That is probably the best looking rifle/chassis system I have ever seen. And I know it will function as good as it looks or it won't go out the door. I will own one when they become available.
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Zealot Rifle Chassis by KMW
- Thread starter Terry Cross
- Start date
Apparently you don't work for Sig, do you?
Hands down the sexiest rifle I've ever seen!!!
That integrated pic rail and open top half of the forend is a welcome change I didn't know I wanted!
Have fun with the springs and potential redesign, hopefully that doesn't drive you too crazy.
Can't wait to own one of these in LA, thanks for the update and teaser pics!
@Terry Cross Just an fyi, the cash I set aside for one of these back when you first posted about them is still sitting there, waiting patiently.
Any updates? Really looking forward to this one!
@Terry Cross any updates on pricing/release date? Have an action waiting for one of these and I am trying to decide if it is worth ordering something as a temporary placeholder.
Merry Christmas a little late @Terry Cross !! Will we be getting a late Christmas gift of a clearer timeline for these? My long action KRG Bravo is about worn out 
Fantastic design! Any update on individual chassis availability? I see the entire rifle is available for purchase on the website.
If you're in that big of a hurry, just buy a complete rifle. I'm sure @Terry Cross would be happy to fix you up.
I've been considering this, because I need a 308W in the mix, and I've got an extra scope that needs a home
I've been considering this, because I need a 308W in the mix, and I've got an extra scope that needs a home
Good morning.
I haven't been putting any updates into this thread because I still do not have the folder hinge mod ready to roll out.
I am currently building rifles on the existing version of this chassis but I am not going to release the chassis as a stand-alone offering until I am happy with everything.
This is not a knock against my current customers but they are just not going to be as picky and feature detail oriented as most of the rifle drivers on this forum.
Because of me being very stubborn about the choices of material and design used in the Zealot chassis project, it is not going to be inexpensive. It was designed from the beginning to be an "all up" stock to compete against the Accuracy International/Cadex/Spuhr part of the market so I believe the finished product needs to stand on its own merit if it is going to play in that lane.
What I don't want to do is play the Sig game and roll out 27 different revisions in the first year of production.
I also don't want to do anything to make the phone ring once a stock or rifle ships out.
Most of you would never spot anything sub par with the original hinge lockup but I would, so I have to imagine you would as well.
Since the hinge lockup modification is forcing a redesign and reprogram of the main chassis body model and the butt stock model, I am going ahead and making some super minor tweaks in other places that I would have never worried with otherwise because they have so little to do with the stock's performance.
While I very much appreciate any interest you may have in this project, I would prefer to not have your business at all rather than ship you something that you are not 100% happy with. If I can complete the changes and get them shipping before the country burns down, you and I will both benefit by you not being an early adopter.
Thank you for the interest. I will try not to disappoint once these are made available.
@ANGLICOMarine
I haven't been putting any updates into this thread because I still do not have the folder hinge mod ready to roll out.
I am currently building rifles on the existing version of this chassis but I am not going to release the chassis as a stand-alone offering until I am happy with everything.
This is not a knock against my current customers but they are just not going to be as picky and feature detail oriented as most of the rifle drivers on this forum.
Because of me being very stubborn about the choices of material and design used in the Zealot chassis project, it is not going to be inexpensive. It was designed from the beginning to be an "all up" stock to compete against the Accuracy International/Cadex/Spuhr part of the market so I believe the finished product needs to stand on its own merit if it is going to play in that lane.
What I don't want to do is play the Sig game and roll out 27 different revisions in the first year of production.
I also don't want to do anything to make the phone ring once a stock or rifle ships out.
Most of you would never spot anything sub par with the original hinge lockup but I would, so I have to imagine you would as well.
Since the hinge lockup modification is forcing a redesign and reprogram of the main chassis body model and the butt stock model, I am going ahead and making some super minor tweaks in other places that I would have never worried with otherwise because they have so little to do with the stock's performance.
While I very much appreciate any interest you may have in this project, I would prefer to not have your business at all rather than ship you something that you are not 100% happy with. If I can complete the changes and get them shipping before the country burns down, you and I will both benefit by you not being an early adopter.
Thank you for the interest. I will try not to disappoint once these are made available.
@ANGLICOMarine
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Good on you Terry !
There really is nothing more disappointing than being an early adopter of a product, paying top dollar and being unhappy with the product. THAT is a surefire way to disappoint, lose customers and taint your brand name. And, on the Internet, it's very difficult to get rid of that taint.
