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Zealot Rifle Chassis by KMW

I won't take it personal that you're selling to the king's men before me;)

Thanks for the update and very excited about the LA version!! Looking good
 
Just letting you know that the Zealot project is alive and well.
It has been very slow and frustrating finalizing some final component supply issues.

The first supplies of components are being dedicated to satisfy existing purchase orders from early adopters of complete rifles.

To say I am dumbfounded and humbled by the number of advance rifle orders considering they could not even have one in hand to test prior to committing would be an understatement.

Some of the first Zealots that are operational in the wild.
View attachment 7937328
Photo credit to a shift at 2AM somewhere in the U.S.

Very, very fortunate that all are running well and feedback is very positive so far.

My goal is to have current commitments for complete rifle systems met by last quarter and hope to have first stand-alone chassis available on a limited basis by Nov/Dec. Caveat is that just like the last 18 months, everything can be unpredictable still.

Pricing and available preferred billet size of 7075-T6 remains crazy and variable.
Hopefully things will be stable enough to finally roll out a dedicated webpage and pricing for the Zealot-LE. by October.

I appreciate everybody's interest.

Be safe.
T.

./
Lookin forward to getting one.
 
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This speaks directly towards your integrity and commitment at being KMW!!!


"To say I am dumbfounded and humbled by the number of advance rifle orders considering they could not even have one in hand to test prior to committing would be an understatement."

PS- Still waiting on my stuff...:LOL::LOL::LOL::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::whistle::whistle:
 
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@Terry Cross do you or anyone else have a video / drawing on how the adjustable magazine well works in the LA? Curious how long it takes to go from shooting LA mag to SA (Zeus QC makes the barrel part a breeze). Thanks!
 
@Terry Cross do you or anyone else have a video / drawing on how the adjustable magazine well works in the LA? Curious how long it takes to go from shooting LA mag to SA (Zeus QC makes the barrel part a breeze). Thanks!
Good morning.
There is no provision to adjust or convert the LA magazine well from LA to SA.
Just like the Mk2 and Gen II LongSword bottom metal, the LA mag well is convertible to and from SAAMI to CIP.

./
 
Good morning.
There is no provision to adjust or convert the LA magazine well from LA to SA.
Just like the Mk2 and Gen II LongSword bottom metal, the LA mag well is convertible to and from SAAMI to CIP.

./
I see I misunderstood then. So since the LA is still in pre-production maybe you could explore how much of a headache it would be to go from LA to SA? 🤣 I'd love to go from 300 NM back to 308 Win and use mags that were actually designed for the 308 (something I do regularly). Terminus Zues LA QC user here...

BTW, there may also be a custom rifle opportunity between you and Joe if this chassis could do that. MRAD competitor...
 
. . . . maybe you could explore how much of a headache it would be to go from LA to SA? 🤣 I'd love to go from 300 NM back to 308 Win and use mags that were actually designed for the 308 (something I do regularly). Terminus Zues LA QC user here...

BTW, there may also be a custom rifle opportunity between you and Joe if this chassis could do that. MRAD competitor...
I am assuming that you would be using a Long Action receiver for both .308 Win and 300 NM?

.
 
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I am assuming that you would be using a Long Action receiver for both .308 Win and 300 NM?

.
Correct.

More specifically, I have a long action with 3 LA bolts: Lapua, Win Mag and Standard. I have barrels for 308 Win, 6.5 CM, 300 WM and 300 NM. May add a 338 LM in the future but I wanna enjoy shooting this rifle first.

Right now, my only option for the 308 and 6.5 are these magazines (5rd max and unreliable unless I download to 4)

 
Correct.

More specifically, I have a long action with 3 LA bolts: Lapua, Win Mag and Standard. I have barrels for 308 Win, 6.5 CM, 300 WM and 300 NM. May add a 338 LM in the future but I wanna enjoy shooting this rifle first.

Right now, my only option for the 308 and 6.5 are these magazines (5rd max and unreliable unless I download to 4)

I believe the most direct way to get your wish would be to have an oversize magazine well that would accept inserts specific to the magazine you would want to run. I honestly do not think I will be spending time resources to get that done since the potential user niche would be quite small.

