Specialized Armament Warehouse (SAW)
- Thread starter JASmith
- Start date
If this is Ken Elmore's Specialized Armament with a new word added to the end, I have attended his armorer's course and understand his stuff to be highly regarded.
I wanted to
I wanted something similar done, my experience was that they are impossible to get a hold of.
Unless you're specifically looking for the Ken Elmore package, try looking at Citizen Arms- my comms with the owner was much better.
Yes, that's who I was meaning. I thought they had a "warehouse" at the end of the name, but I haven't looked closely lately.
Years ago I ordered a 6920 from Ken, I had him do the reliability package. I did it, because the arfcom crowd hated Ken, and I thought that was great...
I thought Ken was good to talk to and deal with and knowledgeable, higher prices, but there was no doubt about the authenticity of the parts you wanted.
What the reliability package consists of is or was a secret of sorts.
I did have some issues with my 6920...it bled a lot of gas out the gas block, as it turned the sling and my glove black. It gave me fits with failures to extract..mostly with Win3131, which at the time was notoriously bad ammo...I spoke to Ken, and he said to try Remington UMC, as that is what he test fires the guns with. It ran...so I took it to a Pat Rogers class, where I had some issues.
Emailed Ken again, and told him I was not confident in the gun, and he agreed to have me send it back, and evaluate/fix it. IIRC, he replaced the barrel, and I had no more issues...but like the rest of my guns, they go thru multiple changes, and eventually what ever the package consisted of was replaced/deleted when I put on a new barrel and handguards.
Would I do it again? Probably not, but I would not hesitate to send a Colt AR to him to be fixed. I purchased the parts for a "Ken Elmore trigger job" from him, and they continue to serve w/o issue. I've run 20-30 mags with his red spring installed w/o issue...both thru countless carbine classes. I still have an un opened case of his "cage code" mags with red springs installed.
HTH
I thought Ken was good to talk to and deal with and knowledgeable, higher prices, but there was no doubt about the authenticity of the parts you wanted.
What the reliability package consists of is or was a secret of sorts.
I did have some issues with my 6920...it bled a lot of gas out the gas block, as it turned the sling and my glove black. It gave me fits with failures to extract..mostly with Win3131, which at the time was notoriously bad ammo...I spoke to Ken, and he said to try Remington UMC, as that is what he test fires the guns with. It ran...so I took it to a Pat Rogers class, where I had some issues.
Emailed Ken again, and told him I was not confident in the gun, and he agreed to have me send it back, and evaluate/fix it. IIRC, he replaced the barrel, and I had no more issues...but like the rest of my guns, they go thru multiple changes, and eventually what ever the package consisted of was replaced/deleted when I put on a new barrel and handguards.
Would I do it again? Probably not, but I would not hesitate to send a Colt AR to him to be fixed. I purchased the parts for a "Ken Elmore trigger job" from him, and they continue to serve w/o issue. I've run 20-30 mags with his red spring installed w/o issue...both thru countless carbine classes. I still have an un opened case of his "cage code" mags with red springs installed.
HTH
Ken is a good dude. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of the M16 FOW. He has worked with Colt on certain things and was an instructor for Colt's M16 and 1911
Armorer courses. He can get Colt to make/modify things that others cannot. He does impeccable work.
He is hard to get ahold of. He's a very busy guy.
He does his own armorer classes now. When working for Colt, he had to teach what they wanted, which was not necessarily what end users needed to know.
As the reliability package . . . people have posted about this elsewhere, asking what are the mods? Why won't he say what they are?
If he gives out his recipe, then others are gonna copy that, so why should he put his intellectual property out there in the public domain?
Either you trust him to know what he's doing, or you don't.
I bought a 6920 from him but didn't buy the reliability package, so I have no experience with it. Gun has run 100% for me w/o it.
I have completed 1911 and M16 armorer courses with Ken, and give them 2 thumbs up.
Gonna take M16 armorer from him again, and advanced armorer, late this year, I hope.
Is he the only dude that can make a black rifle better? Doubt it. But he's damn good at it.
Armorer courses. He can get Colt to make/modify things that others cannot. He does impeccable work.
He is hard to get ahold of. He's a very busy guy.
He does his own armorer classes now. When working for Colt, he had to teach what they wanted, which was not necessarily what end users needed to know.
As the reliability package . . . people have posted about this elsewhere, asking what are the mods? Why won't he say what they are?
If he gives out his recipe, then others are gonna copy that, so why should he put his intellectual property out there in the public domain?
Either you trust him to know what he's doing, or you don't.
I bought a 6920 from him but didn't buy the reliability package, so I have no experience with it. Gun has run 100% for me w/o it.
I have completed 1911 and M16 armorer courses with Ken, and give them 2 thumbs up.
Gonna take M16 armorer from him again, and advanced armorer, late this year, I hope.
Is he the only dude that can make a black rifle better? Doubt it. But he's damn good at it.
Wayne Dobbs
Newbie
Ken was an Armorer Instructor at Colt's for some time, but that relationship no longer exists.
B0308
Amateur
I've bought 3 or 4 6920s from SAW, and a Colt Factory SBR (6933?). At least 3 of the 6920s and the SBR had the reliability package. All run 100%, through moderate use. I later got a Gemtec Can from them, did a buffer change out with the can run full time and have not had a stoppage.
Is Ken hard to get a hold of, yes probably. Are his prices higher than the best on line, yes probably. Do I trust his work, ethics and willingness to back his work and products, yes, definitely.
BTW, also bought a Colt SAA, .45LC, Colt Custom Shop,fm rom them (never ask "So what else do you have I might like."). No reliability report as I have not forced it in 8-9 years of ownership, but it is sweet
.
Plus they are generally local to me which makes it all easier.
Is Ken hard to get a hold of, yes probably. Are his prices higher than the best on line, yes probably. Do I trust his work, ethics and willingness to back his work and products, yes, definitely.
BTW, also bought a Colt SAA, .45LC, Colt Custom Shop,fm rom them (never ask "So what else do you have I might like."). No reliability report as I have not forced it in 8-9 years of ownership, but it is sweet
.Plus they are generally local to me which makes it all easier.