You trying to prevent your customers from any disappointment is very commendable.
I've seen and handled this chassis...both in the design phase and pre production. I've also known Terry for over a decade. Shooting targets and shooting the shit equally.
It's difficult to over emphasize the amount of detailed engineering, material selection, production processes, and pure imagination/evolution that has been applied to the Zealot. Terry's modus operandi has always been to supply a product that ONLY meets the expectations of the operator and more importantly his own crazy- high internal criticism. He literally won't stop designing a thing until it's been rolled around, beat to hell, and slammed against the wall in that brain of his for years. And then he sends the prototype to other rifle designers and says "what's wrong with it and what would you change"
I have been running the KMW Sentinel stocks on my bolt guns for years. They are in my opinion the absolute best traditional stock available. That being said, the Zealot is stupid good !!
I can assure you that once you have one in your hand...you will immediately understand the chassis game has been changed. I've been asking Terry for a Zealot since I saw the original CAD drawing. That was a while ago. He won't release the chassis to the public until it's perfect and I promise it will be worth the wait.
How do you spell Fol-i-age ?
It's difficult to over emphasize the amount of detailed engineering, material selection, production processes, and pure imagination/evolution that has been applied to the Zealot. Terry's modus operandi has always been to supply a product that ONLY meets the expectations of the operator and more importantly his own crazy- high internal criticism. He literally won't stop designing a thing until it's been rolled around, beat to hell, and slammed against the wall in that brain of his for years. And then he sends the prototype to other rifle designers and says "what's wrong with it and what would you change"
I have been running the KMW Sentinel stocks on my bolt guns for years. They are in my opinion the absolute best traditional stock available. That being said, the Zealot is stupid good !!
I can assure you that once you have one in your hand...you will immediately understand the chassis game has been changed. I've been asking Terry for a Zealot since I saw the original CAD drawing. That was a while ago. He won't release the chassis to the public until it's perfect and I promise it will be worth the wait.
How do you spell Fol-i-age ?
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For some of you that may not have seen any current pics on IG, FB, etc, here are some Zealot based rifles from some recent batches shipped out.
Thank you.Good on you Terry !
There really is nothing more disappointing than being an early adopter of a product, paying top dollar and being unhappy with the product. THAT is a surefire way to disappoint, lose customers and taint your brand name. And, on the Internet, it's very difficult to get rid of that taint.
I try to be particularly careful with my taint!
I know this is a complex question, but what kind of time frame would you estimate until the chassis is released? (Also I would understand if you don't even want to give an estimate now)
The time frame for releasing the chassis alone for purchase is about 18 months ago!
With that in mind and me staring down some priority work, I will pass on even trying to answer.
It sucks that I'm not giving you a time frame but I've already blown my initial time line. With the complexity of the seemingly small change and the expense involved with getting the first new gen components here, I am going to be a pussy and not publicly pin my hopes on a date.
I am fully aware that I will lose a lot of potential sales of the Zealot chassis because interested people will be tired of waiting. I 100% get that and don't blame anyone for feeling that way. I certainly would feel like that if I were on the outside trying to look in. I can't do anything about that in the mean time. I'm not smart enough, there are not enough hours in the day and I always cash flow everything new.
I will tell you that I have a LOT of money already in this project that will only start to be recovered once the chassis can ship as a stand-alone. For my small shop, that is a huge carrot dangling that I will continue to reach for as quickly as possible.
Yes and No.
This iteration is only being done because I have complete control of the receiver dimensions and how they interact with the chassis. I can only do this on complete rifles because I have no clue what action a customer will want to use.
Hundreds of possible combinations of receivers with integral rails and receivers drilled and tapped for dozens of different 1913 Pic rails. And every F'ing one of them place the Pic rail at a different height above the centerline of the receiver. With that variable out there, there is no way I could offer the chassis and rail combination shown in the above picture. To do so, I would need a couple dozen SKUs with several of every possible height on the shelf knowing the possibility exists that half of them may never move.
This poor redneck capitalist isn't that rich OR brave.
**The setup above is actually a 2 piece rail. Both pieces merge about 2" in front of the receiver. The combined pieces create one uninterrupted row of 1913 slots with 20MOA built in for the entire length. I modeled the scope base to be light weight and sculpted to my receivers but be bomb proof. The main base snaps onto two 1/8" hardened locator pins sunk into the receiver and secured with four 8-40 T-15 screws. I'm really happy with the result.
