They already have shown a degree of innovation with their monolithic upper. You would think that they would see the writing on the wall that mid length is here to stay and is becoming the most popular offering of other manufacturers.

IMHO I think that they would not even be able to keep up with demand if they offered them. I know I would snap one or two up in a heart beat.

As the wars wind down and Gov contracts dwindle, they are going to have to rely more and more on their civilian sector sales for revenue.

Colt built middys would be like turning lead into gold for them.

Because Colts sales are not driven by the public or its wants

This. Colt has never followed trends or cared too. Well they do 5 years too late.
And I don't think middy's are as hot as you think right now. Small bit of AR owners have them and not every company makes them.

The main reason is because Colt builds their guns on the same line as their military rifles.  Unless the military goes midlength, Colt won't bother because it would require setting up a different line and different parts for the midlengths.



Also, IMO midlengths are not as big of an advantage as their fans claim, and Colt knows this.  Lots of people like to talk about dwell time.  Dwell time is far less important than gas port size.  With the proper gas port size, buffer, and carrier weight the dwell time difference is mitigated.  In other words you have to the system tuned for the barrel. Given that Colt does have the system tuned right, the only real advantage to the midlength is increased rail space and sight radius...

Colt makes Kool-aid, Colt doesn't drink Kool-aid.

Ha Ha that's a good one

Nice way said.

I wasn't aware that there is a "mid-length craze" going on.

This is the answer.

From a commercial standpoint, I would guarantee that carbines outsell midlengths by a wide margin.  Few people know about them or even know the difference outside of enthusiast websites like this one.  

As to Colt being unresponsive to consumer desires, I disagree whole heartedly.  Maybe to your desires, but not their consumers.  They're a business, after all, and Colt is selling every rifle it makes, why, if you were doing brisk sales, would you shut down production and re-tool just to make a tiny sector of the civilian market happy?  

Colt's bread and butter is sales to the military and government / LEO, for starters, the vast majority of users of Colt's weapons do not fall under the NFA restrictions that produced the midlength carbine, their either exempt or so-called "Form 5 Agencies" that can get NFA items under tax exempt transfers.  They do export sales briskly as well.  Unlike other entries in the commercial AR market, I would bet that the vast majority of Colt's AR15 pattern rifle production is select fire variants.  Colt also produces non-NFA variants for agency and commercial consumption that are unable or unwilling to deal with NFA, essentially compliant versions of their "standard" RO977, the select fire M4, more or less the flagship model of their line (along with the RO920 and 921, the USGI Versions).  

Colt has been very receptive from what I can see to offering their customers what they desire in terms of making business decisions.  For starters, in the major end user market, the Colt M4 has essentially been the top of the heap for a while, the military's pretty happy with it, the government agencies that buy it and large LE agencies are all happy with it.  

Nevertheless, for the SCAR trials, they developed not one, but three different submissions, known aptly as SCAR A, SCAR B, and SCAR C.  They developed the Colt IAR for the IAR trials, and have responded to grumblings about the need for a PDW with the SCW which has been under development for a while.  There was an "M5" PIP that they displayed at SHOT for a while.  From the SCAR projects, they developed the 1040 piston operated rifle, something that they'd been saying for years wasn't worthwhile, but everyone begged for it, so they developed it, put years into the R&D, and introduced it, and now they patiently await orders that will make it worthwhile to produce, which have not materialized.  They did, however, release the monolithic upper receiver that they developed for that project with the 6940, as the forgings had already been tooled and basically they were already ready to produce.  

True, Colt doesn't seem to develop much quick, even the piston took almost a decade before Colt decided it was ready to sell, companies rose, flourished, and fell in the time it took Colt to bring a piston gun to market, who really still bothers with the Ares kit, for instance?  Do you honestly believe that Colt would simply grab the measurements off the commercial market, or backwards engineer a couple of BCM barrels and slap 'em on an LE6920 and sell 'em?  They'd want, prefer, and need to do their own testing and development, to sell how many units exactly?  To a few dozen members of ARFCOM and M4C?  Has any large agency or unit specifically requested or required a midlength, in the order of 1,000 + units guaranteed purchase?  

Like I said, Colt essentially sells every rifle it can make, and the orders keep coming in, what you're talking about, forget about the R&D costs and output, is to stop, slow, or reduce production of models that already sell well to refit, retool, and add to the production line another rifle with dubious benefits to their core customer base and uncertain sales, not to mention the logistical requirements of now keeping and stocking if nothing else, new gas tubes alone, nevermind the tooling for a new barrel profile, ect. ect. when their customers by the by are more than happy with their current products.  You make the business decision.

Yet, on top of that, Colt is willing to engage the civilian market, they produce their Match Target line, specifically geared towards the civilian market, their NFA compliant variants are very successful and popular.  I've never had to deal with Colt for warranty work, but it's there, it's available.  And no, it's not that their "deigning" to deal with civilians, they're putting out what they can for meager civilian sales compared to government and agency sales, as most civilians will look at the $1,100 Colt and $800 Stag, and buy that one.  Spare parts are available through SAW, fully catalogued part by part.  I'm not surprised that they're hesitant to deal with every single joker who calls in looking for a gas key or detent, but they've got a commercial small parts sales organ that they deal with as a spares distributor.

I've yet to see this oft quoted "we hate civilians" mindset from Colt that so many people talk about, as opposed to say, HK maybe?  May Colt one day come out with a midlength?  Perhaps, and it may be very popular when it comes, but to answer the question directly: "why hasn't Colt cashed in on the mid length craze?"  Because they're too busy cashing in on what they already make to worry about it.  

Hey, I'm not an apologist, and I don't consider myself a Kool-Aid drinker, but I do like Colt and Colt products, and they're a known quantity, unlike so many other entries in the AR market, but then I have no problem supporting other smaller companies and more civilian centric companies either if they can match the quality.  

