By Jeremy S.
U.S. Fire Arms (USFA) is best known for very high-quality single action revolvers. But the gunmaker has branched out and built a new brand: ZiPFactory. Their first new product is the ZiP .22LR pistol. USFA says ZiP is the code for The Future of Fun™ and claims that “The Future is Now™.” Well, I’ve seen the future and the future is . . . um . . . well it needs some work . . .
To paraphrase Wallace, the latter day ZiP gun is like no cheese I’ve ever tasted. With the exception of some stainless bolt heads on the left side and just a glint of barrel inside the ejection port on the right, it’s got more black plastic than an obese rubber fetishist. And then there’s the design; most folks seeing it for the first time don’t even know where to begin. How to hold it? Where’s the trigger? What are all of those things on the front? Is that the front?
The bolt (ZiP calls it the “recoil body”) is entirely inside of the frame. Your shooting hand goes right behind the bolt on the back of the gun. The bore axis is aligned near the top of your palm. Its position in your hand is lower than on any pistol with a standard slide-on-frame design, not a million miles away from the Chiappa Rhino. While muzzle flip is never really a problem with a .22, it’s non-existent with the ZiP.
As the plastic bolt is completely internal, the ZiP has an external charging capacity. Instead of notching the frame for a bolt-mounted charging handle like you might see on a 10/22 or other semi-auto rifle, ZiPFactory decided to put two charging rods out front, right over the muzzle. Yes. Right over the muzzle.
The longer of the two rods – the left one (although the user can swap them from side-to-side) – is the “ZiP LOAD” rod. You simply put your finger out there on the front of it—-right above the muzzle– and push it into the frame. That moves the bolt back behind the first round in the magazine and then feeds it into the chamber when you snap your finger off the rod.
The shorter of the two rods is the “ZiP RESTRIKE” rod. Pushing it until it’s flush with the frame is supposed to reset the striker but not move the bolt back far enough to strip the next round out of the mag. This is theoretically handy if you have a bum primer or some sort of other failure to fire requiring you to reset the striker with a round in the chamber. On my gun, though, it didn’t work. My striker refused to reset until the bolt was back far enough that it always stripped the next round out and caused a double feed.
Keep in mind that resetting the striker with a live round in the chamber means putting your fingers/hands right at the muzzle (hopefully it wasn’t just a hangfire!). Clearing jams requires the same digit-endangerment. There is no provision for locking the bolt back.
The ZiP is actually comfortable enough to hold. The contours molded into the sides of the frame give right-handed shooters places to rest their thumbs, indexed index fingers, etc. It will work for lefties but not so much. That said, the grip angle is exactly vertical, and if you think a Block is glocky, you clearly haven’t held a ZiP yet.
The little loop for your middle finger is critical for achieving a solid grip on the gun when you aren’t pulling the extremely heavy trigger. I wasn’t able to measure it, but I reckon it’s over 12 lbs. It’s ‘stagey’ but fairly smooth. The break is pretty clean and the reset can be both heard and felt.
The factory sights are as basic as sights get: black plastic squares front and rear with no dots. They work just fine and accuracy with them was very good, despite the front sight being harder to find than an honest man at a gun control convention. Painting the front sight white would be a quick, cheap upgrade.
Modularity and customization are areas where this gun shines. Slide the top rail off the frame and you can replace it with a handful of accessory rails from ZiPFactory, including the ZiPPIC Rail (1913 Picatinny rail), ZiPNite Rail (allows for the installation of Glock-compatible sights), and ZiPSBR Rail (allows the attachment of your ZiP to another gun, which, if it’s a rifle, turns your ZiP™ into an SBR. If it’s a pistol, it turns your pistol into an AOW — NFA rules and fees apply).
And if that isn’t enough play value, there’s the BattleZiP Survival SBR Stock (a nifty full rifle stock), a threaded barrel (for a suppressor or other 1/2×28 muzzle accessory) and some future plans that cannot yet be mentioned (see “Customize This” rating for a hint).
Unfortunately, the funky sci-fi looks and dangerous thrills from putting your hands in front of the business end of the ZiP gun didn’t make up for a generally poor showing at the range. Even after installing the Upgrade Kit Version 1.0.1, which was released due to some excessively tight tolerances in early guns, she just wouldn’t run reliably.
The ZiP ships with two sets of recoil springs: stiff for high-test loads and light for target/bulk loads (factory-installed default). You can “tune” your action to your ammunition’s power level. Due to the low mass of the reciprocating parts, the bolt speed is extremely high and the spring rates are particularly important. The design leaves no room for bolt overtravel (which normally adds some delay to a semi-auto action).
The ZiP™ was consistently plagued with failures to feed. The bolt is often moving forwards before the magazine can lift the next round up into place. Even when it does feed, the bolt would often come forward so quickly that the ejecting empty brass was caught before it could escape the gun. These failures created some unique jams with empty brass smashed up somewhere in the ejection port and a new round partially fed into the chamber.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxkI9HdxzbE
Due to the bolt speed, the ZiP only [mostly] works with the BX-1, 10-round mags. The BX-25’s don’t feed subsequent rounds quickly enough. ZiPFactory is supposed to release another Upgrade Kit for the BX-25 soon; essentially stronger springs. Most other aftermarket magazines don’t have quite the correct feed lip geometry and/or share the BX-25’s feed rate problem.
