Colt Manufacturing
https://www.coltsmfg.com/
Over 100 years later the Colt 1911 soldiered on in 2012 by capturing a huge new service contract for the United States Marines for an indefinite quantity, with a first order of 12,000 pistols, made by Colt Manufacturing in Hartford, Connecticut. We tried to get a review gun as soon as the news dropped, but the gun wasn’t available for the consumer market. Colts are generally tough to get anyway, because consumer demand is so high for them, yet on the handgun side, Colt is not a huge company. It is with great pleasure that we got the news here at SHOT that Colt will be producing 80 of these USMC guns per month for the consumer market. The price will probably be somewhere in 2nd mortgage land, but hey, it’s a Colt and it will only go up in value. These are actually going to be Colt Custom Shop guns, so they will be tuned and slicked up as well. Nobody thought to bring any Hoppes to the Colt tent at Media Day so we only have dirty pictures of the gun, but this is the actual gun they will be selling to the public. Eighty guns a month isn’t going to be enough, but at least we’ll have a shot a getting one. It takes a little while to process the 2nd mortgage anyway. Hopefully they will send us a review gun so we can get you more specifics, and shoot it when our hands are numb from the cold.
UPDATE: The new Colt catalog has this gun listed at $1,995. Not quite second mortgage! They aren’t going to be able to make enough of these for years. WANT WANT WANT!
BOATLOADS of off-the-shelf HK USPs (full size & compact models) could’ve been purchased for what we taxpayers are paying for nostalgia. Then again, we’re dealing with the brass that tries to convince itself every day that the Osprey was a good idea and that it doesn’t need no stink-ing A10s because the new F35 can do that Harrier trick for just a few $$ millions $$ more.
Just picked one up and I can’t wait to shoot her! Semper Fi
I have to have one. Sorry but I’m sending in a suggestion to Colt to give priority to Marines and former Marines.. OooRa!!!! Semper Fi all my brothers.
HAHA while in the initial picture with all the gorgeous brunette you can find a worker from the rear clearly caught off guard with his ladder out. Caught in time and infamy (sp).
Now if Colt will just get off their asses and start building the Diamondbacks and Pythons again everything will be good in Whoville. Bring American quality back into gun making.
It is another 1911! I have ’em I love ’em but the price is too much.
Hard to beat a true 1911. My Dad got one back in the 60s when the NRA had a special offer. He sent in for it and paid…………….$17.00. Kept it for 20 years and traded it for a S&W Model 25 in .45 LC. I never understood that deal. Sure wish he would have kept it. I have the Model 25 now, and am seriously considering trading it in on another 1911
If anyone has the NSN We can verify exactly the cost per gun is
It’s $1,995 we will update the article.
I love this 1911, but it will be a cold day in hell before I pay 2000 dollars for a damn pistol!! Well, for a damn name! Ridiculous!
I might add that I think a 1000 dollars is over priced for almost any pistol to begin with.
Don’t suppose you will ever get the chance to own a GREAT Pistol. You might want to try a NightHawk custom before you decide 2k is too much. I would not pay 2k for a Colt but there are better pistols-they just cost more.
I would like one of the new colts and then I would like to buy the interviewer for Guns America a pair of smaller sunglasses!
Some years ago I was reading a WWII book on the fighting in the South Sea Islands. One G.I. stated that when they were placed on guard duty at night that they preferred the MI carbine because the .45acp was so inaccurate that they did not trust the guns poor accuracy. They liked the higher capacity of the MI carbine as well. Ditto for some G.I.’s I spoke with years ago in regards to using the Browning High Power in Europe. They much preferred it to the 1911. I asked about the 9mm’s about killing power and they laughed and said you could kill a German soldier up to 100 yards with the 9mm easily.
Pictures of German storm troopers invading Crete showed the paratroopers storming positions with nothing more than a 9mm pistol in their hands. If the 9mm was an anemic caliber “real solders” would have used something else very quickly on the battle field.
