Colt bought by CZ

[CapnMac]

one word explanation: unions

But, sadly, incomplete. One of the other complexities was an ownership 'stake' by the State of Connecticut (tied up in the retirement system in some highly-convoluted tangle only governments encourage).

Hopefully, CZ will have the leverage to rid themselves of some of the paid-first creditors in Colt's stack of liabilities.

 

[brutus51]

Unions, the State of Connecticut and paid-first creditors are only a small part of the problem. In my 50 years in the manufacturing field I can't tell you the number of good sound businesses destroyed by being purchased by investment firms. Run the place into the ground, reap all the profit you can then declare bankruptcy. It's the new American way.

 

[bannockburn]

Well I have always liked Colt and I'm also a big fan of CZ so I guess I see this as a Win/Win kind of business acquisition!

 

[Lineman65]

one word explanation: unions

Colt wasn’t unionized during their glory days?

 

[JCooperfan1911]

The CZ rimfire rifles are very good.

I have not heard good things about the new Python revolver. The quality control and customer service at Colt have been sleepy it seems.

As long as their 1911s say Colt on the side and have the Rampant Colt, I will continue to buy them. All others are a copycat. CZ is good at making pistols so I doubt quality will subside.

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

I guess first off, they are still negotiating but I come up with a couple-few wonderments.

I wonder where they think the value is going to be if the anti-2A cretins get their way in the next 4-8 years?

Do they think they'll be able to use past Colt good will & resources to break into Governmental sales?

Do they see an opportunity to pump up their domestic employment by finally offering those excellent Colt products at a reasonable cost and realistic availability?

Do they see an opportunity to end the union-based hemorrhaging of capital by scooping up the assets and moving to at least a *right to work* state if not off-shore relatively completely?

In any case, for the short term - excluding any legislative or Executive based emergency - it bodes well for everyone but; unions, the poncy Liberal state in which Colt's is currently trapped and any entity who has excelled in the industry due to Colt's comic, almost criminal mismanagement.

Todd.

 

[tipoc]

The union has not been a major issue in Colt's hemorrhaging. More than once over the decades they signed give back contracts that kept Colt afloat. The workers there laid out their cash to keep the company alive. The major issue has been the same for other firearm's companies union or not...the inability of their ownership, often investment firms, to keep the companies breathing. Count the number of gun manufacturers that have died out or been bought up. Most non-union. It's no different in the firearms industry than elsewhere in the U.S. economy.

It's that the men and women at Remington organized decades back that keeps them in the fight for their remaining pension benefits and the money Remington owes them.

 

[str8_4ward]

Is NY really American?

Colt has been under the ownership of Donald Zilkha since 1994 and he's run the company into the ground with his anti civilian market ideas. He was the one who killed Colt's CCW guns in the late 90s and instead directed that the company be focused on military and law enforcement sales.

Colt wasn’t unionized during their glory days?

really do not think so, but cannot find ANY info on the net. Every time I am trying to avoid union made ****ty products and look it up, it never shows. My next step is usually to contact the company via email and request-kindly and professional- an answer. Since al-gore ""invented"" the Internet, I remember only getting ONE answer, and the guy was at least honest (Rhino Tire Gauges). Will ALWAYS try to avoid china and union made products, often NOT possible. But I'd rather give my money to Harbor freight than ANY union plant. Period. Had NO use for them in Germany (where they are at least reasonable), and certainly do not like these criminals here in the US. And I do understand that at one time they were needed, nowadays it's only racketeering.

 

[Gordon]

A spokeswoman for the Czech firm CZ Ceská Zbrojovka has confirmed their intention on purchasing Colt. "We will inform you about major developments in due course," she said to the German newspaper Die Welt. If CZ is successful in taking over Colt it could lead to some very interesting things. What do you think about it?

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=AZUct8BDu1Jexf5OoBVVs6SaB8wgjntadxR13gHJnlO35aIUYrrP5iPAeTRHwzfqgmmeP_kliFnZu6tMhewGnJZZy7ISq3obTFI6xWe07J8952FVclyB8EBF8_pUxpQeTgxsHklI8P7vfneH5UZHVoHa&__tn__=EH-R']

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[Jim Watson]

This will give CZ a (another) US brand but what will they DO with it?
Improve management of the existing Colt plant or relocate? We may visualize something like the Soviet move east ahead of German invasion, trainloads of equipment, the machinists riding on their lathes. But it doesn't work that way here.
A mostly new plant with mostly new hands with the Colt sign over the door is what I think we will get.

 

[Lineman65]

really do not think so, but cannot find ANY info on the net. Every time I am trying to avoid union made ****** products and look it up, it never shows. My next step is usually to contact the company via email and request-kindly and professional- an answer. Since al-gore ""invented"" the Internet, I remember only getting ONE answer, and the guy was at least honest (Rhino Tire Gauges). Will ALWAYS try to avoid china and union made products, often NOT possible. But I'd rather give my money to Harbor freight than ANY union plant. Period. Had NO use for them in Germany (where they are at least reasonable), and certainly do not like these criminals here in the US. And I do understand that at one time they were needed, nowadays it's only racketeering.

Don’t use any electricity then. At least if you live in the US.