After the Upgrade Kit, some polishing, some graphite lube, extremely careful assembly, a handful of ammo brands to test and some encouraging words, I had the ZiP running better. It actually made it through a couple of BX-1 10-round magazines in a row without a jam. That was, however, not the norm. I spent more time during my range session clearing jams than shooting. On average, it would jam at least once per magazine, and this was a major improvement from pre-upgrade.
On the plus side, the ZiP gun’s very accurate. The 5.25” barrel does its job with all ammo brands tested. The extremely heavy trigger does the ZiP™ no favors, but my group sizes were excellent.
This pistol has a lot of potential. If ZiPFactory can work out the kinks and get it to run, they’ll have a winner on their hands. The gun is unique in the extreme, accurate, fun-to-shoot (when it’s running), totally dangerous in the best of cases, extremely dangerous when it jams, modular and customizable as hell. And it’s inexpensive! Plus, it uses the Ruger 10/22 mags you already have.
I’d really like to see this thing work, and I’m interested to see what other fun firearms ZiPFactory produces in the future. A little bird tells me that there’s a pistol-caliber carbine in the works.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Caliber: .22 Long Rifle
Frame: Polymer
Sights: Black plastic, no dots.
Accessory options: picatinny rail, Glock sight adapter, SBR adapter, etc etc.
Barrel Length: 5.25 inches
Length (muzzle to back of frame): 7.75 inches
Weight: 15.2 ounces unloaded, no magazine
Capacity: Accepts all Ruger 10/22 magazines. Functions [mostly] with BX-1’s.
MSRP: $199 with no magazine. $219 with a BX-1 included.
RATINGS (Out of Five Stars):
Style * * * * *
Like it or hate it, you’ve never seen anything like it. Its style is its own, and it gets five stars for that.
Ergonomics (firing) *
Form comes before function here. While it actually fits in the hand okay, it isn’t what you’d call comfortable. The grip angle is vertical and the placement of the charging rods is downright dangerous. The trigger is heavy enough that it causes some discomfort, removing 10-round mags is difficult, and clearing jams is a bear.
Reliability
No, I did not forget to rate this category. Maybe it will “break in” and improve.
Customize This * * * * *
Well deserving of five stars here, the ZiP can be customized with all sorts of upper rail attachments, threaded barrels, SBR stocks and other doo-dads on the way that I am not at liberty to mention (suffice it to say that only the right side of the frame’s “clamshell” is serialized, and ZiPFactory has future plans for things you can do by swapping out the left side).
OVERALL *
As is, it just doesn’t run reliably enough to be fun; too much time’s spent dealing with difficult-to-clear jams and it only sort of runs with Ruger factory BX-1 magazines. Safety and ergo nightmare, really.
That is an astoundingly poor design. How did that not get laughed down before it left the drawing board?
Your post-upgrade experience mimicks mine to a “t”. Fun when it runs, but frustrating and dangerous when it doesn’t. The mangled brass I was getting was nothing short of extraordinary.
I’m not ready to throw in the towel just yet, though. There is a 200 rd break-in period, and there is also notes on the website about reassembly that I missed post-upgrade (there needs to be some space around the triangle charging rods). Given that I’m an early adopter, I can’t get too upset and have to think they’ll get it worked out.
The “WTF” looks at the range are priceless, though.
I assembled VERY carefully, per instructions that Doug (the inventor) gave me. Did it multiple times, in fact, with the same results. I even had three barrels and other spare parts and had the same results (or worse). What you see in the embedded video is the best it has ever run. There are some other videos I put up where you can see other results (worse) and assembly notes, etc etc.
BTW — by the end of the video that’s in this review, I was approaching 200 rounds through it….
Ah, well there goes that theory.
I think I’m going to disassemble, again, and Froglube whatever I can. That stuff has done wonders for my GSG-1911 that wouldn’t run.
I’d be fundamentally disdainful of a firearm that takes that much tinkering just to work correctly.
Upgrade Kits? Not running with Ruger factory mags without another upgrade kit? Sounds dangerously like the “ship it, we’ll fix it with a patch at some point!” mentality that has been spreading through the computer games industry like herpes. Not sure about the rest of the software industry. Either way, it sounds like they are knowingly shipping a fundamentally flawed product when “upgrade kits” are popping up this quickly. It’s bad enough with software, but hardware? No. No. No. On top of the scary placement of the bolt… rod… thingies? No thank you.
I’m also trying to figure out the purpose of this firearm. Innovation is nice, but what it the point?
People in the computer games industry get herpes?
Hookers and blow, baby~
Convention booth babes are technically associated with the industry I guess.
If they’re lucky.
Five stars because it has a style all its own? I went to a restaurant for lunch yesterday. It had a style all its own and was the worst food that I’ve ever eaten. It doesn’t deserve five stars. Maybe five negative stars.
