Colt is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy after losing the military contract to FN so I doubt they will be producing handguns anytime soon with regards to revolvers. In my opinion they screwed up back a bunch of years when they decided to get out of the civilian market and cater to LE and the military. We now see where that decision got them
Do You Think The Colt Revolver Bubble Will Burst Anytime Soon?
- Thread starter Joe_Pike
- Start date
Colt's razon detra could once again become revolvers and 1911s, if they build the staff for it. That would certainly be on a smaller scale and raises the question of where they should be located. It seems to me that gun manufacturing in the northeast is precarious, due to hostile legislation and a union stronghold. US products are great, if they aren't inflated to create a middle class with all the latest toys and technologies. They pretty much have to be less labor intensive to be affordable to the average Joe or Judy.
That dolling up is what makes a Colt distinctive. Reports seem to be that the guns shoot well, while others not so well. That would be average, seems to me. I am a vented rib fan myself, but want a gun that is not too valuable to carry and shoot. As far as breathtaking quality of bluing, that is probably all history.
snapshot762
New member
About ten years ago I traded a Desert Eagle .357 (paid $900 for it at the time) for an Anaconda in .44 magnum. Yesterday I traded the Anaconda for a NIB S&W performance center stealth hunter, pretty much a straight across trade minus transfer fees. A buddy of mine thinks I should have tried to sell the Anaconda for more money but I felt that getting $1500 trade value it was a fair deal.
I used to own a model 29 S&W and to this day it is the only gun I have ever regretted selling. Recoil on the M29 was more of a push, shooting the Anaconda it was more of a hard slap, not really very pleasant to shoot at all. Should I have held out for more money? Maybe. Buying and selling guns like these is sort of like the stock market in a way, I decided to sell (or trade rather,) while it was good. As I see it I made money on my investment.
I used to own a model 29 S&W and to this day it is the only gun I have ever regretted selling. Recoil on the M29 was more of a push, shooting the Anaconda it was more of a hard slap, not really very pleasant to shoot at all. Should I have held out for more money? Maybe. Buying and selling guns like these is sort of like the stock market in a way, I decided to sell (or trade rather,) while it was good. As I see it I made money on my investment.
No idea what the future will bring. However I own several Colt non-snake DA revolvers. A pre-WWII Colt Officers Model with the 6" heavy tapered barrel. It's a very impressive target revolver and can deliever a very tight group at 50 yards even though it is now seventy-five years old. I also have an Official Police from 1935 and it is also a nice "plain-jane" police revolver. In addition I have one of the British Contract OP's in 38/200 and a Colt Detective Special from 1973 that I inherited from my grandfather many years ago. They are very neat old six-shooters. Lots of history.
I own many S&W revolvers and I like them. I'm really a S&W revolver buff, but those Colts that I just named are good revolvers and well made. While they might not command the prices that Pythons and Diamondbacks can get I'm very pleased with them. Just thought I would speak up for what used to be a great company, but times change I guess.
I own many S&W revolvers and I like them. I'm really a S&W revolver buff, but those Colts that I just named are good revolvers and well made. While they might not command the prices that Pythons and Diamondbacks can get I'm very pleased with them. Just thought I would speak up for what used to be a great company, but times change I guess.
johnwilliamson062
Moderator
Every year an old collector has a stroke.
The unfired Colt snake he meticulously cared for in the past sits unattended. His children aren't interested in firearms and have no idea how to care for them and the spouse doesn't either. The CLP evaporates in the first year. That perfect blue finish starts to rust by the end of the second. By the time the collector dies five years later the gun is at best a shooter.
When the spouse dies five or ten years after that the firearm is hardly functional. Best salvaged for parts. The kids try to decide what to do with the safe they don't know the combination to. They finally decide to pay a locksmith to open it. They find an old cardboard box for one of the guns, but it yellowed and the corners torn. Looks like trash so they toss it.
They bundle up all the firearms in a blanket and throw them in the trunk. The guns bounce around in the trunk on the trip to the local gun shop. When they get there the manager comes out to give a quote for the whole lot. Extensive surface rust, pitting, dented stock and scratches from the mishandling in transport. He offers $1000 for the old snake, the Browning A5, the remington 700v BDL 30-06, along with a few other odds and ends, and the kids feel lucky to get it.
ANd a couple of these old guns that were not long ago pristine collector items will go onto the used rack as rough shooters, refinished as non-collectibles, or scavenged for parts.
The price on all o these old guns is going to rise rise rise. In good times at a quick pace, in bad times even faster.
The unfired Colt snake he meticulously cared for in the past sits unattended. His children aren't interested in firearms and have no idea how to care for them and the spouse doesn't either. The CLP evaporates in the first year. That perfect blue finish starts to rust by the end of the second. By the time the collector dies five years later the gun is at best a shooter.
