Saco was indeed the company that Colt contracted with to produce the "Colt Light Rifle," which is apparently how my brain remembered the barrels were made by Colt.
They were pretty decent barrels, but Melvin had to tell Saco quite firmly that it wasn't a good idea to stack freshly-barreled actions muzzle-down on racks covered by machining chips.
There were a number of other problems during the period. The people he dealt with at the beginning (who seemed to know what they were doing) were gone within six months. But that may not have been as big a problem as it appeared at the time, since some were the guys in charge at Forbes Rifles.
Another problem was that during the Colt Light Rifle deal, Colt hired a guy whose experience was entirely in the home appliance business to take over the marketing department. I attended his first press conference at the SHOT Show, and the guy believed selling firearms was just like selling dishwashers.
It was a lot like the blind leading the deaf, which is why Colt's bankruptcy last year wasn't surprising.