“USFA says ZiP is the code for The Future of Fun”
My .22cal Browning Buckmark Camper pistol is plenty fun. It is also reliable, accurate, and comfortable to hold.
I would never insult .22cal ammo by shooting it out of a gun like the Zip Sh*t.
Style is aesthetic-only. Your food tasting bad is not related to how it looks 😉
I honestly believe that “USFA says ZiP is the code for The Future of Fun”
is probably the worst buzz phrase that I have ever heard come out of any marketing department. Probably coined by the guy that drew this thing up.
For whatever reason, my brain didn’t process the final “n” when I read “USFA says ZiP is the code for The Future of Fun.” At first I thought you’d made a fun joke at USFA’s expense, but seeing as you didn’t, now *I* get to!
“ZiP is the code for The Future of F.U.”
HA! I’M HILARIOUS! Anyway, I’m still sad to see that the ZiP’s aspirations for innovation came with so many fatal flaws. I genuinely hope they get it working like butter, or at least fail so spectacularly that their gun becomes a rare collectible that earns them millions.
that is precisely why im putting mine back in the box and hiding it away somewhere to be revisited again in 30 years or so.
I still have no idea why anybody would ever want this? What’s it for? Please enlighten me!
Plinking. Target shooting. Shooting squirrels or whatever if you’re into that sort of thing. Same as any other .22 pistol, really. Many people have Ruger 10/22 rifles, so if this ZiP would run properly it would be fun to have a pistol that used the same magazines and ammo as your rifle. It does shoot straight, so it would be a perfectly practical and very unique looking .22 lr pistol if it can be made to run properly…
“it would be fun to have a pistol that used the same magazines and ammo as your rifle”
That’s called the Ruger Charger, and it exists, and works.
Chiming in from 2018, you sound just like an anti-gunner of today asking about the AR-15.
The answer is it’s irrelevant.
Chiming in from 2019, having just attempted to fire one.
It’s crap. The size, the design, the function, everything is crap. It didn’t sell, because it’s crap. They went bankrupt because it’s crap.
Did I mention it’s crap?
Just because something is unique, doesn’t make it worthwhile. Consider a hammer with a wooden head and a metal haft. Unique? Yes. Worth bothering with? No.
That doesn’t make me anti-gun. It just means I refuse to waste my time with crap guns.
On the plus side, yay reviews! 😀
Yes, this. It’s good to see something that reminds me that there’s fun to be had with guns.
Seems like its purpose is built around fun. It’s interesting, very starship trooper in appearance. Let us all know after the break-in period, please.
The rifle stock option seems a plus also.
Yup.
It’s an interesting little thing, but I think I”ll wait for them to get the kinks worked out before I put any money down.
It looks like it was invented so people will buy a tax stamp, I would rather buy a suppressor for a .22 that I know is going to work reliably.
I am hoping to buy one of these, SBR it, and then run it under my AR-15 or shotgun while suppressed with a laser. Just for lolz. I love the concept of a flexible little 22lr SBR that I can just mount on anything.
But they’ve really got to make this thing work right first. And, to be blunt, v2 also needs to dispense with the rods and go with a normal charging handle, preferably non-reciprocating.
That would also make the AR it was attached to an SBR.
There are far better accessories.
Not that it matters, because it was such a complete POS it no longer exists.
Well it’s certainly not another 1911 clone.
How hard would it really be to mold in a slot in the left side, and move the operating rod to a left side configuration. As it is, there’s no way I would buy this, it looks like the exact opposite of safety.
The style kind of reminds me of a Babylon 5 ‘PGP’
I really want a pistol that takes 10/22 mags. The tech-22 was junk I’m led to believe, the ruger Charger is too heavy to shoot offhand (maybe I could get a lighter barrel and stock but that’s extra money), and then there is this abomination. Why make a handgun without a hand grip?
The Charger was discontinued a few months ago.
It is in the Ruger catalog.
Everybody should check out the x-22p, I don’t have one so I can’t tell you how it works but it looks good and it uses the 10/22 mags
I think I’m missing something here… like what the point of this is.
The idea was to create a .22 with multiple options as to how it is used. As a handgun, as an attachment to a carbine, or as a Short Barrel Rifle. Interesting concept. Concepts however mean squat if the item in question is not reliable straight out of the box.
Call it the “Biden Shotgun sorta thing, with no shoulder thingy that goes up”
I don’t know what niche this was supposed to fill, but after I saw this: http://www.wallsofthecity.net/2013/03/usfa-zip-not-a-review.html
I’m even less likely to risk my digits with this thing.
After reading that, I was told that Remington Gold has a problem with case heads blowing out regardless of whether they are fully chambered or not. Also, that it was extremely, extremely difficult to actually ignite a rimfire round without it being fully chambered due to needing support on the far side of the rim in order for the firing pin to squish it — otherwise, the rim just bends when hit and it doesn’t ignite.
