The great fly angler Lee Wulff once made the point that, “A trout is too great a gamefish to catch only once.”
Here at Sporting Classics we also believe that many of our past articles deserve a second chance, a “redux,” if you will, that will delight new readers and serve as a pleasant, if not a poignant, reminder to our veteran subscribers.
We have, of course, reprinted classic stories from the past, but SPORTING CLASSICS REDUX is adding a new twist: Following the reprint we will publish an interview with an individual relevant to that article.
In our first edition, we are bringing back “The Colt Chronicles,” an historical look at one of America’s most iconic firearms manufacturers originally published in 2012. Following is an interview between Sporting Classics Doug Painter and Tom Taylor Chief Business Development Officer for Colt CZ Group.
We hope you enjoy this new perspective on looking back, but also with an eye to the future. As Paul Harvey liked to say, “And now, for the rest of the story.”
Best,
Doug Painter
Doug
Tom, good to catch up with you. As the years go by we might change jobs, but we tend not to stray very far.
Tom
Yeah, I mean, it’s so many good people. You know, we’ve talked about it before, it’s an industry full of good people. And when we, a lot of us stay in the same jobs for a while, but when we do leave, nobody seems to leave the industry because we do love it. It’s such a passionate thing and people here are passionate about what they do.
Doug
Well, today we are going to talk about two iconic companies, Colt and CZ. And you know, one of the first things that I like to talk about with Colt, it not only is one of the most iconic and historic firearms companies in America, but it really was a key company in transforming our nation from, you know, the Jeffersonian agrarian world that we lived in to an industrial society, big city industrial society. And that really had to do with the notion of interchangeable parts. Today we have AI, we have all these phenomenal new things, but interchangeable parts were kind of that huge thing back then.
Tom
Yeah, I think it’s.
You know, when you look at Colt, he is probably the Colt Company and Sam Colt are probably on the list of four or five of the Americans that shaped modern manufacturing in America. And I know he’s been years ago, he was placed in the Inventors Hall of Fame. And, you know, you have to put him on a list with Ford and, you know, different companies like that who really helped forge this country. And, you know, you could probably make an argument that he was the first to really do this. I mean, there, you know, maybe it’s arguable, maybe it’s not. But Samuel Colt changed America. And it wasn’t just the fact that his product was part of changing America because of what it was and what was necessary, you know, at those times, with firearms, but from a manufacturing standpoint, you know, he really led the way or forged the way in America for modern manufacturing, interchangeable parts and all those things that Colt was famous for.
Doug
And, you know, he was really the first company to put interchangeable parts on an assembly line in a fairly big way. It is interesting when he got back into business after failing originally in 18470, he went to Eli Whitney.
Tom
Yeah.
Doug
Eli Whitney started it up there in Hamden, Connecticut. By the time Colt came in, it was being managed by his son. And they were involved in interchangeable parts. And there were three, four guys, you know, that part of America was sort of our Silicon Valley of the time.
Tom
OK.
Doug
And so they all were working together on this notion of interchangeable parts. And a great example of what a big deal it was is in later years when Colt would go to one of these big international exhibitions like world’s fairs, he’d take 6 Colts with him and he’d go in a room, he’d disassemble all of them.
leave the room, ask the guys in the room to shuffle the parts around, and then they’d come back in and they’d reassemble the six Colts and they’d work. You know, to people back then, it seemed like magic.
Tom
Yeah, I, you know, I think in today’s world, no disrespect, some gun companies might have trouble doing that today. You know, certainly, certainly, you know, no disrespect, because a lot of companies obviously have really fine manufacturing. But no, I think that concept in those days, I mean, the whole thing of mixing parts and reassembling. You know, if you look at today, you know, during my time with one of my former companies, that was a criteria for a US military contract to be able to disassemble a bunch of guns, theoretically put them in a bag, shake them up, and reassemble the guns. You know, and that’s 20, you know, that’s the 2000s, you know, that we’re still looking at.
Doug
For sure.
Tom
And, you know, he was doing that, you know, 150 years ago, which is just absolutely incredible that when you look at the machines and the computers and AI and all the things that are enabling us to make parts that are interchangeable across firearms or other industries, and the fact that it is being done on machines that operate off, you know, belts and squirrels and all the things that made modern, back then, modern manufacturing plants. It’s amazing that the parts were interchangeable.
Doug
It really is one of my favorite old-time stories. I think I’ve been in this industry longer than you have, Tom. And in the early 70s, there was no shot show yet. And we exhibited at the National Sporting Goods Dealer Show. And all of our exhibits were stored up in the Hartford area. And part of the storage area was the original Colt factory floor. And I remember going up there, my boss said, go up there and check our little booth.
