W Turner
Member
I am along time fan of the Kel-Tec product line that has had nothing but good experiences with the KT's that I have owned. That being I said, I was a little skeptical about their new .223 chambered rifle, the SU-16.
Yesterday I was at a local gun shop and just as I was about to leave, I spotted one hanging on the wall behind the counter. The salesman got it down for me to look it over. My first overall impression was very good.
The plastic furniture did not feel as cheap as it looked in all of the advertisements and the maching was of very good quality. I expected it to feel kind of like the HI-Point 9mm carbine, but it felt and hefted like a quality rifle. The trigger was decent, but with Kel-tec's reputation for being tinker-friendly, I am sure some people will be developing some improvements. The factory sights are a ghost-ring setup with an integral picatinny rail on the top of the receiver for mounting optics and are user friendly except that I did not see a way to adjust for elevation.
I did not field strip it, but the bolt looked as though it was hard chromed and cycled at least as smoothly as an AR. The 5rd. factory supplied mag is made of plastic and has a last shot bolt stop feature. The store had an AR 20 rd. mag stowed in the buttstock for display purposes and once I figured out how it came in and out, it was very easy to manipulate and still held the mag securely.
My only gripe was that the factory sights are plastic, not steel and the heavily advertised break down feature is not as convenient as that of the pistol caliber carbines. You have to have a punch or similar tool to knock out a steel pin. I did not try this in the store for obvious reasons, but it seemed more involved than that of the others.
Overall I was very impressed with the overall quality and features of this rifle and plan to buy one. Reports from the few owners of these at KTOG.org is that accuarcy is hovering at or around the 2" mark at 100 yds. If these rifles are consistently that much more accurate than Ruger's minis are, then I think that Ruger has some very stiff competition, especially with the added feature of being able to use AR magazines in the KT.
The only reason I did not buy the one that I looked at was price. I do not know what the MSRP is (~$700ish I think), but the people at KTOG have been reporting prices at the $475-$525 range and this one was priced at $638, so I had to pass.
Mino
Yesterday I was at a local gun shop and just as I was about to leave, I spotted one hanging on the wall behind the counter. The salesman got it down for me to look it over. My first overall impression was very good.
The plastic furniture did not feel as cheap as it looked in all of the advertisements and the maching was of very good quality. I expected it to feel kind of like the HI-Point 9mm carbine, but it felt and hefted like a quality rifle. The trigger was decent, but with Kel-tec's reputation for being tinker-friendly, I am sure some people will be developing some improvements. The factory sights are a ghost-ring setup with an integral picatinny rail on the top of the receiver for mounting optics and are user friendly except that I did not see a way to adjust for elevation.
I did not field strip it, but the bolt looked as though it was hard chromed and cycled at least as smoothly as an AR. The 5rd. factory supplied mag is made of plastic and has a last shot bolt stop feature. The store had an AR 20 rd. mag stowed in the buttstock for display purposes and once I figured out how it came in and out, it was very easy to manipulate and still held the mag securely.
My only gripe was that the factory sights are plastic, not steel and the heavily advertised break down feature is not as convenient as that of the pistol caliber carbines. You have to have a punch or similar tool to knock out a steel pin. I did not try this in the store for obvious reasons, but it seemed more involved than that of the others.
Overall I was very impressed with the overall quality and features of this rifle and plan to buy one. Reports from the few owners of these at KTOG.org is that accuarcy is hovering at or around the 2" mark at 100 yds. If these rifles are consistently that much more accurate than Ruger's minis are, then I think that Ruger has some very stiff competition, especially with the added feature of being able to use AR magazines in the KT.
The only reason I did not buy the one that I looked at was price. I do not know what the MSRP is (~$700ish I think), but the people at KTOG have been reporting prices at the $475-$525 range and this one was priced at $638, so I had to pass.
Mino
