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Colt is ending production of AR-15s
- tyingq 7y agoNo lack of demand. People are just buying less expensive clones of the AR15, like the Springfield Saint. $650 vs the $1k real AR15.
- turk73 7y agoI bought one Colt once. It ended up being a wobbly POS that I overpaid for based on the rollmark. It had that ridiculous metal block blind pinned into the lower so you couldn't install a sear or some such idea. I wasn't going to anyways, but if I was going to a milling machine would take care of it. Dumb. What it did do was make installing a decent aftermarket trigger nearly impossible. Sold it, never looked back. The AR design is a commodity these days. Colt is and has been an also-ran in that market that had all the advantages going in and their management blew it royally time and time again. I'm sure their .gov contracts don't do any better. America is plagued with bad management in every single industry and vertical market. Horrible minds run this country. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but Colt has 'exited the civilian market' several times in the past only to 're-enter the civilian market' every time they ran out of military contracts. So don't imagine for a second that this is some great win for gun control or some kind of headwind when it is just Colt being Colt--utterly ineffective at their one job, which is to make money. You want to know who the biggest risk is for getting guns into the wrong hands? It's not the American people, it is our own government!
- matt-attack 7y agoCorrect. There is no one brand of AR-15. It’s an interoperable platform (for the most part). You can buy a bare lower receiver from any manufacture (basically just a part with no moving parts milled from a single block of AL). Then just go and buy various parts kits or buy the parts individually to customize to you own needs. It’s what makes them so popular. You can customize them infinitely and they’re extremely affordable and very reliable, safe and accurate. People who own them don’t think of them as the crazy “military style” weapons you hear them described as. Most who own then just think of them as “the most standard and obvious rifle you can possibly buy”. Like you go into most gun store and it’s just the platform that is everywhere. It’s “gun” in the dictionaries in heads of gun wonders. It’s nothing “crazy” to them.
- tyingq 7y agoWhat's funny is that a Mini14 ranch rifle would be more acceptable to anti-assault rifle people. Even though it's roughly the same thing.
- kls 7y agoWhile I agree with you, the driving factor in most of these shootings is the fact that the AR is one of the cheapest platforms that one can purchase. You can get a functional AR for a little over $400, Mini-14's are closer to a grand. The Columbine shooter used a Hi Point rifle which at the time where much cheaper than the AR-15 platforms offered. The driving factor in most of these are that the guns used are the cheaper platforms. I have always said one of the deadliest firearm platforms for mass killings would be a Saiga-12 with a bag full of 20 round drums loaded with 3 inch 00 buck. But you don't see them being used because a decent one that has has the ports drilled and has been converted is over 3K and the drums run close to $100 each. If the AR is eliminated the shootings will not stop they will transfer over to the next cheap platform, or handguns and honestly in a corridor setting, such as a school and unarmed civilians with no body armor, a handgun is going to be just as effective as far as body count is concerned. They just don't fit the image that these shooters want to portray. there is a reason that most of them wear a bunch of tactical gear when they commit these criminal acts.
- codezero 7y agoThis comment makes it seem like you think that people against high powered rifles are unaware of the technology and capabilities of weapon systems. I also think you are wrong.
- rayiner 7y agoBased on the assault weapons bans in place in states like Maryland, that’s exactly what I think. The Maryland State Police maintains a buyers guide for helping you find an assault rifle that’s legal within the state: https://mdsp.maryland.gov/Organization/Pages/CriminalInvestigationBureau/LicensingDivision/Firearms/FirearmSearch.aspx https://mdsp.maryland.gov/Organization/Pages/CriminalInvesti... There are numerous great choices!
- VoiceOfWisdom 7y agoturk73, you are shadowbanned. Your comments only only show up if someone is logged in, and has showdead enabled.
- m463 7y agoI could see his comment, logged out or logged in (i have showdead the default of off) (maybe he got fixed in last 3 hours?)
- VoiceOfWisdom 7y agoIt got fixed.
- gigatexal 7y agoa 1k AR-15? The Smith&Wesson M&P Sport can be had for ~500 USD
- matt-attack 7y ago$2500 is not uncommon.
- bluedino 7y agoColt sells a model named 'Expanse' which is at the $600 pricepoint. It's the $350/400 rifles they are having trouble competing against
- jmpman 7y agoI expect they could lower price and remain profitable for the civilian market, however they would then be required to pass along that lower price to the government. Now they’re likely locked into government procurement contracts and they’re able to sell at a high margin. Net profit would decrease by lowering price.