In the embedded video, I actually try to fire it out of battery at 10:15 into the vid. Check it out. And… a second time in this YT video: YWnet7frg6U
So… not conclusive evidence or anything, but I couldn’t make it happen.
D@@@mn! That would make me steer clear of it, too.
Faulty ammo or not the response given by the CEO/Inventor of this POS is unacceptable! This pretty much sums up the conversation. Much of the conversation was Mr. Donnelly telling me why the ZiP was revolutionary / original / superior / advanced / fun / etc.
There is a good chance this guy will be facing a class action lawsuit. I just hope no one is seriously injured due to this product and a CEO that is unwilling to take responsibility and believes it is perfectly fine to blame any and everything else besides his piss poor design.
Wow, THAT’S endearing – a manufacturer that blames the victim.
Trouble is, it’s usually accurate. In the IT field it’s called a ‘picnic’, and 90% + of user issues are picnics.
(P)problem
(I)n
(C)hair
(N)ot
(I)n
(C)omputer.
An ergonomic trainwreck that requires you to you to place your fingers almost to the muzzle when attempting to “cock” or better yet, “reset”. Enjoy those fingertips while you have them kids.
Perfect accessory for the mall ninja crowd AR though – “You dawg, we heard you like w@nker-railed popguns. So we put a miniature w@nker-railed popgun on your w@nker-railed popgun! “
Near-muzzle loading operation used to be extremely popular, example:
https://youtu.be/XSbhDH83_sQ
One might be able to see the potential if not for all the flaws. The controls that force one to put hands in the area of the barrel is definitely a non-starter, too many potential trips to the ER just waiting to happen. It works with 10-22 mags, BUT you gotta BUY an additional gadget first. I tried to purchase when first announced, yet thankfully the factory was having issues on delivery. I say thankfully because since then not one single review which I have seen or read has fallen on the positive side. I will wait until the folks on the design crew figure out how to fix the flaws, making it safe and reliable out of the box, which should be the norm for any item-particularly a firearm.
Safety is solely a user responsibility.
Correct, which is why nobody bought this pile of crap.
“suffice it to say that only the right side of the frame’s “clamshell” is serialized, and ZiPFactory has future plans for things you can do by swapping out the left side”
You cannot be telling me they plan to release a wrist-mountable .22 pistol…
Head mounted. Strap it to your right temple, put a GoPro on your forehead and pretend you’re a robot assassin from the future.
That’s scarier than sharks with freakin laser beams.
Or sharks with embedded chainsaws. They can cut you up into more bite-sized pieces.
This is another answer in search of a question type of invention.
When ammo inventories and prices eventually go back to normal levels, $200 msrp; ok lets say $180 street price will buy the equivalent of nine bricks of 22LR or about 4,500LR rounds. I’d rather have that amount of ammo in my home storage.
By the time bricks of .22LR are $20 again, we’ll all be using laser pistols…
I strongly believe in the rule to keep the barrel pointed in a safe direction and do NOT consider my hand to be a safe direction. The reliability problems may be able to be addressed but the location of the operating rods is a complete fail.
Finally, a gun ergonomically designed for people who like to clutch things instead of simply holding them.
This is what happens when Wall-E gets constipated.
After all the liberal anti-gun caterwauling about how too many toy guns look too real, now we see a company that’s doing its level best to make a real gun look like a toy. This is the creators of Doom, Duke Nuke ’em, and Halo trying to design a real gun. If you were a LEO, and you saw a kid with this ZiP, would you think it was a real gun?
Q: Do we really want or need guns that look like they came from, and were specifically designed for, a post apocalyptic world where life is one big FPS, Hell on Earth?
I’ll stick with my MkIII. Cheap to shoot, very accurate, reliable, and very customizable.
Oh, it doesn’t look nearly as ridiculous, dangerous, and I’ll conceived as this POS.
I know everybody is kind of crapping on this thing… But I still want one. It’s a weakness, I know, but I have a thing for Bizarre guns, useful or not. I love the answers to questions that were never asked. For that reason alone, with the price as cheap as it is, I want one of these in my collection just for the conversation value.
Hey Chris, you can buy mine along with my Cobray Pocket Pal and get two awesome conversation pieces in one shot 🙂
How much I am a collector too. Rarities and oddballs are some of my favorites I have plenty of well funtioning firearms I need to add a couple more f#$k ups. lol
I would love to buy your cobray pocket pal. How much do you want for it? [email protected]
Dafuq is that thing?
Hey, I knew Dafuq, he ran the felafel stand on 4th street for years. He had an ugly wife, four ugly kids, and good felafel!
But this Zip thingy, I dunno… Looks more like a jigsaw than a pistol, and I already have a Colt/Umarex 1911-22 anyhow, so I’m set. If I wanted another .22LR range toy, though, I’d just save up and buy a GSG-5.
Heh well played, sir.
I love it. I really do. Its utterly ridiculous, outside the box, and finally an interesting thing to stick under my rifle.
If I had disposable income for this and a tax stamp, I’d do it in a heart beat.
