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dajerseyrat
New MemberPosts: 25 New Member
My personal review of the Keltec KSG shotgun
dajerseyrat
New MemberPosts: 25 New Member
I can tell you this much about the gun, dont buy it. I waited months for mine and recently took delivery of it and as any excited boy with a new toy would do,I cleaned it and I went straight to the range. First Impression,it looks cool and that’s where the good impressions end.
The gun is very awkward almost to the point of difficult to load and you will most likely cut your finger doing so. Now imagine trying to load this thing in the field under high stress situations. I dont see how it is possible to combat load a round into the chamber without turning the gun upside down. The magazine selector switch is very hard to manipulate from right to left on my gun and would need to be in the neutral position to attempt a combat load, which is one more extra step which would most likely get you shot in the face in real combat..
Chambered and fired first round, and racked it back only to encounter a double feed jam! The gun failed to extract the spent shell and attempted to load not 1 but 2 additional rounds at once, so a total of 3 rounds were stuck in there, leaving me with a 26″ long baseball bat to defend myself with. This type of jam is simply impossible to clear in a combat situation and would have cost me my life. It takes several minutes to clear the jams once they happen. I fired another round and it did the same exact thing. In fact the first 6-7 attempts the gun jammed the same way. Thinking it was me possibly limp wristing the slide, I allowed 4 other colleges to attempt to shoot it and it did the same thing for all 4 of them, including one range master/fire arms instructor. So it was not me. Now I am far from a gun expert, but I have been in law enforcement for over 15 years and qualify 2 times a year with our shotgun and have put thousands of shotgun rounds down range and never once had a shotgun jam on me.
I notified Kel-tec who told me they wanted me to return the gun which keep in mind was just purchased a day or two prior, and would send me a call tag and take a look at it when they get a chance. That was over 4-5 days ago, no call tag, no returned email or phone call.
I fired the gun several more times since and the gun now religiously jams on me at least once out of every 10-15 rounds.
To make things worse I attempted one more time today to shoot it utilizing a forward pistol grip which subsequently broke 2 teeth of the rail within the first 3 shots….
Kel-tec stated this gun would revolutionize the industry, and if by revolutionize they mean get a ton of people killed, then yes they are doing it. At this point I fell that Kel Tec is utilizing people like me to do their R&D for them while making big money on markups.
The design is really stupid when you look at it in detail and how the rounds are extracted and rechambered via one exit which increases the jamming probability much more than a side eject. The extracted round has to pass downward past the rounds in the magazine, then a new round needs to be fed upward. In my opinion this X-crossing effect is a poor design prone to failure and jamming. There is no way this gun would ever stand up to the abuse of actual combat performance either for police or military.
Save your money and buy a real shotgun this thing is a video game cool looking novelty, and I dont predict Kel Tec being around the marketplace much longer with failures like this weapon.
Now reliable sources tell me that out of 100 guns shipped so far, the have had 8 failures not including mine which would be 9. Now that's assuming all 100 guns are in the hands of end users and not sitting on shelves in gun stores being gouged for 3X's the MSRP by these animals...That's also a conservative number released by KelTec to my source, which means the actual failure rate may be much higher than that..Even so lets assume 10 guns out of 100 had issues thus far, that is an dismal 10% failure rate!!! What do you think the Military or police personnel would do with a 10% failure rate? It would not make the initial testing and be cut from their arsenal for sure. Lets take our assumption 1 step further, and realize that out of the 100 guns shipped, all 100 of them are in the hands of recreational shooters who shoot in a controlled environment and very few of these guns will see actual combat or real life scenarios. When you look at the fact that 10% of these guns have failed under those conditions and almost immediately, it is quite disturbing.....Put this gun in a harsh dessert or jungle environment and the failure rate will skyrocket IMHO...
Keep the Keltec in the video games, because in real life you dont have extra lives..
The gun is very awkward almost to the point of difficult to load and you will most likely cut your finger doing so. Now imagine trying to load this thing in the field under high stress situations. I dont see how it is possible to combat load a round into the chamber without turning the gun upside down. The magazine selector switch is very hard to manipulate from right to left on my gun and would need to be in the neutral position to attempt a combat load, which is one more extra step which would most likely get you shot in the face in real combat..
