Gal at Colt Customer Service Hinted at the New Revolver Coming

[FergusonTO35]

Well put! I encountered a late model Winchester 94 at a shop the other day. After examining it I was reminded of why I got rid of mine. It's an example of what happens when you try to cheapen an old design that requires alot of hand fitting.

I hope the new Colt is a strong and simple modern design that doesn't require a book of spells and conjuring to repair. I can't afford, nor do I need, a pretty retro revolver that costs close to a grand when I'm actually going to shoot and carry the thing. Give me a modern DS style revolver with a real world price under $600.00 and I'll be more than happy to buy one.

[Char-Gar]

Give me a modern DS style revolver with a real world price under $600.00 and I'll be more than happy to buy one.

Look for "Ruger" on the barrel. They have been meeting your specs for a long time now.

[MtGun44]

Well said, Al. I have an Anaconda, but it is as much a curiosity as a working tool, Colt FINALLY
made a .44 Mag. . . . . . a few, for a while, with OK quality. One of my many retirement projects
will be to find out how well the Big Snake can be made to shoot. So far, pretty mediocre, but I
have not worked with it in a decade and have learned huge amounts (mostly here!) about how
to make a revolver shoot well.

Bill

[9.3X62AL]

With the late-series Troopers and the Anaconda, it's mostly a matter of polishing and smoothing, then a very light coat of RIG +P or similar high-stress lubricant. The action won't be that of a V-spring Colt, but it will be improved. Accuracy with my examples wasn't bad, once the crunchy triggers got civilized.

[Mal Paso]

Well said, Al. I have an Anaconda, but it is as much a curiosity as a working tool, Colt FINALLY
made a .44 Mag. . . . . . a few, for a while, with OK quality. One of my many retirement projects
will be to find out how well the Big Snake can be made to shoot. So far, pretty mediocre, but I
have not worked with it in a decade and have learned huge amounts (mostly here!) about how
to make a revolver shoot well.

Bill

Mine wasn't finished at the factory.

Trigger and lockup were perfect. Cylinder gap was tight and crooked, the most beautiful mirror smooth bore with .430+" groove (originally .429 throats), Oh, and less than .02" firing pin extension with a less than powerful mainspring.

Very accurate now. Miha's 503 clones chamber with the front band just in the cylinder throats (.431" now)

Anacondas are Strong, Elmer's load ejects like specials, excellent out of the box trigger, worth the effort.

[Mal Paso]

I was snooping on the Colt site. They brought back the 1877 Bulldog in 45/70. http://www.coltsmfg.com/Catalog/Spec...atlingGun.aspx

[Budda]

I would do a new Python!!! Heaven knows I will never get an original!!!!

[MtGun44]

Wow. I have a friend that has one of those. Very fun to shoot! I think is a replica from
a few decades back, never actually asked about the source.

Bill

[9.3X62AL]

Just what I need......a revolver that puts out 45-70 rounds at 600 RPM. You would need a fleet of Dillons and a lead mine & refinery to keep the thing running.

[lawboy]

I have an old Colt Agent that lives in my pocket when I am running about town. I shoot it a couple times a year and run 50 rounds through it every other year at CCW qualification time. It is pictured in my avatar, although I have put replacement grips on it since that photo was taken. The timing is perfect as is the lockup. If Colt reintroduces an alloy D frame revolver such as the Agent or Cobra, in 38spl. with 2-inch barrel, I will buy two.

[rintinglen]

I have an old Colt Agent that lives in my pocket when I am running about town. I shoot it a couple times a year and run 50 rounds through it every other year at CCW qualification time. It is pictured in my avatar, although I have put replacement grips on it since that photo was taken. The timing is perfect as is the lockup. If Colt reintroduces an alloy D frame revolver such as the Agent or Cobra, in 38spl. with 2-inch barrel, I will buy two.

+1.
My Cobra is a favorite, but I have to baby it, because their ain't no more where that came from, at least, not yet!

[MtGun44]

+1 on Cobra is a great one. I bought a whole demil'ed Cobra to have the spares
to keep mine running until I am not.

Bill

[Wayne Smith]

I guess my Agent is older than yours because it has the long grip frame and I can't find replacement grips. I got a Tyler T grip instead and it is on my belt as I type this.