I like innovation, but it’s sad to hear there’s so many problems. I wonder if the design would have worked better if it had been around a centerfire cartridge instead of 22LR? I guess that would defeat the purpose of it being a “fun” gun… though these days, I’m having more problems finding 22LR than 9mm…
Forgot to mention in the write-up, somehow, but the ZiP has no extractor at all. While it ‘extracts’ just fine, I actually think ejection would be more reliable if there were an extractor holding the case against the breech face up to the point where the ejector (which is a notch in the feed lip of the 10/22 magazine) kicks it out.
Some pin forces itself through the recoil block to kick the spent casing out. good luck finding a load that will kick the block back hard enough to eject properly. 18 loads and counting, 300 rounds and 5 range days in… Mine still won’t cycle more than 3 rounds of anything, with either sets of springs. I even read the reviews, and thought it could be figured out. If endlessly fiddling and constant disappointment interests you, you should pick one up
As I said May 26th, Mine works well with the 10 rd mags and Blazer ammo. Only problem I have now is finding the ammo to feed the Zip.
Hey Chris, that’s incorrect. That pin that sticks through the hole in the recoil body is the striker itself. It does stick through its channel when the recoil body is fully back in its travel, but the empty case has (in theory) already been kicked out at that point. The Ruger 10/22 has no ejector, and the ZiP continues this design by using the notches in the magazine feed lips as the ejector. That’s what those notches are there for, as designed by Ruger. So you could say it has an ejector just like the 10/22, it’s just not part of the gun, it’s part of the magazine. However, the 10/22 does have an extractor. Some of the ZiP’s ejection problems are almost certainly due to the case bouncing off the recoil body and not contacting the magazine notch in the exact correct attitude to kick out properly. Too much left to chance in this design.
As an update while I’m posting here and a bit of a response to Roger above, I sold the ZiP. However, before doing so and after writing the review I did keep trying to get it to work for a while longer. I used the CORRECT Blazer ammo, multiple factory mags, multiple upgrade kits, three barrels, every combo possible of the recoil springs, different lubes, etc etc etc and it never ran any better than in the video that’s up in the review. Forget it.
This has got to be one of the silliest firearms ideas I’ve seen in a long time, even if it they could get it to work reliably.
Mount it on a rifle (and pay $200 bucks)? Why? Their promotional vid on their site calls it a “battlefield advantage”… I nearly fell out of my seat laughing. Yes, when my rifle runs dry I can instantly switch to a .22LR pistol… Come on…
Pay $200 to make it a rifle? Again, why? For Zip+SBR fees+stock I could get a .22LR rifle AND pistol, and they’d actually be reliable!
Use it as a pistol? Maybe if it worked, but personally I’d prefer a conventional design.
I wonder if the poly bolt is to blame for some of the issues. As you mentioned in the review, it seems as though the gun out runs itself when cycling.
There are two real ways to effectively give the magazine more time to lift the next round into place:
1) Add bolt overtravel. By allowing it to run back beyond the point where it passes behind the next round, stop, and then run forwards again to where it strips that round out, you add time. Most guns have overtravel built into them. My other .22’s have a solid 1/2″ or so of bolt travel behind where the breech face touches the rim of a round in the magazine. The ZiP has essentially none. This can’t be changed due to the design. Well… if the bolt could be shortened front-to-back by shortening down the back side of it, specifically, then anything you take off the back could be turned into more travel ability.
2) Add mass. The bolt and the charging rods reciprocate. If the combined weight is heavier, the bolt speed would slow down. This was the “trick up my sleeve” that I was going to test but did not. I have some weights that I was going to stick to the ends of the charging rods and add mass until it either started working better or stopped working. I didn’t get around to this, but may still try it out. My main concern with this approach is that the gun has no extractor, so the bolt speed may be necessary for the empty brass to hit up against the ejector and get kicked out. As is, it does not eject with much authority or consistency. I can only assume that slowing the bolt down will make this worse, or even result in empty brass never fully leaving the chamber.
So… I think #1 is a better option. However, you can’t simply extend the size of the “receiver” because it would mean moving your hand back away from the trigger. It’s a comfortable reach for me now (size L men’s gloves), but any longer and it would become a stretch. So… it’s a tough one and it would have to happen internally. What I suggested above is the only way I can actually see it happening, and it would also only require a small change (a new bolt).
Since it has no extractor, I wonder if it is ammo sensitive like a Beretta 21A, which pretty much only runs reliably on Stingers.
This is disappointing; I have yet to see good review for this firearm, and I was actually excited about it when I first found out about it. While it is unique (which is a polite way of saying ugly yet intriguing) looking, it was the rumors about its customization and the price that really got my attention. I would love to have a .22LR pistol that I could attach to a stock for an instant long gun, even if it looks like it was made by the producers of Halo.
I have had nothing but trouble with mine. Have talked to Doug thru email and on the phone. He’s a good guy. I also installed the update kit with no success. My Zip is currently at the mothership per Doug’s request.
As crazy as it looks, it really does shoot accurately, the problem is somewhere in the feeding department. I have tried 3 different mags, the BX1 (two new ones), the BX25 (two new ones), and the HC3R (two new ones) with no luck. It wouldn’t even strip the rounds out of the BX1.
