ive had 4 different mp5s from zenith, 1 of them has 0 issues. 1 zf5p with top misaligned rear pin hole, 1 zf5 with out of spec receiver rail mounts and handguard retaining pin bracket, 1 mp5 warranty replacement with an out of spec magwell that wont feed off the left feedlip of any mag, 1 mp5 that works.
That's kinda the nature of the beast. Mine was fine out of the box, and only needed a new locking piece at 5k rounds the barrels about to go out now at 20,000, but I can't really complain. Had tons of fun with her, and I'm close to having enough put away, to being able to get my transferable, so for me at least I'd say it was a great owner's experience.
I have had no issues with mine with zenith factory KCI mags. I have a K model and works great just waiting on a 9mm tri-lug can to get out of AFT jail. But unsuppressed it has been a pleasure. At 25 yards it easily does 2.5 inch groups standing free hand with ball ammo. So I’m sure with quality ammo and a bench it’s plenty accurate. Now I’m just curious if I will need a different locking piece once the suppressor is attached.
So my experience with Zenith (so far) has been terrible. It took them several months to ship my ZF-5. And then when I opened it up, I find that the magazine fitment is so loose that it feels like it could fall out of the gun. I contact Zenith and after weeks (and having to take video of the wobble) they said that they can't cover that under warranty, "just because the magazine doesn't fit as tightly as I would like". To use their words. So I tried to load it up for the first time, with round nose ammo. I get a failure to feed every other round. So I contacted them again (with more video of the gun malfunctioning) and I'm still waiting to hear back. It's obvious that the magazine is so loose that it's not going to feed rounds properly. I've got AK's and have handled many guns, and have never handled one with this much magazine wobble.
Maybe you'll have better luck than me. Hope you don't have to deal with their customer service. I currently have a gun that doesn't function and I'm having serious doubts that they are going to fix it.
I would also suggest that before you accept the transfer at your gun dealer that you try and see how the magazine fits in the gun. If it feels wrong then don't accept it. That's what I should have done. Just my two cents.
Got my ZF5-P 3 weeks back. Have same magazine looseness with Zenith mags but not to the point of falling out. Got 2, maybe 3 failure to feeds, but I attributed those to not cleanly hitting the cocking lever. About 200 rounds through it so far. One of those, my wife was using the magwell as a forward grip.
Just curious when you sent it back for repair did your invoice say early SN? I’m thinking are trying to say early serial number meaning they know there is problems with early serial number ones so hopefully mine can get fixed and repaired soon
Thanks for the video! From reading comments from this and other zf5 videos it seems Zenith is having quality issues with guns shipped from the factory. That sucks and I hope they improve because a $1300 a gun should work.
Have the ‘full size’ zf5 and haven’t had any issues. The occasional malfunction… like with yours maybe once every 500-750 rounds but it’s rare. Otherwise it shoots great and is very accurate. Very soft shooting, easy gun to shoot. Thanks for the review 👍
One of the reasons I got the HK was that they are dead-nuts reliable. Not gee, I hope I get a good one, not wow, what a great warranty department, none of that. Not a single malfunction in well over 5K rounds. If ya can't afford one I get it, but if not and you are using it for competition or HD just the absolute reliability is worth the extra bucks even if the price is annoying.
You do get yourself in trouble when you load a magazine on a closed bolt. Everything I've seen on MP 5s say you need to reload with the bolt back, and then set the bolt forward after seating the mag. 3 minutes into the video, this is not a fair evaluation....
Can you quantify the better quality of the Dakota or the Hk? Can you short tighter, quicker bill drills? Do they feed hollow points better? Can you shoot tighter groups? Faster reloads? I am trying to justify the additional cost to Myself. If it’s just cosmetic, eh not a worry. If I actually get better performance. Well then, hello Dakota. I do understand that the return of investment on higher quality quality is not a direct ratio. IE, can you shoot better with a 3k$ scope over say 1k$. Well average flat range shooting. Maybe you would shoot it just as well, but given specific low light conditions, at extreme temps. The 3k would perform better. But if you just average target shooter, well you don’t see a 200% gain in performance. Trying to articulate that the better quality is not a direct ratio to cost.
For me I got a Magpul lower and selector which I like the angle of better, I got a much better barrel and bolt carrier group from RCM. The welds and quality are higher. The initial performance (after zenith fixed theirs) is similar in that they are both 9mm pcc and run. I believe the longevity with the nicer parts is higher with the Dakota. For someone just shooting it as a range toy and won’t ever pass a few thousand rounds and willing to maybe have to deal with some qc issues (maybe) it may not be worth it to you but it was and is for me.
PTR-9c FLAWLESS. Zenith (MKE) Z5RS (old school in comparison) FLAWLESS. Zenith (MKE) Z5k only one that would not accept a Midwest Industries Picatinny Top Rail. Replaced with Century Arms (MKE) AP5-m FLAWLESS. Since I don't have a PDW, between price and functionality, That built in rail says PTR-9kt. Zenith?
![[Gegagedigedagedago] NEW Help Gegagedigedagedago Nugget escape from Nikocado Avocado Challenge](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/hJWnwRC2Fz8/mqdefault.jpg)
You get what you pay for isn’t 100% constant but pays off most often
I sacrifice this comment to the holy algorithm.
ive had 4 different mp5s from zenith, 1 of them has 0 issues. 1 zf5p with top misaligned rear pin hole, 1 zf5 with out of spec receiver rail mounts and handguard retaining pin bracket, 1 mp5 warranty replacement with an out of spec magwell that wont feed off the left feedlip of any mag, 1 mp5 that works.
