Why all the Kel-Tec hate?

[rickster1269]

Mine is on order...no hate here

[VictorFranko]

See, this is the kind of comment I'm talking about. Why was it garbage? Why didn't you feel good about shooting it? Anyone can claim that anything is garbage, I want to know specifics on why people don't like Kel-Tec.

Let me relate my SU-16B story, I am not trying to speak for Ivan.

I bought from a dealer back east, had it shipped to my FFL.
When I got the rifle home, I could not pin the stock in the unfolded position as the holes were misaligned by a good .030 ( I am a machinist and know .030 when I see it. How did this rifle ever pass Quality Control?
Easy. No one at the factory ever tried to pin the stock in the open position.
I sent the rifle back to Kel-Tec and they put a new stock on it and returned it to me.
Finally I get to take my new rifle to range for sighting in, but wait, there's more! The front sight was effed up and would not raise. I called Kel-Tec and they took my word for the problem and mailed me a new front sight. They did not require me to return the bad sight.
OK, so I've had the rifle more than 30 days now and I can finally take it to range. What happens? I slice the sh*t out of my finger on the sharp plastic where the magazines nest into the stock.
I bring the rifle home and spend about 90 minutes deburring the sharp edges (flash, from the molding process) and a huge mismatch on the trigger guard.
In Kel-Tec's defense, customer service was very nice and accommodating.
I knew going in what I was buying, so I am not complaining about my plastic truck gun, it is what it is, a cheap, plastic rifle.
YMMV.

[stix213]

Interesting. Where did it come from? I have to SSE to get it over the wire. I have been talking to the guys at Table Rock Arms in Medford, OR. I lived there for a few years and have family there. I have been talking to the owner, he seems like a really cool guy. Invited me to go shooting next time I am up there. I am sure a 07FFL has all kinds of cool stuff...

His extra barrel or whatever they use broke (or something, they dont have the parts right now) and he is working on getting it repaired.

My PF9 came from a PPT after finding it in the CGN marketplace. Practically brand new

[FNH5-7]

Keltec reminds me of Century Arms, fail after fail and people still have faith in them.

[saki302]

I've had 4 KT pistols at one time or another and all worked well for me. I did do the "fluff and buff" treatments to all of them.
They've worked better in fact than some fancy pistols (i.e. Kahr Mk9 I sold after it went back to the factory and I lost faith in it).

Their RFB seems to be a well made (though expensive) rifle, so we'll see about the KSG. The SU-16 was kind of a piece, as far as I've heard. Never owned one.

I wouldn't compare them to Century Arms. Making a friend's Century CETME into a working weapon is still one of my proudest achievements.

-Dave

[duggan]

I have a Sub 2000 the pros outweigh the cons for me. I really dislike the sight setup, I was fortunate enough to not have to adjust the sights which apparently is a huge PITA and runs the risk of breaking the FSP. The grip/magwell is a little on the crap side, spreads real easy and there is a possibility of it pinching skin.

But it was a $290 dollar gun before fees and compliance parts, that folds up small enough to fit in a backpack(right about 17 in), uses commonly available mags (Glock 22) in a fairly inexspensive round. It's really light, accurate enough out to 150-200 yds, did I mention it folds up? Easy to maintain, easy to operate, and it folds up lol.

[tuna quesadilla]

In my personal opinion... they look and feel VERY fragile, cheap, and chintzy. They're a tier (hell, TWO tiers) below other modern polymer weapons like Glock, S&W, H&K, etc...

[call-in]

[sarcasm]
The reason why everyone hates anything keltec is because nutnfancy likes them.
[/sarcasm]

[17+1]

I think quite a few people badmouth them without ever owning one.

I had an SU16 and it never gave me any trouble, I just didn't really care for it. It's just kind of flimsy/cheap feeling, not that accurate, had a crappy trigger, not easily adjustable sights, not a lot of aftermarket parts, etc. I bought it thinking it would be cool and because it was significantly cheaper than an AR, which is what I really wanted.