And there it was, this huge shaft that ran the length above all the assembly lines and the leather belts that hung from that that drove the machinery. And I always reminded myself, I was not looking at a museum, I was looking at what was an abandoned factory.
Tom
Yeah, and that’s amazing that was still in place in the 70s. You know, I’ve seen pictures. I obviously haven’t didn’t have the pleasure of seeing the real thing, like the Colt factory. I have been in, and you’ve probably been here, been there before, but I’ve been in the Springfield Armory Museum, and they have recreated, you know, that kind of a manufacturing.
Doug
Yes.
Tom
manufacturing area. You can go in, you can see it. And it’s been really, really nice. If you haven’t been to the Springfield, for anybody who’s consuming this, if you haven’t been to the Springfield Army Museum, it’s wonderful to see what that was like and pictures from the 40s during World War II when they were building M garands. But yeah, having seen it there,
Doug
Yeah.
Tom
was amazing, but seeing the leftovers of the original Coltfactory just sitting there must have been, I mean, that is American history, you know.
Doug
Awesome.
Yeah. You know, let’s segue from there to say, so Colt is part of what you’re doing today. CZ over here, Colt over here. What’s your challenge with Colt these days?
Tom
So I think the biggest challenge with Colt has been that, you know, in the last pick a number, probably minimum of 20 years, maybe longer, it’s just been some of the efforts have been a little bit futile. They, you know, they didn’t know whether they wanted to focus on defense or defense and civilian sales or, you know, they completely got out of the civilian sales business at one point in time during that time period. The fortunate thing for the company is that they’ve always maintained enough focus on the military and defense business to stay relevant and to continue those contracts with the US military and countries all over the world, the cult rivals, if we don’t even talk about the
Doug
Yeah.
Tom
Old West and World War I and World War II and Vietnam, even in the modern conflicts, you know, Colt has remained iconic because of its modern production capabilities. But for many, many years, there was just no real stake in the ground as to what Colt wanted to be. There were financial troubles, as you know, the company’s been in and out of bankruptcy. At one time it was owned by the Connecticut Teachers Credit Union, which is ironic.
Doug
I know.
Tom
But I think what’s important now, about five years ago, when the CZ group purchased Colt, I think that was a bit of a stake in the ground. I think it took them a bit to figure out which way to go, because I don’t know that they had ever seen such a reclamation project as Colt, because it was things being done. It was like the classic definition of insanity, was things being done the same way for so long without any real changes. And, you know, I think for a couple of years, they really had to get their bearings as to how big of a bite they had taken off. But I think the most important thing is the CZ group has recognized that.
Tom
They brought in new leadership across the board and nicely. the CZ Group, formerly CZ Group, now Colt CZ Group, had very stable leadership in the Czech Republic. And so they were able to use that stability to, you know, trial and error a bit with new people, new thoughts, new ways to go to market. At one time, they combined the CZ and Colt businesses together, and that really didn’t work well. So they’ve now sort of split those back apart. So they’re operating independently because they’re different business models. But I think importantly, there’s new leadership, and it is the new leadership. The new CEO is someone who’d been with the company. for about 10 years, but she, Jillair Kubish is her name, and she, you know, she was leading the defense segment, the healthy part of COLT, if you will, for the last 10 years. And she’s a wonderful leader, career in the US government, ATF, and so forth, and got into our industry in ATF advising. And she is a wonderful leader, and she’s begun to assemble a team at Colt to sort of functionally take on everything that needs to be done, new operations, new sales and marketing, and just really begin to treat Colt like a business and having the underwriting, if you will, from the Colt CZ group to give it financial stability. It’s just been, it’s been fun at this point in my career to join an opportunity to take, you know, one of the most iconic brands in our industry and get it on the right track. And I don’t know, you know, how long they’ll have me around and how long I’ll be involved in it, but I’m so excited to see what’s happening there, to watch the transformation. And I can’t really talk about it much, but to know that not only are they renovating the things they do well in the large frame revolver market, 1911 market, and the M4 market, AR rifle market, but knowing there’s new product innovation on the way from Colt. I mean, when’s the last time you heard of new product innovation at Colt!
Doug
A great opportunity! Well, you know, I think that’s been one of the real keys here. I know that companies faced a lot of challenges, their location, the union, et cetera, et cetera, and very honestly, an aging plant, you know. But one of them is they didn’t have that much of a product line anymore.
