CZ buying Colt?

[beanz2]

https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/breaking-cz-in-late-stage-talks-to-acquire-colt/

[heavyrecoil]

Very interesting. As one of the commenters on the article pointed out, it would be a really great thing for a company like CZ that has shown a commitment to making quality firearms to take over instead of yet another holding company that just wants to strip away whatever assets/profits they can and cast aside the empty husk.

[pythonfan]

Cue the colt z40 photos.

A rebranded cz75

[elSquid]

[DrewN]

This can't be anything but good news for the wheelgun side. IDGAF about their AR's and anyone can make a 1911.

[sfe187]

TS Python Orange coming?

[Oldmandan]

Very interesting news

Possibly, they add some manufacturing capability in the US for them?

[Dano3467]

Good, maybe getting parts won't such a PIA now

[The War Wagon]

Bet they won't be building any "All Junior Varsity 2000's," or "Double Turkeys," and telling us to 'take it or leave it,' like the last management group did!





Bet they won't build them in unionized libtardia CT, either.

[plumbum]

Sweet! Sounds like nothing but good can come of this.
Damn, now I remember that Colt/CZ40!

[The Gleam]

Cue the Colt Z40 photos.

A rebranded CZ75

OK, but it wasn't as simple as just rebranding a CZ75. It truly was a cross between the lines and ergonomics of a 1911, with CZ integrated operation, but not entirely identical to the CZ75. My personal handling of the Colt Z40 and the CZ40-B is that the Colt trigger is a bit nicer than the CZ counterpart (the CZ40B) even though it's DAO.

Colt just asked for one thing and one thing only, that the outside resemble the 1911. Everything else was left up to CZ.

However, the residual outcome being the CZ40-B (after Colt and CZ parted ways on their hybrid project) does operate more like a CZ75 with a decocker.

The Colt Z40 was a great gun; aluminum frame, solid and reliable design, simple and low-cost (but not cheaply made), accurate, and was an excellent alternative to polymer-framed Glocks and H&Ks of the time which were the other leading guns pushing .40 S&W.

However I think five things were working against it;

1) in the late 1990s and early 2000's, CZ simply did not have much favor with American gun buyers unless of course it was something from CZ that was C&R. Even though the CZ97 (1997) and P01 (2001) were and are still amazing, I recall CZ just didn't get the respect they deserved for their new offerings at that time. It doesn't seem that American buyers really took a liking to CZ until around 2010, but US law-enforcement is still lagging in seeing the quality that CZ provides. They were just really improving the refinement of their guns and variety at that time, but affection for them would not really catch on until these last several years.

2) Making it double-action only and bobbing the hammer. I think it would have done much better had it also emulated the action and controls of a 1911 with a useable hammer. That was always my regret about the design.

3) And on that law-enforcement front, that was the primary reason Colt paired with CZ for coming up with the Colt Z40, especially building it around the .40S&W. Yet law-enforcement didn't take a shine to it, as they were already outfitted with first-to-the-table Glock 22s and 23s and HK USPs.

4) Then a death-nail; Colt has such a hard-on for introducing it to LEO, they went and did a boneheaded thing like pandering to District Attorneys, Handgun Control Inc. 'influencers', and general Hillaryness of the time, and released marketing imagery utilizing the Colt Z40 as the platform for their LEO-hopeful "smart gun" with RFID-embedded chip in a watch or ring the user would wear. The invited such a negative stigma for the Z40, that even if it wasn't one, impressionable emotional gun enthusiasts that couldn't tell the difference between a mock-up prototype and what lay before them (which was a good gun) convulsed in unwarranted cringing.

5) Lastly, their biggest mistake was to not release a 9mm version on wide scale. I think more people would have seen the attributes and advantages of a 9mm aluminum framed 1911 shaped CZ and stuck with it no different than how much the P01 and SP01 are revered.

Supposedly they did make the CZ40-B in 9mm known as the CZ "LE 9" however I have never actually seen one in person, let alone having ever seen a photo of one ever depicted on the internet.

I've seen reference to it even by the very engineers behind the project, but none of them have ever been able to produce a photo or a living example of the CZ "LE 9" either. To be honest, I don't think it ever got legs other than an idea and maybe just a few converted CZ40-Bs sporting one-off 9mm barrels that still carried the CZ40-B rollmarks.

Forgotten Weapons video on it:

https://www.forgottenweapons.com/col...stol-1-at-ria/

[M76]

[homelessdude]

Maybe they can teach the Colt idiots how to run a profitable business. I don't see a down side to this pairing. JMO

[Bear40]

I wonder how much of that decision was led my Dan Wesson Firearms? It would be pretty sweet to have them build the 1911s and revolvers.

[Wordupmybrotha]

Sounds good to me.
I don't have a Colt, but if they sell things at a cheaper price, I'll get one.