A colleague of mine once used a .45 acp on a White Tail deer. He shot it 6 times at 25 yards and it was still standing when he finally killed it with a shot to the head at point blank range of 5 feet.
I myself shot a White Tail with a 9mm. The 9×19 killed it instantly.
The 9mm’s high capacity, superior penetration and easy recoil and flat trajectory make it the superior hunting and defense caliber. Most self-anointed Rambo’s fail to admit that hard kicking guns often cause inaccurate shooting as people are not machines but flesh and blood and the excess recoil does inhibit accurate shooting.
The .45acp was perhaps one of the worst military cartridges ever developed. The Europeans roundly rejected it for the superior 9×19 and the Russians adpoted the high velocity and devastating .30 tokerof.
Tests in 1945,(34 years after it was adopted) showed the .45acp bounced off of helmets at 35 yards.
It was inaccurate in sloppily made WWII guns.
It kicked to hard.
It was too big in the grip for many men’s hands.
Slide release was not reachable without shifting the hand
Penetrations was so poor that a man hiding behind an empty 55 gallon drum was often safe.
Looping trajectory made hits beyond 50 yards problematical
low capacity and weight of ammo was another problem.
The 9×19 penetrated helmets out to 125 yards and the .30 tokerov’s high velocity made in tumble and often disintegrate when it hit bone producing devastating wounds and sudden death.
New commercial made Colt 1911’s have cheap MIM cast parts known for a high failure rate.
Most Hand Gun fights are up close and personal.
My father was a Marine and was a Korean Combat Veteran.
Dad was also a Detective/Supervisor with the City Of Pittsburgh, He commanded almost every major investigative section in the police Dept, he Commanded and served in Homicide a total of ten years, Robbery, etc. He was on the Job 1957-1985 he had been badly pistol whipped and was stabbed one time and shot at god only knows.
As Dad would say in a hand gun fight 98% of them Occur with in ten yards he said he was being generous in stating that 2% occur beyound 10 yards, in fact dad said handgun fights about 96% happen with in five yards.
The old timers knew what they were doing, when they designed the M-1911, They felt it was more important to clear the holster and target type sights of the period were known to snag. snagging will get you killed.
Also be design the !911 is a lose fitting gun why is that under combat conditions you have rain and rain can make mud of ice or snow you can have sand etc. get into parts and jam a weapon up, just ask the guys who carry M-16’s.
I own a german Luger nice pistol However when you shoot It I will get about two magazines full of ammunition
thats 16 cartridges if I recall the third magazine the trigger starts to get sticky, that is due to tight fitting parts
and the trigger spring is tight must be cleaned.
A 45- 1911 you will not have that issue.
My father like it but did not perfer it, as Stated during his time in Korea the majority of engagements were at night, and You will have times you have to field strip a piece and that includes the M1 Garand Or M10r M2 Carbine. As Dad said if you are carrying the 1911 you had better carry an extra recoil spring guide rod and the bushing and cap with you.
there are 1911’s and there are 1911’s Dad did not care for the humpback spring Housing 1911’s he prefered the flat spring housing.
I own a Smith&Wesson M&P 45 Acp. My advise is when you take it to the range be prepared to change the grip
I had the large curved grip, when I shot it felt like you were being kicked by a mule. The medium grip was a little better and the small grip was even better.
At ten yards the M&P 45 acp is a good shooter The 1911-A1 I have quite frankly is even better in fact it has produced some great groups.
at tweny-five yards the M&P 45 is all over the place the 1911-A1 while its groups are extreme all hit the paper
the M&P did not.
I will only discuss at this point is Projectile full metal construction.
When you state the 45 Acp not being able to penetrate a steel helmet at 35 yards you are correct
you must keep
in mind though that those projectiles were designed around 1900-1905. They did not have steel helmets then.
The United States Government is like a turtle slow to change and slow to adapt and slow to improve upon.
you are correct in that the Soviet Tokrov 7.62 cartridge out performed the 45 acp in that test, in fact so did the Japanese 8mm pistol cartridge.