Tom
That’s true.
If you look at it, 1911s, as you know, that market is still very healthy, but it’s up and down. I mean, it’s kind of a cyclical market. It seems like every five years or so, people get interested in 1911s again, and then it wanes again. So certainly
Doug
Well, and how many people are making them?
Tom
Yeah, and there’s a million companies making them. And then the large frame revolver market is definitely a shrinking market. And then the AR market is to your point, you know, there’s maybe thousands of companies making AR rifles in America and throughout the world. But those are the markets that Cole does business in. But going forward,
Doug
Yeah.
Tom
The company is definitely diversifying in different markets, bringing in products both in those categories, but innovative. Because what’s happened is if you listen to, for example, if you listen to military units throughout the world, they’re like, well, I know Colt has been dependable and it’s been there forever, you know, as a dependable product, but I saw this really cool influencer Talking about brand ABC, and we hear that all the time, and you know those companies may or may not have as much discipline and quality and all the things that have made Colt great, but they’re cool. They’re cool and they’re relevant and they have some modern features that Colt may not have. And so Colt’s making sure to engage in modernizing its current line. But as importantly, it’s also finally really making strides. And within the next 12 to 18 months, you know, you’re going to see some really interesting new innovations and new product lines and new categories coming out of Colt. And to that end, if Colt was only marketing to the people that look like you and I, as they have for a very long time, with no disrespect to either one of us, right? I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished.
Doug
Yes.
Tom
But at the same time, if they’re not marketing to 25 year olds and 35 year olds and 45 year olds, men and women, you know, women have become a huge piece of the market in self-defense today and that sort of stuff and competitive shooting, whatever.
And they understand that they must find ways to market to those people. I mean, the tagline that Colt’s used forever was still making history, and I use inner quotes about that. And that’s very relevant. You know, Colt has made history time and time and time again throughout all the wars.
It’s just been a part of American history. But while they have to embrace that history and that heritage, I think they have to look forward in a different way and say, okay, that’s great. We are this iconic company, but let’s look at some of the iconic brands in America and throughout the world who have remade themselves you know, found ways to be relevant to younger audiences and as importantly, the markets and categories that are most important to today’s users. And they’re engaged in all those things.
Doug
That’s true. And you know, people forget as great an engineer as Sam Colt was, he was also a great promoter. In an era that marketing and merchandising of companies of any kind hardly existed. But this guy was, you know,
the Donald Trump of his time in terms of recognition and that kind of thing. You know, that great dome on top of the factory in Hartford. My research, and I’ve concluded that the people who say this.
is true.. It is not a replica of a Greek or Russian Orthodox church. It’s just something that Colt thought, man, that looks cool, and that’ll make my factory look cool. So that was the kind of guy he was.
Tom
Yeah, I’d heard all kinds of myths about the reason. I, you know, people, I’ve heard people say, oh, they built that during World War II in case we were invaded, that it would look like a search, which is not true. But I’ve heard everything from that to some of the things that you had said. But yeah, and when I joined the company and I thought I knew a lot about the history of Colt until I really started digging into reading more about it. But the fact that he just wanted something that would dominate
the air, you know, as people went down the Connecticut River, which, you know, as you know, is the Gun Valley. He wanted people to know.
Doug
Absolutely. I think I wrote it was the neon sign of its time, you know. And actually, when the factory burned down during the Civil War, his wife, his widow, rebuilt the factory and rebuilt the dome.
Tom
Yes. Yeah, that’s another piece of the history that I thought was so fascinating that he, you know, relatively speaking, he died young in 1862 during the Civil War. And not a lot of people know that Elizabeth ran that company for over, you know, for about right at about 40 years. She wasn’t running the day-to-day operations, but she was the trustee and the the primary shareholder and, you know, the decisions many times stopped on her desk. And so, you know, you have this incredible legacy of manufacturing and to your point, the original sales and marketing guy in our industry. And then at the same time, you know, from everything I’ve read, It was so unheard of to have a woman run a company of the magnitude in those days, and she did that for 40 years.
Doug
Totally.
Yeah, no, she did a great job. And, you know, it was highly profitable, too. I remember reading that in 1860, 61, Colt was bringing home around $1,000,000 a year. And that was before there was a tax, you know, there was no income tax.
Tom
Yeah.
Doug
And my research showed that his average worker was making less than $300 a year. So this guy was doing all right, and the company was doing great. And so those were the glory years, and I hope you can bring those glory years back, Tom.
