Hoplite Arms

[Painless300]

Personally i feel transparency and good communication, like Theis is displaying here, is one of the most important strategies in business and in your personal life. Obviously there are some factors in your business you just cannot discuss with employees or customers, however if you have good communication with both you will never find yourself in a no win situation.
In todays virtual political environment and cut throat business practices it is refreshing to see a company have transparency in a new production product that demands perfection in every facet of its design.
I have followed this thread from the beginning and have been throughly impressed with Hoplite and the way they are bringing there products to market. We have so many choices of firearms and companies to purchase them from its mind boggling but this is the type of company that I want to and will do business with.
Theis you have set your self apart from the pack and can't wait to give your product a go!

 

[Newbie2020]

There have been some really positive developments over the past year in the long range precision market that would have benefited from this kind of openness and candid dialogue with a huge target market demographic that have simply gone begging.

I don’t blame those companies; @brianf is right: this can be a rough (stupid? Ignorant?myopic? Moronic?...) crowd.

All the more reason I applaud Hoplite and @THEIS

....but I don’t drive POs so......... haha

 

[spife7980]

Hi,

I have to go get another protein coffee just thinking about that right now...

Sincerely,
Theis

 

[THEIS]

@THEIS is that a covid problem or a permanent lack of vision problem?

Hi,

I have no idea as to most because I am still waiting on replies as to where to send check, lol.
Others...Must already make enough money because my desires were too small.

Sincerely,
Theis

Personally i feel transparency and good communication, like Theis is displaying here, is one of the most important strategies in business and in your personal life. Obviously there are some factors in your business you just cannot discuss with employees or customers, however if you have good communication with both you will never find yourself in a no win situation.
In todays virtual political environment and cut throat business practices it is refreshing to see a company have transparency in a new production product that demands perfection in every facet of its design.
I have followed this thread from the beginning and have been throughly impressed with Hoplite and the way they are bringing there products to market. We have so many choices of firearms and companies to purchase them from its mind boggling but this is the type of company that I want to and will do business with.
Theis you have set your self apart from the pack and can't wait to give your product a go!

Hi,

Thank you @Painless300
When we are satisfied with the product(s) and I advise taking orders; please just send me a PM here and I will call you back myself.

Sincerely,
Theis

There have been some really positive developments over the past year in the long range precision market that would have benefited from this kind of openness and candid dialogue with a huge target market demographic that have simply gone begging.

I don’t blame those companies; @brianf is right: this can be a rough (stupid? Ignorant?myopic? Moronic?...) crowd.

All the more reason I applaud Hoplite and @THEIS

....but I don’t drive POs so......... haha

Hi,

But I will gladly accept your appreciation via word of mouth to have your friends visit our website (new one in progress), instagram and this thread.

Sincerely,
Theis


And for the weekend viewing pleasure, lol.....GEEZUS...this was just 2 weekends ago and it seems the entire rifle has been upgraded again, lol..

 

[TxWelder35]

Theis that picture just made me think, man I’d like to see what hoplite could do with an AR platform.

something to compete with the KAC and LMT platforms.

 

[powdahound76]

W2 sent to get in on the pre-order.

glad you made that possible.

 

[LeftyJason]

Theis that picture just made me think, man I’d like to see what hoplite could do with an AR platform.

something to compete with the KAC and LMT platforms.

Here is his response to that question.

Hi,

I currently have no desire to enter the semi auto small arms arena; unless under 1 stipulation...We receive license to revive the PSG1 into a high pressure cartridge system

Other than that..the only semi auto I am interested in manufacturing would be one suitable for the 20x42mm.

Sincerely,
Theis

 

[Ak47Cuckhold]

Thoughts on sig's 277 fury and true velocity's new composite ammo. They both greatly lighten ammunition weight while increasing performance to magnum levels. The difference is sig is increasing pressures by 25% while true velocity is somehow achieving a way more efficient powder burn and lowering their pressures. Would like your thought on what the future of ammo really is, if it will be one or the other, or if they'll somehow combine both technologies.