There is a very simple reason for that the 45 Acp is a true round nose bullet of full metal jacket construction
and if that bullet does not hit a hardened target such as a steel helmet square it will glance off.
The 9×19 Parabellum look at a miltary full metal Jacket Projectile it is what I would call a Semi Round Nose
or you can call it a rounded spitzer if you will these are made to penetrate.
The 45 acp it was designed to be a freight train/ Brick wall/ it was designed to hit a person in one area and that was not the head, it was the torso from your neck line to your belt buckle and to knock your ass over that was the first goal, it was not meant for target shooting or taking shots at fifty yards, it was meant for up close and personel, anything over ten yards was to be dealt with by a rifle, a hand grenade, mortor round, machine gun, bombs, artillery etc.
Mark, thanks for your useful post, especially your “clear the air” last paragraph. Obviously, the Marines and special forces groups agree that the .45 has more potential than the 9mm, and have designed armor-piercing and other specialty rounds for it.
I qualified expert with the J-frame .38 and later with the Beretta 9mm, but I own a Colt Gold Cup Series 70. Its potential accuracy still outstrips that of its owner.
In the 1970 a guy with a custom Colt at a military range in Texas let me shoot it … and I loved it. For me, the Colt .45 is just more fun, more satisfying to shoot. American legend, piece of history … pull trigger, slide comes roaring back, manly recoil, big noise … and a big bullet goes downrange. (I need to get to Issac Walton.)
My dad carried a Colt 1911 in Korea and in Vietnam. His only comment was “I’d hate to have to depend on this POS to save my life! When he passed away I ended up with it. I sent it to the gunsmith to be gone over completely. It was made up of 6 different colts! not one piece was the same. This is what they issued to CWO’s in some area’s of Vietnam. Thanks Colt for continuing to make one of the loudest and most inaccurate weapons in the world today.
I’ll keep my S&W, my Sig and my old Romanian Zastava M-57. Even my ole Zastava is more accurate than my Colt.
That’s why I’d never buy one.
A few weeks ago, friend of mine spotted a WW-2 Ithaca with a SEARS M1916 holster in a local
pawn shop. As it was only 5 miles from the house, I made a quick trip. Turns out it was a Remington-
Rand with the wrong slide. After a close look at it, it had come thru “Ogden Armory” and was stamped
“o” & “g” in tiny letters on the right side flat, behind the trigger. Kicker was both slide and frame missed
the re-park tank and were original WW-2 finish is about 80%. Old Marine could not take it with him to the
nursing home and the daughter is one of those “no gun in my house” types. I’m glad she is.
This is my thoughts on the 9×19 Parabellum Cartridge, when it was first designed there wwere a number of experiments done on this cartridge, and then they were redone so as to come in line with the legal guidlines
of what a military cartridge should be, One is Full Metal Jacket Non expanding type. which is more or less what you needed for early generation auto pistols so they could function properly.
The Germans settled on a cartridge of 147 grains and it proved to be effective, I had a number of uncles who were impressed with it.
Moving into the modern era, newer developments in semi-auto Pistols lead to new bullet designs and weights and construction methods some proved to be failures wihie others were ok and some turned out to be great.
It seems in this country people like the 115 Load’s and the Nato spec 124 Grain Loads in my area you have to order the 147 grain loads. Its my opinion the issue with the 9×19 parabellum issue arose with people using full
metal jacked loads in 115 or 124 grains.
I have seen photos of gun shot victims when the right bullet weight and proper design are employed
they are devestingly effective. On gunshot victim had the top of his skull blown clean off with one shot.
Having said this I to like the 45 Acp. and I perfer the 1911 but I feel the 1911 can use some improvements
for battle filed conditions, My Dad was a Korean War vet he told me you carry a 1911 always carry a spare
recoil spring, guide rod and cap and barrel bushing.
