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Posted: 2/2/2020 12:18:16 AM EDT
Has anyone here done business with Specialized Armament?
I'm about to purchase a Colt 6946 upper receiver assembly to go with my SCW stock. Colt 6946 Upper Receiver Group I thought I would see what the customer experience has been like. I don't really see people talk about them any. Thanks in advance. |
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[#1]
I purchased a Colt 6944 from SAW in 2010. It came with a pinned and welded extended flash suppressor that they manufactured in house. I have had no issues with the rifle, and the quality of the flash suppressor is excellent. I had no issues that I recall with the sale or shipping of the rifle. I even spoke with someone in the shop before I placed my order. The rifle itself was a little pricey, but 6944s were practically unobtainium in 2010.
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[#2]
I've bought from them several times, they are the only game in town for some Colt parts. A little slow to process and ship. Ordered online, never spoke to them on the phone. You have to email them your 3 digit code in a specific way after you order using a credit card. They only ship with and adult signature required, so somebody has to be home to sign for the package.
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[#3]
pricey.
No BCG or CH. No covers. Add those and maybe $1300+ very nice though. |
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[#5]
Has anyone ever figured out what their reliability upgrades consist of?
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[#6]
Quoted:
Has anyone ever figured out what their reliability upgrades consist of? View Quote There are many upgrades, some of which they list. Honestly, I don't recall all that was done...but it works. I have heard nothing but good reviews about them. |
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[#7]
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[#8]
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[#9]
Quoted:
I was wondering that myself but it isn't stated anywhere. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
Quoted:
Has anyone ever figured out what their reliability upgrades consist of? If you want a guinea pig, I just sent an LE6944 upper to them for RP work this past week. I'll let you know how it goes (Ken cautioned they've currently got a backlog in the shop, but I'm in no hurry). One thing I'll note is I want to put a Surefire Warcomp on it to go with my SF suppressor with a P&W since I intend to use it with a couple lowers that are not and will not be SBR'd, and they said they absolutely will not install Surefire muzzle devices. So, the upper will likely make a brief trip to ADCO as soon as I get it back. |
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[#10]
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[#11]
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[#12]
Quoted: I didn’t see it listed but I am curious about how much this package costs? View Quote |
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[#13]
View Quote |
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[#14]
Bought from Ken and SA several times. Only game in town for some Colt stuff. Super low to ship is only complaint. Expect about a month wait time from time of order. They don't charge at time of order though...
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[#15]
Well, they haven't responded to my email.
I found a 6945 upper receiver that I'm going to get instead. Thanks for all of the replies that you guys made. |
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[#16]
I got an email from SA.
If my other upper receiver falls through I will order from SA. The email stated that they still come in the blue Colt Custom Shop boxes. |
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[#17]
Wow; blast from the past. I just checked their site and saw they had 6922 uppers listed. I bought one from SA in April 2002 to convert my preban Eagle Arms A2 rifle to an M4 style carbine. At that time it was $799, but included the hand guards, BCG, charging handle and carry handle.
http://www.specializedarmament.com/ar-15-upper-receiver-groups/upper-receiver-group-colt-le6922-1/9/ I sold it on the EE after the ban ended to someone in NY. I wonder if it's still tucked away somewhere up there or managed to escape before it was illegal. |
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[#18]
My experience with SAW is that Ken, the owner, is one of the most knowledgeable persons regarding the AR-15/M-16 platform.
Once I got the tax stamp, I had SAW SBR my Colt 6450 9mm and do the reliability package on it (the 9mm reliability package is necessarily different from the 5.56mm package). The 6450 runs and runs, suppressed and unsuppressed. Granted, I only use 124 gr and 147 gr ammo in it. The machine work and finishing on the Colt from SAW was better than from the factory. Later, I had SAW rebarrel my 6933 to a 10", suppressed MK18'ish gun (I supplied my Gemtek TREK-T), with the reliability package. Again, the work on the gun was impeccable. I highly recommend SAW for work on Colt's. I think one of the reliability package mods is a wider feed ramp on the 5.56mm's Attached File |
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[#19]
SAW and Ken are awesome! I can’t say enough good things about him.
