KAC just wants govt contracts. See we, 'the peasant consumers' dont pay enough and want warranty claims handled, whereas Uncle Sam just buys a new one.
At this point you are not really competing because you cannot get product to the market.... Your cans are everywhere, great, but you can't get a 13.7 or 11. 5 inch rifle to market if your life depended upon it.... Your only big gov't contract is the UK....for the 13.7 rifle and USSS for the upper (11.5)....other than that you have no major contracts....... Sounds like a labor and staffing issue.....
They do have a few other major contracts. They're still supplying M110s to a few countries including the US, they still supply the rails for the M4A1, and they also still produce NT4's for the USMC. But other than these long term contracts that they should basically have under control they really don't have any major contracts for the SR15/16. I don't understand it. They could make so much money if they wanted to. I'd love to have a KS1 but I simply cannot get one and I'm not paying absurd boomer prices for one either. i'd pay MSRP but not the "I know what I got sonny" fee.
@@armorers_wrench Correct, The M110 program has always been going on so it shouldn't be taking away from the SR/KS program, especially since the upper did not change all that much, they are already putting out the upper receivers with the "notch," and the URX 6 system is just the old system sans a QD.... Correct, the NT4 suppressors legacy and new are not an issue.... The UK L403A1 program must be really setting them back.....
Insiders at knights have said it’s a miserable place to work full of nepotism and undermining. Doesn’t surprise me that they can’t get anything out if they can’t manage properly.
In 2021 you could find SR-15 uppers everywhere, and people complained about price. When they’re no longer available for a couple years people complain about availability.
KAC hates you. They took that title away from H&K. H&K is listening to their customers and getting their product out to them. Their customer service is improving well. LMT is another great company as well.
The difference between HK and KAC is astounding. HK has been setting up and expanding manufacturing on the other side of world in the USA to bypass German weapons export laws. Doing all of this so we can eventually have the same rifle (or as close as possible) that the German military has. Meanwhile, KAC is a nearly 50 year old DOMESTIC company that’s spent its entire existence in the largest and possibly most unrestricted firearms market on the planet. Yet they can’t or won’t get rifles on shelves for the civilian market. I don’t know if I’ve ever walked into a gun shop that didn’t have multiple HK firearms on the shelf. I have never seen a single KAC firearm on a shelf.
@@PatrickHenry-t1sGeissele got the sniper variant. The shorter rifle is still up in the air. Only the US military is dumb enough to have two different manufactures build essentially the same gun. To my knowledge, only LMT and Geissele are left.
@@notme3184 Geissele will probably win that. Honestly, Geissele is a top tier manufacturer now. Maybe not in terms of volume but their guns shoot. I have two Geissele setups and both are able to shoot a legit 1moa or even slightly sub moa 10 shot group with a CHF CL barrel. Despite claims from the industry marketing bros there are not many cold hammer forged/chrome lined barrels that can get that kind of accuracy with a 10 shot group. Literally none of my other ones will do that and I have a lot of good barrels. Everything from DD to Criterion and BCM and a few others I've tried over the years. Centurion is another one that seems to be pretty good but I don't own one of those so I can't actually speak to it personally.
They just don’t care because of the contracts and people still pay five times the amount they should for an AR so they don’t need to produce a bunch. People need to stop buying their shit and force them to lower prices.
As others have pointed out they don't even have very many contracts. They have a lot of legacy contracts that should be easy for them to fulfill without detracting from their more modern rifles/suppressors. Then they have a secret service contract and the new British Army Ranger 13.7 and neither of those contracts should prevent them from selling rifles on the commercial market. Just compare them to Geissele. Geissele has multiple contracts with SOCOM and law enforcement agencies yet they have no problem selling rifles on the commercial market. Something is wrong at KAC.
Innovation isn't the problem with KAC. They do innovate. They just can't seem to manufacture a large enough volume of rifles to even attempt to satiate demand in the commercial market. I guess they're just allergic to money or something.
I wish my dad started a firearms company I could inherit :( Nooooo...he had to go into Microwave and RF passive components that requires 6 years of college and 50 years of experience to even start to understand wtf is going on. Thanks for being smarter than me...dad.
Knights Armament is an awesome company. But availability has got to be hurting they’re sales. I mean I thought the point of starting a business is to make a profit? And I’m not saying for them to flood the market with Knights products, just make them more obtainable. At least make enough to kill the secondary market.