I will post on here once I hear back and get some time with it.
To all those calling it a joke, shoot one and it will put a smile on your face. At least for a round or two, til it jams. But I have hope that they’ll work the bugs out.
One more thing, when I left the LGS with it, I opened the box and showed my wife. She then said she thought I was going to buy a pistol. She thought it was an accessory for an AR.
So is it ammo sensitive? My Beretta Bobcat only likes Stingers and runs flawlessly on ’em because it will reliably cycle the action and spit out the spent case. Whereas any other .22 lr ammo doesn’t cycle the action fully and/or spit out spent brass.
Just my thoughts since niether of these firearms have extractors if that’s what’s happening.
The Blazer Bulk that I tested is supposed to be the best bulk ammo for ideal function in this gun. The CCI Stingers are supposed to be the best among premium ammo. I ran both of those with equal results. Ran Winchester and Federal as well with worse results (these are both weaker than even Blazer Bulk). Maybe there is a combination of spring choice/configuration and ammo choice that gets it to work better, but I haven’t found it yet and I’m honestly not sure how much time I want to invest. It is supposed to run reliably with the Blazers and the springs that I had installed — it’s sort of a best case scenario. And… the results are in the video. It runs okay but not well enough that I would ever allow somebody who wasn’t a very experienced shooter to use it. Too much chance for an accident due to a jam if the shooter doesn’t have an extremely deep-rooted instinct to keep the gun pointed in the right direction and take their finger off the trigger. IMHO.
I actually kind of like the design apart from the charging rods. May pick one up once the problems get sorted out.
Maybe you are supposed to charge it by punching someone in the face with it?
Or you can do a “tactical cock” on the edge of a hard object.
thats why the rods are there, duh! so after you shoot your fingers off you can still cock it
Cheers for the “Grand Day Out” reference!
Looks like someone tried to design a turd that would shoot, only it doesn’t.
something that worried me guns.com reviewed it and found theirs was actually firing TWO ROUND BURST from the factory… did you guys see any of that?
Futuristic but the death of ergonomics!
You do reviews of this crap but still havent completed one of the M&P 9 or 40??? Eye roll… not impressed guys. How about reviewing some firearms we would actually purchase…
‘Dafuq?
Reminds me of that gun from the GRFS live action trailers, only tiny.
This is the greatest example of tacticool jumping the shark that I have yet seen.
ZIP .22.
OPERATOR.
…Hahaha
Could not get my Zip Pistol from USFA to function. It was returned post paid to CT where they updated. Returned with extras. A rail and a box of CCI Blazer 22 Ammo. Great company who is trying to get their new gun working. Will test Sunday and tell you all.
Life of a collector beta tester to be the first on my block!!!
Whatever happened to the days when the company would test its OWN products, and make sure they at least sort of work before selling them to customers? A Beta tester should be finding things that weren’t immediately obvious during testing, thinking of small things that would improve the experience, finding that one odd failure mode that happens once out of every hundred times. A gun that refuses to fire more that a few shots is an abomination. If they had tested it at ALL, they’d have found that the design just didn’t work as it was drawn, and they’d either drop the whole thing, or make serious modifications. As it is, they either didn’t test the thing at all, or they sent it onto the market knowing damn well it didn’t work, and figured they’d just fix it later, if possible. Which is deceitful and wrong. The best excuse they could have is that they had a working prototype, but the production models had some differences that turned them into abominations that refuse to work. But they still shouldn’t have put them onto the market, whatever the cause. It is a piss poor design for starters, exactly the sort of thing that sells because it’s “cool” and “novel” and has “style” that appeals to people who play video games, function and utility be damned, the kind of idiots who’d buy a Mini Cooper Coupe, regardless of the fact that it’s just a Mini that weighs more, costs more, and carries only two people and a tiny bit of luggage (and looks ridiculous). But at least the Coupe works as a car, albeit impractically…this gun is like a Mini Coupe that refuses to start three out of four times and dies randomly every few miles as you’re driving.
Got it back from USFA. Came back upgraded with a box ov CCI Blazer 22LR (Can’t find any in my area.) which they recommended using. One of my 2 BX-1 mags that I fitted to the pistol worked perfecty. The other mag will get a little more TLC.
I accually got 10 rounds in a row a bunch of times.
The spring for lower vol ammo is in the ZIP. I tried my CCI Min Max ammo (I Have a few thousands on hand.) An empty shell casing not ejecting fully got jammed above the live round being loaded into the chamer and stopped the action. So all in all I can say it does work.
Wow! You mean it made it through a WHOLE TEN ROUND MAGAZINE, a BUNCH OF TIMES!!! The Holy Grail that all gunmakers aspire towards, a gun that occasionally manages to work reliably! Of course, most guns would be called a POS if they FAILED to make it through a whole ten round magazine “A bunch of times”, even if they normally worked well. Firing a whole magazine without jamming should be something that happens almost all the time. Anything less than that is shoddy design (even ignoring the foolish ergonamics, styling, “tactical applications” joke, dangerous layout and danger of firing out of battery because the striker doesn’t disconnect when the bolt is cycling). It needs a complete interior redesign, a new layout for the cocking handles, a real extractor, and a heavier bolt. If it actually worked at a level even approaching acceptable, I could ignore the ridiculousness of the rest of it.
