results of not riding the CCW and home defense markets for years and allowing govt contracts to slide away. Colts went bankrupt in 1838 and then several timea since Sam C died; maybe they will be okay or they will go the way of so many other historic arms firms.

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They have no one to blame but themselves.

 

Colt basically got out of the civilian market years ago. The Single Action Army (only from the Custom Shop), the 1911 and the AR15 were the whole extent of their civilian offerings for a lot of years. Nostalgia and name recognition will only carry you so far and only for so long. They haven't came out with anything that was really new since the '90's and those offerings weren't exactly barn burners either. The military contracts that they have relied on since making that decision have dried up.

 

I'm not surprised by the announcement. If anything, I'm surprised it took this long.

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Guest Kid Sopris, Regulator, #3290

Y'all have attended the Funeral..Sad Really..This is a Business Maneuver to leverage the reduction of outstanding stock and reduce the profit payout. Nobody at Colt is looking for employment and all of this uproar will be for not..

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Y'all have attended the Funeral..Sad Really..This is a Business Maneuver to leverage the reduction of outstanding stock and reduce the profit payout. Nobody at Colt is looking for employment and all of this uproar will be for not..

 

Like I said, I hope they can muddle their way through. Sometimes bankruptcy allows a business to get their affairs in order and they emerge leaner, stronger and more focused. Sometimes it is a precursor of things to come.

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if Colt had offered a reasonable amount to buy out the bond holder more might have taken them up on it and they could have avoided chapter 11. they offered the bond holders 450 per bond paying 10% interest to mature a few extra years out for a bond valued at 1000 paying 8.75% maturing 2017. if they had offered a little more to make it worth the bond holders while like Ford did during the automaker crises a few years ago more might have taken them up on it.

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Howdy,

Does anyone have the feeling that maybe they need to make the company a little

bigger so they can handle the government contract AND the great civilian designs?

Best

CR

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Unless it's chapter 7 where the company is going to be liquidated, I turn a jaundiced eye on the news. These days bankruptcy is less about the financial health of the company, but often a strategy/ploy used to void contracts, pension obligations, "renegotiate" payments to suppliers & creditors, and extort taxpayer funding to reduce their operating costs.

 

I submit the airline industry and General Motors as examples.

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Unless it's chapter 7 where the company is going to be liquidated, I turn a jaundiced eye on the news. These days bankruptcy is less about the financial health of the company, but often a strategy/ploy used to void contracts, pension obligations, "renegotiate" payments to suppliers & creditors, and extort taxpayer funding to reduce their operating costs.

 

I submit the airline industry and General Motors as examples.

Hang up callers, we have a winner!

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I bought a used LNIB Lightweight Officer 1911 today and plan to buy another LNIB 1911 Friday if I can make up my mind on which model. The dealer said that collectors are starting the buy-up based on lessons learned with the Winchesters.

Count me in. I can enjoy them until the prices get high enough to justify selling them.

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