 

[brianf]

Thoughts on sig's 277 fury and true velocity's new composite ammo. They both greatly lighten ammunition weight while increasing performance to magnum levels. The difference is sig is increasing pressures by 25% while true velocity is somehow achieving a way more efficient powder burn and lowering their pressures. Would like your thought on what the future of ammo really is, if it will be one or the other, or if they'll somehow combine both technologies.

Has anyone seen true repeatable data on both of those, not from a factory YouTube video.

I’ve clicked around for info on both products and havnt found much, but it might be my Google fu failing me

 

[THEIS]

Thoughts on sig's 277 fury and true velocity's new composite ammo. They both greatly lighten ammunition weight while increasing performance to magnum levels. The difference is sig is increasing pressures by 25% while true velocity is somehow achieving a way more efficient powder burn and lowering their pressures. Would like your thought on what the future of ammo really is, if it will be one or the other, or if they'll somehow combine both technologies.

Hi,

Well..neither of those increase that NGSW system (What they were designed for..yes I know TV had stuff out long before the NGSW solicitations but it was basically stalled until the NGSW) to "magnum" levels and IIRC Sig pulled their ammunition from the ammunition testing for the NGSW before it was announced that TV polymer ammo was one of the few advancing on to next phases of testing.....So only Sig knows the real reason for such but everyone can read between the lines.

The future of ammunition is and will be completely dependent on firearms manufacturers....not by the ammunition manufacturers.
Cannot manufacturer what cannot be used and used efficiently

My job is to concern myself and my company with LESS of what others are doing and reasons of such and spend MORE of what I can control, improve, market, manufacture and sell.
I am not here to keep up with massive mass production style companies; I am here to be on another level within specific segments of the industry.

Sincerely,
Theis

 

[THEIS]

Hi,

So Bam Bam (@Dthomas3523) is at the range today getting a few more rounds through the Aspis.

Group Check Before proceeding to distances.

Broke target strap at 600 yard target...no pictures lol.


Then first round on 1k yard target (1MOA Target)....

Straight from 1k to 1 mile (3rd round impact 24"x24" target), lol...no chrono to even know MV, hahaha...time for handload monos.

Sincerely,
Theis

 

[Newbie2020]

That’s amazing! And the monos will only get better!

 

[BLKWLFK9]

lol, that with the berger 230 ammo?

 

[THEIS]

lol, that with the berger 230 ammo?

Hi,

Yep and do not even know MV because Bam Bam broke his Labradar a few weeks ago, haha...

Ahhh more 1 mile results coming up, haha

Sincerely,
Theis

 

[THEIS]

Hi,

7 of 10 at 1 mile....self spotting, lol
Bam Bam and his 90 degree trigger finger, lolol....Proper Fundamentals is his thing for sure!!

Sincerely,
Theis

 

[Dthomas3523]

It shoots ok I guess.....

 

[THEIS]

It shoots ok I guess.....

Hi,

If only someone would not have left their labradar on we could see the MV so we at least know what speeds the 230gr Bergers do NOT rip apart at in the 7 twist....

Sincerely,
Theis

 

[Dthomas3523]

Hi,

If only someone would not have left their labradar on we could see the MV so we at least know what speeds the 230gr Bergers do NOT rip apart at in the 7 twist....

Sincerely,
Theis

.......less than 3500fps if I had to guess.

 

[THEIS]

.......less than 3500fps if I had to guess.

Hi,

Well, we will see.....step our next handloads up to faster level or 2 levels faster powder and lets see, lolol

Sincerely,
Theis

 

[TxWelder35]

Did y’all not get the memo that you need minimum of a 50 shot group before it counts?

 

[THEIS]

Did y’all not get the memo that you need minimum of a 50 shot group before it counts?

