Sabre Defense built Rolex-quality ARs and M16s for the federal government, but got shut down by the Feds when they ignored laws.
Sabre Defence Industries, LLC, was raided in 2010 by the BATF, which in 2011 indicted the company owner and four company officials on charges related to unauthorized exports of AR-15 parts to the sister company Sabre Defence Industries Inc. in the United Kingdom, and importing suppressors from Finland without the appropriate permits.
The company was an American manufacturer of firearms and firearm parts and accessories. It was contracted by the United States armed forces for parts and mounts for the M2 Browning machine gun and Minigun. In addition to its government contracts, it produced the XR15, non-standard M4 Carbines, and non-standard M16A4s, and was for some time an importer for Sphinx Systems.
The four officials have pleaded guilty to violating the appropriate laws. SDI’s assets were bought by Manroy USA for $4.95 million in a bankruptcy court sale.
Its website now lists the company as out of business as of March 2013.
In January 2016, all assets and intellectual properties of Sabre Defence Industries and Manroy USA were purchased by New Empire Industries and relocated to Lincoln, NE.
4 with Nashville arms firm plead guilty
The following was published by UPI.
NASHVILLE, March 29 (UPI) — Four U.S. executives have admitted violating the Arms Export Control Act and agreed to testify against their company’s British owner, prosecutors say.
The four were all officers with Sabre Defence Industries LLC, which was based in Nashville, Tenn. The owner of the company, Guy Savage, 42, is fighting extradition from Britain, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
At a hearing Monday, all four pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States and to violating the arms export law, which regulates international sales of military equipment. The defendants include Charles Shearon, 55, of Ashland City, Tenn., the former president; Chief Financial Officer Elmer Hill, 64, of Brentwood, Tenn.; Director of Marketing and Sales Michael Curlett, 44, of Hermitage, Tenn.; and International Shipping and Purchasing Manager Arnold See Jr., 54, of Antioch, Tenn.
Prosecutors said the company also imported silencers from Finland without permits, The (Nashville) Tennessean reported. They described the company’s books as a work of fiction, including invoices from “fairyland.”
At the hearing, prosecutors said some of the arms illegally exported from Tennessee ended up in the Middle East. But Shearon’s lawyer, Glenn Funk, said everything shipped from Nashville went to Britain.
A year prior to Sabre Defense going down in flames, the author did a factory tour and wrote a magazine article about their XR15 rifle. This article appeared in Tactical Life.
Sabre Defense had a meteoric rise between 2006 and 2010. Their military contracts had them building more than 8,000 M16 rifles for the U.S. military each year. All that success led them to expand into law enforcement and civilian rifles. At the outset of their commercial civilian push, a company principal called on Massad Ayoob to design the perfect rifle for police use.
Noted gun scribe, Mike Detty, wrote in the Police Law Enforcement Solutions website November 1, 2006, about the Massad Ayoob rifle.
Sabre Defence XR15A3 Massad Ayoob Elite Rifle
Prolific firearms writer, weapons instructor, and law enforcement officer Massad Ayoob has spent his professional career analyzing the dynamics of police work. Now Sabre Defence, a relatively new manufacturer of AR-15-style weapons, has introduced the Massad Ayoob XR15A3 Elite Rifle. Built in collaboration with the famed expert, the carbine has all of the features that savvy law enforcement officers need and want.
At their release, the Massad Ayoob rifles sold for $2,929, which was pretty steep for an AR-pattern rifle. Noted gun experts claimed that “if Rolex made ARs, they would look like Sabre Defense rifles.”
From a gun collector’s standpoint, a Sabre Defense rifle will probably command a premium in years to come. The author was very impressed with the XR15 he tested. Following is the text from the article published in Tactical Life.
MIL-SPEC Sabre Steel
SABRE DEFENCE: THE PURSUIT OF PERFECTION
Top Pentagon contractor launches new piston-driven AR lineup for civilians
“The Competition Deluxe Piston Rifle features the same high-end accessories, but comes with a 16″, 18″ or 20″ 410 Stainless Steel medium weight, mid-length, fluted barrel and Sabre Defence ‘Gill’ muzzle brake.”
Engineering terms like “ISO 9000,” “mil-spec,” and “air gauge” don’t really exude that much marketing sizzle when some faceless advertising guru tries to hype a new firearm. But these terms and other professional argot do take on significant meaning for civilian shooters when you take a factory tour through the plant of a Pentagon arms contractor, and find that the same demands for precision and quality control are applied to their line of civilian guns as well.
I caught up with Sabre Defence Industries Director of Sales and Marketing, Mike Curlett, following the 2010 SHOT Show, and he was gracious enough to give me a factory tour of their Nashville, TN, manufacturing facility to inspect the company’s lineup of new gas-operated piston XR15 rifles.
Early in the tour I learned the true meaning of “mil-spec:” The U. S. government supplies contracted weapons manufacturers with a Technical Data Package (TDP) that specifies all of the critical dimensions for every part of a firearm. “All M16 and AR uppers and lowers are from government mil-spec forgings based upon TDP drawings,” Curlett said.
