Is Chris Bartocci one of the “right” people? He’s a noted firearms expert and historian who knows Colt intimately from the inside:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vs5Vd0_2fdE
I wonder what he has to say now, now that Colt management has effectively taken over CZ, at least in the US - a situation significantly worse than just leaving Colt management in charge of only Colt.
As far as “what’s in the pipeline,” the hot pants shorty shorts jerk from TFB recently did a breathless PR puff piece with the CEO / CFO of CZ, who obviously is a money guy and not a gun guy. He’s touting the Glock clones, not because they’re better than the solid CZ-75 line, but because they’re cheap and more profitable. The other stuff he mentioned like optics ready pistol slides, expanding the Bren 2 line and calibers (have they fixed the 7.62x39 yet?) are things that should have been done years ago. Otherwise, the CFO / CEO was pretty bleep vague about what CZ is coming out with and when.
Vid's 2 years old, but can't say I disagree with much there... Best as I can tell and have made these comments here previously, the Colt-CZ merger is a modern Mergers&Acquisition quarterly growth strategy to benefit shareholders/investors in the short-term, not the company or the customers in the long-term.
CZ bought the "Colt-brand" of lore, not the the Colt known to modern firearm enthusiasts. Again, I think Colt throwing their name on Russian Silver Bear ammo epically illustrates how divergent the "Colt" brand is the American consumers' mind -- and also speaks to CZ-UB failing to do due diligence with market research, etc. -- at least among the current 2A enthusiast/influencer community -- versus P&L sheets, gut feels, and whatever optimistic nostalgia drove the deal and decisions after...
B/c everyone I know active in the gun community generally had a better opinion of CZ-USA and Dan Wesson than Colt, except maybe a few on barfcom whose only 2A knowledge is ARs and barrel accuracy testing...
*And I too am a HUGE fan of Colt Canada/Diemaco, but CC/Diemaco is IMO a standard deviation better on product quality and innovation than Colt USA...
And further, I see the same thing CZ-Colt as I do with Tractor Supply Company prioritizing winning new domestic pet food customers over their existing Ag (farmers, ranchers, etc.) customers with all the "Pet" deals, sales, coupons, installing dogwashing stations in-stores, etc. in-your-face promo efforts... TSC is also doing a garden center type growth strategy, but less in-your-face than pet food...
Regardless, makes zero sense long-term to neglect, if not put a thumb in the eye, the overwhelming majority of your current and long-term customer base in order to chase only-hypothetical-until-actually-achieved "growth." But that's "bold leadership" in modern business -- bet big, and lose or win big/high-risk, high-reward... Stock markets, managing half-billion-dollar+ a year businesses are apparently the now equivalent to high-risk poker tables in Vegas, and that's also apparently acceptable to not only executive leadership but also corporate boards and institutional investors...
Meanwhile, all I see are warning signs.