This is what needs to be improved upon it would require a simple redesign of the slide face much like a browning Hi-Power and eliminate the Bushing and cap, it would make field stripping easier and faster.
20
Kudos to the Corps for recognizing a better platform than the M9 Beretta. Unfortunately, the ARE better choices than the Colt in a 1911 platform. My experiences with Colt’s 1911’s is that they are overpriced and underperforming. Of course, a custom shop pistol is likely going to be a fine performer… But- if I were to spend $2000 for a 1911, I’d be calling Baer, Brown, Wilson, and some others. For about half that I could buy a completely reliable stock 1911 and use the balance to buy mags and ammo.
Perhaps Colt IS turning itself around. It sure took a while to get around to building pistols with features that virtually every other manufacturer was providing- (ejection port lowering, better sights, safeties etc.)
Typically Guberent suppliers can’t sell to public at a price less than the mil contract price but nothing keeps them for selling for more. If we don’t buy them they will lower the price but that’s why they are only doing 80 a month. I guess Newyorkers will snap these up since they have the max magazine capacity of the 7!-lol
I am elated to see a military sidearm in .45 ACP! I was highly disappointed when the Army went to .9mm Berettas in the late 1980’s. I have owned a Colt Gold Cup, Series 70 M1911 since 1987. I would love to buy a new one! Colt, Kimber, Ruger or any reliable manufacturer will do. I looked at a few Remington 1911s today. I have a bad feeling that the recent firearm legislation proposals are just the beginning. Before the gun-grabbing Socialists are done, we be lucky to maintain ownership of revolvers. Anyway, I agree with previous comments that the 1911 is the greatest handgun of all time. No other pistol has served with distinction like the venerable “Forty Five”. Congratulations to Colt for winning the Marine contract. Certainly no one knows this weapons system like they do.
I wonder if these pistols are going to be built to “combat” specs, i.e. original M1911A1 tolerances and clearances, so they’re ready to go out of the box. Or if they’re going to be built to “modern” specs, so everything fits so tightly they need a couple hundred rounds of “break in”, which is ridiculous with the metallurgy and machining capabilities available today. Do a little calculation on the 2 million or so 1911s manufactured for the U.S. military historically combined with the “break in” rounds required if those pistols had been built to “modern” specs, and all of a sudden you’re looking at north of 3/4 of a BILLION rounds required to break those 2 million pistols in. Ridiculous. Build these new pistols “loose”, build them to “run” and “work” out of the box and teach the troops equipped with them to shoot and “fight” the 1911 the way it was designed to be used. And sh!tcan all the other b.s. that drives the price of a 1911 from affordable to obscene.
It’s about time to see AMERICAN guns back in the hands and holsters of AMERICAN troops. The finest combat handgun ever created is still…the finest combat handgun ever created. Long live the 1911. I’m the proud owner of a Remington R1. My first, but definitely not last, 1911.
I’m glad to see another proud owner of a Remington R1. I’ve owned a new Colt Government model and my new Remington R1. I wouldn’t trade my R1 for a Colt or any other brand simply because of it’s dependability. I’m sure the military version Colt will be great.
I would love to own one of the new colts. I love 1911’s and I love 45 auto. I do have a problem with the Corps ordering them. I understand the 45 part. But the 1911 is cumbersome to disassemble, clean and reassemble, especially under combat conditions. This I speak of with personal experience having carried one in Vietnam. I could not do it in the dark, in the mud, in a fighting hole, etc. On the other hand I have a Glock 21 45 auto. 4 parts not counting the trigger assemble and you can clean and oil that with a spay can. Can take down, clean and reassemble in minutes blind folded and it carries 13 rounds in the mag. Also very accurate. On the range in competition I’ll take my kimber gold match, in combat I would want my Glock 21.
