Jeeeez. There's 14,000 options for AR playgrounds today. At least 36 of those are worthy of more than most people could impose on them. Reminds me of other markets that have fanboys attached to a product line due to emotion and psychological attached
I guess it is similar to the big 3 automakers getting cut down to size by cheaper, more efficient competition. I like my Colt, but did they just kinda rest on their name for a while? I mean, I guess they tried to compete with the Expanse, but with the amount of experience and production ability they have, I would have thought they could competed a little more aggressively, no? I mean, if I am not milspec, do I need a milspec gun over a decent quality one at 1/2 the price, but has a lifetime warranty?
Colt also currently has contracts with foreign militaries. The M4A1 I have with the milled off upper marks is probably from one of those foreign contracts.
Colt is supposedly taking a 2 month break from resupplying AR-15 rifles to their commercial distributors to catch up on government/military orders. TTAG should really have sought the actual email that Colt sent the distributor they got the "heads up" from.
With the service I have had from Colt over the last year... I am not surprised with anything out of that company. It took me a year to get a Cylinder form a SAA to get re nickel plated. 1 year and actually 2 months. Less than 50 shots and it pealed off again! In for the second time now! Estimate this time was a quick 2-3 Months! Their service department is rude and will never call you back. They don't sell individual parts direct, or to the bulk dealers they claim to. Frankly the only thing keeping them in business is a good name!
I got an M4A1 with a standard "H" buffer instead of the "H2" it was supposed to have. I called them up and couldn't have been treated any nicer. All they asked for was my Serial Number. They told me I could keep the one that came in it and answered questions I had about production too. I guess it just depends on who answers the phone. Also, I had my part in about a week and a half.