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Colt's Manufacturing Company ('''CMC''') is a United States Firearms manufacturer founded in 1847 . It is best-known as for the engineering, production, and marketing of dozens of different firearms over the later half of the 19th and the 20th century. It has made many civilian and military designs used in the United States, as well was many other countries. Among the most famous products from Colt are "Colt .45" Revolver , the proper name of which was the Single Action Army . Later well-known CMC revolvers include the Colt Python and Colt Anaconda . John Browning also worked for Colt for a time, and came up with now ubiquitous Parallel Slide type of design for a pistol, which debuted on the Colt M1900 pistol, which lead to numerous pistol designs including the famous Colt M1911 pistol. Though it did not develop it, Colt was responsible for M16 production for a long time, as well as many derivative firearms related to it. The most successful and famous of these are numerous M16 Carbines, including the Colt Commando family, and the M4 Carbine . Colt also developed many important less known firearms that were often ahead of there time. Among the most recent was the CAR-15 family- a innovative weapon system family of the 1960s, as well as a number of 5.56mm machine guns such as the Colt CMG-1 , CMG-2 in the 60s in the 70s. They also invented the Colt SCAMP PDW, a little known firearm of the late 1970s that was among the first of its type. Another important design was the lesser-known Colt-Browning M1895 Machine Gun - the first gas-actuated machine gun. Going back even farther reveals a other important products of the 19th century. The Colt Revolver Rifle , one of the first magazine fed rifles, and used during the American Civil War . In addition to this were a large number of famous revolvers, such as the Colt Walker , and numerous other famous revolvers of the 'Wild West'. His designs played a major role in the popularization of the revolver and the shift away from earlier single pistols and pepperbox type weapons. While Colt did not invent the revolver concept, his designs resulted in the first very successful ones with patents on many of the features that lead to them being so popular. In 2002 , Colt Defense was split off from Colt's Manufacturing Company. Colt Manufacturing Company now serves the civilian market, while Colt Defense serves the law enforcement, military, and private security markets worldwide. Prior to the split Colt was also well known for their production (now taken over by Colt Defense) of the M1911 Automatic Pistol s, M4 Carbine s, M16 Assault Rifle s, and M203 Grenade Launcher s, although none of these were Colt designs. Diemeco of Canada was also purchased, and renamed Colt Canada , though most of its products remain the same. Diemeco and Colt had earlier worked together on designs and shared many similar products. HISTORY 1847-1911 CMC was founded in Hartford , Connecticut in 1847 by Samuel Colt in order to produce revolvers, which Colt held the Patent on, during the Mexican-American War . Colt's earlier venture, the Patent Arms Manufacturing Company, had declared bankruptcy in 1842 and was no longer producing firearms, but the efficiency of the revolver design had become apparent to the US Army and they sought out the young entrepreneur to produce more. Colt's early history largely revolved around the production of revolvers, developed out of Sam Colt's original 1836 invention of the revolver. Colt is perhaps best known for the famous "Colt .45", a name which actually refers to two separate historically significant firearms. The first of these is the aforementioned Single Action Army, of which Colt was the original producer, and which was one of the most prevalent firearms in the American West during the end of the 19th Century . Colt still produces this firearm, though now they are available only as a Custom Shop offering. All original, good condition first generation Single Action Armys, those produced between 1873 and 1941, are among the most valuable to the collector. Especially valuable, often going for well over $10,000, are the OWA and the Nettleton Single Action Army Colts. The OWA Colt refers to the earliest issued Single Action Armys which were inspected by Orville W. Ainsworth. O.W. Ainsworth was the ordnance sub-inspector at the Colt factory for approximately the first thirteen months (Oct. 1873 to Nov. 1874) of the Single Action Army's production. It was Ainsworth that inspected the Colts used by General Custer's 7th Cavalry troops at the Battle Of The Little Bighorn . However General Custer himself fell holding a couple of Schofield