Tom
Yeah, well, that is the, you know, that is the plan. The Colt CZ group is sneaky big. There’s 14 companies under the umbrella across Colt Optics has been launched, but there’s rings and mount companies. There’s even ties to Svobodova Automotive, you know, which is a car that’s made in the Czech Republic. It’s owned by Volkswagen, but the Skoda division is in the Czech Republic and our company makes parts for that company. So it’s a billion dollar plus entity. And so when you think about the billion dollar companies in the gun industry, they’re few and far between.
Doug
Yeah.
Right.
Tom
But Colt CZ Group is already in that realm. And I think that financial backing is going to put them in a position to be able to take cold, you know, to say it kind of in a grandiose way, back where it belongs. You know, one of the first things I did a year, a little over a year ago when I got to this position,
Tom
I wanted to do a brand study so I understood the position of CZ and Colt and Dan Wesson. You know, the company also owns Dan Wesson. It’s a whole other great historic story, by the way, that I’ve really enjoyed getting to know and re-engaging with Eric Wesson, Dan’s grandson. Wonderful man, if you ever get a chance to meet him. But I’m telling some great historical stories.
Doug
Let me know.
Tom
But the.
The bandwidth of what this company can provide for Colt and CZ and Dan Wesson and the infrastructure they can put together for them to be able to grow in the future puts them in a place that would be unique. When I did this brand study, which at that time was primarily focused on CZ,
in understanding where they were in the US market, but I also included Colt. Colt still has 95% aided brand awareness in America. And, you know, the companies that have, that are almost always at the top of these studies, Smith and Wesson, Glock has become extremely well known in America as we know. Remington,
Doug
Yeah.
Tom
Ruger, these Beretta, some of these 90 plus percent brand awareness companies, but Colt is right there, which is kind of amazing since it hasn’t spent much money or been very involved in marking its brand in a very long time. But it still is right now in the study that I did, it ranked 5th.
in brand awareness in America, which is just absolutely crazy. So engaging those people who are aware of this brand, it’s not like we’re having to create something new. It’s just like we’re having to fulfill a problem with people that want something from home.
Doug
Yes, yes. No, you’re absolutely right. Colthas burned itself so deeply in the psyche of America, in my opinion, that it’s still very, very well recognized. It’s an amazing story in that context. Well, let’s talk a little bit about CZ. You know, one of the things that my friends back, what was 2021 that you bought Colt? Oh, this foreign company has bought Colt. And I’ve always maintained that one of the things that I think makes our industry. unique is that the things we value aren’t necessarily nationally, they’re international. We value internationally. great quality, accuracy, functionality, all the things that are important in making fine firearms are as appreciated in the Czech Republic as they are in the United States as they are in many other countries around the world. So I thought bringing that together was great. And I much rather would see that infusion than I always thought, you know, Colt would probably kind of, from a commercial end, peter out.
Tom
Yeah, I’ve been blessed to go over there four times now. I’ve toured all the facilities and when you walk in the CZ facility in Hersky Broad, it’s called CZUB, as you’ve probably heard over the years. It’s interesting when you see it from the outside because it was
Tom
moved from the Czechoslovakian German border during the mid 30s when the turmoils of the Nazi regime were starting to bubble. And they said, OK, we better take this gun factory around the border and move it all the way to the other side of the country, which they did. And so when they built that factory,
Tom
In the 1939, I believe it was 37, 38, 39, it was built to look like apartment buildings in a town, small town. From the air, it would be camouflaged, if you will. So when bombers flew over, and by the way, it was never bombed during World War II. No damage in this little village called Hersky Broad.
Tom
So you see it from the outside and it’s very historic looking, but then when you walk in the facilities, it is amazing. It is absolutely state of the art. You know, and I’ve been in most of the major manufacturers in our industry. You can eat a picnic lunch off the floor. The amount of modern manufacturing that’s on the floor in the Czech Republic, it will rival
Tom
any of the major manufacturers in the US. You know, and then you think about the engineering that Europe is so famous for, you know, that all those things exist there. And, you know, the history of CZ, you know, and again, they, unlike some of the gun companies in the US, I learned and we actually did some renovations and we’ve given away 3 CZ motorcycles.
