Kel-Tec SU-16.....Opinions Sought.

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bonza

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Tell me about your experiences with the Kel-Tec SU-16. They seem reasonably priced & a handy design. Give me the pros & cons as you see them. Have they been around long enough to have spawned an after-market source of accessories? What is the going price for the SU-16 in your area?
 
They are generally good rifles with a few caveats, it really depends on what you want to use them for. If you are looking for tons of accessories, get an AR-15. You will find plenty of stuff to hang off of that rifle.

The SU-16 is nice and light, the folding bipod/handguard is a neat addition. The stock will fold and depending on the model, it can still fire with it folded. The other, nonfiring when folded models have magazine storage in the bottom of the stocks. They take standard STANAG pattern mags so all the AR mags you may have will work. The trigger sucks and it is very difficult to complete a trigger job. Don't get the case deflecting charging handle, it can cause problems, if it came on the model you get, you can change it out. The barrel is threaded so you can throw on a flash hider or can if you like.

The people that appreciate this little rifle are the ones that want an affordable .223 that is light and handy. They aren't looking for MOA accuracy but rather a rifle they could put in behind the seat of a truck or in a backpack.

Don't get the alpha(SU-16A) model if you can avoid it, the plastic front sight stinks. The bravo and charlie models are good.
 
Thanks for the reply. I'm not really interested in a bunch of accessories, just thought that if they were available that would indicate that it was a popular enough rifle. Any references to any shooting/testing of the SU-16?
 
I've been looking into them for quite some time now and I'm going to the gun show this weekend looking for one. Read this page from the Kel-Tec forum it's titled "Anything and Everthing About a SU-16/PLR."

http://www.ktog.org/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1204342114/0#0

There are also a few torture tests on You Tube etc. After the basic mods are taken care of and using good mags they are very reliable. Accuracy is fair to good typically 1-2". Not as good as a nice AR or a target gun but good enough for the purpose that I have for it.
 
Bigfoot, Thanks for the link, that is exactly what I was looking for! By the way, I'm just north of you in Washington.
 
I have a SU-16B and a CA. I had trouble with the factory extractors on both, replaced both with Bushmaster extractors. Chucked the cased deflecting charge handle on the CA, replaced it with the one from the B model. Tossed the four factory mags- they eject rounds out the top of the mag into the action if the mag is seated forcefully into the mag well when the action is open. My B model initially wouldn’t feed from AR mags, but after about 300 rounds it started to work. Don’t plan on using any of the aftermarket high-visibility AR front sights on an SU- they’ll screw into the front post hole, but they will be too tall.
 
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