Try looking at it this way:
I've liked the package for nearly 50 years.
Never got around to picking up a used Colt.
I can't buy a new Colt version, they have not been made in 70 years.
I want a shooter, I don't want a collector.
I want a NEW gun, not a worn out older gun.
Early Colt versions did not have the modern heat-treatment that these pistols do.
These guns have no MIM, no plastic, no castings.
I want the design.
I want quality.
I want it to shoot hollowpoints, which the older Colts may or may not do.
I want to be able to shoot it as much as I feel like shooting it.
I couldn't care less if it was made by Colt or not.
I'm buying the pistol, not the brand.
Buying the package & performance, not the history.
Colt produced five different generational versions of their pistols.
This new one doesn't really vary much farther in configuration or dimensions than Colt itself did over the years.
Externally, the only difference my non-collector eyes can pick out is the ball cut at the forward end of the slide (couldn't care less), and the gold medallions instead of the original silver (ditto).
In 1915 I could walk into a hardware store and buy a new 1903 if I liked the pistol.
That one would've been made by Colt, it would not have been heat-treated, it would not have worked well with hollowpoints.
It was never intended for high-volume shooting, or high-pressure rounds.
In 2015 I can buy a new 1903, because I like the pistol.
It doesn't happen to be made by Colt, but it's built with modern heat-treatment, it functions fine with hollowpoints.
It is intended to be fired a bunch if I want to & it can handle both higher volume and higher pressures.
Fabricated from machined steel & hand-fitted, the price reflects the older production style used in making the new pistols.
No shortcuts in materials or manufacturing.
I recognize that a pistol made this way will simply cost more in today's world, and in this case I'm willing to pay for it.
I'm buying the gun, not the name.
As long as the quality's there, I don't care who makes it.
This discussion also points out what the situation would be with the much-lamented Python.
The end purchase price if brought back would be $3000+.
You'd see the same people saying "I don't wanna pay that much for a new one (even if made by Colt), I can always just buy an old one."
It's all in how you view it.
I'm not trying to sell anybody on the gun, I'm just trying to inform those who do have some interest in it.
Denis