I guess I don’t like Glocks on the sheer principle of the U.S. buying a European gun from a European company owned and operated by a leftist European plastics mogul. But that’s just me. Last I checked, the 1911 was along for the ride in a couple of world war victories. Apparently U.S. G.I.s, including some Medal of Honor winners, didn’t need 13 rounds of .45. Or plastic pistols.
I understand the sentiment of using an American Made Gun, then I would suggest the S & W M & P. Sure the 1911 was “along for the ride”. I personally know two Marines from my battalion ( S/Sgt McGinty and Capt. Modrzejewski) who both carried 1911’s. I acquired mine early in my tour from my wounded LT. It was a great supplement to our newly issued M16’s which had many problems. I used my 1911 several times in critical situations when my m16 jammed. Anybody who has ever been in real combat, I think, would opt for the 13 round plastic. You can NEVER have enough fire power in a firefight. And you can never have a weapon that is too easy to clean. Plastic over metal any day in the jungle. Springfields and M1’s were very successful in there time, but few troops would want to take them into battle today. Lightweight, large capacity, large caliber, easy to clean: those are the desirable characteristics of a combat weapon.
J. Master
USMCRET
Meant to mention that McGinty and Modrzejewski each won the Medal Of Honor.
Who was it that captured all of those German soldiers with an 8 shot 1911, Sgt. York? I doubt that it was a Colt, most likely a Remington Rand. My dad was in WWII and he had a 1911 made by Singer Sewing Machine Co. I sure wish I had that one. He told me that it was the best .45 he ever saw, and he saw a lot of them while he was in there being in the Ordnance dept. I have a Remington R1 that is flawless. I wouldn’t trade it for a Colt or any other brand just because of it’s dependability. I bought a new Colt Government model in the early 1980’s and if you let it rip it would jam on the last round every time. Fire it slower and it would run them all. I sent it back and had it fixed supposedly but it would still jam. I wouldn’t trade dependability for a name. I guess I must have just got a bad one but I can’t seem to get past the thoughts, especially if I’m staking my life on it.
My father passed in 1993 at age 60 he was a Marine served in Korea, He said the same things about the 1911
eventhough he liked it, I have a Photo Of him carrying a Smith&Wesson revolver 38 Special.
Dad kept a 1911-A1 around for years I now have it and it was made in 1919.
I always thought they should combine elements of the Colt 1911 and the Browning HI-Power Where the recoil guide and Spring are fully enclosed with in the slide.
$5,000 per copy may seem high, but my experience in the military is that is not representative of what the USMC gets for the total contract amount. My guess is for each 1911, the Marines get 3 or 4 complete part kits (slides, extractors, pins, springs and the like.) Also included in the contract is probably Colt manufactured tooling and jigs and training for multiple and many different unit levels of military armorers as well as the approved pulication of different levels of use, care, overhaul, limitations and repair technical lit. Look at one of those reprints of military field manuals for the Garand or 1911A1 and you’ll appreciate how much effort goes into making it conform to “the military way.” Probably this same contract provides for 2 or 3 Colt technical representatives for each theater (ie Europe, Asia and Africa/Middle east.) Those TechReps need salarys, housing, transportation, vacation back to the CONUS and that all adds up. Colt may also have to promise some manufacturing capacity if the Corps ramps up production in event of national mobilization, capacity that cannot be used to manufacture/sell arms for civilian use. What I’m trying to say is the contact let to Colt probably involves a formula more involved with total contract price divided by quantity of guns.
My Grandfather was in the mop up operations of the Philippine insurrection around 1915, and he said the .45 Auto would knock the Moro’s right out of their sandals. When he was discharged from Scofield Barracks in Hawaii around late 1916, he scored a bag full of very used up .45 automatics from his friend the armorer. He secreted them in his duffle, for the 15 day ocean voyage back to Long Beach. Guess where they are now? heh heh heh…”ain’t nothin’ like the real thing baybee…..”
$2k? EEK…Next best thing I suppose is the Sig Sauer Scorpion @ $1K?
Why did they ever get rid of this awesome sidearm…Seems the 9 mm isn’t doin the job maybe??