When the spouse dies five or ten years after that the firearm is hardly functional. Best salvaged for parts. The kids try to decide what to do with the safe they don't know the combination to. They finally decide to pay a locksmith to open it. They find an old cardboard box for one of the guns, but it yellowed and the corners torn. Looks like trash so they toss it.
They bundle up all the firearms in a blanket and throw them in the trunk. The guns bounce around in the trunk on the trip to the local gun shop. When they get there the manager comes out to give a quote for the whole lot. Extensive surface rust, pitting, dented stock and scratches from the mishandling in transport. He offers $1000 for the old snake, the Browning A5, the remington 700v BDL 30-06, along with a few other odds and ends, and the kids feel lucky to get it.
ANd a couple of these old guns that were not long ago pristine collector items will go onto the used rack as rough shooters, refinished as non-collectibles, or scavenged for parts.
The price on all o these old guns is going to rise rise rise. In good times at a quick pace, in bad times even faster.
Driftwood Johnson
New member
Howdy
That scenario is ridiculous. That perfect blue is not going to start to turn to rust in a year, unless the gun is covered with fingerprints and stored in a damp environment. Same with the comments about the gun being non functioning after ten years. Quality firearms do not rust away just because they have gone unoiled for a while. And even with some honest wear, Colts are collectible and their value will continue to rise.
johnwilliamson062
Moderator
Maybe it takes 15 years. Maybe it takes twenty. Maybe they are just taken out of the collectors realm and turned into shooters. Lots not fret over the details here.
I went to an estate auction of the widow of a large animal vet a while ago and almost cried. Large animal vets make a good living and this guy obviously put some money into having the highest grade of the nicest guns for everything in his small collection.
He had a safe in the closet of his in home exam room or office. The firearms sat unmolested after he died. At some point she decided to save money by shutting off the vents to that part of the house. It was sort of a three season type design with large double doors that didn't seal well anyways. Ohio temperature swings, sometimes as much as 30-40* in a day, made a mess of those firearms in short order.
I was at another auction where the widow moved the safe out of their bedroom closet to an outbuilding. Ugly.
I know how fast blued guns can rust in Ohio from experience. A few balmy nights in a tent while hunting and rust begins.
I often see posts here that disregard the climate in different parts of the USA, let alone the globe, are quite different and guns in some places rust much more quickly than others.
I went to an estate auction of the widow of a large animal vet a while ago and almost cried. Large animal vets make a good living and this guy obviously put some money into having the highest grade of the nicest guns for everything in his small collection.
He had a safe in the closet of his in home exam room or office. The firearms sat unmolested after he died. At some point she decided to save money by shutting off the vents to that part of the house. It was sort of a three season type design with large double doors that didn't seal well anyways. Ohio temperature swings, sometimes as much as 30-40* in a day, made a mess of those firearms in short order.
I was at another auction where the widow moved the safe out of their bedroom closet to an outbuilding. Ugly.
I know how fast blued guns can rust in Ohio from experience. A few balmy nights in a tent while hunting and rust begins.
I often see posts here that disregard the climate in different parts of the USA, let alone the globe, are quite different and guns in some places rust much more quickly than others.
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Driftwood Johnson
New member
Howdy Again
The weather swings in New England are not a whole lot different than in Ohio. We get super high humidity in the 90s in the summer, down to 10 below in the winter.
My guns have all been sitting in the same gun safes for over twenty years now. They are not in special climate controlled rooms, just the same rooms as our living quarters. Many of my guns are much, much older than twenty years.
My Smiths, Colts, Rugers, Winchesters, Remingtons, Stevens, Ubertis, and a whole lot of other types of guns are not rusting away in my safes. Yes, many of them were bought as shooters. A few were bought brand, spanky new. None of them have developed rust that was not already on them when I bought them.
9x18_Walther
New member
I've seen blued guns sit un-oiled for decades without rust. Really depends on the conditions. If they're stored in the attic or something, you'll probably get rust. In a house - probably not.
I have an early 70s Taurus 84. My next door neighbor had it 20 of those years and it was never cleaned or oiled the entire time he had it. It's history prior to that is unknown. He shot it a few times and put it in a drawer. I traded with him last year and got it. It does not have a spot of rust on it and it is tight and shoots as well as a new gun. Sitting around unused in a house for 40+ years didn't seem to have any adverse effect on it.
9x18_Walther
New member
Long-term storage has always interested me.
I really feel that how well a firearm will hold up when not attended to occasionally depends on the conditions. I'm sure folks who rely on evaporative cooling will probably have more problems than someone who uses an A/C unit.
From what I understand, humidity does not cause firearms to rust on its own. The rusting occurs when the firearm is exposed to an environment in which the temperature fluctuates. If humidity is high, but the pistol and the room temperature don't differ, microscopic condensation is not going to form as badly as it would if the gun was brought in from the cold to a warm and humid room.
If this happens and the airflow around the firearm is poor, you're going to have some problems.