.455_Hunter
Member
Colt DA trigger guards look dumb.
The new ones?
Colt DA trigger guards look dumb.
They're all kinda goofy to me, but the new King Cobra especially. That would be an attractive revolver if not for the afterthought of a trigger guard that looks like it was made by a 5 year old with a pair of pliers.
I guess I'm kind of different. My first revolver was a Ruger Blackhawk .357 Magnum 4-5/8", followed by Single-Six 6" Stainless, a Llama 1911 .45 clone, a Ruger Super Blackhawk 7-1/2", an HK P7M8, and on and on... My first non-Ruger revolver was a Smith 15-3. I bought a Colt Diamondback 2-1/2" as a cheaper plinking alternative to Smith - I paid close to $250 for the Smith but the guy who sold me the Diamondback was eager to sell because his buddies at the club kept harassing him about his weak, fragile Colt. I picked it up for $100 and decided it was better in my hand than the Smith. Eventually I sold every one of those early guns, moved a bunch of times, bought more, then traded or sold them off, but the thing is I never got a prejudice for or against anything. I've got Rossi's I won't get rid of because they're just soooo nice - ditto for Colt, Smith, Ruger, H&R, Iver-Johnson - yeah, you just TRY to get that little Cadet .38S&W away from me... I dare ya' - and the same goes for a few Taurus revolvers I've got that have been exceptional at one thing or another... in my hand. I've never found Colts to be particularly pricey when I bought locally until the Internet came along. I got my 4" Diamondback in 1997 for $200 OTD.If one's first pick-up truck is a Ford F-150, chances are, this is the only truck one will continue to buy for the rest of one's life. Kinda like dating redheads...
I always wonder just how much experience those who continually bash certain manufacturers' products actually have. Now, we all know that usually, if someone's first experience with any product (especially if it's expensive) is negative, that individual can develop a life-long bias against that product's brand. However, on firearms forums, it quickly becomes evident that many of those that dive head-first into threads about a particular maker, don't exactly possess a wealth of experience with more than one of that maker's products. Rather, internet anecdotes become "evidence" of a company's failures.
I have experienced Colt products since my youth, starting with The Gov't Model and the SAA, picking up here and there some old pieces of historical interest to me, have bought Colts during the company's "bad years" and still buy the "New Colts."
Haters? When I talk to the dedicated Colt-haters, I find in almost every case, they've fallen victim to internet lore. In any case, anyone I encounter in real life (not on the internet) who professes hate toward a particular gun or fanatical devotion to another gun, is typically someone who is just not gonna end up being a good friend (or even a casual shooting buddy).
Oh, and for those whose only real criticism of a worthy revolver is the shape of its trigger guard? Seriously? I'm sure you must have exquisite taste in luxury automobiles, fine cigars, wine and women as well... (so, funny story, I was dating this gal once who had this mole and I just couldn't get past it...)
View attachment 1024495 View attachment 1024496 View attachment 1024497
"Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference"
Another classic I like is:
"Arguing with an idiot is like playing chess with a pigeon, no matter how good you are the bird is going to crap on the board and strut around like it won anyway.
Somebody at Colt must have woken up by 2000. My Colt Match Target has a 1:7 twist barrel on it bought new in late 2000.
I have no interest in arguing the merits of this silly argument but I am curious to know if this thinking has been encountered by others here and how often? This is the first time in fifty years of gun ownership I have met someone so persuaded.
Another of my favorite mems.I like George Bernard Shaw's quip:
“I learned long ago never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.”
The Army Marksmanship Unit started winning the service rifle National Matches 1994 (or so) with their M16's, and the last year the USMC rifle team fielded M14's was 1996. At some point, Colt had to start making a rifle that shot the 77 SMK's, once that bullet became ubiquitous, because the market had moved beyond the 69 SMK. Colt was never forward leaning, and was always behind the times. I am quite certain they only changed barrel twists when their rifle sales started to tank.
What really killed them in the civilian market was the Bushmaster lawsuit. Colt sued anyone trying to introduce an AR15. Because they were flush with Government money, they could sue a small company into the ground. Springfield Armory of Geneseo told me at Camp Perry that they had introduced an AR15, and immediately Colt sued. Given the size of Colt at the time, and the small size of Springfield Armory (might have been in the 1970's) Springfield Armory had to agree not to build and sell a version of the AR15. Given the cash disparate, Colt could have sued them into bankruptcy with frivolous lawsuits. However, much later Bushmaster fought Colt, and won. I cannot find this lawsuit on the internet, but was told it was early 1990's ish. Colt did sue Bushmaster over the M4 name. That can be found.
Once anyone could build an AR15, the flood gates opened and Colt had real cost competition. And then the big badda boom, was the scandal about the Army being wedded to Colt. The Army was wedded to Colt, and the Army was not the one wearing the pants in the relationship. The sweet heart deals that Colt had been receiving got noticed. The scandal lead to the Army buying M16's from other vendors. This is a Colt bid protest, which they lost: Colt Defense, LLC, B-406696.2, November 16, 2012
Once Colt lost their control over the Department of Defense, lost their sole source for all things M16 and M4, they were in big trouble. Colt had been living off the DoD gravy train since the middle 1960's, and suddenly, they had to compete in the marketplace. They had dropped all their revolvers, their 1911's were expensive and inferior to the competition, and their AR rifles were over priced compared to the competition.
Colt is trying to survive off their past glory: "New" Pythons, "New" Anacondas. These new issue pistols are hugely expensive and we will see if that keeps them afloat.