John Wayne
Member
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2007
- Messages
- 1,133
I was at a gun show a few weekends ago and bought a Kel-Tec Sub 2000 in 9mm. I've been considering buying this gun for some time now and just couldn't pass it up when I saw one for $300 NIB. I also bought two 35 round magazines (one ProMag and the other isn't labeled), a 20 rounder and a 15 round mil-surp mag marked "for Law Enforcement/Military use only." My particular rifle is fitted for Beretta 92 magazines, which I have found widely available. The rifle came with one neutered 10-round CX-4 Storm Beretta factory magazine.
Upon first holding the rifle, the first impression is that this thing is tiny! When folded, it's more like a large pistol than a carbine. Due to its largely composite construction, the rifle is extremely light too. After picking up some cheap 115 gr. 9mm FMJ loads from Georgia Arms, I loaded up a couple mags and went off to the range. When shooting the Kel-Tec, everything is right in your face--quite literally, as the gun is only 32 inches long, and half barrel. Then again, when shooting a pistol caliber, whatever you're firing at is probably also "in your face."
According to the manual, the gun is sighted in for 100 yards from the factory. After firing a few rounds, I was hitting high at 100 and had to hold the front post at the bottom of the bullseye to land them in the center. Not really a big deal, but adjusting the front sight looks to be more of a hassle than I'd care to deal with. The sight blade also looks extremely fragile, but is shrounded by a plastic hood. I did the majority of my shooting at 50 yards and found the rifle to be surprisingly accurate, thanks to its rather light single action trigger pull. It's not the lightest I've ever shot but it was smooth and what I'd consider a perfect pull weight for a gun of this type. I was shooting golf-ball sized groups at 50 yards from a sitting position using sandbags as a rest. The 9mm cartridge is also very controllable in a carbine--I was able to empty an entire 35 round mag as fast as I could pull the trigger and land every shot on the paper at 50 yards. I had no feeding or ejection issues, save for one stovepipe on the last round out of a 35-rounder, but I blame that on the cheap magazine and weak follower spring.
The gun is a lot of fun to shoot. I put nearly 200 rounds through it in the first session, and was surprised by the lack of recoil and ease of follow-up shots. The sights do require you to have your cheek resting right on top of the tubular stock though, which gets irritating after a a couple times of feeling the bolt slam back and forth. Again, not really a complaint as it's not a target rifle.
One thing I did notice was that the CX-4 and GI magazines fit rather tightly in place. The grip frame seems to spread apart when either is inserted, and grips them so tightly they will not drop out when the magazine release is depressed. In fact, the GI mag won't even snap into place! I think it's because the floorplate catches on the bottom of the grip frame before the mag release locks it in place--possible due to the variety of grip options available with the rifle. The mag is held in place by friction tight enough for normal functioning though. The 20 and both 35 round aftermarket mags fit very well and snap securely into place. They also drop free when the mag release is depressed.
I was very pleased with how easy it was to clean the rifle. Since it folds in half, it's as easy to clean as a break-action shotgun! Further disassembly was almost as simple--take a cartridge, push out the retaining pin in the stock, and slide out the bolt. The bolt is huge! It's two massive pieces of solid steel about six inches long and probably gives the gun half it's weight! It also allows for the use of a wide variety of loads of varying powers.
So overall, I am very pleased with the little rifle. It's a hoot to shoot and folds in half, making it easy to stash in a laptop bag for travel (more security in cheap hotels) or pack along on a camping trip. I have yet to try +P loads, but they seem promising as the manual says a 124 gr. +P load out of the 16" barrel has the same muzzle energy as a .357, which would allow for the taking of medium-sized game at close range in a survival situation.
The only issues I have are with the fit of the stock/GI magazines, but are not a large enough issue to deter me from making the purchase again.
Upon first holding the rifle, the first impression is that this thing is tiny! When folded, it's more like a large pistol than a carbine. Due to its largely composite construction, the rifle is extremely light too. After picking up some cheap 115 gr. 9mm FMJ loads from Georgia Arms, I loaded up a couple mags and went off to the range. When shooting the Kel-Tec, everything is right in your face--quite literally, as the gun is only 32 inches long, and half barrel. Then again, when shooting a pistol caliber, whatever you're firing at is probably also "in your face."
According to the manual, the gun is sighted in for 100 yards from the factory. After firing a few rounds, I was hitting high at 100 and had to hold the front post at the bottom of the bullseye to land them in the center. Not really a big deal, but adjusting the front sight looks to be more of a hassle than I'd care to deal with. The sight blade also looks extremely fragile, but is shrounded by a plastic hood. I did the majority of my shooting at 50 yards and found the rifle to be surprisingly accurate, thanks to its rather light single action trigger pull. It's not the lightest I've ever shot but it was smooth and what I'd consider a perfect pull weight for a gun of this type. I was shooting golf-ball sized groups at 50 yards from a sitting position using sandbags as a rest. The 9mm cartridge is also very controllable in a carbine--I was able to empty an entire 35 round mag as fast as I could pull the trigger and land every shot on the paper at 50 yards. I had no feeding or ejection issues, save for one stovepipe on the last round out of a 35-rounder, but I blame that on the cheap magazine and weak follower spring.
The gun is a lot of fun to shoot. I put nearly 200 rounds through it in the first session, and was surprised by the lack of recoil and ease of follow-up shots. The sights do require you to have your cheek resting right on top of the tubular stock though, which gets irritating after a a couple times of feeling the bolt slam back and forth. Again, not really a complaint as it's not a target rifle.
One thing I did notice was that the CX-4 and GI magazines fit rather tightly in place. The grip frame seems to spread apart when either is inserted, and grips them so tightly they will not drop out when the magazine release is depressed. In fact, the GI mag won't even snap into place! I think it's because the floorplate catches on the bottom of the grip frame before the mag release locks it in place--possible due to the variety of grip options available with the rifle. The mag is held in place by friction tight enough for normal functioning though. The 20 and both 35 round aftermarket mags fit very well and snap securely into place. They also drop free when the mag release is depressed.
I was very pleased with how easy it was to clean the rifle. Since it folds in half, it's as easy to clean as a break-action shotgun! Further disassembly was almost as simple--take a cartridge, push out the retaining pin in the stock, and slide out the bolt. The bolt is huge! It's two massive pieces of solid steel about six inches long and probably gives the gun half it's weight! It also allows for the use of a wide variety of loads of varying powers.
So overall, I am very pleased with the little rifle. It's a hoot to shoot and folds in half, making it easy to stash in a laptop bag for travel (more security in cheap hotels) or pack along on a camping trip. I have yet to try +P loads, but they seem promising as the manual says a 124 gr. +P load out of the 16" barrel has the same muzzle energy as a .357, which would allow for the taking of medium-sized game at close range in a survival situation.
The only issues I have are with the fit of the stock/GI magazines, but are not a large enough issue to deter me from making the purchase again.