[Dframe]

I've collected (accumulated) D-Backs, Cobras, Detectives, and agents for years now. Love them all. Any "new" colt revolver would most likely be based on their most recent DA revolvers. That being the Magnum Carry, the Anaconda, and the King Cobra. All stainless steel and all excellent revolvers. They would most assuredly use whatever the most cost efficient manufacturing techinques available to them, such as mim parts etc. No new gun will be a V spring with forged parts. They're just too costly and labor intensive to produce.

[9.3X62AL]

I've collected (accumulated) D-Backs, Cobras, Detectives, and agents for years now. Love them all. Any "new" colt revolver would most likely be based on their most recent DA revolvers. That being the Magnum Carry, the Anaconda, and the King Cobra. All stainless steel and all excellent revolvers. They would most assuredly use whatever the most cost efficient manufacturing techinques available to them, such as mim parts etc. No new gun will be a V spring with forged parts. They're just too costly and labor intensive to produce.

I suspect you are correct, D-Frame. The LEO revolver market (excepting pocket rollers) is dead like DeLorean's Mastercard, and the market is saturated with with pocket rockets already, all chasing the CCW market share. Hunting and field revolvers of medium caliber and medium-to-long barrel length would be a good bet. Heck, a 6-shot New Frontier in 327 Federal and a 7.5" barrel would make me spend money--so would a King Cobra x 6" in that same chambering.

[MtGun44]

HOLY COW! I went to GB and checked on .22 Diamondbacks. . . . . . .

They are typically $1500 and UP, way up.

Bill

[IridiumRed]

What would REALLY make me feel better about Colt, is if they would do a run of critical parts for the older revolvers.

I don't want to get into a debate about how tough, or fragile the Colt revolvers are (I'm speaking mainly of the V spring DA revolvers). I remember reading Grant Cunningham's page on Pythons, and he was saying, -if I understood him correctly- that he didn't think that the Pythons were "fragile", but that they DID require more "maintenance" long term. And that maintenance requires some parts that are no longer made and are getting in short supply. Like hands - instead of being able to pull out a brand new, slightly oversize part & then carefully fitting it to the gun, now they are having to resort to reworking the old parts (like building up the surfaces via TIG welding).

This is just my personal opinion, but I'd have a lot more faith and confidence in Colt if they would do even a limited run of some of these critical parts, to help support the older revolvers currently out there. I don't think it would even be THAT hard to do - make the parts slightly oversize, allow the gunsmiths to do the fitting. I have a strong feeling that they wont do this, because from a financial standpoint, it would be best to make all of a particular part in one run, and then that inventory would sit on their shelves and it might take a year or two to sell all of it. So the cash cycle of that project wouldn't allow for immediate payback.

From a big picture view, if Colt came out with a new DA revolver, I'd worry a little bit about buying one because what happens if they only do this for a period of time, and then stop making them? Will parts be available? if Colt isn't going to make parts for the revolvers they built for over 100 years, do you think they'll care about making spares for a gun they only made for a couple of years?

I like buying guns that, if I want them to, will last my lifetime and the lifetime of the next person that it ends up with (I don't have children). I'm not expecting that it will last forever without maintenance, but I like knowing the parts will be available to rebuild it if need be to keep it going.

PS. Colt is not the only one who is guilty of this, its a common trend anymore, its just Colt was the subject of this thread. But along with that subject, I'm saddened that I hear that S&W doesn't have 357 K frame barrels to repair the Model 19's & 66's out there with cracked forcing cones.

In fact, when I read on another thread that S&W was going to restart production of model 66's, my first thought, literally, was "oh man, that means parts should be able to repair the older K frames.... esp barrels" But then I read that S&W is using their new "two piece" barrel design, which I think would be great if they just used the Dan Wesson barrel system where the parts could be replaced & changed by the user. But oh no, the S&W method is crush fit / not user replaceable..... *shakes head*

[Mal Paso]

The Anaconda has MIM parts.

At least the cylinder turns the Right way.

[Dframe]

Mim parts are here to stay. It's a reasonable way for manufacturers to make quality parts at a reasonable cost with a minumum of machining.

[Mal Paso]

Just checked the CZ site. The Dan Wesson 715 Revolver Press Release, Nov 2010, is still there for download. Lots of posts on the Dan Wesson page pleading for revolvers. Don't see a one for sale.

Guess I'll be checking the colt site too now.