I have not had a drag in for many years. The most severe thing relating to giving up may be the 1st 1 to 2 weeks. Luckily this stuff didnt last long and stuff got easier day-to-day thanks to the e-cigarettes. Please dont surrender. Please keep going with it and you can realize success once and for all.
the MPA master piece arms MPA22T is a piece of shit also
What does a MPA have yo do with a ZIP? If you call the MPA a brown ,stinkey turd you handle. The Zip is not…
I understand that USFA has ceased production of all but this ZiP22 oddity, which is a shame. I tried every variety of .22 LR ammo in this gun, from Eley target to MiniMags, CCI Blazer, Winchester M22s, you name it. Reliable function is just not in this beast. It has no extractor, and needs one desperately. It has the ergonomics of a brick, the trigger pull of a caulking gun and no accuracy to speak of. I don’t know what the designers were thinking. If this is “The Future of Fun,” I want to die right now!
USFA stopped SAA production a couple years ago.
As I said my ZIP works Mine went bact to USFA,
I use the recommended Blazer as i said and it works with the 10rd mage. Only problem I have now is finding more Blazer .22’s. Just aint out there at reasonable price
It has a place in my unique guns colection. No regrets and i am glad i have it.
What about holster options for this… thing??? I don’t think that leather snap-side/thumb-break would be very appropriate for it!
Todd do you have a ZIP. This is a unusual fun gun. I would not want to carry a 22 as a concealed carry gun. I see no reason for a holster.Go to USFA ZIP web page.
No Roger, I do not own one as of yet. I’ve been teetering on to get it or not and upon reading reviews I stumbled here. The thought about a holster isn’t to conceal it by any means. By the looks and feel of it, I think it would be easier to shove a brick down my pants! However, to carry it when not directly firing it or if one chooses to use it for transition drills, you /they WOULD need some sort of holster. I was briefly on their site but, must have missed what you are trying to direct me towards. I didn’t see anything about holstering.
Very Important. If you do buy one make sure it is of current production sr. # as it will than have the up dates. (web site has serial nrs) They go for around $200 to $250.
As for a holster made for it . I doubt there is one.you could have one made if you wanted to carry it. As a collector i don’t have a holster for all the guns i own. Just what i carry.
The Zip I just put in a pistol carrier or range bag. It is just a fun toy.
I was in the US Army however never heard of transition drills. Sorry.
I gave you their web site to ask USAF if there is a holster for it.
Well, I guess that it’s unfortunate that you didn’t get that training while you were in the Army. It is simply put switching between your long rifle and your hand gun.
Were you trained in the military Todd? When I was in the 1970’s we used the M16 as the prime weapons. As an officer i did carry a 45 however we never had any dumb ass transition drills.
Roger, I’m sorry that you feel that way and so strongly about it. I also hope that you have not misread anything I have asked on this site which was AGAIN, if anyone knew of any holsters for it. That in itself was a tongue in cheek question, not a personal attack on you. And yes, I have and do serve my country. Thank you for your service.
Todd, Sorry about being so defensive.
Roger
Todd and Roger,
I bought one of these a couple weeks back and haven’t had the chance to shoot it yet. The answer to the holster question is the optional belt clip. It’s like $20 and screws in on the left side of the gun. Thank you both for your service.
–Steve
Oh yeah Doug, this is so much better than the USFA Single Action Revolvers you were building.
I had a tek 22 that did the same thing when shooting ANY CCI brand rounds through it. I found that the lower velocity rounds ran smoothly, but after a couple hundred rounds of breaking it in, I could run the CCI brand again. Hope the problem gets worked out, seems to be a pretty cool little piece.
I owned two of these, ended up sending them back to the factory. Total garbage, whatever you do, don’t buy one.
My ZIP works. Honestly one wonders who are the trolls?
So, you have the one that works. Mazel tov!
Yep sure do. I’ve posted here before. I am excited about their hold open coming out. Much needed!!
http://www.usfirearms.com/pages/ZiPActionHoldBack.aspx
ZiP claims to have made multiple updates that have the newer production guns working properly. I’ll see if I can get my hands on a new one to test again. Mine definitely did NOT run, even after trying multiple barrels, every spring combo, installing the upgrade kit, then doing some polishing and lubing, etc, plus using multiple BX-1 mags, aftermarket mags, and lots of ammo types including the two most highly-recommended-by-ZiP ammo brands. Additionally, this was the norm, not the exception. If you look at pretty much every single other review done in the first 9+ months of production of this gun, whether written or video review on YouTube, etc, you’ll see the exact same results. Your “trolls” comment simply doesn’t apply. If the new guns truly are better that’s great! But it doesn’t apply to this review, which was an honest experience of my specific gun and I tried every darn thing possible to get it to work and spent almost two hours on the phone with the owner of USFA troubleshooting.