TDPs are closely guarded secrets that require tight security for reasons of national defense. The author has toured several firearms factories over the past two decades, but none were as tightly controlled as Sabre Defence. Other firearms companies building AR-type weapons, albeit quality manufacturers, without the M16 TDP, are just building retro-engineered AR clones.
One of the quality control devices employed at Sabre Defence is the air gauge, and they use it liberally. Many gun manufacturers use air gauges to check final barrel tolerances, but Curlett said that Sabre Defence employs it between each step in the 10-step AR barrel-manufacturing process.
The air gauge and other measuring devices are employed in the ISO 9000-2008 manufacturing process to check part tolerances to certify that they meet military specs. The not-so-sexy sounding process tracks every barrel made through lot numbers that are etched on the barrels early in the manufacturing process. This process identifies any problems in manufacturing, to allow quick corrections. “All the steel we use comes from the same mill so we can control quality,” Curlett added.
“‘We’re shipping 700 guns per month on the M16 contract,’ Curlett said. ‘We’re running our facility 24 hours a day and we stay backlogged.’”
All this attention to detail helped Sabre Defence win nine military contracts as well as the contract to build the Steyr AUG for U.S. markets. And, the “perfect storm” of politics that has created a sales bonanza for AR manufacturers, has put Sabre Defence at the forefront. “We’re running four shifts a day, 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Curlett said. “Right now, we’re about six to eight months behind in filling orders.”
“It takes 90 days to make an AR barrel,” Curlett said. There are 10 steps in the manufacturing process that starts with a 10-foot long steel bar stock that is cut down to barrel lengths. In between the milling steps that remove metal from a barrel, on its way to its final dimensions, they are shipped out to a heat treating facility to relieve manufacturing-created metal stress and temper the barrel to prepare it for the next step in the milling process.
Constant Quality Control
Augmenting the quality control process, engineers run the various parts through their measurement lab. Using a Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM), each critical part is measured on an automated device that assures all parts fall within spec. “The Coordinate Measuring Machine is capable of measuring down to 4.5 microns, and a human hair is 100 microns wide,” Curlett said. While the author was touring the lab they were measuring a .50 caliber M2 machine gun bolt with the device. “That M2 bolt has 486 critical dimensions,” Curlett explained, “and it takes 38 minutes to make each one with the CMM. By comparison, it would take a highly trained person three and a half days to measure each dimension manually.”
The most evident aspect of tight manufacturing tolerances is the XR15’s fit between the upper and lower receiver. Over the past several years the author has found that installing an accurizing wedge at the rear of the upper receiver to take up any slack between the upper and lower units helped accuracy. There’s no need for, nor room for a wedge, with an XR15. There’s absolutely no play between the two units when it’s fully assembled.
Since Sabre Defence has been so busy building standard ARs and M16s, they’ve been slow to get into the gas-piston AR business. The author wondered why such a progressive manufacturer was slow to the punch. “We waited for market demand to build for the piston guns,” Curlett explained. “We were late to the market because we were skeptical. Early piston ARs had problems with reliability. Other companies’ design had issues with bolt carrier tilt and broken operating rods. Some manufacturers staked a lug in place of the key. Bottom line, when you adapt a gas-operated bolt carrier to a piston gun you are going to have a failure.”
“We teamed up with Adams Arms and use their patent for the gas piston carrier,” Curlett continued. “We redesigned a gas block to be low profile and to be as light as possible. To add strength we pin our gas blocks instead of using screws.” To add strength to the design, a tool-steel grade IonBond Diamond Like Coating (DLC) is applied to all piston parts, including the gas block, gas plug, op rod and the bolt carrier. “The DLC has a Rockwell hardness of 70,” Curlett said, “it’s corrosion resistant and carbon doesn’t like to stick to it so it’s easy to clean.”
M4 Tactical Piston Carbine
The M4 Tactical Piston Carbines feature 14.5- and 16-inch chrome-moly vanadium alloy barrels and Samson Manufacturing Corporation free-floating quad-rail handguards. Magpul six-position buttstocks are standard on all Sabre Defence piston guns.
The new operating system features a short-stroke piston design. The trigger is single-stage mil-spec. The 16-inch barrel incorporates a gill muzzle brake, and the 14-1/2-inch barrel has a permanently attached flash hider that brings the total barrel length to 16 inches, which is minimum length for civilian use.
The overall length of the shorter version is 31 inches, and it weighs 6 pounds, 13 ounces. The 16-inch model tips the scales at 7 pounds and has an overall length of 33 inches. Both barrels have a 1-in-7-inch twist rate, which is fast enough to stabilize the heaviest weight bullets.
M5 Tactical Piston Carbine
The M5 Tactical Piston Carbine comes in two barrel lengths: a 14-1/2-inch Class 3 Chrome-Moly Vanadium alloy barrel with a 1-in-7-inch twist with a bird cage flash hider; or the 16-inch civilian version that incorporates a recoil-reducing gill muzzle brake. The Samson quad-rail handguards are longer than the M4 model’s to allow more accessory mounting options. The longer handguard adds five to 11 ounces to comparable barrel length M4s.