Hi,

Probably just now at 50 rounds through that barrel in total, lolol......
So much for break-in shit, lolol

Sincerely,
Theis

 

[bigdaddydmd]

A day at the range getting hands on R&D has to beat sitting in an office answering emails, drinking stale coffee, and drawing circles on CAD CAM designs for improvements. Did you make Dthomas jog all the way down there to take the picture of the impacts cause he dicked up the labradar?

 

[THEIS]

A day at the range getting hands on R&D has to beat sitting in an office answering emails, drinking stale coffee, and drawing circles on CAD CAM designs for improvements. Did you make Dthomas jog all the way down there to take the picture of the impacts cause he dicked up the labradar?

Hi,

HAHA, I am actually in the office finalizing new bolt guide/bolt stop design. I am nowhere near the range, hahaha

Sincerely,
Theis

 

[THEIS]

Hi,

New website is now live.

Still have some minor changes and such to finalize but new format, flow and details are great improvement IMO!!

www.hoplitearms.com

Sincerely,
Theis

 

[TxWelder35]

Hi,

New website is now live.

Still have some minor changes and such to finalize but new format, flow and details are great improvement IMO!!

www.hoplitearms.com

Sincerely,
Theis

The Aspis is showing the same cartridges in the description as the Kopis just fyi

 

[THEIS]

The Aspis is showing the same cartridges in the description as the Kopis just fyi

Hi,

Thanks...correcting now.

Sincerely,
Theis

 

[TxWelder35]

One more thing, in the gallery, all the pictures are very dark on my phone until they are clicked on and open up in a pop up. Not sure if that’s by design or not.

I really need to start saving up my pennies for one of these.

are you going to sell the rifle on its own or are you going to be doing packages only? Like the AI deployment packages.

 

[THEIS]

One more thing, in the gallery, all the pictures are very dark on my phone until they are clicked on and open up in a pop up. Not sure if that’s by design or not.

I really need to start saving up my pennies for one of these.

are you going to sell the rifle on its own or are you going to be doing packages only? Like the AI deployment packages.

Hi,

Rifle only all the way through to full blown off the charts packages with custom ammo, optics, thermal, NV, UAVs, boats, armored vehicles, personalized training and experiences, etc etc.....
Just think of us as the never say no concierge package guys, lolol

Sincerely,
Theis

 

[6.5SH]

So will the gun bearers be a purchase or just a rental?

 

[FALex]

Nice website! Is the hardware not yet for sale? If not, do you have an ETA?

 

[THEIS]

Nice website! Is the hardware not yet for sale? If not, do you have an ETA?

Hi,

We expect to be making first production batch order announcement VERY VERY SOON!!

We literally at this very minute are correcting a couple issues we recently found during testing.

Completely changed the bolt guide/bolt stop design to a more traditional style due to the ability for users to operate the bolt throw in a way to "catch" the bolt stop notch in the bolt groove and be able to spin the bolt too far counterclockwise while cycling.

Sincerely,
Theis

 

[FALex]

Perfect. Thank you for the response (and explanation). If you want to send one out this way, I'd love to shoot matches with it...you know, a "T&E" type of deal, especially when I crush dreams and reap souls with it!!! LMAO!!!

They look like excellent rifles. Very cool to see this level of development going into them. Thanks for taking us along.

 

[Samuel Whittemore]

Nice website!

Why Thank you! This was a little wee bit rushed to launch so any hiccups you see are probably on my fix list but none the less I'd greatly appreciate hearing any glitches that are not the obvious...

 

[Terry Cross]

Completely changed the bolt guide/bolt stop design to a more traditional style due to the ability for users to operate the bolt throw in a way to "catch" the bolt stop notch in the bolt groove and be able to spin the bolt too far counterclockwise while cycling.

View attachment 7550805View attachment 7550806
Sincerely,
Theis

Beautiful work.
If you will be available tomorrow, I would like to call you with a question re: your bolt stop.