YMMV, if you want a good middy, do yourself a favor, hit up BCM and don't worry about it.

~Augee

Because they probably have no problem selling everything they make, so why spend the money to tool up for something else.

Well stated

This. Its mostly just on here and among boutique manufacturers.
John Q Public wants what the Army's using. Colt wants to keep costs down, so why retool for middys?

Middys are awesome.  BCM and KAC both roll with middy gas systems.  Colt really doesn't have to.  Their carbines work just fine.

Yes it is.

KAC doesnt "roll with a middy" gas system. KAC has a SR 25 gas system IIRC.

Really, now?

The KAC mid-length gas system is slightly longer than the rest of the industry mid-length gas system IIRC.

Your statement implies that BCM & KAC dont have carbines that work just fine.

Not really.  That may be how you are reading into it.

If Colt doesn't have to , because their carbines work fine, then why do BCM & KAC have too.

Not really what I meant by the statement.

More that BCM and KAC already have market topping products in that category.

Colt has a market topping product in the carbine category and due to it's production level wouldn't make any sense to add another category that it really doesn't need to do.

Because Colt sucks.  Buy Olympic, Hesse and Blackthorn.

once again another thread turns into a poop-storm from trying to read between the lines of a post

Goddamn.... I will reuse that phrase.

Well said.

To answer the question asked by the OP, I guess Colt (and me too for that matter) figures if it aint broke, don't fix it.  There is nothing wrong with a carbine gas system that needs fixing.

Lemme know how mounting a bayonet on your 6920 works out for you
For those of us who do not want a permanently attached flash hider or pay $200 for an SBR stamp and actually want it to "look" right the middy does that. A 6920 looks retarded with all of that extra barrel between the FSB and the flash hider.

Not true. It's not only about port size and dwell time. The more important factor is the timing, and on that 7" gas length, the gas gets to the carrier too quick, before the brass has fully contracted. That's why the extractor wants to slip off the case rim, and that's why the carbine needs stronger extractor springs and/or inserts to prevent it. That's why you occasionally see broken bolts on carbines, but almost never on a middy or rifle. If you are happy with your carbine and it runs fine, then good for you. But it's not true to state that there is no advantage to a midlength design. It's a design improvement over carbine, whether you want to admit it or not.

None of that has anything to do with Colt's decision not to make it. Colt has always made decisions that didn't seem to make sense (like dropping the Pythons or the Delta Elite 10mm). It's just what they do. They are primarily focused on their military contracts, and civilian sales are an afterthought. As they eventually lose more military contracts, that might change, and we might see more emphasis on civilian sales and a more diverse line-up.

I don't understand this logic. A gun is a tool, who cares what it looks like (I don't). I only care that it works good. I'll take a 16" carbine over a midlength any day. Carbines are heavy enough by the time you add a rail and optics. Middies are even heavier, not any more reliable and the increased sight radius is worthless if you are using optics.

yup

I agree with giggles. I mean, why cant you have a rifle that works good AND looks good. Weather Colt should make a middy or not, I dont care. There are too many other fabulous manf. that have middys, who needs Colt for that.

We've seen this several times in Colt's history already so there's no reason to think it will not happen again.  It seems there's something in the water there (Kool-Aid? ) that keeps them from registering that they need to plant the seeds of civilian sales before the military contracts are expired.  How many times have they been in receivership or bankruptcy?  Like Devildog1970 said, it's just what they do.  It's also sad; they became large on us unwashed civilians, one sale at a time.  That government money is sweet-sweet crack, but...

I think the middy gas system has a lot to offer over a carbine system, especially if you are restricted to a 16" barrel.  It's got nearly the same dwell as both a 14.5" carbine or 20" rifle and with lower pressures than the carbine.  It also allows the secret pleasure of a bayonet on a 16" barrel without ugly adaptors.

You can actually feel the difference in weight between a middy and carbine with the same barrel profile? Seriously? I know I can't.

You can actually feel the difference in weight between a middy and carbine with the same barrel profile? Seriously? I know I can't.[/quote]

Probably not, but honestly I can't tell any difference in recoil impulse either. Then again, I'm used to much larger calibers and don't really notice any recoil at all to speak of. (At least with the DIs)

I like Colt a lot but they are very slow to react to the market. Hell they did not even make a railed 1911 until this year. They are always late. They make good rifles but their selection and options have always sucked. When you buy a Colt you need to figure on spending more money later to set it up the way you want. Their new 6940 is a joke. The rails are too short the flip up sight sucks. Revolutionary say about 6 years ago. I like Colt but BCM has them beat now. Same quality with more selection and a life time warranty.
Pat

To this quote let me add;
I never understood things like odd ball FCG pins, oversize two screw pivot pins, half circle carriers, sear blocks, being the last to offer forward assist and flat tops on civilian models or the smart gun.

In the end Colt makes it own decisions.

How many times?  Why don't you tell us since you brought it up.

Double.

They prolly' don't even know there is a craze.

Doesn't Colt make a Mid-length??
Colt Canada

Want! I wish I could get my hands on a few of those uppers.

No it's a regular carbine gas system with a 16" barrel.  But, our own member here, KevinB, wrote a paper when he was in the Canadian Forces advocating they adopt a mid-length gas sytem prior to the introduction of the SFW.

Troll!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I certainly believe you, but why do they refer to it as mid-length?

Probably because the barrel length is mid-way between regular carbine and rifle length barrels.

There are too many good company's making Middy 16s to worry about Colt not doing so.

Colt: because you suck, and we hate you...

Naw really, colt's cool, just not the cool-EST.

Your " IIRC " is perhaps " DKS ".........