Gun community takes effort to stand out. Many MAGA and everyone is cool with that (ugh, except Karl and Queer Armorer and a couple more quietly). But Kel-Tek is orthogonal in the “what if Firearms but Lovecraftian weird?” sense…
If the PR57 was a PR9 and had one of the industry standard now trigger face safeties I think they’d sell a million of them annually. A 5.7 and a pocket pistol without even that safety?…?
“What if we made a polymer .22 magnum that had insane mag capacity and no recoil, weighed less than a pound but…hear me out, jammed every fifth round. Eh? Eh?”
But dammit if I could get one of those SUB-CQB’s I’d be delighted, no joke.
Ironically Kel-Tec will be vindicated when we realize that the ideas were good, the execution was Dodgy, and they effectively acted as a barometer of the market and field research for other manufacturers
PS90 is one of the most enjoyable guns to shoot in the world. I do not do anything other than paper shooting (and never would, ever) but it is my favourite
Firearm manufacturer based in Florida (this state is the home of MANY slightly off-center firearms firms including Kel Tec, Adams, the extremely succesful Palmetto Arms, SCCY, Diamondback, Fightlite, surely many more).
The Kel Tec Sub-2000 is an extremely popular folding 9mm carbine, we call
it a pistol caliber carbine or a sub-gun or a truck gun. As well as many other designs you can see on their web page, some of which are kinda inexplicable. Such as a dual tube .410 shotgun with 11 shots in case you need to shoot a LOT of snakes and spiders.
Telltech is like Dodge. They put their R&D staff in a room with several pounds of cocaine and tell them not to come out until something interesting is made.
Kel-Tec is the only arms manufacturer that still has a Coke room for their engineers and nothing will convince me otherwise. "We can fit a P-90 into a pistol form factor" - something only the truly deranged or coked out would do.
I come up with weird and possibly pointless gun ideas all the time. But KelTec makes theirs reality. I have to respect that. And it's given us some really cool stuff.
My favorite Kel-Tec memory is going to the range with someone so he could write a review and him complaining about stovepipe jams like every fifth or sixth round
He ended up writing a glowing review because gun media
Plastic fantastic bullpups for that whole firing chamber pressed up directly against your head seems like a win/win! I still fancied an RDB before the Canadian government banned them.. for now
Ya know... I like having a fold up PCC that takes Glock magazines. And FR, how did it take hundreds of years pump shotguns before anyone thought of a second tube. It's so simple! Why?!
Gonna be real, the KSG is a really enjoyable time at the range. Some of us who are differently abled appreciate their designs and features when other firearms present obstacles to comfort when sport shooting.
I know it's not really your target audience or maybe it is? But in any case, it's a pity we couldn't get, It Could Happen Here coverage for Shot Show as well.
Before Ian McCollum got fash adjacent, he and @inrangetv.bsky.social made some SERIOUSLY funny Shotshow videos! I remember my favourite was the guy who designed a weapon light activated by a trigger mounted (!) switch
I wish they brought back some of the old Grendel designs before they got bought and turned into Kel-Tec, they had a sick .22WMR pistol that was like a plastic version of an Astra 3000.
Pedantic: for many years Kel Tec was known for making .32 ACP mouse guns, to be carried in an ankle holster. For those times when the assailant had got your first gun away from you but then BAM still in the fight motherfucker!
They competed with the Beretta kittycat guns but they answered
the question: do I really need to pay for Italian craftsmanship over a gun I am going to wear in my smelly-ass boot every day?
After Glock released this weird plastic handgun which inexplicably became a huge success with law enforcement, Kel Tec sat down and designed the first (I believe) handgun
to exploit polymer technology to create a gun specifically designed from the drawing board as a true consumer CCW gun. It was incredibly light, striker-fired, carefully non-snaggy, double action only, and had a trigger so laborious it forced you to consider "do you really want to do this"?
Yet it could fire 9mm +P and this had not been done before. I have one and carried it for years. It hops like a frog and everybody hates it but me, but still those guns sold like crazy. From that point forward Kel Tec emphasized innovation, probably more than any other manufacturer. Done.
I mean, if you shoot a shotgun often, the idea of one that holds an entire box of shells crosses your mind. It would get me thrown under the jail in my state, but damn. Do you know how many more dove I could have got with that thing instead of 3 rounds?!?
Range toy. There's literally no use case for it that isn't better served by other guns.
That's kind of the beauty of Kel Tec. They get high, think "this would be cool" and design a thing and see if other people think it's cool enough to buy.
They also make some legitimately good guns like the P15.
Comments
But then again, why wouldn't I love my sub?
But dammit if I could get one of those SUB-CQB’s I’d be delighted, no joke.
You know what is up with the lesswrong, forum and AI researchers basically being in a machine God cult?
The Kel Tec Sub-2000 is an extremely popular folding 9mm carbine, we call
https://www.keltecweapons.com/firearm/pistols/p50/
Why ?
BECAUSE THEY COULD.
Mostly.
With a drum magazine.
He ended up writing a glowing review because gun media
The thread is due to their new stripper-clip rotating-barrel lug-locking 5.7x28mm pistol that was announced literally right then.
I wouldn't be at all shocked to see them advertise a gun that doubles as both a tripod and a folding chair.
Take my money
That tracks. Also apparently the same guy who founded Kel-Tec was the owner of Grendel, the ugliest pistols in existence. What a madman.
Kel-Tec KSG Tungsten 12 GA 18.5" Barrel 14-Rounds Optics Ready.
https://bsky.app/profile/thecrystaljules.bsky.social/post/3lcdw5v67ms24
speaking of, Robert, I wanted to bounce a suggestion for the Postal Service off you.
Well, more revamping an old idea.
USPS ICBMS--Intercontinental Ballistic Mail Service.
https://youtube.com/shorts/DYVt3pMx8rE?si=yBhqp3d2n5wizyhs
They competed with the Beretta kittycat guns but they answered
After Glock released this weird plastic handgun which inexplicably became a huge success with law enforcement, Kel Tec sat down and designed the first (I believe) handgun
bullpup dual tube pump action shotgun with 24+1 shell capacity
That's kind of the beauty of Kel Tec. They get high, think "this would be cool" and design a thing and see if other people think it's cool enough to buy.
They also make some legitimately good guns like the P15.