 

[rust collector]

This is the age of the brand image. Increasingly, goods or principal parts thereof are made by the cheapest provider for brands that are promoted by pitches assuring us how much we need this new shiny stuff. What will be important is CZ's approach to the Colt brand. I expect them to emphasize the romance of the frontier, and to use honest wood and steel to make a product they can be proud of. I don't care where springs, fasteners and grip frames come from so long as the resulting gun is an outstanding specimen and quality control is held to a high standard.

As we have witnessed, the image of the prancing pony is not enough. CZ could give Korth a run for its money if they wanted. The standard S&W revolver is not what it once was. CZ's challenge will be to put the pieces together with a balance of quality and economy that works. It is no small job, but CZ has seen considerable success since the iron curtain was lifted. I wish them the best.

 

[Gordon]

Czechs are and have always been the best machinists of Eastern Europe IMHO. Maybe all Europe .

 

[tipoc]

"Colt wasn’t unionized during their glory days?"

What I say below I'm taken from the book "Crisis and Political Beliefs--The case of the Colt Firearms Strike" by Marc Lendler.

Short answer is they have been union since 1940.

There had been various efforts to organize a union there in the 1930's. Colt crushed a strike there in 1935. Colt set up a company union which the workers distrusted. So the workers there affiliated with the United Electrical Workers. In 1940 there was a 2 day strike that ended in a negotiated contract for the Colt workers. However the government stepped in and delayed recognition of the union until a vote was taken of the UEW against the company union. The UEW easily won that recognition. So in 1941 local 270 of the UEW was formally recognized. Since then it's been a union shop though it later switched to the United Auto Workers Union as the government and red-baiting forced the UEW out during the post war strike wave that swept the country.

 

[str8_4ward]

Don’t use any electricity then. At least if you live in the US.

there are always unavoidable necessities, unlike you live in a cave and resort to your survival training. But luckily we do live in the land of plentiful and many times have other options. And yes, duke power is unionized, but at least they are selling electricity to the (crying and whining) West coast and my shares are getting higher and higher. I do love choices and capitalism, cheers!
No let's go back to guns, sorry I did stray away.
And, contrary to the freeloading squirrels in my backyard, I do love my CZ 452 and the CZ 75 Compact.

 

[str8_4ward]

Czechs are and have always been the best machinists of Eastern Europe IMHO. Maybe all Europe .

Can confirm your statement !

 

[NuclearMeltdown]

and have been a one trick pony in recent years

I see what you did there.

 

[brutus51]

Czechs are and have always been the best machinists of Eastern Europe IMHO. Maybe all Europe .

Yeah and we Bohunks make a damn good beer to boot.

 

[Lineman65]

"Colt wasn’t unionized during their glory days?"

What I say below I'm taken from the book "Crisis and Political Beliefs--The case of the Colt Firearms Strike" by Marc Lendler.

Short answer is they have been union since 1940.

There had been various efforts to organize a union there in the 1930's. Colt crushed a strike there in 1935. Colt set up a company union which the workers distrusted. So the workers there affiliated with the United Electrical Workers. In 1940 there was a 2 day strike that ended in a negotiated contract for the Colt workers. However the government stepped in and delayed recognition of the union until a vote was taken of the UEW against the company union. The UEW easily won that recognition. So in 1941 local 270 of the UEW was formally recognized. Since then it's been a union shop though it later switched to the United Auto Workers Union as the government and red-baiting forced the UEW out during the post war strike wave that swept the country.

Thanks for that.

 

[Zendude]

Hopefully this will keep a version of the classic Colts in production.

 

[Elkins45]

"Colt wasn’t unionized during their glory days?"

What I say below I'm taken from the book "Crisis and Political Beliefs--The case of the Colt Firearms Strike" by Marc Lendler.

Short answer is they have been union since 1940.

There had been various efforts to organize a union there in the 1930's. Colt crushed a strike there in 1935. Colt set up a company union which the workers distrusted. So the workers there affiliated with the United Electrical Workers. In 1940 there was a 2 day strike that ended in a negotiated contract for the Colt workers. However the government stepped in and delayed recognition of the union until a vote was taken of the UEW against the company union. The UEW easily won that recognition. So in 1941 local 270 of the UEW was formally recognized. Since then it's been a union shop though it later switched to the United Auto Workers Union as the government and red-baiting forced the UEW out during the post war strike wave that swept the country.

I have a Colt from sometime in the mid-70’s and there’s a UAW label printed on the cardboard box.

 

[yzguy87]

I’d like to see the 550 come back

 

[chicharrones]

I really like CZ firearms, but I've never owned a Colt. Perhaps I can add a "CZ-Colt" to my CZ collection someday.

 

[orionengnr]

I was born and raised in Connecticut, left in 1977 to join the military and have only been back 3-4 times since...not at all since 1997.
No plans on returning, unless I visit my brother's or my parent's graves...

All that said, the first pistol I ever fired was my dad's WWII Colt 1911. As a kid, we drove by the Colt plant in Hartford many times and toured it once. One decrepit-looking building from the outside. Not much better inside.

I have owned a number of Colt 1911s, although none in the last ten years or so.

I will say that the 1911 is my favorite pistol, and I've owned at least 25-30 of them, probably six currently.

A Dan Wesson/CZ 10mm Classic Bobtail Commander is among them. So if CZ can help save Colt from itself, I'm on board.

Actually, I hope they move to Alabama (as Kimber has done) or Texas (as I have done).

 

[wickedsprint]

Would have preferred to see an American company like Ruger buy them but CZ makes great stuff and I look forward to seeing how it pans out.