#Colt

Firearms with small, sweeping grips have been around for quite some time.  While the distinctive “Bird’s Head” grip is normally attributed to Colt Derringers of the 1860s, a look at a Barbar pocket flintlock pistol from 1740 shows a very similarly shaped stock.  Nevertheless, Samuel Colt, after the rather unusual shape of his First Model (or No.1) Derringer, started making derringers with the distinctive “Bird’s Head” grip.

“Why, Johnny Ringo… you look like somebody just walked over your grave.” – Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday, from the 1993 film Tombstone. Ringo’s legend is inexorably tied to Holliday and his compatriots, the Earp brothers. During the last two years of his life, 1881-1882, Ringo tangled with them multiple times, and it’s suspected that one of them may have gunned him down in the Arizona Territory’s Chiricahua Mountain Range in the summer of 1882. Officially, however, Ringo’s death was ruled a suicide. The Colt SAA revolver that reputedly fired the fatal shot by Ringo’s own hand was listed by serial number in the coroner’s report, and it’s been kept track of perfectly for the last 139 years. Now this well-documented piece of wild west and firearms history is headed to auction.

Recently, on a normal day at McClelland Gun Shop in northeast Dallas, Texas, an old revolver was brought in to the store’s gunsmith for a routine hammer repair. Neither the gun’s owner nor the McClelland employees could’ve guessed the amazing piece of history they were about to uncover. It turns out this patinated old wheelgun had likely seen action in the hands of one of the legendary Pancho Villa‘s bandito gang members or Mexican Revolutionary guerrilla fighters in the early 1900s, and the owner didn’t even know it.

This week on  Wheelgun Wednesday I am delving into a good old Colt. It feels odd to me to think that this will be my second Colt-related Wheelgun Wednesday and I only own one Colt. The one I have and did an article on is the Colt Police Positive Special. This time around I had the chance to work with my friend’s Colt Single Action Frontier Scout 22LR revolver. Let’s dive right into it!

Last week on Wheelgun Wednesday, we got some of Rusty’s insights, range time, and critiques of the new Colt Anaconda .44 Magnum. As a whole, he was very impressed with this newly reintroduced wheelgun and what Colt has been able to do by breathing new life into it. With this seemingly tremendous success of the Anaconda: it almost begs the question: where do they go from here?

Today on Wheelgun Wednesday, you’ll be getting TFB’s impressions of the new, re-introduced Colt Anaconda from not one but two of our writers.  Read on, and you’ll see what Rusty S. and Adam S. have to say about the new .44 Magnum main squeeze from Colt.

You might have seen those old Colt revolver adverts from the late 1800s and early 1900s with their quirky claims and beautifully drawn illustrations. What you might not realize is that Colt, and many other firearms manufacturers of the time, provided the templates and even the woodcuts needed to print them, for free.

Firearms fans and movie buffs often share a good deal of overlap. With so many excellent guns and gun-related scenes in such a plethora of films over the years, it’s easy to understand why. Many shooters will have a list of their favorite gun movies, scenes, or specific silver screen firearms. If you were to take a survey, it’s likely that you’d find the 1995 heist classic “Heat” on a significant number of those best-of lists. Now we have a new piece of cinematic ballistic history to discuss. KeepShooting.com sells an interesting smorgasbord of gun-related gear, and they’ve announced that they have acquired a unique prop gun from the above-named film classic.

Readers of this blog are surely aware that CZ Group, or Česká Zbrojovka Group, were about to acquire Colt Holding Company LLC. Since all of the necessary regulatory approvals from U.S. and Canadian authorities have now been secured, the acquisition is fully closed and in a recent announcement, CZ welcomed Colt and Colt Canada to the group.

One of the most surprising announcements of 2021 in the firearms industry has gun owners shocked and delighted with the news that Colt is bringing back their Colt Anaconda in 44 Magnum! It is surprising for a lot of different reasons, but we at TFB want to point out before we get ahead of ourselves that maybe – just maybe – we believed this wheelgun back into existence.

Colt have announced the return of one of its iconic snake guns – the Anaconda. With the recent ownership change at Colt, many of us wondered what the company’s first moves would be. The reintroduction of the Anaconda and the continuation of their retro rifle line appear to be smart initial moves.

Many TFB readers are aware that CZ Group (CZG) bought Colt. On the face of it, that confused a lot of shooters because they did not understand why? Was it a power play of some sort? Did they want tooling/machining resources that Colt had? There were a lot of questions. As opposed to only tossing around conjectures and rumors, TFB went to the source to get some more grounded answers.

Last week’s announcement finalizing the purchase of Colt by the CZ Group left fans of both brands with more questions than answers. After all, an American icon being acquired by a successful firearms company from the Czech Republic might create a bit of anxiety in the purists of our world. But unlike takeovers of American firearm brands by conglomerates with little to no industry experience, this deal seems to be different. So what does it actually mean when we say CZ Buys Colt? TFB was lucky enough to have access to CZ Group’s President and Chairman of the Board Lubomír Kovařík for an exclusive Q&A session and additional details.

One month ago TFB reported that CZ were in negotiations to acquire Colt, a story that has now developed with an official statement. CZG (Česká zbrojovka Group SE) and Colt Holding Company LLC have signed an agreement which means that CZG will acquire 100% of Colt, including the Colt Canada Corporation. In total, the combined group will have revenues in excess of $500 million per year, and CZ’s production capacity in the United States and Canada will get a significant reinforcement. 

Colt, one of the oldest and most venerable names in US firearms manufacturing may be on the verge of being acquired by one of Europe’s leading brands.  Česká Zbrojovka better known as CZ are well regarded for for their classic CZ 75 pistols, their bolt actions and most recently their new assault rifle BREN series as well as the popular CZ Scorpion EVO pistol calibre carbine. The details of any possible CZ Colt acquisition are still unofficial.