Competition Deluxe Piston Rifle
The Competition Deluxe Piston Rifle features the same high-end accessories, but comes with a 16″, 18″ or 20″ 410 Stainless Steel medium weight, mid-length, fluted barrel and Sabre Defence “Gill” muzzle brake.
The 16-inch version of the Competition Deluxe rifle was the one that I evaluated at the range. To get things started I punched the flip-up button on the Samson peep sights, loaded a 30-round magazine and began plinking at various rocks on the hillside 150 yards away. Five magazines later I only experienced two malfunctions. One was a Remington factory load that refused to fire, while the other was a handload. This was a pretty good test for this rifle, since I used it as my excuse to “clean up” several odd lots of factory and personally handloaded ammunition. Several rounds were even TSA-confiscated ammunition.
My previous employer, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, was the recipient of any contraband ammunition taken by the workers who checked carry-on baggage through their airline security check points at the local airport. (If it looked like a factory load, I shot it. If it looked handloaded, I pulled the bullets and tossed the powder.) The Sabre Defence gas-piston rifle passed this function test with flying colors, readily digesting a variety of oddball ammunition.
Next, I thoroughly cleaned the barrel and mounted Bushnell’s 3200 Elite 7-21X mil dot scope to the rifle with a QD mount. After the necessary adjustments, this outfit performed well.
Although I thought that this rig might have trouble stabilizing 55-grain bullets, this one had no trouble with one of my pet handloads; a 25-grain charge of AA2230 pushing a 55-grain Hornady spitzer. WWC once-fired brass and Winchester small rifle primers to ignite the charge comprised the other components for the load. A half dozen three-shot groups produced a .856-inch average, with the tightest being a .438-inch group. Five- and 10-shot groups with this load opened up predictably. The five-shot average hovered just over an inch at 1.188, and the sole 10-shot group grew to 2.017 inches.
I shot several 3-shot groups with Federal’s .223 Remington load that used a 55-grain Nosler Partition. This rifle didn’t particularly like this load, with the best group printing a 1.545-inch group.
A relative newcomer to loading 5.56mm ammo is Summitt Ammunition. They offer several bullet weights that come bulk packaged in 100-round economy-sized boxes. These are commercial reloads with mixed head stamps, but so far, I have only found all military WCC head stamps in a box of ammo, or a mixture of Federal and Remington commercial brass in others. Summitt Ammunition’s 55-grain spire point loads averaged 1.232 for five 3-shot groups, while their 77-grain Sierra Match King load fared better. Showing a definite preference for the heavier bullet, the Sabre rifle’s 1-in-8 twist barrel kept three shots in sub-MOA groups. The average was .832, with the smallest at .522.
Just for grins, I tried a cast bullet load using a 22-055 RCBS bullet I had left over from testing in another rifle. This lead 56-grain pill is a 50:50 linotype and wheel weight alloy pushed by a 16-grain charge of IMR 4198. I was a bit disappointed with the groups, which were 4.55 inches and larger. This load prints respectable groups from another AR with a 1-in-9 twist barrel, but this rifle’s 1-in-8 twist is just too fast to give optimal performance with this weight and style cast bullet. Perhaps a heavier and longer .224 cast bullet will perform better. I hope so, because cast bullets offer an economical choice for feeding 5.56mm semi-autos. All targets were shot at 100 yards.
One Standard for Mil-Spec Quality
There are two points to be made regarding Sabre Defence’s DoD contract to manufacture the M16 for the Navy and Marines: First, Sabre Defence was only the third maker to build the M16 for the Pentagon (Colt and FNH were the other two) during its 60-year tenure. Secondly, their “mil spec” tolerances were utilized throughout their entire civilian and law enforcement line-up of AR-type firearms.
The M16A3 and M16A4 contracts are just part of some nine military contracts presently held by Sabre Defence.
“We’re shipping 700 guns per month on the M16 contract,” Curlett said. “We’re running our facility 24 hours a day and we stay backlogged.”
During a recent tour, Curlett shared a tell-tale sign that quickly separates mil-spec from a non-mil-spec clone. “Take a look at the magazine well opening,” Curlett said. “It’s easy to see the squared corners in the mag well. A non-mil-spec mag well will have rounded corners. We use a broach to cut and achieve the mil-spec square corners in the mag well instead of rounded corners.”
A “broach” is an approximately six-foot long steel bar with progressive saw teeth on the corners. In one pass the broach takes progressively more metal from the forged receiver’s mag well until it reaches final dimensions. It’s a cool-looking piece of machinery, but military security protocol prohibits any photographs of machining operations or revealing of specifications for U. S. military weapons.
Another difference that may not be readily apparent; the upper and lower receivers are built on mil-spec forgings created from Technical Data Package (TDP) drawings. Compared to cast receivers, the forged product has proven to be more durable.
Although several previous AR-15-style rifle manufacturers have come and gone, Sabre Defence rifles might just become hot collectibles in years to come. They were built with utmost quality, but went down in flames and infamy.
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