I sent him a 6940 upper for the 6944SE package upgrade a few years back. Upper was disassembled, barrel was shortened and machined for their 14.5/16 flash suppressor, refinished, reliability package added. The machine work is nearly undetectable, and is outstanding! SAW re-stamped the barrel markings, as the original markings were cut off in the 14.5/16 conversion. Looks totally factory. The pic shows a 6944 on the left, with an extended A2, the right is the SAW 14.5/16 conversion. Outstanding machine work! I have 2 factory 6944 uppers (with A2x), and the SAW conversion 6944SE upper. The SAW upper is a good bit more accurate than the other two. Attached File |
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[#20]
I don’t know about the services they perform but they are the only people I buy parts from for my colt m16.
He spent the time to talk to me for a while on the phone and discuss what parts were best for my different uppers. Great CS |
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[#21]
I understand it isn’t needed but why don’t they put the crush washer in on the P/W jobs. It looks a little goofy without it. Nothing major and about as goofy as the a2x looks just in a different way.
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[#22]
Quoted:
SAW and Ken are awesome! I can’t say enough good things about him. I sent him a 6940 upper for the 6944SE package upgrade a few years back. Upper was disassembled, barrel was shortened and machined for their 14.5/16 flash suppressor, refinished, reliability package added. The machine work is nearly undetectable, and is outstanding! SAW re-stamped the barrel markings, as the original markings were cut off in the 14.5/16 conversion. Looks totally factory. The pic shows a 6944 on the left, with an extended A2, the right is the SAW 14.5/16 conversion. Outstanding machine work! I have 2 factory 6944 uppers (with A2x), and the SAW conversion 6944SE upper. The SAW upper is a good bit more accurate than the other two. https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/284805/315AB4AA-7DD3-47F1-BC87-39F47F3613A4_jpe-1276846.JPG View Quote |
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[#23]
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[#24]
Quoted: Probably...although I had considered it may have been attributable to barrel but torque. View Quote |
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[#25]
Quoted: I did read somewhere, some time ago, about the barrel being torqued to a point where accuracy was going to improve. It was a video done by a pretty well respected individual in the firearms community. He also used a bedding compound, if my memory serves me correctly, to fill any play or movement in the fitment of the barrel. Its worth a look to see if the video is still out there... View Quote |
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[#26]
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[#27]
My guns aren’t there to win beauty contests. They are tools.
Not that you’d notice an A2X or the lack of a crush washer while you’re shooting the bloody things... |
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[#28]
Quoted:
My guns aren’t there to win beauty contests. They are tools. Not that you’d notice an A2X or the lack of a crush washer while you’re shooting the bloody things... View Quote You can’t possibly notice the stampings while shooting the bloody thing. IMO, a lot of the value in what SAW charges to do that service is how the finished product looks, if it wasn’t there are much cheaper options for a quality job. |
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[#29]
Quoted:
But you paid a premium for a service that includes restamping barrel markings that looks “factory”. You can’t possibly notice the stampings while shooting the bloody thing. IMO, a lot of the value in what SAW charges to do that service is how the finished product looks, if it wasn’t there are much cheaper options for a quality job. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
Quoted:
My guns aren’t there to win beauty contests. They are tools. Not that you’d notice an A2X or the lack of a crush washer while you’re shooting the bloody things... You can’t possibly notice the stampings while shooting the bloody thing. IMO, a lot of the value in what SAW charges to do that service is how the finished product looks, if it wasn’t there are much cheaper options for a quality job. Depending on what model of Colt you got you paid somewhere between $800 and $1500 for your weapon. If you have quality optics and not some Chinesium junk you probably paid $500+ for your optic. If you use or train with the weapon with any regularity you're burning through hundreds of dollars of 5.56. Probably paid a couple hundred just for a decent stash of magazines. A quality weaponlight for it like a Surefire M600DF or Cloud OWL will run you $200-350. If you do anything with night vision you probably have an active aiming solution that cost $800+. $150 for probably one of the most knowledgeable Colt guys in the world to go over your rifle with a fine-toothed comb and make it purr and get its reliability to probably about the most bulletproof it can get, with work that will last the life of most of the major parts, though? Man, that's just too exorbitant. Pistoleros wouldn't blink at spending $150 to have Langdon go over their Beretta 92, or Grayguns go over their P226, or Wilson go over their 1911, and rightly so, they do damn good work. I would look at SAW the same way. |