"The automatic Mag Release is a Feature..."
awesome vid! love that your making more honest youtube content
Great review, just what I was looking for prior to making a bucket list purchase.
Thanks for the update.
Solid
That's kinda the nature of the beast. Mine was fine out of the box, and only needed a new locking piece at 5k rounds the barrels about to go out now at 20,000, but I can't really complain. Had tons of fun with her, and I'm close to having enough put away, to being able to get my transferable, so for me at least I'd say it was a great owner's experience.
Bussin
Mine would not even hold a magazine right out of the box for me. No QC at all before they leave the facility.
I have had no issues with mine with zenith factory KCI mags. I have a K model and works great just waiting on a 9mm tri-lug can to get out of AFT jail. But unsuppressed it has been a pleasure. At 25 yards it easily does 2.5 inch groups standing free hand with ball ammo. So I’m sure with quality ammo and a bench it’s plenty accurate. Now I’m just curious if I will need a different locking piece once the suppressor is attached.
So my experience with Zenith (so far) has been terrible.
It took them several months to ship my ZF-5. And then when I opened it up, I find that the magazine fitment is so loose that it feels like it could fall out of the gun.
I contact Zenith and after weeks (and having to take video of the wobble) they said that they can't cover that under warranty, "just because the magazine doesn't fit as tightly as I would like". To use their words.
So I tried to load it up for the first time, with round nose ammo. I get a failure to feed every other round. So I contacted them again (with more video of the gun malfunctioning) and I'm still waiting to hear back.
It's obvious that the magazine is so loose that it's not going to feed rounds properly. I've got AK's and have handled many guns, and have never handled one with this much magazine wobble.
I have one arriving tomorrow. I'm not pleased to read this.
Maybe you'll have better luck than me. Hope you don't have to deal with their customer service. I currently have a gun that doesn't function and I'm having serious doubts that they are going to fix it.
I would also suggest that before you accept the transfer at your gun dealer that you try and see how the magazine fits in the gun. If it feels wrong then don't accept it. That's what I should have done.
Just my two cents.
@@pmubdeeps I will do this. Thanks for your post.
Got my ZF5-P 3 weeks back. Have same magazine looseness with Zenith mags but not to the point of falling out. Got 2, maybe 3 failure to feeds, but I attributed those to not cleanly hitting the cocking lever. About 200 rounds through it so far. One of those, my wife was using the magwell as a forward grip.
Just curious when you sent it back for repair did your invoice say early SN? I’m thinking are trying to say early serial number meaning they know there is problems with early serial number ones so hopefully mine can get fixed and repaired soon
Thanks for the video! From reading comments from this and other zf5 videos it seems Zenith is having quality issues with guns shipped from the factory. That sucks and I hope they improve because a $1300 a gun should work.
Have the ‘full size’ zf5 and haven’t had any issues. The occasional malfunction… like with yours maybe once every 500-750 rounds but it’s rare. Otherwise it shoots great and is very accurate. Very soft shooting, easy gun to shoot.
Thanks for the review 👍
If you lock the bolt, then seat a mag, it will stay put
No it wouldn’t and why it was fixed
One of the reasons I got the HK was that they are dead-nuts reliable. Not gee, I hope I get a good one, not wow, what a great warranty department, none of that. Not a single malfunction in well over 5K rounds. If ya can't afford one I get it, but if not and you are using it for competition or HD just the absolute reliability is worth the extra bucks even if the price is annoying.
Hey! Have you used that before? Looks brand new 🤣🤣🤣
again zenith are made on original H&K machinery I never had a problem with mine love it .
False. It is not. Century Arms are. But the Zenith is still closer to the original mp5 than a century arms is.
Zenith use to be made by MKE then Century bought them out
You do get yourself in trouble when you load a magazine on a closed bolt. Everything I've seen on MP 5s say you need to reload with the bolt back, and then set the bolt forward after seating the mag.
3 minutes into the video, this is not a fair evaluation....
Just bought one yesterday so hoping i get a good one😂
How is it?
@@dubb5508 so far so good 500 in
Can you quantify the better quality of the Dakota or the Hk? Can you short tighter, quicker bill drills? Do they feed hollow points better? Can you shoot tighter groups? Faster reloads? I am trying to justify the additional cost to
Myself. If it’s just cosmetic, eh not a worry. If I actually get better performance. Well then, hello Dakota. I do understand that the return of investment on higher quality quality is not a direct ratio. IE, can you shoot better with a 3k$ scope over say 1k$. Well average flat range shooting. Maybe you would shoot it just as well, but given specific low light conditions, at extreme temps. The 3k would perform better. But if you just average target shooter, well you don’t see a 200% gain in performance. Trying to articulate that the better quality is not a direct ratio to cost.
For me I got a Magpul lower and selector which I like the angle of better, I got a much better barrel and bolt carrier group from RCM. The welds and quality are higher. The initial performance (after zenith fixed theirs) is similar in that they are both 9mm pcc and run. I believe the longevity with the nicer parts is higher with the Dakota. For someone just shooting it as a range toy and won’t ever pass a few thousand rounds and willing to maybe have to deal with some qc issues (maybe) it may not be worth it to you but it was and is for me.
PTR-9c FLAWLESS. Zenith (MKE) Z5RS (old school in comparison) FLAWLESS. Zenith (MKE) Z5k only one that would not accept a Midwest Industries Picatinny Top Rail. Replaced with Century Arms (MKE) AP5-m FLAWLESS. Since I don't have a PDW, between price and functionality, That built in rail says PTR-9kt. Zenith?