Revolver s (made by rival gunmaker Smith & Wesson ) in his hands. Henry Nettleton was the ordnance inspector in 1878 at the Springfield Armory . Second only to the OWA Colts, Nettleton Colts are prized by serious collectors. Both the Nettleton and OWA Colts will have the cartouche (OWA or HN) on the left side of the wood grip. The Single Action Army has been copied by numerous makers both in America and in Europe. The two major makers of Colt replicas are Aldo Uberti in Italy and United States Firearms Mfg. Co. in Hartford, Connecticut. Both companies make superb replicas that are much more affordable than the real Colt (for those who don't have to have the "real thing"). The Colt entry for a semi-automatic pistol at the turn of century defeated the other 2 final contenders. A .45 Pistol Parabellum (e.g the Luger pistol) from DWM and a entry from Savage Arms . There had been many other contenders earlier on, but these were eliminated. The Colt also competed with Colt M1900 design in .380 againt other entrants in a 1900 competition that also including entrants from Mauser and Steyr. 1911-1984 The second famous "Colt 45" is the John Browning -designed M1911 , which was the standard US military sidearm from 1911 to 1985 . The M1911 is still frequently used by civilians, law enforcement, and military agencies today. The 1960s were boom years for Colt with the escalation of the Vietnam War , Robert McNamara shutting down the Springfield Armory , and the US Army 's subsequent adoption of the M16 (which Colt held the production rights to). Colt would capatize on this with range of AR-15 derive carbines. They also developed 5.56mm SAWs, and the Colt SCAMP, a early PDW design. At the end of the 1970s there was a program for a new US handgun run by the Air Force, to replace the M1911A1. The Berretta 92SB won, but this contested by the Army, who ran there own trials, leading eventually to the Berretta 92F being selcted for the M9 (later this updated to (92FS due defective slide gaff). 1984-1992 The 1980 s marked fairly good years for Colt, but the end of coming end of the Cold War would change all that. Colt had long left innovation in civilian firearms to their competitors, feeling that the handgun business could survive on their traditional double-action revolver and M1911 designs. Instead, Colt focused on the military market, where they held the dominant contracts for production of rifles and pistols for the US military. This strategy dramatically failed for Colt through a series of events in the 1980s . In 1984 , the US military standardized on the Beretta 92F . This not much of a loss for Colt current buisness, as M1911A1 production had stopped in 1945, and most had not been made by Colt at the time, nor was Colt the one do do overalls. Meanwhile, the military rifle business was growning because the US Militaryhad a major demand for more M16- the M16A2 model had just been adopted and the Military needed hundreds of thousand of them. Also, there was demand for the design among US allies around the globe leaving Colt as well as among police customers. In 1986 Colt's workers, members of the United Auto Workers went on strike for higher wages. This strike would ultimately last for four years, and was one of the longest running labor strikes in American history. With replacement workers running production, the quality of Colt's firearms began to slip. Dissatisfied with Colt's production, in 1988 the US military awarded the contract for future M16 production to Fabrique Nationale . Some critize Colt's range of handgun products in the late 1980s as out of touch with the demands of the market, and their once-vaunted reputation for quality had suffered during the UAW strike. Colt's stable of double action revolvers and single action pistols were seen as old fashioned by a marketplace that was captivated by the new generation of " Wondernines " - high-capacity, 9mm caliber handguns, as typified by the GLOCK 17 . Realizing that the future of the company was at stake, labor and management agreed to end the strike in an arrangement that resulted in Colt being sold to a group of private investors, the State of Connecticut, and the UAW itself. The new Colt first attempted to address some of the demands of the market with the production in 1990 of the ''Double Eagle'', a double action pistol based heavily on the M1911 design which was seen as an attempt to "modernize" the classic Browning design. Colt followed this up in 1992 with '' All American 2000 '', which was unlike any other handgun Colt had produced before. The All American 2000 was a polymer framed, rotary bolt, 9mm handgun with a magazine capacity of 15 rounds. It was everything that Colt thought the civilian market wanted in a handgun. Unfortunately, the execution was terrible. Early models were plagued with inaccuracy and unreliability, and suffered from the poor publicity of having to be recalled. The product launch failed and production of the All American 2000 ended in 1994 . The cost developing Colts ACR provided little benifit, as none of the ACR contestants were adopted- a result that came out in the early 1990s. All of the above ultimately led to the company's chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1992 . 