I want one too !!!
Nice 1911. If it were to retail at $1500 American, it would be interesting.
For $2000 I would rather have a new Les Baer Thunder Ranch Special. This 1911 MSRPs at $1980 new. Baer has many other 1911s that can be bought for just fonder $2000, too. That gets you a 1911 guaranteed to shoot a 3″ or smaller group ag 50 yards that has been hand fitted and inspected by Les Baer.
I have a Baer Thunder Ranch that I picked up as a lightly used/carried weapon a few years back. It is light years better than any of the Colt or Springfield Armory 1911s I’ve ever owned – and it is scary accurate. At 20 yards or less, this 1911 will put whole magazines of hardball into one hole all day long. Offhand, not from a Ransom rest.
The only thing with Baer 1911s is that they are a devil to reassemble because of the close tolerances to which they are built. This is why they are so accurate and reliable, though. A bit of frustration in reassembly is something I can live with, given this pistol’s insane accuracy.
It’s ok they won’t catch up with consumer demand without your order, so you are really helping all of us who must have one.
With the exception of that damnable odious ugly and abominable beavertail grip this isn’t a bad
looking pistol.
I had a ww11 vet that died and actually gave me a 1911 45 had granger go to it and test fire , clean and its a sweet shooting 45
then he gave me another one that was used for parades it has a stim in the barrel but is a fine piece for 45 parts
Robert please don’t rat #@& it for parts, just replace the barrel. It has history and I hope you keep it togeather.
So,Colt craps in its own nest by making a lousy gun,loses the full marketshare it had,
then,under new and far better leadership,gets back where they belong,in with the
US Military. Its about time. Lesson learned here is to make good product and not
bow down to union thug labor. Im proud that the Marines stepped up and are buying
Colts. Good for all concerned.
I heard there was a demand for a .45 and glad to see COLT get the nod.
I have a Gold Cup Trophy and it is reliable and accurate so I would be leaning towards
a LE901 in .308 here in the near future.
For those doging Colt for the Government price, Colt has to also train their armorers, support repair work that armorers can not, and other Costs that us civilians do not demand……
But yet costs that we civilians pay for…
Like most of us in the general public will even be able to find one. All the freaking hog dealers will buy them up so we cant find any and rip us off !
Hey, Joel, I think you hit the nail on the head. Maybe The Pres can use this to tie together guns and fiscal cliffs! I’d sure like to see how that contract was competed. And how the RFP (Request for Proposal) was worded. And who the other bidders were and their bids.
Other guns couldn’t meet the design specs for both accuracy and part interchangeability. This was the only model to do both. Also, why don’t you divide $22M by 12k guns and let me know what the figure is. $1875 per gun. Moron.
The contract is also for replacement parts an other things so you cant figure the guns cost like that !
I want one
A great decision by the USA for so many reasons. Understand special .45 rounds are being developed for various missions. How could it possibly have happened in this day and age??
Looks like Colt stole the looks/features of that pistol from the Sig Scorpion 1911. Desert colored finish (Cerakote on the Sig) picatinny rail, skeleton hammer, serrations on the front of the slide, Hogue grips (?) or ones that look very similar, ambi saftey, stainless steel barrel, adjustable rear sights (Sigs are night sights, are Colts?)…ALL features on the Scorpion and its been out for a year or two. I know alot of these are “standard” features on some 1911’s but if you look at this pistol and the Scorpion side by side, I’d say Colt owes an apology to Sig. And at half the price (I paid $892 plus tax for my Sig)the Sig is a better deal too.
Looks to me like Sig stole the 1911 design from Colt, bonehead. Maybe Sig should apologize to Colt?! I own two of these, and they outperform my wildest expectations. I guess if the Scorpion was as rugged and accurate, it would’ve gotten the contract.
Looks to me like Sig stole the 1911 design from Colt, bonehead. Maybe Sig should apologize to Colt?! I own two of these, and they outperform my wildest expectations. I guess if the Scorpion was as rugged and accurate, it would’ve gotten the contract.