- notadoc 7y agoThis is an interesting argument. I'd imagine in this field that gov contracts are more lucrative than civilian sales.
- dfsegoat 7y agoI don't think they could compete in Civ market. There are far too many AR-like specialty co's out there (DPMS Panther Arms, Rock River Arms etc). - and these have successfully filled both the consumer-grade AR, as well as govt. contracts to lesser agencies. [1,2] E.g. I believe Rock River mfgr's the DEA's standard carbine, or did for a time. 1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DPMS_Panther_Arms https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DPMS_Panther_Arms 2 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_River_Arms https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_River_Arms
- jmpman 7y agoThe DPMS prices are incredibly low. I’ve seen a DPMS AR for $399, almost 1/3 the cost of a Colt.
- maxk42 7y agoThe government market has completely different requirements. They also don't purchase any ARs.
- jmpman 7y agoThe govt doesn’t purchase ARs? Here’s a contract for a purchase of LE6945 http://documents.tempe.gov/sirepub/cache/1207/ytiv0db3do4thrscwhj1gkmo/1759758909202019090931392.PDF http://documents.tempe.gov/sirepub/cache/1207/ytiv0db3do4thr... A civilian (in most US states) can own one of these, but it does require a tax stamp as the barrel is below the standard length. There’s one for sale on gunbroker right now.
- notus 7y agoIt's not Colt branded AR-15's most people are buying. It's the AR-15 platform that allows people to build a decent AR-15 for 300 bucks that is making them so prolific.
- skyyler 7y agoNo one said it was. This is Colt saying that the cheaper ones are in such high supply that their expensive ones are not worth producing for civilians.
- notus 7y agoFair point. I was mostly anticipating people's reaction to it thinking people would correlate it with noticeably less AR-15's.
- bifrost 7y agoI keep hearing $300, where? This does not seem to exist outside of airsoft...
- Rebelgecko 7y agoPrices have been slowly creeping back up over the last few months, but the usual suspects are companies like Palmetto State Armory (who recently had a $280 kit before shipping, tax and transfer fees) and Del-Ton.
- manfredo 7y agoBuy an anderson lower and a cheap steel barrel palmetto arms upper. Getting it below $300 can usually only be done when parts go on sale, but it can be done.
- bifrost 7y agoThats kinda my point, its not a gun, its parts. You can't walk into a store with $300 bucks and walk out with a useful thing.
- 7y ago
- Havoc 7y agoNot particularly familiar with US market but the internet lead me to believe large chunks of it are 3D printable anyway?
- rhinoceraptor 7y agoThe part you’d want to print is the lower receiver - that’s the part that’s legally classed as a firearm, with a serial number and regulated transfer, rather than firearm parts.
- benjohnson 7y agoThe single part that the US Government considers the 'core' of the AR-15 rifle can be manufactured easily with a decent CNC machine out of aluminum. You could possibly print it with a very sophisticated 3D printer using advances materials. Interestingly enough, depending on if a government-enforced "buy-back" scheme takes place it may be a wise investment to be able to manufacture this basic part in bulk.
- misterprime 7y ago3D printing the lower receiver for net gains in a government buy-back program is a hilarious idea.
- Havoc 7y agoI suspect they'll fail to see the humour in it after you show up with the second box full
- bifrost 7y agoYou don't even need to do that for gun buybacks. People routinely make firearms with $10 of homedepot parts and turn them in. In theory you could turn in a "Zero Percent Lower" which are about $20 or so...
- notus 7y agoThe only buy back I have to reference is Australia's and it wasn't very much money.
- vorpalhex 7y agoIf you're going to drop $1k, you can probably do better than colt.
- steve19 7y agoThis is not surprising. Colt has been hanging by a thread ever since coming back out of Chapter 11 in 2015, but has been in all sorts of financial woes since the mid 1980s. They are just trying to survive at this point. If labor relations interests you, it's a fascinating company. They had a long stand off with the union in the mid to late 80s. They replaced all Union staff who had striked. Four or five years later the union eventually won and all the existing staff, who were hired during the 5 year strike, were fired and the old union staff replaced them. Not only that but the union got given a significant chunk of the company. The problem was that the old staff could not operate the updated machinery. The military unhappy with the quality canceled contracts. It was a disaster and ended up killing the company and they went into chapter 11 for the first time. That was the end of Colt. https://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/01/nyregion/workers-rejoice-at-end-of-4-year-strike-at-colt.html https://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/01/nyregion/workers-rejoice-...
