New is the keyword of the firearms industry. Prowl around the Shooting Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show, and you'll notice every booth features a banner or placard heralding that company's "new" offerings.
Often the basic design has been around for years if not decades, and what's new turns out to be only a different finish, a longer or shorter barrel, an additional chambering, etc.
But what you see here does, I think, justify the title of "new." The Kel-Tec SU-16 is a lightweight (five pounds), handy (37.25" OAL) semiauto carbine chambered for the .223 Remington cartridge. It uses readily available AR-15/M-16 magazines, incorporates an integral bipod, caries spare ammunition on board and folds up for travel or stowage to a compact 26" length.
No, none of those features are new in themselves, but put together they comprise a package the likes of which we've not seen before. And I suspect the SU-16 is destined to become a very popular utility rifle in America.
First, it certainly looks very 21st century. With its all black, glass-filled Zytel construction and angular lines, it looks like something straight from an F-117A Nighthawk pilot's survival kit.
Perhaps mere appearance shouldn't have such an influence on the success or failure of a firearm design, but it does. Case in point? Glock's G-17. Glock fans will tell you how well it performs, but it was its rakish modem appearance that lured many early buyers when it first landed on our shores.
Short and Light
The second point is the handiness factor. I don't know a shooter who doesn't appreciate the short, light, easy carrying GI carbine, but where the carbine falls short is its .30 Carbine chambering.
Ruger fixed that problem by bringing us the Mini-14, which mated the compact dimensions (if a little portlier) of the GI carbine with the flat shooting, low recoiling, inexpensive .223 Remington cartridge. The SU-16 goes the Mini-14 one better by being a full pound and a half lighter and using (thank goodness) good ol' M-16 magazines.
But politics will perhaps give the biggest boost to Kel-Tec's new carbine. Logical competitors such as the collapsible stock ARs, the folding stock FNC and AR-180 etc., are now unavailable due to various regulations. By contrast, the conventional stock style of the SU-16 makes it available even in semiauto-rifle-intolerant California.
Erector Set
The Kel-Tec arrived in a compact little box due to its folding construction. To assemble, pull the stock pin from its stowed position, swing the stock into place and insert the pin. In the working position, the stock is absolutely rigid and the comb offers a good stock weld--nonnegotiable features as far as I'm concerned.
Fieldstripping proved extremely simple with no tools other than a loaded cartridge required. The excellent manual describes the process in close detail along with clear color photographs. One small point easily overlooked is to be certain the bolt head is fully extended from the bolt carrier prior to reassembly. But trust me, even if your VCR clock is still blinking "12:00" you'll have no difficulty fieldstripping this lil' bugger.
It's while the SU-16 is apart you get a better look at the design and construction. The design engineers at Kel-Tec deserve a healthy bonus, or at the very least a steak dinner and a pat on the back. For while they applied their own unique materials and ingenious construction methods, they were cagey enough to adopt the best elements of existing self-loading rifle design.
Take that bolt carrier for example. With its attached gas piston it looks very close to that of the excellent FN FNC. which itself is descended from the proven Kalashnikov. The bolt head however follows the multi-lugged, short rotation design of Eugene Stoner's AR-10/M16.
It's worth pointing out that unlike the AR-15/M16 with its direct impingement gas system, the SU-16 does not flood the receiver with carbon after each shot. Therefore it's much easier to keep clean and functioning properly.
GI-Grade Trigger
The single-stage trigger trips at 6.25 pounds, visibly camming the hammer back just prior to release. While that's not the type of trigger we like at the target range, it's exactly the right configuration for safety and long service life in a semiauto rifle. Two pounds lighter would be nice, but for a rough and ready, multi-use carbine this trigger is nothing we can't live with.
The manual safety is a cross-bolt type (functioning with the rifle cocked or un-cocked) located at the rear of the trigger guard. With a bit of work, it's reversible to accommodate left-handed use.
The SU-16 incorporates a magazine-activated bolt hold-open. Locking the bolt open manually is a cinch, just depress the recessed button behind the magazine well. To release the bolt, simply tug on the bolt handle.
