Reed Knight collection


X02,X03 (AR-10A),AR-10B


AR-10B,AR-10 LMG


AR-10B


AR-17,AR-16,AR-16,AR-10A


AR-18


AR-10 Artillerie-Inrichtingen


AR-10 Artillerie-Inrichtingen


AR-10 Artillerie-Inrichtingen


AR-10 Artillerie-Inrichtingen


Stoner M69W,Stoner 62

http://www.silencertalk.com/forum3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=10190&view=next

Been there.

It is only a small portion of the collection, there are samples of pretty much every post 1900 SMG, assault rifle, and machinegun just in that room.

There is A LOT more, including a whole other room full of just U.S. martial weapons from the inception of the country to modern day, a collection of miniguns and gatling cannons, and a garage with an entire collection of armored vehicles.

There is also a room with all the KAC protoypes and production guns, and they were working on setting up yet another room when I was there last year.

Plus he has some duplicate rifles in boxes.  Many of his duplicate AR10's are unfired.

What was Colt thinking when they gave these up ?  

WOW!!

Why is this the first time I've seen such comprehensive photos of this collection?? I knew the guy had some nice early pieces but, I never thought it was so expansive. When I see a collection like that I wish we had commie ideology, no one can have two AR-10s until everyone has at least one haha

IIRC (I think they actually had an article about it in SAR a few years ago) they were just sitting in storage gathering dust, Colt could not afford to pay Reed Knight for some services he had done for them, and he basically struck a bargain where he could pick and choose what he wanted.  As far as Colt was concerned they were just dead end designs and one offs.

Yup .....Here's the story:
http://kitup.military.com/2011/08/a-walk-through-gun-nut-heaven.html

But they traded the entire history of the world's most popular rifle......

Malcom what's his name who started Ultra Light Arms and later sold his company to Colt was interviewed a while back and asked why he bailed from Colt and started another company, New Ultra Light Arms.  After he left, Colt eventually gave up on Malcom's light rifle concept and quit making them, you see.

Malcom essentially said gun companys need to have have a gun culture if they are gonna be a successful a gun company.  He said something to the effect, management needs to be at the range on the weekend, not the golf course.  It seems that while he was there, management at Colt had a golf culture, and could generally be found at the golf course.  

Perhaps this explains why Colt management sold their heritage for a bowl of pottage.

Reed said at this summer's seminar that Colt donated the collection and what they got in return is a 'library card', open access to the museum contents and technical data.

Companies do need to be invested in what they do. Large companies like Colt often see themselves as large companies like BAE or Boeing. To them gov contracts are just an ends to the means of money, and I'm sure the same often holds true with Colt.

There are other gun companies where the people love what they're a part of and are part of a real gun culture. This results in real appreciation for the product and a desire to push the brand and expand the product line.

One thing to remember, is that gun companies are constantly generating testing and design products. Eventually most of that will be scrapped for various reasons since there's little value in keeping around every slight variation of designs that don't work. Looking back it sucks for Colt, but to them they were essentially trading scrap metal for services performed they couldn't afford otherwise.

I was with the Stanley group (aka Stanley Tool Company) for a number of years.   Oh man, I could tell you some stories.

What is the top rifle on the very first picture?

It is the X02,it was the second AR-10 prototype.

Was this how Reed Knight got the AR-10A,did the deal included technical drawings,where did the entire AR-10 collection came from?

"Interview with C. Reed Knight, Jr.: Part 1
By Dan Shea

C. Reed Knight, Jr. was born on 22 August, 1945, in Woodbridge, New Jersey. His family moved to Florida before he was a month old allowing him to claim he didn’t have time to be corrupted into a Northerner. His father, C. Reed Knight, Sr. was in the US Army Air Corps at the time flying B-25 bombers stateside as he had finished his pilot training in 1945 just as WWII ended. Reed is married to his high school sweetheart Jan, whom he married in 1967, and they have four children; oldest son Trey, middle son Jacob, youngest son Will, and daughter Sarah, ranging in age from 21 to 38. Reed attended a number of colleges including Florida Southern, Bavard Engineering College in Melbourne, Florida, and Indian River Junior College in Fort Pierce, Florida. Reed served six years in the National Guard starting in 1965. Reed’s companies are some of the amazing success stories of the small arms world, having grown to the point of employing over 300 people today in the manufacture of weapon systems and accessories that Reed has invented and put into production. The list includes the SR-25 rifle he designed with his late partner Eugene Stoner, as well as the Rail Interface System on most current small arms, and many suppressor designs and other firearms. The Knight Collection is one of the most important small arms collections in the world, and Reed’s devotion to the study of small arms has helped the community in too many ways to count. Reed is a tough businessman with a clear view of what he wants to accomplish, and very little patience with anything that interferes with making a proper, top of the line product.

SAR: Where do you think your interest in mechanical things came from?

Knight: I guess from the very beginning my earliest memories were of taking things apart. I like to see how things work. Maybe the side of my brain that’s mechanical overrides the side of my brain that does the reading and the spelling and the other side..."

http://www.smallarmsreview.com/display.article.cfm?idarticles=1222

"Interview with C. Reed Knight, Jr.: Part 2"

http://www.smallarmsreview.com/display.article.cfm?idarticles=1211

I was lucky enough to see that collection in 1994.  We were assisting Reed on a project at his facility in Vero Beach.  He asked me if I wanted to see some firearms
and I said yes.  What a collection.


ETA:  I was told at the time that Colt owed Reed money for his work on the P2000 pistol project.  Instead of a cash payment Colt offered him the opportunity to clean out
the vault at the Colt factory and take what he wanted for his collection.  At least that is the story that I was told.

Wow, if he got all that for that crappy pistol that was never a big seller for them...

The thread makes me want waffles for lunch

I believe I'll stand behind my supposition.  Today's Colt is making an attempt to be responsive to the needs and wishes of it's gun customers, but not all that long ago, things were far different at Colt.  In fact, in 1998, Colt's CEO went on the record as favoring federal licensing of gun owners with attendant mandatory training of same.  Clearly, the Colt of those days was not a gun company with a positive gun culture run by gun guys.

Certainly Reed Knight got the best of that deal, and as a matter of fact I'm grateful to Colt for transfering that collection to somebody who would appreciate it.  When a company's CEO is running around saying stupid stuff like that, they could have just as easily have cut them all up or sent them to the blast furnace.