The Truth About Colt - Colt is not going out of business

Guns Magazine, Feb, 2000 by Scott Farrell

Don't believe all the reports you hear on the evening news about Colt going out of business or discontinuing all gun sales to civilians. Here's the truth of the matter:

Colt announced on Oct. 5 of last year that the company was "consolidating (its) product line" by drastically reducing its handgun offerings. According to Colt, they are no longer accepting new orders for the Magnum Carry, the DS II, the Python, the Anaconda, the Pocket Nine, the 380 or the 1991 series. They will continue to ship the Single Action Army and Cowboy sixguns, and the three Model O pistols.

In a statement, Colt's VP of marketing, Thomas Kilby said, "We are committed to taking a classic rather than a me-too approach to the future development of our product lines and plan to focus more on what we have been best known for and done best for the past 164 years."

Reuters reports that this re-focusing will force Colt to lay off up to 200 workers -- 29 percent of the company's total work force. The discontinued guns represent about 25 percent of Colt's handgun sales.

Colt also has a new CEO, Lt. General William Keys (USMC, ret.), who said, "We intend to continue the growth of our military and law enforcement market segment while focusing our commercial efforts on our most important and profitable product lines." Keys replaces Stephen Sliwa, who has moved on to head iColt, a division of Colt dedicated to the development of "smart gun" technology.