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[#30]
Quoted:
IMO the "price" line of reasoning is asinine. Depending on what model of Colt you got you paid somewhere between $800 and $1500 for your weapon. If you have quality optics and not some Chinesium junk you probably paid $500+ for your optic. If you use or train with the weapon with any regularity you're burning through hundreds of dollars of 5.56. Probably paid a couple hundred just for a decent stash of magazines. A quality weaponlight for it like a Surefire M600DF or Cloud OWL will run you $200-350. If you do anything with night vision you probably have an active aiming solution that cost $800+. $150 for probably one of the most knowledgeable Colt guys in the world to go over your rifle with a fine-toothed comb and make it purr and get its reliability to probably about the most bulletproof it can get, with work that will last the life of most of the major parts, though? Man, that's just too exorbitant. Pistoleros wouldn't blink at spending $150 to have Langdon go over their Beretta 92, or Grayguns go over their P226, or Wilson go over their 1911, and rightly so, they do damn good work. I would look at SAW the same way. View Quote |
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[#33]
I think SA designed their muzzle device so it can be used for 14.5” or chopped 16” - one device for either job. I guess they figured that a lot of people have 16” LE6920s but they also wanted to cater to people who buy a 14.5” barrel and want to make it non-NFA. I think it would make sense if they could cut a 16” to 14.7” and just pin a regular A2 with crush washer. They might be willing to do that but just don’t advertise it.
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[#34]
Quoted:
I think SA designed their muzzle device so it can be used for 14.5” or chopped 16” - one device for either job. I guess they figured that a lot of people have 16” LE6920s but they also wanted to cater to people who buy a 14.5” barrel and want to make it non-NFA. I think it would make sense if they could cut a 16” to 14.7” and just pin a regular A2 with crush washer. They might be willing to do that but just don’t advertise it. View Quote Cheers |
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[#35]
Ken does the flash hider on the P&W the way he does because he likes the way it looks.
He says that it's all parkerized together and he wouldn't be happy with it if the crush washer didn't match. I told him it looked like absolute shit but he didn't want to hear it. As far as quality of work? They build a better Colt than Colt does. I would prefer SAW to assemble a pile of Colt parts than Colt. |
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[#36]
I had some lower work done by them about 5 years ago on a 1995ish AR-15A3 lower.. Two tasks.
1st task was to stake the castle nut. While he did a good job on a technical level, it didn't look like the factory looking staking job that I was lead to believe it was going to be. Second was to drill the lower for a captive pivot pin. The parts required were supposed to be part of the price, but they were not installed, and emails went unanswered. Overall, work was ok but didn't justify the premium. |
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[#37]
I have purchased several 6920's from SA and had two other SBR's built by Ken. His craftsmanship is impeccable and spot on. When I buy Colt parts from SA you know they parts are pristine and true to spec. SA is the Porsche dealership of AR15's. I will always buy my Colt parts from SA. I have been shopping there for over seven years. No one knows how an AR15 works like Ken and his wife. The Reliability Package works for me all my AR's have them. I use USGI magazines with Ken's Red Spring's in them and all these components keep the rifle working. I do not work for Ken but there are old article on the web that talk about the RP. H2 Buffer, Opens the gas port, Type one Colt hammer, works on the FSB, adds his green "O" ring to the BCG, puts a Colt spring in the ejector, just to name a few. He will return emails maybe quickly, maybe slowly. Most of his work id for the Military and small portion is the civilian market. But he has always been kind and nice to me.
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[#38]
I've ordered some small parts from the website and had no issues.
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