Dan Wesson/ Colt merger

[bigbrowndog]

Some of you may be aware that CZ/DW purchased Colt, the news I heard from a close friend at NRA show, who works for CZ in their Custom Shop is that Colt Mgmt. has been placed in a position of authority as to how DW will function and produce guns.  My initial response was astonishment, based on knowing that DW quality and production of 1911’s is head and shoulders over what Colt has become.  I sadly feel we will see a downgrade of DW quality much like what was seen at Marlin when Remington took over.  IMO, a better option would have been to simply rebadge DW 1911’s as Colt and be open about the rebadging, allowing the public to knowingly purchase DW quality badged as legendary Colt.

If anyone wants a good DW 1911 I’d suggest getting it soon. I do not know if Colts influence will extend into the DW revolvers, but wouldn’t be surprised.

Also the CZ custom shop will become defunct, regarding production of CZ custom handguns. We didn’t speak about other guns.
Seems the Colt acquisition is stirring up a large puddle, and we are not seeing clearly what is to come.

Trapr

[Encore64]

Sounds right. Cater to the management team that caused the demise and repeated bankruptcies.

Hope your information is not correct. Been years, if not decades, since I've heard anybody brag about Colt that wasn't paid to brag about Colt.

Will give them credit on my newly purchased Anaconda. I'm treading water now to see if it was a fluke or a pattern.

Time alone will tell...

[bigbrowndog]

I too hope saner minds will prevail, this was the skuttlebutt from an employee.

Trapr

[Fowler]

I AM NOT a Colt fan but I will say their quality has been improving over the last 5-10 years remarkably. Dan Wesson's manufacturing is being brought into the Colt plant in a cost cutting measure, I think also in hopes of bringing their culture up build the guns better with them. I have seen a few recent guns from them that are pretty slick and far more in line with what retail prices should be for the guns of that quality level. I am holding out judgement on the moves until we see more output and what they actually produce from past history from management that no longer is there...

[taffin]

Jun 6, 2022 10:57:15 GMT -5 Encore64 said:

Sounds right. Cater to the management team that caused the demise and repeated bankruptcies.

Hope your information is not correct. Been years, if not decades, since I've heard anybody brag about Colt that wasn't paid to brag about Colt.

Will give them credit on my newly purchased Anaconda. I'm treading water now to see if it was a fluke or a pattern.

Time alone will tell...

FOR A SHORT TIME AROUND 2011 COLT QUALITY WAS SUPERB WITH SAAs, NFs, 1911s and I bought around a dozen total. The man in charge was a woman, Joyce Rubino, and she was great! For decades Colt was non-responsive and she would even call me at home in the evenings. Then her husband got transferred and she had to leave--back to theold way. I can't believe CZ would actually put Colt in charge!

[jeffh]

Never been much of a Colt man.

BIG fan of CZ rifles, until they ditched the 550 and started making just another push-feed and the price went up. For all I know, it's a good push-feed, but the Mauser action set them apart (WAY apart) from all others, and if I wanted a push-feed, I'd buy a Howa anyway.

Now that they ditched the 527, AND the replacement for the 550, only to introduce a yet another new replacement in only a couple years - for BOTH the 550 and 527,....

I feel like CZ pretty much sold out and are no "better" than any other "me-too" manufacturer, so I have a rather pessimistic perspective of where they will go with any of the quality we've come to expect from them in the past.

[Lee Martin]

Sad day when they dropped the 550, especially the Magnum Safari. It was the only thing close to the old Brevex Mauser or Brno 602. Building a classic bolt action express rifle just got a whole lot more expensive (not that it was ever really cheap).

-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[cas]

I've been rather unimpressed with the newer Colt 1911s. Maybe better made than what they were turning out for many years, but that doesn't make them great or worth the money. DW's on the other hand have impressed me. What a mistake from a quality of product standpoint.