All I can say is Semper Fi about time they brought back the Colt 1911 is it for sale yet for us. Thank’s again Dean A. Kutz disabled police ofc. And former Marine.
jack flack
don’t care to own a reproduction. I have one of the original colt 1911s issued to the
Marine Corp in 1917. Ser.215xxx
thanx
jack
jack flack,
Could you please post some pictures of it? I would love to see one of the originals. Do you/can you still shoot it or is its value such that shooting it would just be too crazy. Thank you in advance.
LarryC
North Carolina
To each his own, but I’ve always considered any gun “too valuable to shoot” to be worthless.
I have the Ithaca 1911 that my father carried in Korea and Vietnam, Chosin Reservoir vintage…. She’s loose as a goose, and a 4″ gun at 25 yds all day long. Goes bang every time, but not a match gun. I’ve let 3-4 close friends fire it, all wanted to buy it. While she’s a shooter, that price tag would have lots of zeros before the decimal point….. No point in having a gun you can’t shoot! 😉
I have the Ithaca 1911 that my father carried in Korea and Vietnam, Chosin Reservoir vintage…. She’s loose as a goose, and a 4″ gun at 25 yds all day long. Goes bang every time, but not a match gun. I’ve let 3-4 close friends fire it, all wanted to buy it. While she’s a shooter, that price tag would have lots of zeros before the decimal point….. No point in having a gun you can’t shoot! 😉 Semper Fi Brothers!
its about time we went back to using 1911.do you think since my nameske owned tun tavern in phila.,whitch was the 1st marine recruiting station back in the 1700’s,colt would send me one,i can always wish.robert mullan
WOW only 2K I’d love to own one but as usual Colt puts the price out of the ball park for me anyway being on a fixed income it’s hard to come up with that kind of extra cash and what with the times being what they are it’s kind of hard to eat a pistol so again I guess I’ll go to colts competition and make a purchase and have something left to buy grocery’s. So at the end of the day all that is left to say is Colt does it again.
Compared to Kimber pricing. It’s not too bad. You can purchase a Colt Rail gun (cnc machined) for around $1100.00
Sweet gun,and I don’t need a house with that gun by my side I’ll just sleep in my car!
Yeah, I read about this handgun and the new contract a few months ago. My problem with the gun and the contract is the price per gun that the military is paying for these. The price that I have seen a few times now that the government is going to pay is over $5,000 per gun, which is ludacris, especially since the civilian ones will be in the $2,000 range. Much like any other consumer good, price when purchasing a high number goes down, well except where the government and government contracts are concerned.
Are sure about your price per gun assumptions? From Military.com:
“Marine officials would not discuss the individual price for each new pistol. But the $22.5 million contract to Colt will allow the Corps to buy replacements for the new pistols as they wear out, Clark said. The contract also includes some money for spare parts.
“The contract is built so we can re-buy the approved acquisitions objective three times, so we can buy 4,000 guns three times,” Clark said. “These pistols will be getting used a lot; deployed a lot so the guns are going to get shot out.”
MARSOC operators stay on a rigorous deployment cycle, “so they fire a lot of rounds. It’s a 15,000-round plus [training] work-up to a deployment,” Clark said.
“It’s more efficient to replace the guns over time instead of attempting to completely rebuild them.”
Yeah, I’ve already seen the new Colt… I WANT ONE … NOW!
I hear the price is around 2K, but I don’t care… SHIP IT TODAY!
Jack
I’m the very proud owner of two(2) 1911’s: 1943WWII (1911A1) Remington Rand; 1978 Colt Combat Commander. I also carried a Colt1911 as Cpl. in a Weapons Co in the Marine Corps. I’ve “Gotta Have” that Marine Corps.45!! There’s only one Marine Coros. There’s only one(Real) Colt 1911 .45 Where do I send the $$ ?