Be safe!


./

 

[THEIS]

Beautiful work.
If you will be available tomorrow, I would like to call you with a question re: your bolt stop.

Be safe!


./

Hi,

Anytime...shit you can call right now if you want.

Sincerely,
Theis

 

[RGStory]

New website is now live.

Looks good. Navigation is smooth and flows well.

 

[Samuel Whittemore]

One more thing, in the gallery, all the pictures are very dark on my phone until they are clicked on and open up in a pop up. Not sure if that’s by design or not.

I really need to start saving up my pennies for one of these.

are you going to sell the rifle on its own or are you going to be doing packages only? Like the AI deployment packages.

thats by design.... also depends a lot on what phone you'ee viewing with. On my Samsung Ultra Note 20 they're actually brighter than I liked...but as with all things web related one is trying to design for every op sys, every platform, and gamma settings of a thousand diff devices.

Personally I think once these final issues are corrected and Phase I is done it needs more 'glamour' and detail product shots.

 

[Sticks]

Hi,

Yep and do not even know MV because Bam Bam broke his Labradar a few weeks ago, haha...

Ahhh more 1 mile results coming up, haha

Sincerely,
Theis

Can't you reverse engineer the MV from mils dialed at 1760y?

Awesome shooting, awesome system. If only it was the system that could make anyone that good.

1st round hit at 1k on a 10" plate...5th round fired for the day...I'd have packed up and gone home. I know when to quit.

 

[THEIS]

Can't you reverse engineer the MV from mils dialed at 1760y?

Awesome shooting, awesome system. If only it was the system that could make anyone that good.

1st round hit at 1k on a 10" plate...5th round fired for the day...I'd have packed up and gone home. I know when to quit.

Hi,

Reversing to get MV provides 2857.
Factory box says 2950.

Well luckily the system cannot make you shoot worse and provide assurance that issue is you and not the system.

That way you know for sure you can follow improvement rule #1...Shoot More, Suck Less.

Sincerely,
Theis

 

[Sticks]

Shoot More, Suck Less.

That right there is your advertising, accuracy guarantee. Printed on a nice high quality embossed business card and attached to the rifle when shipped.

 

[Dthomas3523]

Can't you reverse engineer the MV from mils dialed at 1760y?

Awesome shooting, awesome system. If only it was the system that could make anyone that good.

1st round hit at 1k on a 10" plate...5th round fired for the day...I'd have packed up and gone home. I know when to quit.

Just for clarification, I took two shots @ 600 and 800. Missed both on first shot with 2nd round impacts. So I had a semi decent curve going in software which line up @ 1k and was about .5 mil low @ 1700. This week was just to make sure the rifle performed as expected. Just used one of the many apps I have on phone I use for quick reference when not using kestrel or watch.

Next week will be an actual serious dope work up from 600 to 1700yds in 100yd increments for a no BS curve in the software I normally use.

 

[THEIS]

That right there is your advertising, accuracy guarantee. Printed on a nice high quality embossed business card and attached to the rifle when shipped.

Hi,

I cannot do that....not that we shouldn't... but that saying belongs to Dthomas himself.

Sincerely,
Theis

 

[Dthomas3523]

Hi,

I cannot do that....not that we shouldn't... but that saying belongs to Dthomas himself.

Sincerely,
Theis

I’m sure I stole it from someone else somewhere. But I can’t remember who

 

[Tokay444]

thats by design.... also depends a lot on what phone you'ee viewing with. On my Samsung Ultra Note 20 they're actually brighter than I liked...but as with all things web related one is trying to design for every op sys, every platform, and gamma settings of a thousand diff devices.

Personally I think once these final issues are corrected and Phase I is done it needs more 'glamour' and detail product shots.

 

[THEIS]

I’m sure I stole it from someone else somewhere. But I can’t remember who

Hi,

Any idea of how many shooters and what they are shooting in regards to the upcoming mile match this month?

