So Midwest Industries has discontinued their keymod rail covers. I was worried about this when that study showing mlok is stronger came out. Ummmm? I hope this isnt the trend. I still have a bunch of key mod firearms
- Thread starter MikeInUtah
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I feel like keymod has been on the way out for a while now, and when that report was released comparing M-Lok to Keymod, that really put the nail in the coffin. If I were you, I'd start offloading those accessories now.
The only rails and mounts I've ever seen pulled out/off of guns have all been keymod. Terrible design IMO.
I'm sure a lot of companies will continue to offer keymod acc's due to how many keymod rail are out there. Sure some will be discontinued and down the road there probably won't be as many options, but you'll still be able to find stuff.
Good luck selling off keymod rails and acc's, you can hardly give the stuff away.
I'm sure a lot of companies will continue to offer keymod acc's due to how many keymod rail are out there. Sure some will be discontinued and down the road there probably won't be as many options, but you'll still be able to find stuff.
Good luck selling off keymod rails and acc's, you can hardly give the stuff away.
Thank God! Who wants their handguard to look like the shelving from Home Depot?? 
?
Whos gunna tell AI all their new AX rifles mounting system sucks?
Personally i like keymod better. Can integrate QD point in the circle part of every key, easier to put on. If the standard was like AI's keys with the divot at the top of the key it helps secure. Ive never seen a keymod come off.
Personally i like keymod better. Can integrate QD point in the circle part of every key, easier to put on. If the standard was like AI's keys with the divot at the top of the key it helps secure. Ive never seen a keymod come off.
Accuracy International's system is KeySlot, not KeyMod, the two are totally incompatible. The dimensions and geometry of the KeySlot is different from KeyMod and in my experience KeySlot has a better lock up with better resistance to vibration and loosening. There's also more meat around a KeySlot opening so I imagine that with the one piece screw, different geometery, and additional material it would take some serious doing to get a KeySlot to rail to pull out.
Bummer, I hadn’t heard this yet. And of course I standardized all my rails a little while back and chose keymod. That’s how it always goes, haha.
I don’t plan on changing mine either. I’m not kicking in doors and that’s a lot of $ to swap them. Now, if I ever actually experience one break I might change my mind.
I don’t plan on changing mine either. I’m not kicking in doors and that’s a lot of $ to swap them. Now, if I ever actually experience one break I might change my mind.
This, the keyslot has a good bit more surface area. Never seen one pull out.
Yep. Another thing most people don't know is that keyslot was actually developed by AI several years before VLTOR/Noveske ripped off the design. There's AI products going back to early 2009 that integrated key slot, I had a rifle made by AI for a military upgrade solicitation from 2009 which had a prototype AI chassis. Dating the timeline and when the products first started appearing in prototype form it means that AI designed the keyslot no later than 2008, which is 3-4 years before the keymod came about.
Kinda funny that keymod was ripped off from AI and changed just enough and ended up being a shitty design. Karma.
Good to know. Visually they look so close at a glance that most assume they are the same.
Its not a terrible design and works as intended. Some newer designs may be better but doesn't discount its purpose. I'm sure the rails and mounts you have ever seen pulled off guns are they want the latest and greatest. Not that they suffered failure.
Thank you for that! I honestly didn't know it had a whole different name. Just assumed it was AIs improved take on the keymod. If AIs keyslot was the keymod standard im not sure the mloc/keymod debate would be an easy one.
Keymod is inferior to Mlok, but if you have a bunch of it, and you are happy with it, you'd be foolish to replace it at this point. Just don't keep buying more of it. I had one keymod firearm, very early on, and it was fine for its use. I just didn't buy keymod for my next gun, and when I sold the original gun, my keymod stuff went with it.
I like M-Lok better, had stuff work lose with KeyMod.