- jeffdavis 7y agoWhat is the real significance here? They are a single manufacturer of a standardized style. Is this part of a trend of lower sales? Some kind of non-business motivation (politics, pressure, etc.)? Or just a business with a product that doesn't compete? I'm not sure there's a lot of intellectual content here either. The AR-15 itself isn't much different from other rifles except it looks scarier. Which is largely because it's made of modern, mass-producible materials rather than wood.
- binaryblitz 7y ago> Is this part of a trend of lower sales? "Colt Firearms will be ending its production and sales of its AR-15 rifles due to lack of public demand amid excess market capacity." It's the first thing on the page...
- jeffdavis 7y agoThat's ambiguous about whether demand for all AR-15s is down, or just for Colt's AR-15. Seems like just Colt's, which means this doesn't seem to matter a lot.
- goatinaboat 7y agoThat's ambiguous about whether demand for all AR-15s is down Thanks to Robert Francis O’Rourke AR-15 sales overall are having another record month.
- AdrianB1 7y agoIt was explained that Colt is too expensive on a competitive AR-15 market.
- rayiner 7y agoGun sales are up: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/gun-sales-surge-15-driven-by-self-protection-pelosi-schumer-demand-for-limits https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/gun-sa.... There has been a bit of a slump in 2017-2018 as the industry corrects for what was a huge boom during the Obama years, but gun sales are still up dramatically over the 21st century to date.
- shujito 7y agoThis page is listed in the unified hosts, why is that?
- roflchoppa2 7y agoyou can DIY them in your shed, why drop $1k
- paggle 7y agoSo I can cross my fingers and hope that the AliExpress AR-15 the 8channer is using will jam.
- 693471 7y ago"Committed to the 2nd amendment" No, you're committed to make money
- rayiner 7y agoRelevant take on this narrative: https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/colt-ar-15-production-abc-news-report-bends-truth-to-fit-narrative/ https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/colt-ar-15-production-...
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- sunkenvicar 7y agoToo bad. They make beautiful rifles. Many people, like myself, bought a cheaper mass-market AR-15 instead. I spent the money I saved on ammunition. :)
- throwaway-hn123 7y agoYou Americans should have all the weapons you want.
- lstodd 7y agoI find all this talk of mass shootings and gun control pointless. There are shootings only because shooting is currently most cost-effective. It is not that people want to shoot people, it's that they want to kill people. That is the problem, and banning one single way of killing can not solve this. There are so many other ways. I sometimes wonder why all those shooters bother to walk and shoot instead of just blowing it all up or burning it all down. That's what you'll get by banning guns - same idiots but using propane or anfo. Is that what you really want? An idiot with a gun can at least be stopped. You can't stop an explosion or a fire-induced panic. Or maybe let's focus on why people start wanting to kill people?
- charwalker 7y agoThe point of making tools that efficiently kill humans restricted, illegal, or unavailable without demonstrating some level of intent like searching for explosive plans or components is not to 100% stop deaths. But one cannot kill as many with a knife as they can with a firearm. Decreasing the impact of the attack goes a long way to preventing casualties. However, we may gain more as a society by allowing the CDC to research gun related deaths, connections to mental illness or other behaviors, and properly enforcing or expanding the reach of existing regulations and systems. Of course I'm forgetting which shootings but several were conducted by individuals who should not have had access to a firearm (poorly secured, stolen, taken from family, etc) or would have failed a background check if required (in addition to a waiting period) or if information was passed on as required by law would have failed the background check that was run (military failing to log domestic abuse and other complaints in the system per regulation). We have many tools in place, they are just under funded, under utilized, not used at all in many places, or maliciously circumvented like blocking funding to the CDC for necessary research to educate policy.
- djohnston 7y agoThe rebuttal to your argument is that it takes less effort to insert a magazine and pull a trigger than it does to craft explosives. For those who resort to blades because they can't access rifles, that's still a better outcome since projected fatalities will certainly be lower. I agree that there is a deeper problem that should be addressed, but there's no reason you can't soften the current burden.