Interested to see what everyone brings out.

Sincerely,
Theis

 

[THEIS]

Hi,

3D model updates today.
Here is where everything is at as of right now. All goes well and drawings will be finalized this week for tolerances and onto production mode.

Bolt:
Changed bolt guide groove location due to redesign of bolt stop/bolt guide

Receiver:
Completely changed bolt guide and bolt stop design (Again, lol)...slightly oval pin hole thanks to @Terry Cross ..that fast forwarded a slight change lol

Sincerely,
Theis

 

[pell1203]

Hi Theis, pet pieve spelling nitpick on website... on the “ABOUT” page the sentence starting with “Those core principals...” should read as “Those core principles...”

BTW... wonderful system! Nice to see a company be so open and transparent in the design of their product. Best wishes for great success to you and all of your partners.

 

[THEIS]

Hi,

LOLOL that page is being rewritten at this exact moment.

Sincerely,
Theis

 

[357Max]

Theis,

Where did you land on bolt/receiver coatings DLC? I didn't see it called out on your updated specs a few pages back.

Something that's been bugging me for a while now about receiver/bolt coatings is that hard on hard don't typically play well together.

I'm a huge fan of DLC, however I've seen first hand the negative outcome from hard on hard attempts. This was in automotive racing applications that have completely different load applications & yet the rule would still apply here.

For an example in an effort to improve piston life in IHRA Pro Mod the pistons were hard anodized. Initially the pin bores were honed oversized by .0015-.002 so that when hard anodize was applied, only a very minimal hone was required to set pin clearance. This left the Hard Anodize intact & the pins were DLC'd.
Outcome was that pins and pistons were destroyed in 1 x 1/4 mile pass. The solution was to leave pin bores undersized & hone all of the Hard Anodize out (Hard Ano is a bitch to hone). DLC on bare aluminum will take an ungodly load with zero galling.

Ok so fast forward to receiver's.
We sure cant bare aluminum due to both pressure & grit embedement. And yet the rule of hard on hard = bad still applies.

I know I know this is probably a solution looking for a problem.........but!

Idea planting time

The idea I've been kicking around is to DLC the bolt & oversize the receiver id, ramps etc. Then apply a built up/multi coat Fluoropolymer
followed by a finish machine skim cut. (See Fluoropolymer info below)
The final machine cut may only be required if final clearance specs are in the +-.0003 or less range. If were talking a couple thousands I don't think it would be necessary. Coating build is very predictable & uniform, but that also depends on coating thickness. On second thought possibly the bolt lug mating surfaces might need to be skimmed off? Not sure since the coating will take up to 400,000 psi.

I'm thinking this would allow tighter tolerances to be used since the Fluoropolymer is soft i.e. embed-able. The Fluoropolymer becomes the sacrificial ware surface. DLC on the bolt should last indefinitely & in a hard use duty/mil application the receiver could have the coating stripped reapplied and run back through the final skim cut (if needed?) to return the $$$$$ Aermet 100 back to new.
Edit: Just remembered the receiver isn't Aermet 100 my bad.

Same principle should work for cocking cams - cocking pc 1 hard 1 soft.

This idea only applies if the Polydyn Fluoropolymer is used. Their stuff is in a special class unto itself.

As for Polydyn, they are the real deal not gimmicky. I have used their coatings on bearings etc since the mid 90's.
Also had the pleasure of running an EAA Witness fully coated by them. That Tangfolio still ranks as one of the smoothest 9mm's I've ever shot.

 

[brianf]

What coating would you put on the bolt lugs and the action lugs?

they take the hardest beating

if you use the sacrificial coating either the bolt lugs or the action lugs “will shrink” after every cycle (although it may take time) changing chamber dimensions.

or possibly wearing uneven and causing one lug or a part of one lug taking all the force.

thanks