Kel-Tec's Sub-2000 Convertible Rifle

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An “Ultimate” Handgun Accessory

By Will Dabbs MD
Photos: By Sarah Dabbs

Kel-Tec guns are reliably different. Based in Cocoa, Fla., Kel-Tec designs, builds and markets some of the most innovative firearms in the history of the art. Their .22 Magnum is an autoloader feeding from a 30-round magazine in the butt. Their .308 battle rifle is a bullpup design ejecting out the front and looks like it fell off the set of a science fiction movie. Their SUB-2000 rifle instantly folds up into something easily stashing in a daypack.

The SUB-2000 makes for a slender, lightweight and maneuverable
pistol-caliber carbine. Our example was accurate and reliable
with round-nosed ammo, including high performance loads like
Hornday’s Critical Defense brand and handles accessories like
sights and lights easily. Will found it fast and light in-hand.

By selecting the right SUB-2000 model to complement your favorite
tactical handgun, both weapons can run the same rounds from
the same magazines.

Rules

It’s an axiom seldom disputed: Rifles are innately more accurate than pistols. Yet, due to physical challenges, we mostly carry handguns for defense. It’s not always easy to tote a long-gun. In the United States, an otherwise unrestricted rifle has to sport a barrel at least 16″ long and an overall length in firing configuration of at least 2″. These criteria are stupid and date back to the era when using a computer meant counting to ten on your fingers.

Kel-Tec deals with these arcane restrictions by designing a pistol-caliber rifle instantly collapsing onto itself for transport. This qualifies it as a good “accessory” for your defensive handgun, if circumstances permit. Especially with the trolls out and about today.

Folding gun widgets are not all that unusual. Nowadays most military weapons used by respectable armies sport a buttstock which folds, collapses or does both simultaneously. The neat thing about the SUB-2000 is the whole gun pivots in half. The resulting maximum dimension is 16″, defined by the minimum length of the barrel.

In the case of the bullpup SUB-2000 the bolt reciprocates into the stock strut. The charging handle cycles along with the bolt and protrudes underneath for easy access. This appendage also serves as a forward-assist device should the action get sticky. The magazine feeds through the pistol grip in the manner of most of the world’s handguns. Hit a switch to deploy the gun. Tug the trigger guard to break it down. The process takes less time to do than to describe.

The gun is available in 9mm and .40 S&W and can be had configured to accept Glock, Sig, Beretta or S&W pistol magazines. As such, any extended, high-capacity magazines which would run in any of these handguns would feed the SUB-2000 with comparable alacrity. By properly choosing the platform, both your service handgun as well as the SUB-2000 rifle can feed the same bullets from the same magazines.

Naturally the SUB-2000 is festooned with Picatinny rails and sling attachment points. The stock adjusts in 5/8″ increments to optimize for body armor or an atypical body habitus. The muzzle is threaded to accept standard accessories.

Tugging the trigger guard breaks the gun down for transport.
Hitting a switch and giving the little rifle a flip instantly
places it back into firing position. The process is easier to
do than to describe. The magazine release is in the same spot
as your familiar Glock pistol.

The Magpul Angled Foregrip makes a nifty forearm accessory.
A little appliqué sticky stuff from Talon Grips makes
it even niftier.

Fun and Functional

On the range the SUB-2000 is simply great fun. Recoil is nonexistent, ammo is cheap and so long as I did my part I could ring steel a football field away without breaking a sweat. The manual of arms is easy to master and the gun runs fast. With a light, laser and some proper glass the SUB-2000 will transform your home into your castle in the truly traditional sense.

The safety is a straightforward cross-bolt. Sights are an institutional peep operating in concert with an unremarkable post. However, you really aren’t reaching your full potential unless you perch something electrical and glowing on the top. We used an EOTech Holosight. Be forewarned geometry dictates the rifle will not fold with an optical sight in place. Therefore something sporting throw levers and a repeatable zero is in order.

The action is uninspired blowback. The trigger runs in the 9-lb. range but is still not bad for tactical accuracy. If your targets are 3″ across and lurking out at half a kilometer you need a different tool. If the action is up close the SUB-2000 is a huge improvement over a traditional handgun. The SUB-2000 weighs a mere 4.25 lbs. empty so I could tote it on a sling around my rural farm and nearly forget it was there. The SUB-2000 makes your grandfather’s lightweight M1 Carbine seem positively portly by comparison.

The gun functioned 100 percent with round-nosed ammo. That’s to be expected these days and anything more than the most rarefied failure in a modern firearm is simply intolerable. However, my SUB-2000 hates truncated cone bullets. Anything round runs fine. The flat-nosed sort, not so much. Big guys, little girls, and everybody in between found the tidy little rifle a joy to shoot.

The buttstock on the SUB-2000 is adjustable in 5/8″ increments.

The charging handle reciprocates with the bolt and rides beneath
the stock strut where it is easily accessed from either side.

Silent but Deadly

The speed of sound in dry air at 68 degrees F is 1,025 feet per second. Anything traveling faster than that will yield an annoying sonic crack. This means standard 115- and 124-gr. ball ammo fired from a rifle-length barrel will still ring your bell a bit regardless of the can hanging off the muzzle. However, sound suppressors are becoming mainstream these days and the market is awash in heavy 147-gr. subsonic loads.

We used a superb Gemtech GM-9 can and found the subsequent synergistic package to be controllable, comfortable and reliable. That big 9mm exit hole is hard to suppress but with a dollop of Vaseline placed behind the first baffle to calm things down a bit the gun could theoretically be fired without muffs.

There is a legitimate utilitarian place for this tidy little rifle. Anyone interested in off-body carry would be hard pressed to find a better combination of concealability and firepower. The SUB-2000 rides discreetly in a small backpack or large man-purse and deploys with a bit of practice only incrementally slower than a handgun might. At the same time, the SUB-2000 delivers the option of high-capacity magazines, plenty of room to accessorize and rifle-like accuracy.

With round-nosed bullets (think soft point or not too aggressive HP designs, which you’d need to test) the gun functioned splendidly both with and without the can. Whether you’re a hiker, a security-minded homeowner, or a grizzled survivor fleeing the inevitable coming zombie apocalypse, the Kel-Tec SUB-2000 is neat, novel, effective and cool, all in comparable measure.

For more info: www.americanhandgunner.com/index, Ph: (321) 631-0068