(Pics to come in the next few days)
Well... I took the plunge and did what I said I would never do again, buy another Kel-Tec; I had a bad experience with build quality on a new SUB-2000 several years ago (front sight housing was canted so far over I almost ran out of adjustment room on the rear sight.)
Anyway. I picked up a Kel-Tec SU-16F from Frontier with the Pistol Grip AR Stock as an extra $200+ accessory.
All dealings with Frontier were fine. I ordered online, no problems. Fast delivery. Perfect. Done.
I did have one "issue" however. The "Chrome-Lined" barrel as advertised is in fact not chrome-lined. No biggie. I already know the answer. The description located on the Frontier site is no doubt a 'copy and paste' from the US SU-16A model. I would bet money that the Canadian "F" probably gets a longer "non-chrome" lined barrel. No need to explain, I get it. I wasn't going to get my panties in a knot over an $800+ non-restricted rifle. I accepted it, although a chrome-lined barrel would have been a nice touch.
Build quality? It's Kel-Tec. It looks and feels and looks like a nerf gun. I was really turned off when I opened the box (as I knew I would be), but once I got the pistol grip on it and replaced the stock with a proper (take-off) AR stock it started to grow on me. The trigger feels like a sponge. Meh.
NOTE: Pistol Grip Stock
The Pistol grip stock comes with two height options:
1. A low, non-AR height (which allows the use of the factory sights, but feels like a shotgun.)
*This is also the same angle/height as the factory folding stock
or
2. An AR-comparable stock height. It's great! I really does feel like an AR, but, unfortunately it makes the stock sights useless. I did however go with my gut and stick with the higher stock configuration as it felt better; optics are a must with the higher stock setting. I mounted a scope on it, but would prefer a nice RDS to maintain the low-weight that the Kel-Tec is awesome for.
As of today I managed to get around 500rnds (approx.) through the rifle and here are my conclusions.
***DO NOT USE THE BIPOD.***
I figure I wasted about 350 rounds before I realized that the goofy bipod fore-end was the cause for my terrible groups and continuous failures to eject. No kidding. I was getting a spent-brass jammed/stabbed in the plastic, forward of the ejection port, making for a nice mess of the beautiful plastic receiver. I tell you, I had a serious case of buyers remorse when I saw my "chewed up receiver from the dozens of cuts that the brass had done after a few hundred rounds.
I then had an "AHA" moment and decided to fold-up the "bi-pod" and shoot off of sandbags as I would any other rifle and wouldn't ya know... no more failure to feed and the accuracy improved from peppering-the-paper, to a respectable 2"-3" MOA at 100m.
*BTW, the muzzle flash is spectacular! Every shot was a giant ball of fire with the 55gn AE.*
Did I mention it's light?
The Kel-Tecs absolute saving grace here is the weight (or lack of.)
I love how light it is. Without the scope mounted it is ridiculously light (as in 1-handed pistol style light.)
I can only imagine that had I kept the original stock and retained the folding capabilities it'd be the ultimate .223 backpacking gun.
Anyway... after my latest range trip, I decided to remove the barrel (not recommended) and am going to get it threaded for a Flash Hider. I was happy enough with it that I'll plop a little more money down and see if I can't improve upon it a little.
I'll report back again in the future (December/January) once I get more time in with the barrel work done.
For a non-restricted, cheap gun. The SU-16F is decent, when you factor in price and weight (and know its quirks.)
There really are NO other options at this time in Canada, Unfortunately. As I said, once I stopped using the gimmicky forend bipod, the rifle started to earn my trust.
The Armalite AR-180B is still my all time favourite cheap, Canadian, non-restricted (when they were new), but they've been discontinued for awhile now (sadly.) I will not buy Norinco although it was a toss up between the Kel-Tec and the T97.
Anyone else have any SU-16F experiences?? Share
I hope this post was helpful.
Cheers!~
Well... I took the plunge and did what I said I would never do again, buy another Kel-Tec; I had a bad experience with build quality on a new SUB-2000 several years ago (front sight housing was canted so far over I almost ran out of adjustment room on the rear sight.)
Anyway. I picked up a Kel-Tec SU-16F from Frontier with the Pistol Grip AR Stock as an extra $200+ accessory.
All dealings with Frontier were fine. I ordered online, no problems. Fast delivery. Perfect. Done.
I did have one "issue" however. The "Chrome-Lined" barrel as advertised is in fact not chrome-lined. No biggie. I already know the answer. The description located on the Frontier site is no doubt a 'copy and paste' from the US SU-16A model. I would bet money that the Canadian "F" probably gets a longer "non-chrome" lined barrel. No need to explain, I get it. I wasn't going to get my panties in a knot over an $800+ non-restricted rifle. I accepted it, although a chrome-lined barrel would have been a nice touch.
Build quality? It's Kel-Tec. It looks and feels and looks like a nerf gun. I was really turned off when I opened the box (as I knew I would be), but once I got the pistol grip on it and replaced the stock with a proper (take-off) AR stock it started to grow on me. The trigger feels like a sponge. Meh.
NOTE: Pistol Grip Stock
The Pistol grip stock comes with two height options:
1. A low, non-AR height (which allows the use of the factory sights, but feels like a shotgun.)
*This is also the same angle/height as the factory folding stock
or
2. An AR-comparable stock height. It's great! I really does feel like an AR, but, unfortunately it makes the stock sights useless. I did however go with my gut and stick with the higher stock configuration as it felt better; optics are a must with the higher stock setting. I mounted a scope on it, but would prefer a nice RDS to maintain the low-weight that the Kel-Tec is awesome for.
As of today I managed to get around 500rnds (approx.) through the rifle and here are my conclusions.
***DO NOT USE THE BIPOD.***
I figure I wasted about 350 rounds before I realized that the goofy bipod fore-end was the cause for my terrible groups and continuous failures to eject. No kidding. I was getting a spent-brass jammed/stabbed in the plastic, forward of the ejection port, making for a nice mess of the beautiful plastic receiver. I tell you, I had a serious case of buyers remorse when I saw my "chewed up receiver from the dozens of cuts that the brass had done after a few hundred rounds.
I then had an "AHA" moment and decided to fold-up the "bi-pod" and shoot off of sandbags as I would any other rifle and wouldn't ya know... no more failure to feed and the accuracy improved from peppering-the-paper, to a respectable 2"-3" MOA at 100m.
*BTW, the muzzle flash is spectacular! Every shot was a giant ball of fire with the 55gn AE.*
Did I mention it's light?
The Kel-Tecs absolute saving grace here is the weight (or lack of.)
I love how light it is. Without the scope mounted it is ridiculously light (as in 1-handed pistol style light.)
I can only imagine that had I kept the original stock and retained the folding capabilities it'd be the ultimate .223 backpacking gun.
Anyway... after my latest range trip, I decided to remove the barrel (not recommended) and am going to get it threaded for a Flash Hider. I was happy enough with it that I'll plop a little more money down and see if I can't improve upon it a little.
I'll report back again in the future (December/January) once I get more time in with the barrel work done.
For a non-restricted, cheap gun. The SU-16F is decent, when you factor in price and weight (and know its quirks.)
There really are NO other options at this time in Canada, Unfortunately. As I said, once I stopped using the gimmicky forend bipod, the rifle started to earn my trust.
The Armalite AR-180B is still my all time favourite cheap, Canadian, non-restricted (when they were new), but they've been discontinued for awhile now (sadly.) I will not buy Norinco although it was a toss up between the Kel-Tec and the T97.
Anyone else have any SU-16F experiences?? Share
I hope this post was helpful.
Cheers!~
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