Anytime their stuff comes in stock, it sells out instantly. If they had the ability to snap their fingers and instantly increased their production capability without any risks, their stuff would still probably sell instantly. KAC is not an American citizen oriented company. They sell to the big spenders - governments. And they're doing real well in that sphere.
@@Merk21 All your stock selling out instantly is not a sign of good business if your releases are highly irregular. The citizen-oriented companies seem to be doing much better frankly. Estimates seem to peg KAC's annual revenue at $50 million with a couple hundred employees. Their inability to scale up manufacturing is hampering their ability to win bigger contracts. A couple hundred pr even thousands rifles here or there to spec ops is peanuts compared to 100,000 Sig XM7s or 300,000 FN M4s.
Sig, HK, and FN all have robust civilian and military wings that seem to actually complement each other logistically. Those companies all managed to scale up, and so did the likes of Daniel Defense, Geissele, and BCM. Sure, subcontracting smaller parts can risk quality sometimes, but pathological avoidance of it and doing everything in-house becomes bad business practices at some point, perhaps suggesting a lack of competence to manage suppliers effectively
The governments pay 2-3x what we pay for the same everything ,pistols,rifle, optics, armor. Why would I sell you a gun for 3k when I’m getting 10k for the same rifle from the government. Just listen to the guy at 4:30.
As much as I love my SR-15, I also can't ignore Knights disregard for the everyday American. The scarcity and MSRP, while catering to the government is a slap in the face. That's okay though. Those contracts will dry due to the emerging Daniel Defense, Geissele, etc. Then Knights products will be plentiful. They'll introduce some silly 9mm pistol in an attempt to lure us in. With DD, Geissele, Centurion Arms, SOLGW, Forward Controls Design, Noveske available, who needs Knights Armament?
Don’t waste time on knights it now mid and over priced. Plus it’s never in stock. Your better off going LMT they at least send out rifles to the gen pop
Idk I think the kac hype train is going to die off lmt is starting to take over and about to win a major contract for DMR rifles it’s just them and geislee l compiting for that contract
Screw Knights. Good quality stuff but way too expensive, hardly ever available, highly overrated and sorry but there's many companies that have surpassed them. LMT is Better for sure. FN is equal if not better. POF, PWS, SIG, etc... To hear the rubbish that comes outta this company, just buy other brands. What's soooooo legendary about this company? One quad rail, one DMR .308 rifle, and a bolt carrier. All nice products but get fucked. A bunch of companies have high prices BUT AT LEAST YOU CAN GET YOUR HANDS ON THEIR PRODUCTS. Sorry Knights, but your "glory" days are no more
Knights is dogshit and will always be dogshit til they have civ accessible guns, without the gucci hypebeast prices and queer paid RUclipsrs under their belt. Get a Daniel defense. Cheaper, every half decent gun shop has them in stock, and you should be able to afford that much easier compared to the same thing with gay aura behind it.
Pointless to watch, you can’t get them anywhere unless you are an influencer. Well I guess you can at insane prices from scalpers. It was easier to get an HK even before they started making them in the states.
Laughable to think of walking into a gun store see a complete KAC rifle. If you have nothing better to do than stake out for online drops you can get an upper haha.
@@ARBuildJunkie admittedly is was meant to be a somewhat tongue and cheek poke at the endless Stoner worship when talking about the platform. Seems it didn't go over too well 😃. Sure he had an impact on the firearm world, I'm not denying that, but no need to bring the guy up every freaking time there's a conversation about platform. It like with 10mm, you know there will be a comment about Cooper, the F.B.I, and bears. And, for 1911's there will be a comment about Browning, .45 acp, two world wars, and fudds. And, for ARs there will always be a comment about Stoner. My 2 cents.
@@jparker9957 Fair enough :) but I'm sure you're aware Stoner worked directly with KAC, and the KAC museum that this guy interviewed literally grew up in is filled with Stoner's actual prototypes, etc.
A lot of words to say we have nothing new
KAC just wants govt contracts. See we, 'the peasant consumers' dont pay enough and want warranty claims handled, whereas Uncle Sam just buys a new one.
They're America's HK
I've lived near Titusville for over a decade and I've never, ever seen a KAC for sale except for nosebleed type money on the 2nd hand market.
