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The results of nearly a decade of thoughtful planning have left Colt – at least on the commercial side – as more of a “niche marketer” than they were in the generation of the World War II veterans. For long-term profitability, it is much more important for a company to carefully study the market before launching a new product line than it was even a dozen years ago. A new firearms concept may now cost millions of dollars and take years of study, and even then may go nowhere … or may be immensely profitable. So production of guns to match every shooting opportunity is not, at present, in the new vision. Shotguns for sporting clays; hunting rifles for big game; new deringers for self-defense – none of these appears to be in Colt’s immediate future.

These days, looking at a more dangerous and quixotic international playground than perhaps ever before in Colt’s or America’s history, Colt has accepted its role as a niche player on the commercial side and as a robust contractor to the U.S. government (and to other, friendly governments as well) on the defense side. Consequently, the majority of Colt’s internal resources and external public relations and lobbying efforts are targeted to meet defense-contracting opportunities.