Colt And Superman

Guns Magazine, April, 2000 by Massad Ayoob

One pictures the Once-rampant trademark Colt hanging its head in shame. Colt's dropping of most of its fine self-defense handguns -- at least in part due to pressure from the municipal lawsuits against the gun industry -- will prove to have been the wrong thing done for the wrong reason.

Colt had never made better 1911 pistols than those being produced at the time of the announced shutdown -- a shutdown predicted to result in the layoff of hundreds of loyal employees. Nor had, they produced better D-frame revolvers than the current incarnation of DS-II and Magnum Carry snubbies. The Pocket Nine pistol, a 9mm exactly the size of the PPK .380 including the thickness dimension, had promised to redefine the concealed carry autoloader.

Are they gone for good? That remains to be seen, and there is much speculation about that in the industry. A few years ago DC Comics "killed" Superman. He came back from the dead in a new incarnation, and some industry observers believe the same will happen with the "discontinued" Colt handguns.