I do appreciate you asking and I wish I had a better answer for you.

.
 
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I believe the most direct way to get your wish would be to have an oversize magazine well that would accept inserts specific to the magazine you would want to run. I honestly do not think I will be spending time resources to get that done since the potential user niche would be quite small.

I do appreciate you asking and I wish I had a better answer for you.

.
All good! Even if it was a spacer held in place by a groove and secured by a couple bolts that might be interesting. Seems like you could make the mag well 3.80” and have spacers for each mag length? You’ve got the actual mechanics in your head I’m sure, just throwing an idea out.

Excited for this chassis regardless! Maybe gen 2 or 3 will have a surprise
 
All good! Even if it was a spacer held in place by a groove and secured by a couple bolts that might be interesting. Seems like you could make the mag well 3.80” and have spacers for each mag length? You’ve got the actual mechanics in your head I’m sure, just throwing an idea out.

Excited for this chassis regardless! Maybe gen 2 or 3 will have a surprise
Too bad there’s no more standard/non-AI version of https://www.milehighshooting.com/ac...28538bl-asr-axsr-axmc-308-win-black-10-round/
 
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Ah, I see. That does complicate things
The way to really accomplish what you want is likely to be with printed materials. One could do or themselves if they had a good printer and material, but as Terry said, unless there was a market that made it worth the time and effort for design and development it’s not likely a supplier would mess with it.
 
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The way to really accomplish what you want is likely to be with printed materials. One could do or themselves if they had a good printer and material, but as Terry said, unless there was a market that made it worth the time and effort for design and development it’s not likely a supplier would mess with it.
That would be ideal. I don't have a printer, but printed Magpul (material) type CIP mags would be sweet. Could easily dial in the cartridge length etc.

If anyone has a printer and wants to mess with it I have a few mags that could serve as a starting point
 
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Printing mags is nothing new to me, but my concern in the CIP length and very thin walls. The material we print from is very, very similar to the nylon Magpul molds from.
My thought was to print a short action mag sleeve/cover that you can put your short action mag into. Then insert the whole thing into a long action and it would present the SA rounds correctly to the chamber.

And no, other than throwing stuff out there, I have totally not tried to take measurements nor to compare the SA and LA mags nor mag wells.
 
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Printing mags is nothing new to me, but my concern in the CIP length and very thin walls. The material we print from is very, very similar to the nylon Magpul molds from.
what about SA 308 boltface in a CIP length? would that help solve some of the thickness issues? and allow some of us to use a long action/stock but still swap to a smaller cartridge for certain hunts
 
My thought was to print a short action mag sleeve/cover that you can put your short action mag into. Then insert the whole thing into a long action and it would present the SA rounds correctly to the chamber.

And no, other than throwing stuff out there, I have totally not tried to take measurements nor to compare the SA and LA mags nor mag wells.
The S.A. AICS and AW mags are wider than both the 5rd LA AICS SAAMI and CIP.
......
The 5rd LA AICS SAAMI and CIP mags are obviously longer than S.A. AICS and AW mags.
.........
The hosting magwell would have to be larger on both axis (similar to AX) to accommodate any adapter/sleeve combo but would then not accept any pertinent magazine at all without an adapter.

I do not see KMW offering such a magwell before our sun implodes.

.
 
The S.A. AICS and AW mags are wider than both the 5rd LA AICS SAAMI and CIP.
......
The 5rd LA AICS SAAMI and CIP mags are obviously longer than S.A. AICS and AW mags.
.........
The hosting magwell would have to be larger on both axis (similar to AX) to accommodate any adapter/sleeve combo but would then not accept any pertinent magazine at all without an adapter.

I do not see KMW offering such a magwell before our sun implodes.

.

No need to have a magwell that accepts both...just a LA length mag that accepts SA cartridges in a single stack format?
 
No need to have a magwell that accepts both...just a LA length mag that accepts SA cartridges in a single stack format?
Doesn't the Sako M10 do this? Or at least the magwell is a standard size and the magazines have spacers in the back behind the case head to accommodate different length cartridges.

