With the recent history of exploding demand the only possible explanation is piss poor management.
Damned shame.
Agreed. They screwed the dealers. Somewhere mid-2016 Colt embarked on a new policy that they would only allow sales to authorized, stocking dealers. The minimum order to become a stocking dealer was "only" ten firearms. I don't know what gun shops pay for Colts from the distributors, but I've heard the markup is around 50%. So if the average selling price of a group of ten guns is $900, the shop needs to lay out $6,000 just be get in the game. And it means they'll have ten COLT pistols on the shelf, which could take a small shop years to sell. I deal with a couple of small gun shops -- one is a one-man operation, the other is two one-man operations sharing a storefront. In years past, if I wanted a Colt I could tell them what model and they would order it for me from one of their distributors.
Now? The distributors can't sell to them because they aren't stocking dealers. As far as I know, there are only two in my entire state, neither is anywhere near where I live, and neither is a shop I want to buy from. Considering that Colt was selling every pistol (and revolver, for those who make that distinction) they could churn out, changing the marketing system like that makes absolutely zero sense to me. There are a couple of current Colt 1911s I
was interested in, but I'm not going to forsake my friends at the local shops and drive over an hour to haggle with a robber baron who treats customers like dirt half the time anyway. Sorry, Colt, but you cut me off -- I didn't cut you off.