Colt stops civilian AR-15 manufacturing

[Mr. Bill]

NPR, 9/20/19: Colt Suspends Manufacture Of Controversial AR-15 For Civilian Market

Firearms manufacturer Colt says it is suspending production of its popular AR-15 semi-automatic assault-style rifle for the civilian market, saying it will concentrate instead on fulfilling contracts from the military and law enforcement. ...

Hours after the statement was released, the Department of Defense announced that it had awarded Colt a $41.9 million contract to manufacture rifles for sales to militaries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, Oceania and the Caribbean. ...

Statement from Colt, 9/19/19: Company Response to Questions about Colt Participation in Consumer Markets

There have been numerous articles recently published about Colt’s participation in the commercial rifle market. Some of these articles have incorrectly stated or implied that Colt is not committed to the consumer market.  We want to assure you that Colt is committed to the Second Amendment, highly values its customers and continues to manufacture the world’s finest quality firearms for the consumer market.

The fact of the matter is that over the last few years, the market for modern sporting rifles has experienced significant excess manufacturing capacity. Given this level of manufacturing capacity, we believe there is adequate supply for modern sporting rifles for the foreseeable future. 

On the other hand, our warfighters and law enforcement personnel continue to demand Colt rifles and we are fortunate enough to have been awarded significant military and law enforcement contracts.  Currently, these high-volume contracts are absorbing all of Colt’s manufacturing capacity for rifles.   Colt’s commitment to the consumer markets, however, is unwavering.  We continue to expand our network of dealers across the country and to supply them with expanding lines of the finest quality 1911s and revolvers.

At the end of the day, we believe it is good sense to follow consumer demand and to adjust as market dynamics change. Colt has been a stout supporter of the Second Amendment for over 180 years, remains so, and will continue to provide its customers with the finest quality firearms in the world. 


Very respectfully,

Dennis Veilleux, President and Chief Executive Officer

Dep't of Defense contract announcement: Contracts For Sept. 19, 2019

Colt's Manufacturing Co. LLC, West Hartford, Connecticut, was awarded a $41,924,594 firm-fixed-price Foreign Military Sales (Afghanistan, Bahrain, Djibouti, Federated States of Micronesia, Hungary, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Macedonia, Marshall Islands, Palau, St. Vincent and Grenadines, and Tunisia) contract for production for the M4 and M4A1 carbines. One bid was solicited with one bid received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 18, 2024. U.S. Army Contracting Command, New Jersey, is the contracting activity (W15QKN-19-D-0116).

[DDJ]

That makes more sense and if memory serves, it usually fails, this is not the first time colt has discontinued civilian sales when receiving a large government contract.

[iam4liberty]

That makes more sense and if memory serves, it usually fails, this is not the first time colt has discontinued civilian sales when receiving a large government contract.

Just for clarification, they are not stopping civillian sales, just manufacturing. Everything in inventory and at retailers is still being sold.  They just temporarily shifted production to 100% M4 and M4A1s.  This military contract is unusual in that it is for 13 countries.  So normally production would be staged out as a military itself would throttle roll out based on personnel.  But in this case, there are 13 countries all clamoring to start ASAP.  They are: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Djibouti, Federated States of Micronesia, Hungary, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Macedonia, Marshall Islands, Palau, St. Vincent and Grenadines and Tunisia.

On the other hand, it was a huge marketing success.  They had tons of inventory moving slowly at retailers and people in a panic ran in and gobbled it up.  My buddy had three at his shop that hadnt sold in five months that sold that day.  Whether they planned it or not, they managed to bump up their brand's sales