Well sparkie. I guess I am just lucky than. As stated mine went back once. As long as I use the CCI Blazer it runs. Hard to find the ammo now.
I am a happy customer.
FLAME DELETED Stop whining about a few minor bugs in the system. God gave us extra fingers to deal with fun new quirky innovations like the Zip. I can’t wait to buy my neighboras Zip. I’m getting a super good deal on it because both his index fingers are missing for some reason. I can’t wait!
Has anyone out there sent there Zipgun back to the factory and never got it back?
I sent mine back Dec. 5, 2014. It’s going on February. 2015 and have wrote numerous emails never an answer. It was sent back on their fed ex ticket and signed for by someone named P. Palladari. Doesn’t look like I’m going to get back.
This is what happens when you teach people how to use Solidworks or similar parasolid design program before they have proper design experience, understanding of ergonomics and general gun smithing experience etc….It probably looked great in the program, all clever and compact aaand totally unsafe, unreliable and unergonomic in real life. Guns tend to evolve at relatively slow pace…this gun is perfect example of why that is.
A little history of guns goes a long way. 1944 to 1946 most Bronx gangsmade their own home made guns. yep a lot of noise but many guns back fired into their faces, hands, eyes, were destroyed. my friend and I were at a toy store and right before us we saw was the real zip gun that we converted with a bored barrel made or steel.
we made seven real zip guns that were the enforcers of our neighborhood in the South Bronx. Just a little history of the past….no one was hurt but the gangs new what we had. The police reacted real quick about the rumors and within a week New York City had taken them of the market.
So random thought if u put under the barrel of your rifle…. how do you charge /reset it? it may be me but seems like you get to pick the caliber of hole to go through gour hand if you were to actuly mount this thing…
Mel Brooks has found his guns for Spaceballs II.
Wished I had read this before I bought. Bought this paperweight on an impulse and have regretted it ever since. I have had this jam everyother round attempt at a gun for almost a year and have yet to get 100 rounds thru it. My $170.00 great deal for a fun gun has turned into $400 waste of time. I will say that if you are able to find Eley target ammo for $12~20 a box the thing shoots well and does not Jam a brand new BX-10. anything other than that forget it. Since everytime it jams it cuts the bullet head off, my friends have dubbed it ” The Bullet Cutter”. For anyone who is like me and thinks the reviews on the internet are a small group of people you can never make happy. This gun will change your mind. I am telling you it is the WORST attempt at a product EVER slapped together. Tell your Mom , tell your Dad, tell all your friends the best protection this gun could ever provide lies in the fact it is heavy enough to throw at your attacker. BTW this is the 3rd gun I have had. Zip has already replaced the gun twice and has been assuring me for the last 4 months the ZX_30 mag will solve all my problems for just $49.95, although after calling BS they did say 4 months ago they would send me one for free. I will let you know when it shows up.
For this, USFA stopped making real guns?
Favorite quote; “..and if you think a Block is glocky…” 🙂 Made me smile. Also, great revue. Hope the Zip makes it.
I think it’s a cool concept and hope they work all the bugs out. I like the fact that it uses Ruger 10/22 mags since I own 3 10/22’s. I bought a Tec 22 about 15 years ago and when I first got it, it wouldn’t feed and kept jamming. I had to switch to a Ramline mag and carry a cleaning kit with me and clean it after every 100 rounds or so until I got it broke in. Now it works fine and will shoot all my clips. It’s cool to have a rifle and pistol that shoot the same clips. Especially 2 25 round banana clipped together. 50 rounds on a single point sling around your neck/shoulder = FUN!
tue zip gun is the sorryest gun i have ever owned!!!!
John, you don’t understand. The Zip22 is not intended to be a functioning firearm. It is a conversation piece, designed to provoke amusing banter among gun enthusiasts. It’s the grown-up equivalent of the joke shop rubber snake or plastic dog turd you had as a kid.
Oh man did I screw up!!! I picked one of these up at a gun show before reading the reviews. Sad day for me friends. This ZipZiltch is a P.O.S. and every bit as bad, if not worse than what this reviewer (Jeremy S.) described. Anyone want to buy it from me? Please, It comes with an acre of ocean front property in Arizona. If you’ll buy that, I’ll throw the golden gate in free!!!
Zip is the future of fun.. because at some point in the very distant future, you might be able to have fun with it.. after you install a kit and do a f*in rain dance.
It’s interesting and/or ironic that they chose to call it a “zip gun”, seeing as how zip guns are shoddily-built, dangerous, unreliable homemade contraptions that some would call a firearm. Almost makes one wonder if the whole thing wasn’t just a big hustle to squeeze money out of people foolish enough to buy one because it ‘looked pretty cool”, and the company named it what it did as a way of laughing at the poor suckers while they were on the way to the bank.
As you pointed out, the reciprocating parts were very lightweight. Forgotten Weapons tested it and had a similar observation.
I wonder if reliability world be improved with a heavier bolt.
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