Colt 2000

The Colt 2000 or All American 2000 is a polymer or aluminum-alloy framed, locked-breech, rotary bolt, semiautomatic 9 mm handgun with a magazine capacity of 15 rounds. Designed by C. Reed Knight and Eugene Stoner, as Colt's entry into the marketplace of the high-capacity polymer framed handguns of the early 1990s; it was believed by Colt that this pistol would recapture their stake in the police market as Police Departments across the United States switched from double-action revolvers to semiautomatic pistols. It was hoped that sales of this pistol might save the troubled company from bankruptcy on the heels of recovering from the UAW labor strike.

The Colt 2000's internal workings were based on older firearms designs from the early twentieth century. The rotating barrel, for example, was based on that of the Steyr 1912 and the roller-locking mechanism was based on a design used by the French Manufacture d'Armes et des Cycles de Saint-Etienne since 1914. These features allow the barrel and slide to work as a unit moving to the rear until the barrel lug rotates into the cam-block and stops. The barrel lugs then align to allow the slide to continue its travel to the rear and extraction and ejection of the spent round occurs. The pistol breaks down into seven major parts for disassembly.

Despite the innovations and bearing the Colt name, the pistol was plagued with reports of inaccuracy and unreliability, and suffered from the poor publicity of having to be recalled in 1993. The massive product launch failed and production of the All American 2000 ended in 1994. Colt's President Ron Whitaker stated that sales volume was not sufficient for production to remain economical. The gun was made from parts produced by an outside vendor and assembled in the company's West Hartford facility.

An aluminum framed version of the pistol with wooden grips was made in addition to the polymer framed version and both are sought after by collectors of Colt Firearms because of the low numbers produced during their short production run. Unlike most other polymer-framed handguns, the All-American 2000 had removable grip panels.