They were built in the 30s. And when gun sales were waning before World War II, they just started to start making motorcycles. And so, you know, and in today’s world, I mentioned they’re involved with Svobodova Automotive. And, you know, so it is a modern manufacturing facility, modern engineering facility, and the infusion of that, you know,
Tom
Cellular and Beloit SMB ammunition is owned by the company. And when and I was this last just last week, I was over there and I toured that facility. The modern manufacturing and the ammo facility is absolutely out of this world. And so you take that infusion of power and innovation and know-how and collaborate
you know, with the US entities at Colt and Dan Wesson and the products that we, you know, bring in at CZ USA, it’s fascinating to see the power. And, you know, as Americans, we don’t often think outside our own borders, but when you walk through those factories, it was great because we had a
a global sales meeting, and we had 14 US customers with us. We took on a tour of the CZ UB facility, and they were amazed. They had no idea that CZ had such incredible global bandwidth and all the products they supplied to. We just won the German military contract for the P10 Stryker pistol. It’s going to be called the P13, the German Army
Tom
To our knowledge, the German military has never gone outside of their country for a small arm. And they’ve now chosen a CZ striker pistol. And so the Ukraine war has largely been fueled by tremendous amounts of CZ products. The Bren rifle is a wonderful AR style rifle that CZ makes. And all those have been modernized and engineered in that factory in
Tom
in Hersky Broad. And it’s simply amazing to see that and know that same kind of power is coming to Colt and to a lesser degree, Dan Watson.
Doug
To me, that was the most hopeful sign, you know, that this great company that has, you know, a great tradition, in 1936 you were founded, and tremendous product lines, tremendous strength, and that you, you know, Colt, sort of the weak sister here, but I think you guys
can do a great job in bringing this iconic company back to life, so to speak.
Tom
Yeah, I think that if we look back 18 months from now, and you’ll start seeing some of the coming out party, if you will, at SHOT Show 2027, the brand will be relaunched. Some new products will be coming. So you’ll start seeing signs of it as soon as SHOT Show this year or next year, 27.
But if you were to look back 18 months from now, I think, I hope that the, all the, you know, people sort of like shaking their head about Colt being a, you know, underutilized brand and company for the past 20 or 30 years. I think that’s going to be an afterthought. I think you’re going to see Colt vitalized and products
Tom
And I mean, military contracts, I mean, Colt just won a five-year foreign military services contract. And that is multiple 6 figures of AR rifles that will be coming out of Colt. It’s A five-year contract with a five-year non-compete. So for as much as 10 years, any rifle that the American government buys to go out to an allied country will come
Tom
Colt. We continue to supply rifles to the US military. I know another manufacturer that I used to work for one, sort of the forward fighting battle rifle, but compared to the number of M4s and M5s that are still sold to the US military, there will still be a significant number of Colts sold in our own country to the US military. So
Doug
Yeah.
Tom
So, it’s a it’s it fortunately it’s remained relevant and vibrant because of that, but now.
If you’re a civilian and you’re anxious or excited about what Colt, what you wish Colt could have been, or you know, whatever your mindset has been, it’s, you know, those things are coming.
Doug
Yeah.
Well, that’s a great message, and I think that’s the core message I’m sure you would like to leave with our readers and our listeners, that Colt is coming back.
Tom
Yeah, it’s it is on its way back, and you know it’s I wish you know there was more I could talk about that to tell people what’s coming, you know, because it is exciting, because you know some of the product lines are cool and they’re great, but you know what if those were updated and what if the current lines were updated and what if there were new products coming and…
And what if you could actually, you know, whether it’s social media or influencers or people like that, what if these people are talking about coal? I’ll tell you maybe the most encouraging thing, Doug, is through my 22 years in the industry,
Tom
I’ve gotten to know a good number of influencers, different people, you know, big celebrities like yourself. You know, I’ve gotten to know a lot of people and a lot of notable soldiers who have done amazing things in history. And just I’ve been blessed to be able to know those people. As I’ve gone about my day-to-day business, talking to those kinds of people, I said, hey,
Tom
How interested would you be in telling the story about Colt coming back? To a person, their eyes light up. And oftentimes, you know, hey, that’s what I carried. That’s what protected my life. All my tours in the military, or there was a very notable entertainer,
Doug
Yeah.
Tom
competitive shooter, sort of celebrity person who does all kinds of cool things in the industry. And when I asked him if he’d be willing to support some things we’re doing at Colt, he was like, oh my God, I grew up on Colt. My first rifle on Colt, my first pistol was a python. He goes, you just tell me what you need me to do to help. And I’m getting that unilaterally.
Tom
People are unilaterally saying, how can I help cope?
Doug
Well, you know, that’s a great message, Tom. It’s been great to have you on, and I’m sure our readers at Sporting Classics for our new digital edition of Sporting Classics Redux. Thanks, Tom, and I’ll talk to you soon.
Tom
Thank you, Doug.