I attempted to blend the corners and flats of the receiver ejection port with the base so the user could still have a huge hole to hit with single round feeding or to reach a finger in to clear a case. Good close-up pic of that port matching is in the #2 pic in my post #318 above.
I know you designed this as a chassis for a work gun and she’s sexy but I could throw an arca rail on the bottom and have a sweet PRS chassis.
There’s a little arca section in front of the mag, and mlok hand guard. I’m totally using it for matches 
There is a 2" section of integral ARCA immediately in front of the magazine housing. You can see it in most of the pics posted above. This section is close to the balance point on most configurations and it fits the ANVIL 30 ballhead/clamps perfectly.
Also posted above is this pic that shows an additional longer ARCA mounted on the bottom of the forend.
This chassis has M-Lok slots for days so you can ARCA the hell out of it if you want.
I ship rifles and stocks out of CONUS but only when my client arranges and coordinates the actual export procedures.
There is zero chance I would ever attempt to handle the bureaucratic paperwork involved.
We need to make sure there are no ITAR conflicts.
Other than that, I simply ship to the FFL of your designated exporter within CONUS and they handle everything from there to the local shop that would handle your final disposition and transfer paperwork. You would pay all the export fees direct to the licensed exporter.
Yeah the admin here for importing a chassis is decent but not impossible. I’ll see what I can sort and reach out. Thanks @Terry
If I can import a pile of actions, a chassis will be child’s play by comparison - no import permits, nothing scary at all.
I’m gonna start an OnlyFans account just to have one of these
Get ready to pay me to put my clothes back on. I ain’t cheap but $20 is $20
Get ready to pay me to put my clothes back on. I ain’t cheap but $20 is $20
As a matter of fact it is!Is that a M40 stock from someone we both know????
I didn't even know it was still here until we did an audit with the ATF.
Sending you a PM about your email address.
Honestly, I don't think you will... If someone is legitimately interested in the Zealot & can't wait anymore, so be it... But I'd be willing to bet that 90% of those people will still buy a chassis when they become available.
Like most of us need an excuse for another rifle project, haha!
I really, really hate to be constrained but for now, I'm just trying to complete complete rifles that are already committed.
That is NOT the answer I would like to give you.
I don't want to run any more of the chassis bodies and butt stock frames with the original folder lock system. I am trying to choreograph running my remaining stock of stock components out as I transition to the newer version. I am already logging commitment numbers past what I have components for, so I am already in territory I don't want to be in delivery wise.
I am pushing hard to give you an affirmative answer. I assure you that I will be getting the word out 0.001 seconds after that can happen.
Thanks for asking sir.
Hey Terry, got a quick question. I haven’t followed this thread like completely from beginning to end but you said you’re changing the folding mechanism. Can you explain a little bit or is there a post so I can go back and read?
I don't have but a minute right now left from lunch break. I will try to add more later.
For now, I'm just going to say that there is a pinch hazard at the hinge area when both folding and unfolding so keep your junk away from it!
Sounds like a feature. Just put your short shorts on and do a YouTube demo of pinching a bad guy trying to flank you. Maybe offer a numbchucks buttstock option. Get the SS to confirm there’s safety factors. You’ll sell a million.
I have a question about the short arca that's machined in front of the mag well. It seems very short - As if it was designed specifically for a low profile, Anvil 30 type of arca head? It does not appear in the photos to be long enough to work with my Leofoto / 75mm leveling base. There was a photo of the Zealot on an Anvil 30 and it actually looked like the magazine would interfere with the tripod if one tried to rotate it around because it is so close to the tripod. Am I looking at it wrong? I'd love to own this chassis. Just wondering if I'd be have to add an arca to the handguard. And if I did that, would a standard Area 419 arca be on the same plane as the machined in arca? Or would it step down from handguard arca to built in arca? Just seems like at first glance another inch or two of length added to the current arca would provide full clearance on various tripods. But what do I know! KMW shit is the coolest out there and can't wait to own one of these things when they are ready!
I want one of these bad, would love to have a non folder but still would go with a folder. I’ve always been a chasis guy and still would be if my Impact would have fit in my PDC chassis. Would love to R&D one of these in PRS matches.
Whoa Whoa Whoa, you gotta pace yourself, my ticker can't handle all this sexiness in one damn post
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