Kel-Tec Sub-2000 carbine: veteran commentator J.B. Wood has long admired pistol-caliber carbines, and he's pretty darn pleased with this one

Guns Magazine, Jan, 2003 by J.B. Wood

A while back -- 1997 to 2000, actually -- Kel-Tec offered perhaps the ultimate pistol-caliber semi-auto carbine. Called the Sub-9, it offered several innovative features. The most notable was the ability to fold the carbine for storage, reducing its length by about one-half.

The Sub-9 did, though, have one minus point: because of its aircraft-grade aluminum alloy receiver and other factors, it was very expensive to manufacture. This resulted in a retail price around $700. It was definitely worth it, but sales were not brisk.

Second Life For A Great Design

So, George Kellgren, president of KelTec, redesigned it. He retained all of the best features of the Sub-9, did away with parts requiring excessive manufacturing expense, and produced the new Sub-2000. Its retail price is just slightly more than half the original tariff of the Sub-9. In performance, however, the two are equal.

The novel folding feature was retained of course -- but now there is an actual latch that locks the barrel unit in the stowed position, as well as a built-in key-operated lock. With the Sub-2000 locked in this position, the firearm cannot possibly be fired by a child or an unauthorized person.

Magazine Versatility

The Sub-2000 comes with a nice MecGar magazine, permanently blocked to 10rounds capacity per current Federal requirements. The Sub-2000 will, though, work perfectly with high-capacity magazines of the correct type. My carbine is set up to accept S&W 59-series magazines, but the Sub-2000 may also be ordered to accommodate Beretta, SIG or Glock magazines.

You can easily see the advantage here -- your carbine and handgun can use not only the same cartridge, but also the same magazines.

The magazine release is a push button on the left side in the traditional location. It has a healthy spring and retains the magazine securely, but I would feel better if it had a molded protective "fence" around it like those present around the safety. You have just heard my only criticism of the Sub-2000.

A Most Positive Safety

The manual safety is a cross-bolt, pushbutton that both blocks the sear and disconnects the trigger bar. When pushed to the right for firing, it exposes four equally spaced red dots. Thus, regardless of the angle of view, you can see it's ready to go. There is a very positive detent for both on-and off-safe positions.

The location of the cocking handle is unusual -- on the underside of the butt stock shaft. This is good, because it keeps the sides of the Sub-2000 flat, with no handle protruding in either direction. However, when firing from belt level, avoid tucking the butt under your arm, as the moving bolt handle can pinch your side.

The Sub-2000 has a pivoting internal hammer, so any competent gunsmith could give it a nice trigger pull. As with most U.S. made firearms of the past 50 years, the Sub-2000 has a rather stiff trigger pull, although let-off was clean. After getting used to it, it caused no difficulty at the range.

Good Sights -- Great Accuracy

The fixed aperture rear sight automatically erects itself and locks into place when the barrel unit is unfolded. The front sight is a square post, shielded inside a protective ring, and is made of a translucent pink orange polymer. It's highly visible. Opposed coin-slotted screws allow adjustment both vertically and horizontally.

In test firing the Sub-2000, I used a kneeling position, with the weak side elbow properly supported on the knee. Test ammo used was 115-grain Winchester Silvertip, Magtech 124-grain FMJ and Norma 124-grain +P JHP.

Test distance was 25 yards, and the well centered groups were surprisingly small. The Winchester load grouped into 1 inches, the Magtech into 1 3/4 and the Norma load clustered into an impressive 7/8 inch. The groups would open a little at greater distances, but they'd still be marvelous. The Sub-2000 is very accurate.

Add-Ons And Doo-Dads

One of several optional accessories I tried was a neat spare magazine carrier that attaches to the buttplate assembly. It has a push-button latch to hold the magazine in place. Other useful options are a 1-inch buttstock extension, flashlight and laser mounts, a sling, and a nice soft case with magazine pockets.

For either police or civilian use, the pistol-caliber carbines have a lot of good points. The cartridge (and in this case the magazine) may be interchanged with your handgun. Accuracy is much improved for most users compared to the handgun. And, since they look a lot like a submachinegun, the intimidation factor may be a plus.

Efforts at logic aside, the Kel-Tec Sub2000 is just plain fun to shoot...

And it folds!

KEL-TEC SUB-2000 CARBINE

SPECIFICATIONS

WEIGHT: 4 pounds

LENGTH, OPEN: 30 inches

LENGTH, STOWED: 16 inches

HEIGHT, STOWED: 7 inches

WIDTH: 2 inches

BARREL LENGTH: 16.1 inches

SIGHT RADIUS: 14.5 inches

MAGAZINE CAPACITY: 10 rounds, supplied

SUGGESTED RETAIL: $383

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Kel-Tec CNC Industries

[800] 515-9983

www.kel-tec.com

RELATED ARTICLE

[1] The folding feature is novel and appealing.

[2] The aperture rear sight pops into place automatically when the carbine is unfolded for use.