Speaking of magazines, the magazine well is a pretty snug fit. Neither the Kel-Tec synthetic 10-round magazines nor a GI aluminum mag would drop free when the release button was depressed. Some will fuss over this, but I'm not sure it's a problem.
The barrel is 18" in length, with a 1:9" twist to accommodate a wide variety of bullet weights. Even when fieldstripped, it must be cleaned from the muzzle.
Sighting Options
Factory installed sights are minimalist in the extreme, but by the same token they're simple and unlikely to move out of adjustment. The front is a hooded post. The post itself is made of a translucent orange plastic, which glows, brightly in good light. The rear is a simple fixed aperture.
All adjustments are made at the front sight. Windage is controlled by a pair of opposing threaded disks. The front post is clamped between these, so to make an adjustment, use the supplied tool to back out one disk prior to tightening the opposite side. Elevation adjustment is made by loosening these disks then manually raising or lowering the post. In practice this system turned out to be simple to zero.
Of course, the other sighting option is to add some form of optical sight using the receiver's integral Picatinny rail. No doubt many if not most SU-16 owners will choose to do this, but I hate the thought of adding all that extra bulk to such a trim little gun.
The integral bipod is a feature many will like, but other than training young shooters, I wonder how useful it really is. Regardless, it's a neat design and it's there if you think it serves a need.
Amino, Yes in Doughnuts, No
There's a lot to like about this carbine, but my favorite feature (apart from the folding stock) is definitely the reserve ammunition stowage in the butt. The buttstock well accepts two of the Kel-Tec 10-round magazines, or a single 20- or 30-round AR-15 mag. Magazines are retained in place by the friction of two pairs of spring-loaded plungers. With the stock folded, stowed magazines are obviously locked securely in place. But with the stock extended, would retention be sufficient?
To find out, I took a little jog around the homestead with two loaded 10s and later with one loaded 20 in place (I dislike 30-round AR magazines and had none on hand to test). I learned two things: While they shifted around slightly, the magazines were securely retained, and second, I've gotta' quit stopping at the Doughnut Shack (whew!).
On the range, the SU-16 proved it's no finicky eater. The menu included Winchester 55-grain ball, as well as Black Hills 52--and 73-grain match. The Kel-Tec gobbled it all up without a sputter. Several different magazines were tried and reliability was simply flawless.
Accuracy was about all I can expect with a "ghost ring" aperture. One hundred-yard groups ran 2" to 3", spreading out to 5" to 7" at 200. Actually that's not bad for a lightweight carbine with a fairly heavy trigger and coarse sights. But there's something else at work here. Nearly every group was significantly wider than tall, and this is due to the only flaw I can spot in the SU-16.
A Solvable Problem
The front sight post is protected by a round hood. When sighting, this hood fits neatly inside the large aperture of the ghost ring rear. With the post perfectly centered in the hood, there's no problem. But after zeroing, the front sight of my rifle was significantly off center in the hood.
Looking through the sights, the eye tends to center the round hood in the round aperture, rather than what it should do, which is to center the post in the aperture. I'm pretty certain that's the cause for those wide-shot groups, despite my best efforts to consistently ignore the front sight hood.
What's the cure? A smaller diameter rear aperture to prevent seeing that hood is the obvious fix. Threading the existing sight and installing a Williams aperture would be a quick, cheap solution. Another option might be to mount a suitable low-profile adjustable aperture sight to the Picatinny rail. This would allow us to carefully center the front sight in the hood and make any needed adjustments at the rear sight.
One additional complaint might be the absence of sling mounts, but Kel-Tec is already on top of this. If you haven't already guessed, I really like the SU-16. It'll make a great camp gun among other uses. The MSRP of $640 is not bad, but check your local dealer. Mine has these on the shelf for, well, a lot less. Frankly, I'm not sure I'll be returning my sample. It's a really interesting package--and besides, it's "new!"
SU-16 KEL-TEC IND.
1475 Cox Road, Cocoa, FL 32926, (321) 631-0068, www.kel-tec.com
|
Search Tactical Review