Their store, Lawmans, frequently has them in stock FYI.
Next time you see Trey ask him if he's allergic to money or what the deal is.
What's available, is that a joke? KAC is never a consideration because they are never in stock.
Also their bolts and barrel Extension are proprietary.
At this point you are not really competing because you cannot get product to the market.... Your cans are everywhere, great, but you can't get a 13.7 or 11. 5 inch rifle to market if your life depended upon it.... Your only big gov't contract is the UK....for the 13.7 rifle and USSS for the upper (11.5)....other than that you have no major contracts....... Sounds like a labor and staffing issue.....
They do have a few other major contracts. They're still supplying M110s to a few countries including the US, they still supply the rails for the M4A1, and they also still produce NT4's for the USMC. But other than these long term contracts that they should basically have under control they really don't have any major contracts for the SR15/16.
I don't understand it. They could make so much money if they wanted to. I'd love to have a KS1 but I simply cannot get one and I'm not paying absurd boomer prices for one either. i'd pay MSRP but not the "I know what I got sonny" fee.
@@armorers_wrench Correct, The M110 program has always been going on so it shouldn't be taking away from the SR/KS program, especially since the upper did not change all that much, they are already putting out the upper receivers with the "notch," and the URX 6 system is just the old system sans a QD.... Correct, the NT4 suppressors legacy and new are not an issue.... The UK L403A1 program must be really setting them back.....
Insiders at knights have said it’s a miserable place to work full of nepotism and undermining. Doesn’t surprise me that they can’t get anything out if they can’t manage properly.
KAC doesn’t chase the market. If you want a company that chases the next best thing stick with PSA.
@@19840bdid that comment about someone speaking the truth about knights hurt you…. Poor little guy you’ll be okay
Wait so it’s been a year and the KS series still isn’t available?! Wtf KAC
Government money pays more brother….
Without the government contracts they would be nothing…. Moving on.
You think you were going to see them a year later in stores when it was designed for a mil contract?
In 2021 you could find SR-15 uppers everywhere, and people complained about price. When they’re no longer available for a couple years people complain about availability.
@@methanesprings4085 kinda like HK
Troy Knight is a pimp! Love your gear.
I’m not gonna name names …
Proceeds to name names.
Great job.
This guy looks like a Far Cry character
😂
That or Bradley Cooper's character in War Dogs
Or almost like if the Russian dude from Iron Man 2 stole Tony Stark’s glasses lol
Cocaine is a hell of a drug
more like the millionaire uncle that does coke and has a different girlfriend he brings to the family gathering each year
Great work.
KAC hates you. They took that title away from H&K. H&K is listening to their customers and getting their product out to them.
Their customer service is improving well. LMT is another great company as well.
The difference between HK and KAC is astounding.
HK has been setting up and expanding manufacturing on the other side of world in the USA to bypass German weapons export laws. Doing all of this so we can eventually have the same rifle (or as close as possible) that the German military has.
Meanwhile, KAC is a nearly 50 year old DOMESTIC company that’s spent its entire existence in the largest and possibly most unrestricted firearms market on the planet. Yet they can’t or won’t get rifles on shelves for the civilian market.
I don’t know if I’ve ever walked into a gun shop that didn’t have multiple HK firearms on the shelf. I have never seen a single KAC firearm on a shelf.
Commercial market…😂Hahahahahhaha where? I’ve never seen one. What a Bullsh@t company not supporting civilian shooters.
Great company. Great products.
That's a lot of words just to say "we refuse to innovate and I'm stressed because Sig and LMT are about to rip away the last contracts that KAC has."
what contracts is LMT winning, it's just SIG
They don't need to innovate when product is perpetually sold out and unavailable to anyone because governments buy it all.
@@medieval_flail The new 6.5 DMR trials, KAC is being replaced. MRGG-A
@@PatrickHenry-t1sGeissele got the sniper variant. The shorter rifle is still up in the air. Only the US military is dumb enough to have two different manufactures build essentially the same gun. To my knowledge, only LMT and Geissele are left.