To standardize on a system like that, youd need different length bolt stops so you don't have a long action magnum bolt throw when shooting something like a 308.

... And then you'd need to standardize everything on the M10 action and throw all the 700s and their clones in the trash, and have custom action makers clone the M10 action.

It sounds like a nightmare.
 
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Doesn't the Sako M10 do this? Or at least the magwell is a standard size and the magazines have spacers in the back behind the case head to accommodate different length cartridges.

To standardize on a system like that, youd need different length bolt stops so you don't have a long action magnum bolt throw when shooting something like a 308.

... And then you'd need to standardize everything on the M10 action and throw all the 700s and their clones in the trash, and have custom action makers clone the M10 action.

It sounds like a nightmare.

You'll have a long bolt throw of course but I see no problem sticking a SA cartridge in a LA mag with a spacer at the back.

Beretta BRX1, Savage Impulse, etc are examples of having a full length bolt throw but the possibility of SA cartridges. It's not optimized but it works fine. Kinda like a GT car. Not a road race car, not a drag car, but does both "ok".
 
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No need to have a magwell that accepts both...just a LA length mag that accepts SA cartridges in a single stack format?
Obviously that would work.
Any new new single stack CIP mag body that clones the external dims of an original Acc Intl. #6715 but would have variants from short to CIP in a single stack format would work.

The original question was referring to adapters/inserts that would allow the use of a variety of current production magazines, so that was where my answers were directed.

.
 
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This is cool stuff. Have asked to have my name added to the waitlist for a spec build zealot.

In 308 obviously.
 
Does the mag latch adjust vertically?
 
Will the comp version also have adjustable height and cant on the butt?
 
Any Left Handed complete Zealot rifles or chassis any time soon?! TY
 
LA Zealot is what I’m after too!

Any update @Terry Cross ? It’s been 18 months since you shared so I’ve been able to save up!
Thanks for asking.

I am staying backed up with work guns going out on the Zealot so rumors of its death are greatly exaggerated. (poor attempt at a Mark Twain'ish comment.)

Here are a couple of crappy phone pics I snapped just now of another shipment. Just test fired and getting ready to ship.

20230602_090356.jpg


20230602_090839.jpg


I understand that it is in my best interest to start pushing these into the mainstream user (you) lane ASAP.
It is also in my best interest to make sure I do not ship anything out that will make the phone ring once it is received.

I can tell you that I am very happy with 99.9% of the chassis performance and all the current users are happy as well.

I will share that I am not happy with the performance of a compression spring that is in play. We are working with that right now and may do a total re-design of that one aspect before pushing the GO button to run a bunch of these for general consumption. Most would not see any issues but I want to be the worst critic compared to what I would expect if I were the customer.

I want this fixed now because I will not proceed with the Long Actions and Lefty shorts until I am happy with what might be called the Mk1 Mod1 revision of this one feature. Any future users will benefit from not being early adopters even though those early adopters are happy.

./
 
Thanks for asking.

I am staying backed up with work guns going out on the Zealot so rumors of its death are greatly exaggerated. (poor attempt at a Mark Twain'ish comment.)

Here are a couple of crappy phone pics I snapped just now of another shipment. Just test fired and getting ready to ship.

View attachment 8154059

View attachment 8154060

I understand that it is in my best interest to start pushing these into the mainstream user (you) lane ASAP.
It is also in my best interest to make sure I do not ship anything out that will make the phone ring once it is received.

I can tell you that I am very happy with 99.9% of the chassis performance and all the current users are happy as well.

I will share that I am not happy with the performance of a compression spring that is in play. We are working with that right now and may do a total re-design of that one aspect before pushing the GO button to run a bunch of these for general consumption. Most would not see any issues but I want to be the worst critic compared to what I would expect if I were the customer.

I want this fixed now because I will not proceed with the Long Actions and Lefty shorts until I am happy with what might be called the Mk1 Mod1 revision of this one feature. Any future users will benefit from not being early adopters even though those early adopters are happy.

./
Good Luck
 
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