Ended up selling it to a friend that thinks it's the cats @$$.

[AragornElessar86]

Thanks to you guys who have posted some actual personal experience with KT's stuff. Hanko, the reason I posted this thread is that I'd basically only heard really good things about KT so I order one of these right away because I've been looking for a decent bullpup shotgun ever since I saw my first Mossberg 500 Bullpup, and the KSG seems to have avoided most of the major failings of the 500 BP (trigger, bulk, weight). Then in the last two months or so there's been a lot of guys whose opinions I tend to respect badmouthing the company, and it started making me nervous. However, like I said in my OP, there were no specifics, so I started wondering whether they were just too set in their ways to be open minded to something like the KSG. From all the replies I've seen so far the negatives have been F&F or just plain personal preference issues, so I'm feeling much better about the whole thing. Also, I should get mine in the next couple of week, so as long as I test it pretty quickly I can make some pretty good scratch by reselling it, so that calms my worries also.

Again, thanks everyone for all the good responses.

[Dead*Reckoned]

I've owned two kel tec firearms.. a sub 2000 and a p11. I never had a problem with either of them, not once. And I bet most people talking trash about kel tec have never owned one. I'm hoping to add a p3at to my collection sometime in the future.

[FNH5-7]

Even those Yugo cars have people that like them.

And I bet most people talking trash about kel tec have never owned one.

Oh, then don't listen to these guys since it's not what you want to hear.
These guys have first hand experience with Keltecs:









Keltec has great customer service though, I'll give them that. Out of state these guns are cheap and might be worth the tweaking. I get a kick out of those that pay to have them single shotted when a certain model is off roster and they end up costing as much as Ruger or Kahr. Want a good reliable cheap single stack 9mm? try the Ruger LC9.

I've seen it time and time again here on the forums, guys will defend a gun they don't even have in their hands yet just because they bought it. Then they get it, shoot a few rounds through it and **QUIETLY** put it up for sale after they realize peoples advice was right.lol.

[steve parker]

I'm no handgun expert by any stretch of the imagination. But I have owned a KelTec P3AT, and currently own a Ruger LCP 380 and a KelTec PF9. I like all of these guns. I have had no trouble what so ever with any of them.

Only sold the P3AT to a friend because he just had to have it. Bought the LCP and of course it felt very similar. I liked the fact that the slide locks back on the LCP and it does feel a little more rigid which I also like. But nothing wrong with the P3AT.

I didn't do the "fluff and buff" or any other modifications. Shot them right out of the box with a couple of types of ammo. I don't see these as target pistols by any means, so I've only put maybe 100 rounds through each. But not a single malfunction. Yes, I feel comfortable carrying any of them as my CCW.

The best thing about these guns is that I can carry them pretty much anywhere, anytime. As much as I love my Glock19 and Glock26, I just didn't carry them all the time. Sacramento in the summer can be pretty brutal.

Many pros and cons of course. But for what it's intended purpose is, I think the small KelTecs are more than adequate. Just my two cents.

[AragornElessar86]

Colt-45, thanks for those posts.

[robcoe]

I have a KSG on order so I've been keeping up on all the related threads, and most of the threads have quite a few posts to the effect of "it's a Kel-Tec so it'll suck" (paraphrase). I don't really know that much about the company other than that their designs tend to be "unique" and they're notoriously bad at keeping their stuff in stock. I'd like to hear from anyone who can tell me from personal experience why you feel Kel-Tec's stuff can't be trusted. It seems to me that if their stuff was really that finicky/unreliable/whatever that they wouldn't have such a major backlog on so many of their products. Any real-world personal experience would be greatly appreciated.

I have shot a couple of kel-tec guns(SU-16, couple of handguns), never had a problem with them.

My only real problem with the company is that half their products seem to be vaporware. Lots off good reviews, lots of hype, but they never ship in real numbers.