I have a small Colt AR-15 related display set up at the show this weekend (Oct 1 to Oct 3) with a fellow Colt AR-15 collector. Come by and see us if you are nearby.
Month: September 2021
Here is an article that discusses in vague terms what impact, if any, the CZ acquisition of Colt will have on the United States domestic firearms market.
As we get near the end of September, I thought I would do a post that summarizes some of the more notable Colt AR market events that I have seen. We have seen the prices of Colt CR6920’s come down in recent weeks. With an MSRP of $1099.00, prices have dropped below $1000.00.
A couple of examples are Georgia Firing Line and Tombstone Tactical as shown below.
CR6920 lower receivers that have the new ‘Carbine’ marked lower receiver can be found as low as $500 as shown below in the sales page on Arms Unlimited website.
A couple of other noted events have been the appearance of ‘M4 Carbine’ marked LE6920 OEM-1 and OEM-2 configured Colt carbines. The LE6920 OEM-1’s were available at GT Distributors and the OEM-2’s were available at several vendors such as Arms Unlimited.
One event that caught everyone by surprise was the appearance of Colt LE6920-R Trooper carbines. These had been out of production for a long time…over a year at least. These were first seen at Clyde Armory for $1349.00.
Surprisingly, the LE6920-R Trooper can also be found on Gun Broker as low as $1069.00 which I consider to be a pretty good deal.
CR6940’s and CR6960’s are currently in limited availability. There are only two of each for sale on Gun Broker.
I haven’t seen any significant activity with the remaining Colt rifles and carbines in the new CR (Colt Rifle) series. The CR6920MPS-B, CR6920-EPR, CR6700A4 (20″ rifle) all seem to be readily available and at pretty stable prices.
With the prices of the new CR line coming down below MSRP in some cases, I am hoping this is a market indicator that we will start seeing some correction in the rest of the market since prices become so artificially inflated. Older AR-15’s such as SP-1’s, AR-15A2’s, AR-15A2 Sporter HBAR’s, etc. are all still drawing premium prices.
The biennial ‘Defense & Security Equipment International’ convention took place 14-17 September 2021. Those of us who subscribe to ‘Soldiers System’ email newsletter were captivated by the newsletters coverage of the Colt booth at DSEI. Although I have been familiar with the M5 design for a couple of years and have even posted about it here (https://thecoltar15resource.com/2021/05/02/colt-m5-carbine/) there hasn’t really been any significant mention of it in the mainstream industry media for a while.
The great thing about the http://www.soldiersystems.net post showcasing the Colt M5 is that it shows this design is accepted and validated by CZ for marketing. This makes me happy because I would really like to see the M5 concept come to the commercial market.
Here is the link to the Soldier Systems post: https://soldiersystems.net/2021/09/16/dsei-21-colt-m5/
Unfortunately, the post doesn’t really give us any new information but it is exciting to see the design get more publicity. The M5 carbine concept seems to first appear in the media around 2017 with mention at the following links:
Firearm Blog- https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2017/10/22/colt-m5-enhanced-carbine-introduced-bidec/
Asian Military Review- https://www.asianmilitaryreview.com/2017/12/colt-shows-adf-spec-m5-enhanced-carbine/
M5’s in Thailand- https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FGearGeekThai%2Fposts%2F2264217873714924&show_text=true&width=500
So anyway, we will continue our vigil of hope that the Colt M5 comes to the U.S. retail market.
Reuters did an interesting piece on Colt on September 13th. Here is the link to the article:
I’m not going to copy the entire article here but I am going to discuss a few of the points that really got my attention. The first comment that got my attention was:
“CZG says it aims to almost double CZG and Colt’s pro-forma combined revenue of around $570 million last year within a few years – putting it on a par with Smith & Wesson’s annual net sales of $1.1 billion in the last fiscal year.”
Smith & Wesson’s primary market is in the United States. For CZ put them and Colt on par with Smith & Wesson, they really have to ramp up their market presence with increased sales. Historically, a vast majority of Colt’s market has been law enforcement and the military. How will CZ increase Colt’s market share? They inevitably have to increase commercial sales. Will that be accomplished by increased production of handguns and/or AR-15’s? Reduced retail prices? One of the most common complaints that I see about Colt firearms is that there are too few available and that they cannot be found in local gun shops. Only two of the Colt AR-15’s in my collection have come from a local shop. The rest I have found and purchased on the internet. Increased production and reduced prices would be great for the retail market.
The next statement that caught my attention was:
“CZG, which used IPO proceeds and issued bonds to help finance the Colt deal, will outline investment plans later this year. They will include possibly introducing new products and investing in upgrades at Colt’s main factory in West Hartford, Connecticut, Drahota said.”
In regards to the remark about introducing new products, I would love to see the Colt M5 concept finally hit the market. We have seen the M5 off and on at various industry shows for many years. I would like to see the LE901/CM901/AR901 family come back in some capacity as well. The CK901 (7.62x39mm and uses AK magazines) would be neat thing to see as well. You can read more about the CK901 at this link:
http://smallarmssolutions.com/home/the-colt-ck901
In regards to investing in upgrades at the Colt factory in West Hartford, that would be a great thing. When I toured Colt in late 2019, their rifle/carbine capacity didn’t seem very large. Additionally, they do not run law enforcement, military or commercial production simultaneously which has often created rise and falls in product availability in the commercial market in the past. As an example, Colt 9mm carbines were made on roughly a quarterly basis at one time. So, you would see a surge of 9mm carbines on the market, everyone would buy them up and then the market would be out of stock until the next production run. This created opportunity for dealers and the secondary market to inflate prices which caused frustration with consumers.
The last thing that I read in the article that got me excited was:
“About half of Colt’s revenues in 2020 came from the massive U.S. military and law enforcement (M&LE) segment and Drahota said he saw “huge room” to grow the brand in global civilian and M&LE markets.”
This is the first time since coming into the Colt community in 2017 that I have seen any discussion that puts a true emphasis on expansion of the civilian market. Will this translate to more rifles and carbines? That is a great question that I don’t know the answer for. I do know that Colt is not currently competing in the 9mm semi-automatic pistol market. Now is good time for CZ to stimulate a design to be completed and marketed by Colt. Give the success of CZ’s Bren line, I am confident we will see something come out in the Colt rifle/carbine line in the future.
The Colt AR-15 Resource 