The only cool thing I've seen with keymod was Bootleg integrated Picatinny with Keymod on the rail, really cool, can't be done with M-Lok
The only cool thing I've seen with keymod was Bootleg integrated Picatinny with Keymod on the rail, really cool, can't be done with M-Lok
Eric,
I've had two keymod failures before. That being said, these failures were on the original KMR rails made from magnesium alloy that were known to be softer than regular aluminum. The failures involved a polymer BCM keymod rail and at first I noticed that when the rail was tightened down, the keymod foot would have an almost shearing effect to the keymod slot and deform the surface of the rail. This was unslightly and disappointing but beyond that it appeared to still function ok. The two pull through failures that I had involved a bad BCM polymer rail where the foot was able to rotate backwards inside the slot while being tightened, which would open up the slot and allow the foot to be pulled through. To BCM's credit they took care of the issue and sent me two aluminum KMR's with additional store credit that I put towards aluminum keymod rail sections that have been working out just fine since.
I've noticed that some BCM accessories use a one piece, conical keymod screw that I would liken to the AI keyslot feet. I've seen this style of foot on a light mount and foregrip, which in my experience works a lot better than the standard two piece screw and foot combination. The one piece conical foot doesn't seem to deform the slot at all and holds torque a lot better.
I've had two keymod failures before. That being said, these failures were on the original KMR rails made from magnesium alloy that were known to be softer than regular aluminum. The failures involved a polymer BCM keymod rail and at first I noticed that when the rail was tightened down, the keymod foot would have an almost shearing effect to the keymod slot and deform the surface of the rail. This was unslightly and disappointing but beyond that it appeared to still function ok. The two pull through failures that I had involved a bad BCM polymer rail where the foot was able to rotate backwards inside the slot while being tightened, which would open up the slot and allow the foot to be pulled through. To BCM's credit they took care of the issue and sent me two aluminum KMR's with additional store credit that I put towards aluminum keymod rail sections that have been working out just fine since.
I've noticed that some BCM accessories use a one piece, conical keymod screw that I would liken to the AI keyslot feet. I've seen this style of foot on a light mount and foregrip, which in my experience works a lot better than the standard two piece screw and foot combination. The one piece conical foot doesn't seem to deform the slot at all and holds torque a lot better.
Some of the replies in this thread are hilarious. Give me a fucking break. I have had and currrentky own both. Could give two shits less which one to use. Is mlok slightly stronger? Yea probably. Is keymod a “shitty” design? No. You want super strong? Go back to mounting on 1913 pic rail.
I'm sort of in this camp too, I still use KeyMod rails and I think if you use aluminum accessories on an aluminum rail you'll be good to go. I use blue Loctite on the accessory mounting screws just like I would on scope bases and some other accessories and haven't had any issues with them coming loose. I agree that MLok probably is stronger but most mortal people are not going to get either system to failure like it was done in that test, so I'm going to stick with KeyMod for the time being.
I have had a keymod accessory loosen. I have a qd flush cup installed on my RPR that employs a single keymod slot. I was able to install it backwards and it pulled out under stress on the sling. Installing it correctly makes it more solid, but the screw on this one attachment seems to want to walk when I put a bunch of load on the sling. I don't think this is the fault of keymod per se, rather the use of a single slot is a poor design choice because the sling pressure is offset from the clamping force. If it used 2 slots the attachment would not be an issue.
Keymod is easier to use and I think a well designed accessory should not be an issue. M-loc makes for a more streamlined look to a stock, but can be a pain to install. With the amount of stuff I'm hanging from my handguards (minimal), I'll not be replacing one with the other. There are plenty of keymod accessories on the market and I don't think it's going Betamax anytime soon. All told, I think the m-loc v keymod "war" is much ado about nothing.
When Mlok came out I thought it was a new hype to get people to spend money on more stuff. I didn’t make the switch from keymod. Then I had a bipod rail pull out that was most certainly not over tightened or abused. Then I saw more people have this same issue. Just again in June at the Woodys PRS match a shooter on my squad had a bipod rail pull through his Seekins keymod forend on his RPR.
Yep, this is all fictional and there’s nothing wrong with keymod. You keep telling yourself that.
Keymod is probably fine for most stuff, but bipod rails most certainly cause an issue and the last time I checked this is a precision rifle forum and most rifles have bipods.
I didn’t rush out and switch all my stuff over to Mlok, I still have some keymod, but I have not and will not purchase any more keymod going forward.
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