@@notme3184 Geissele will probably win that. Honestly, Geissele is a top tier manufacturer now. Maybe not in terms of volume but their guns shoot. I have two Geissele setups and both are able to shoot a legit 1moa or even slightly sub moa 10 shot group with a CHF CL barrel. Despite claims from the industry marketing bros there are not many cold hammer forged/chrome lined barrels that can get that kind of accuracy with a 10 shot group. Literally none of my other ones will do that and I have a lot of good barrels. Everything from DD to Criterion and BCM and a few others I've tried over the years. Centurion is another one that seems to be pretty good but I don't own one of those so I can't actually speak to it personally.
They just don’t care because of the contracts and people still pay five times the amount they should for an AR so they don’t need to produce a bunch. People need to stop buying their shit and force them to lower prices.
@@ryanfield4966 yup KAC aftermarket is ridiculous
As others have pointed out they don't even have very many contracts. They have a lot of legacy contracts that should be easy for them to fulfill without detracting from their more modern rifles/suppressors. Then they have a secret service contract and the new British Army Ranger 13.7 and neither of those contracts should prevent them from selling rifles on the commercial market. Just compare them to Geissele. Geissele has multiple contracts with SOCOM and law enforcement agencies yet they have no problem selling rifles on the commercial market. Something is wrong at KAC.
How come you guys didn’t compete for the NGSW?
I didnt ask them that :)
How the mighty have fallen in the midst of a lack of innovation and adaptability?
Innovation isn't the problem with KAC. They do innovate. They just can't seem to manufacture a large enough volume of rifles to even attempt to satiate demand in the commercial market. I guess they're just allergic to money or something.
@@armorers_wrench It's like Hodge Defense, make kickass stuff just literally no interest in scaling for more production capability.
Must be some good blow floatin round Vegas 🤔
Bunch of words
😂
Watching this guy at 2.0 speed is awesome
Yep I agree consumers not cannot get this product so I don't know why you're in business
You’re not their targeted market.
as someone who lives in the state they are made, ive never even seen one in person, which is why im a LMT lover. better overall rifle imo tbh
Reed Knight is almost as big a clown as Kevin Brittingham, but for entirely different reasons.
Mark 23 suppressors would be cool
Start selling direct so we can stop the price gauging!
I wish my dad started a firearms company I could inherit :( Nooooo...he had to go into Microwave and RF passive components that requires 6 years of college and 50 years of experience to even start to understand wtf is going on. Thanks for being smarter than me...dad.
Sucks to be you
Knights Armament is an awesome company. But availability has got to be hurting they’re sales. I mean I thought the point of starting a business is to make a profit? And I’m not saying for them to flood the market with Knights products, just make them more obtainable. At least make enough to kill the secondary market.
Anytime their stuff comes in stock, it sells out instantly. If they had the ability to snap their fingers and instantly increased their production capability without any risks, their stuff would still probably sell instantly. KAC is not an American citizen oriented company. They sell to the big spenders - governments. And they're doing real well in that sphere.
@@Merk21 All your stock selling out instantly is not a sign of good business if your releases are highly irregular. The citizen-oriented companies seem to be doing much better frankly. Estimates seem to peg KAC's annual revenue at $50 million with a couple hundred employees. Their inability to scale up manufacturing is hampering their ability to win bigger contracts. A couple hundred pr even thousands rifles here or there to spec ops is peanuts compared to 100,000 Sig XM7s or 300,000 FN M4s.
Sig, HK, and FN all have robust civilian and military wings that seem to actually complement each other logistically. Those companies all managed to scale up, and so did the likes of Daniel Defense, Geissele, and BCM. Sure, subcontracting smaller parts can risk quality sometimes, but pathological avoidance of it and doing everything in-house becomes bad business practices at some point, perhaps suggesting a lack of competence to manage suppliers effectively
Trey the longer these rifles take.. The more of my money LMT is gonna get...
LMT qc is in the shitter rn. I hope they course correct.
The governments pay 2-3x what we pay for the same everything ,pistols,rifle, optics, armor. Why would I sell you a gun for 3k when I’m getting 10k for the same rifle from the government. Just listen to the guy at 4:30.
In the US that is not true. You cannot sell to the civ market cheaper than what you sell it to the government for.
As much as I love my SR-15, I also can't ignore Knights disregard for the everyday American.
The scarcity and MSRP, while catering to the government is a slap in the face.
