COLT Is Relocating To North Texas

From: CBS Dallas / Fort Worth

A firearms company that makes AR-15 style rifles for the iconic brand Colt, will open a plant in Breckenridge in Stephens County. Oregon company Bold Ideas confirmed the development Friday.

Bold Ideas goes by the name Colt Competition, making high accuracy rifles for competition shooting.

The company has not officially announced the opening, but employment applications are already available at the Breckenridge Chamber of Commerce. A non-specific, help wanted ad appeared in the local newspaper classifieds earlier in the week.

Sources say Colt Competition will move into a large vacant industrial space on the north side of town, previously used by Karsten Homes to manufacture mobile homes.

The move by Colt Competition into Breckenridge comes as the CEO of Colt Manufacturing in Connecticut has said there will soon be few good answers to keep his company in the state. Connecticut passed some of the nation’s most restrictive gun laws this week.

It also comes weeks after Governor Rick Perry reportedly sent letters to gun companies, encouraging them to move to Texas. Perry sent a message on Twitter to Colorado company Magpul as recently as March 21, saying “Come on Down to Texas.” The Governor’s office did not confirm Friday if it had sent a recruitment letter to Colt Competition.

Rumors swirled for weeks in Breckenridge that a major gun company was coming. Butch Spencer, who owns E-Z Pawn and Gun, said he figured when he heard the name Colt referenced that someone had just made a mistake.

“I’m tickled to see em get something like that,” he said. “I think that’d be a lot better than a mobile home factory.”

Custom gun and ammunition manufacturer Jim Mitchell said the move has the potential to draw more companies to the state, with a political climate that’s friendly to firearms.

“We’re in line to help em, and do the best we can, and they’ll be of great benefit to the community,” he said. “We’ve already got people going, hey I’m moving to Breckenridge.”