Shockwave Technologies

Happy St. Patrick’s Day. We are approximately three weeks out on the ZMAG at this point—if everything goes to plan. Here are some pics of the work in progress:

 

Body blanking and initial piercing progressive tool is 100% complete:

 

Body second piercing and initial forming transfer tool is 100% complete (partially disassembled in pics):

 

Feedlip forming transfer tool is 100% complete:

 

Feedlip forming tool with formed mag body in place:

 

Body final forming transfer tool is 75% complete:

 

Insert and floorplate blanking and forming progressive tool is 25% complete—and where all efforts are currently focused:

 

An overview of the complete tooling set in progress:

 

Artwork for marking stamps:

 

Things left to do:

• Get the marking stamps in and installed in the body blanking tool. (These stamps are still 7 business days out.)
• In the meantime, complete the insert and floorplate blanking and forming progressive tool. (This tool still needs more than a week of work to complete.)
• Once the tools are built and finalized, it will take approximately three days to run the first 1,000 units.
• Then the parts will have to be black zinc plated. That will take most of a week.
• Lastly, we will assemble the mags and start shipping them to those who have pre-ordered.

Thank you to everyone hanging in there with us. Just a few more weeks at this point. 🙂

Marty

We are hard at work on the various pieces of production tooling. The mold for the polymer followers is complete (need to get a picture of this). The different tools for the mag bodies are almost complete. The progressive stamping tool for the inserts and floorplates is the final piece we need to finish, which should go rather quickly.

The first batch of 30-round springs from Wolff is here.

The most realistic date I can give for beginning shipment is the middle of next month (mid-March). I know we’re taking longer than expected. But thank you to everyone for hanging in there with us. I believe these will be worth the wait.

Some pics of the work in progress:

Magazine body trim and pierce die in progress:

 

Feedlip forming tool halves in progress:

No one should be left defenseless. So we’re dropping the price on our Raptor Grip M500 and Raptor Grip R870 to $25.95. Now everyone should be able to build the Ultimate Home Defense Weapon.

Order your Raptor Grip for the Mossberg 500 here.

Order your Raptor Grip for the Remington 870 here.

Tired of your AR stock adapter always shooting loose? Shockwave has the answer: the MEGA Mount AR stock adapter for M-11/NINE guns. Learn more here.

You asked for it. You got it. We are now accepting pre-orders for the new Shockwave ZMAGs for the Cobray M-11 guns. Order yours today here.

(Note: Credit card processing for these magazines is handled through eProcessing Network, due to Paypal’s anti-gun policies.)

The Raptor Grip for the Remington 870 is currently $5 off. For a limited time, instead of its regular price of $31.99, it is only $26.99 You can order the Raptor Grip R870 on the Remington 870 Parts page. You will love this grip!

With all beta testers having reported in, I can give the final numbers. With over 4,800 rounds fired through the 12 test mags, only a handful of feeding errors were experienced. The final score is 99.9% reliability. Not too shabby. With a polymer follower, I expect the production magazines to be AT LEAST that reliable. Anyone for 99.99% reliability? 🙂

We still have several beta testers who haven’t had a chance to test the new ZMAGs. But their input is due any day. Based on what we’ve heard back from the testers who have already completed testing, the ZMAG are performing well—with a 99.8% feeding success rate so far. Obviously, we’d like to get that number as close to 100% as possible. So, the production units are going to feature a polymer follower. I believe this will help eliminate any follower binding that may be contributing to the small number of misfeeds.

A lot of wheels are in motion to bring these magazines into production before the year is out. But it will be close. That’s why I’m forecasting a January shipping date.

We are finally shipping the beta-test mags tomorrow! Developing the Shockwave ZMAG for the Cobray M-11/NINE SMGs, pistols, and carbines has been a long, arduous, expensive, time-consuming adventure in engineering and manufacturing to get to this point. But it is very exciting to be here. I hope all goes well with the functional testing across all the various gun configurations out there. (Fingers crossed.)

Why the “ZMAG”? Because it’s the last magazine you’ll ever need for your M-11/NINE submachine gun, pistol, or carbine. Period. 🙂

Here are a few pics of the new Shockwave Mag painted black. Just so you can see what the final mag will look like. (Note that the follower in these pics is still a 3D printed item. The production followers will be made of stamped sheet steel.) Target price is still $35 each. Discounts will be offered for 6-packs and 12-packs.

We are in the home stretch now. The design of the mag body, insert, and floorplate is finalized. The design of the follower is finished, too. We just need to mill some tooling for the follower. That will happen over the next two or three days—and we’ll be there.

Some of the features that put our all-metal magazine head and shoulders above the competition include:

• Mag stop. On the front of the mag is the mag stop—a go/no-go feature IMHO. The important feature prevents over-inserting a mag into your gun with the bolt in the open position—and bending your ejector rod, which can quickly ruin your day at the range.
• Robust, high-reliability feedlips. The feedlips are designed for optimal ammunition feeding. I wish I could take you through all the ins and outs of what makes these feedlips king of the hill, but that would take a doctoral dissertation to explore. One thing you should know is that these mags make your feedramp redundant. The rounds never even touch the feedramp. So if you have a feedramp that’s out of spec—almost the norm for these guns—resolve your feeding issues once and for all with these super high-quality magazines.
• Compatibility with the Uplula. Yes, you can easily load your Shockwave M11/NINE mags using the handy Butler Creek Uplula mag loader.
• Works with all stock designs. We designed this magazine to function with all stock designs—including the factory folding stock.
• Ammo witness holes. The oblong holes on the left side of the mag allow you to see remaining ammo at a glance. (There are 30 rounds loaded in the mag in the first three pics, and you can see that rounds 10, 20, and 30 are perfectly centered in the windows.)
• Optimally placed mag catch. The cutout for the mag catch is on the rear of the mag. (Note that the mag pictured is still a prototype. The welding on the production mags will be much much better. )
• Anti-tilt metal follower. In the final pic, you can see how the follower sits. (The follower shown is simply a 3D printed piece. The production followers will be stamped sheet steel.)
• Black Oxide finish. Rugged finish will protect your magazines for decades to come.
• Ease of disassembly. Magazine disassembles without tools for cleaning.

Almost ready for beta testing, which will begin the first week of October. Test units will be shipped to the beta testers before then.

Let me know your thoughts.

Thank you,
Marty