That's okay though. Those contracts will dry due to the emerging Daniel Defense, Geissele, etc. Then Knights products will be plentiful. They'll introduce some silly 9mm pistol in an attempt to lure us in.
With DD, Geissele, Centurion Arms, SOLGW, Forward Controls Design, Noveske available, who needs Knights Armament?
Kac No Doubt laugh their asses off of people are spending two grand for thier suppressor and God knows how much for uppers
their suppressors are glorified blast diverters too, loud as fuck
Great interview. Love the eccentrics in this field. Reed, Kevin, Mark, etc. They add a lot to the industry, crazy as they can be at times.
I have been wondering about knights and HK. Everyone wants an sig or a urgi these days..
So still no estimated release date for the civilian market
Great product, but no one can get anything from KAC. I have not seen much of anything in stock.
You know a company's languishing when they have no new products or innovations and most of the video is of the spokesperson and not the weapons...
Who hired Captain Barbosa to work for Knights Armament?!
That dude's last name is Knight -- he doesn't work for Knight's - his dad and grandad founded the company
@ lol, i know who he is. He just looks like a hobo pirate
Don’t waste time on knights it now mid and over priced. Plus it’s never in stock. Your better off going LMT they at least send out rifles to the gen pop
Idk I think the kac hype train is going to die off lmt is starting to take over and about to win a major contract for DMR rifles it’s just them and geislee l compiting for that contract
Bring back MK23 suppressors
That grip is cheap. What a way to save money on an over priced rifle.
Screw Knights. Good quality stuff but way too expensive, hardly ever available, highly overrated and sorry but there's many companies that have surpassed them. LMT is Better for sure. FN is equal if not better. POF, PWS, SIG, etc... To hear the rubbish that comes outta this company, just buy other brands. What's soooooo legendary about this company? One quad rail, one DMR .308 rifle, and a bolt carrier. All nice products but get fucked. A bunch of companies have high prices BUT AT LEAST YOU CAN GET YOUR HANDS ON THEIR PRODUCTS. Sorry Knights, but your "glory" days are no more
Knights is dogshit and will always be dogshit til they have civ accessible guns, without the gucci hypebeast prices and queer paid RUclipsrs under their belt. Get a Daniel defense. Cheaper, every half decent gun shop has them in stock, and you should be able to afford that much easier compared to the same thing with gay aura behind it.
DD’s are over gassed and have shit triggers tho. For the same price as a DD you can get a Blackout Defense that’s better in virtually every way.
@@Shirou8492get an LWRC instead
@@Shirou8492 blackout defense? You want me to use that garbage? DD comes stock with geissele trigger? Take your poverty comment elsewhere please.
Geissele / DD / BCM all great options in my opinion. I have friends that have Knights as well they are pretty sweet.
@@CryePantsDom lol what?
Pointless to watch, you can’t get them anywhere unless you are an influencer. Well I guess you can at insane prices from scalpers. It was easier to get an HK even before they started making them in the states.
Laughable to think of walking into a gun store see a complete KAC rifle. If you have nothing better to do than stake out for online drops you can get an upper haha.
God I love knights. One day I'll own a rifle from them, one day!!!
Shall we go “into the weeds”…..
Just buy LMT, geissele, FN, griffin Armament, PWS etc... Don't give these clowns any of your money cuz they could give a shit less about you
He’s definitely not sober
he was sober.
Got it, I'll take my money elsewhere.
Will never be available lol.
Blahhhhhh
I don't understand the hype around KAC or why people evangelize Eugene Stoner.
evangelize Eugene Stoner...what do you mean, exactly? You realize his impact on the firearms world, yeah? Please explain.
@@ARBuildJunkie admittedly is was meant to be a somewhat tongue and cheek poke at the endless Stoner worship when talking about the platform. Seems it didn't go over too well 😃. Sure he had an impact on the firearm world, I'm not denying that, but no need to bring the guy up every freaking time there's a conversation about platform. It like with 10mm, you know there will be a comment about Cooper, the F.B.I, and bears. And, for 1911's there will be a comment about Browning, .45 acp, two world wars, and fudds. And, for ARs there will always be a comment about Stoner. My 2 cents.
@@jparker9957 Fair enough :) but I'm sure you're aware Stoner worked directly with KAC, and the KAC museum that this guy interviewed literally grew up in is filled with Stoner's actual prototypes, etc.