The Mesa Tactical Rail/Shell holder does not fit on my KSG.
The Mesa rail is 1.905" wide between the shell holders.
The KSG forend is 2.127" wide at the "ears" where it hooks up to the bolt carrier arms.
THE "EARS"
THE MEASUREMENT
The "ears" on the forend have to slide back and forth under the shell holders when you pump the action.
I emailed Mesa Tactical about it and they got back to me yesterday. Supposedly there has been a recent design change to the KSG where where there has been a 1/10" added to the "ears" on the forend. This wasn't the case with earlier examples. I looked at some pictures on the net and the ears on my KSG do look bigger than other ones. They have run into this problem a few times this month with other cutomers. They are working on a revision to the rail/shell holder to fit this change but they do not have a release date at this time. In the meantime they suggested that I remove a 1/10" from the "ears" on the forend to get it to fit. There are some pics below of customer mods to get the rail to fit.
I personally don't want to do this unitl I have a replacement forend in the mail from Kel-Tec in case this one breaks. I think the extra material might have been added to the ears because the forends were breaking there on earlier KSGs(???not sure about this???).
So if you are thinking about buying a Mesa Tactical Rail/Shell Holder check the measurement of the width of the forend at the ears and make sure it is around 1.9" or smaller if you want it to fit without modifications.
waepek was nice enough to measure his KSG forend for me. He also has a "newer" KSG. I will post his measurment after getting his OK to do so.
If it wouldn't be too much trouble would some other CGN members who have KSGs mind posting the measurement across the "ears" of their forend, I would greatly appreciate it.
PIC OF KSG WITH SMALLER "EARS" (maybe??? what do u think)
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Mesa dropped the ball on this one . The Mesa interferes with my Gen 1 KSG with the smaller ears - but only slightly, on one side, slowing the slide down due to the friction. It will abrade itself smooth eventually leaving a thinner ear.
For Gen 2 I do not recommend thinning the ears as your fears are justified. It is a high stress area and will be prone to breakage if thinned.
Better to channel a groove into both sides of the Mesa rather than wait for a Gen2 Mesa.