1992-Present The 1990s brough the end of Cold War , which resulted in a large down turn for the entire defense industry. Colt was hit by this downturn, though it would be made worse by later in the 1990s by a Boycott. The Boycott In 1994 , the assets of Colt were purchased by Zilkha & Co, a financial group owned by Donald Zilkha. Some of made alligations that Zilkha's financial backing of the company, combined with his connections to the Democratic Party, enabled Colt to begin winning back military contracts. In fact during the time period it one only won contract, the M4 Carbine. However, the US Military had already been purchasing Colt Carbines for the past 30 Years (See Colt Commando ). During a 1998 Washington Post interview, CEO Ron Stewart stated that he would favor a federal permit system with training and testing for gun ownership. This, in combination with the growing revelations of Zilkha's ties to anti-gun factions of the Democratic Party , led to a massive grass-roots Boycott of Colt's products by Gun Stores and ordinary gun owners, some of whom sold their Colt firearms to cut into Colt's market share even more. This ultimately led to the resignation of Ron Stewart. Zilkha replaced Stewart with Steven Sliwa and focused the remainder of Colt's handgun design efforts into " Smart Gun s", a concept which was favored politically but had little interest or support among handgun owners or Police Department s. This research never produced any meaningful results due to the limited technology at the time. The boycott of Colt continues today in that many in the gun rights movement still refuse to buy any of Colt's products. Competition Heats Up Most problematic for Colt, its flagship 1911 pistols and AR-15 rifles had to compete with a glut of the company's own used rifles and pistols that could be purchased at prices well below what Colt offered for their new products on the civilian market. Colt also has to compete with other companies that make 1911-style pistols such as Kimber and AR-15 rifles such as Bushmaster . Bushmaster has subsequently overtaken Colt in the number of AR-15s sold on the civilian market. Colt suffered a stinging legal defeat in court when it sued Bushmaster for Copyright Infringement claiming that the "M4" in M4 Carbine was a Trademark that it owned. The judge ruled that since the term M4 is a generic designation that Colt does not specifically own, Colt had to pay monetary reimbursement to Bushmaster to recoup Bushmaster's legal fees. The M4 designation itself comes from the U.S. military designation system. Colt today is a shadow of its former self. It survives primarily on the manufacturing a variety of Civilian and Military weapons. The most popular of these are various AR-15 Carbines, a weapon category that it invented and help develop over nearly 30 years since aquiring the AR-15 design. The AR-15 Carbine derivatives, and weapons like them have proved so popular that a large amount of compeition has arisen in the area. Continuing production of classic Colt designs which are sold either in the limited collector's market or in more general consumption. As with AR-15 rifles, the orignal colt designs and its derviatives are heavily copied, and as result it faces much compeition from other makes. Colt had entered a number of US contract, and has won some while lost others. Colt had entrant in the Advanced Combat Rifle (ACR) program of the 1980s- but along with other contestants failed to replace the M16A2. Colt, along with many other makers entered the US trials for a new pistol in the 1980s, though the Berretta entry would win and become the M9 Pistol . The Colt OHWS hand gun was beat by H&K for what became the MK23 SOCOM , it was lighter then the H&K entry but lost in peformance. Colt- and every other arms except H&K company did not get to compete for the XM8 because it was not a open competition. Colt is a likely entrant in any competition for a new US rifle . Current M16 rifles are made by FN USA, Colt lost the production contract in the 1990s. FIREARMS Selected famous or innovative Colt products
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