Chambered and fired first round, and racked it back only to encounter a double feed jam! The gun failed to extract the spent shell and attempted to load not 1 but 2 additional rounds at once, so a total of 3 rounds were stuck in there, leaving me with a 26″ long baseball bat to defend myself with. This type of jam is simply impossible to clear in a combat situation and would have cost me my life. It takes several minutes to clear the jams once they happen. I fired another round and it did the same exact thing. In fact the first 6-7 attempts the gun jammed the same way. Thinking it was me possibly limp wristing the slide, I allowed 4 other colleges to attempt to shoot it and it did the same thing for all 4 of them, including one range master/fire arms instructor. So it was not me. Now I am far from a gun expert, but I have been in law enforcement for over 15 years and qualify 2 times a year with our shotgun and have put thousands of shotgun rounds down range and never once had a shotgun jam on me.
I notified Kel-tec who told me they wanted me to return the gun which keep in mind was just purchased a day or two prior, and would send me a call tag and take a look at it when they get a chance. That was over 4-5 days ago, no call tag, no returned email or phone call.
I fired the gun several more times since and the gun now religiously jams on me at least once out of every 10-15 rounds.
To make things worse I attempted one more time today to shoot it utilizing a forward pistol grip which subsequently broke 2 teeth of the rail within the first 3 shots….
Kel-tec stated this gun would revolutionize the industry, and if by revolutionize they mean get a ton of people killed, then yes they are doing it. At this point I fell that Kel Tec is utilizing people like me to do their R&D for them while making big money on markups.
The design is really stupid when you look at it in detail and how the rounds are extracted and rechambered via one exit which increases the jamming probability much more than a side eject. The extracted round has to pass downward past the rounds in the magazine, then a new round needs to be fed upward. In my opinion this X-crossing effect is a poor design prone to failure and jamming. There is no way this gun would ever stand up to the abuse of actual combat performance either for police or military.
Save your money and buy a real shotgun this thing is a video game cool looking novelty, and I dont predict Kel Tec being around the marketplace much longer with failures like this weapon.
Now reliable sources tell me that out of 100 guns shipped so far, the have had 8 failures not including mine which would be 9. Now that's assuming all 100 guns are in the hands of end users and not sitting on shelves in gun stores being gouged for 3X's the MSRP by these animals...That's also a conservative number released by KelTec to my source, which means the actual failure rate may be much higher than that..Even so lets assume 10 guns out of 100 had issues thus far, that is an dismal 10% failure rate!!! What do you think the Military or police personnel would do with a 10% failure rate? It would not make the initial testing and be cut from their arsenal for sure. Lets take our assumption 1 step further, and realize that out of the 100 guns shipped, all 100 of them are in the hands of recreational shooters who shoot in a controlled environment and very few of these guns will see actual combat or real life scenarios. When you look at the fact that 10% of these guns have failed under those conditions and almost immediately, it is quite disturbing.....Put this gun in a harsh dessert or jungle environment and the failure rate will skyrocket IMHO...
Keep the Keltec in the video games, because in real life you dont have extra lives..
Replies
NRA Endowment Member
Never fired one but have handled one at the LGS (so as of last week there is at least ONE that's still sitting on a shelf in a store in Anniston Alabama). The thing just felt.....bad.
Felt out of balance (as do all bullpups) and more like an airsoft gun that a real shotgun. Now don't get me wrong, I love my plastic fantastics.....Glocks and Smith M&Ps are the best damned combat handguns ever built, and PS90s and F2000s are solid pieces of kit, but the Keltec shotgun just felt.....CHEAP.
I think you hit the nail on the head..I rather have a gun that is 1-2 lbs heavier and fires right every single time and does not break...
As far as the guy who thinks Keltec will be around for a long time, we shall see. I dont see them becoming the next Colt or Remington any time soon..
NRA Endowment Member
Keltec has been around for a while and I don't see them going anywhere, but I also won't be buying any of their products. Their unofficial motto is basically "pretty good guns for a REALLY good price".
If you don't mind doing a little internal work, their pistols are a great value, about half the time you get one that works perfectly right out of the box. However, they make absolutely nothing that I have a strong desire for. If I want a pocket 9mm (and I do), I'll go with a Kahr or the new M&P Shield, I have no use for a .380 or .32 (keltecs other really popular offerings), nor do I have any use for a .22magnum pistol (their new PMR).......that about covers everything that keltec makes that I could conceive a use for, and I desire none of them.
Here are some pictures of the 2 piece construction if thin plastic used in the gun. Some of the edges are still rough.
In this picture you can see what appears to be rust in between the barrels of a brand new gun...Rust!!! Seriously? How do you make a gun that starts to rust immediately?:mad:
Oh, and a bit of friendly advice: coming new to a well-established forum and knocking its well-established members will not gain you many points along the way. Just sayin'.....
NRA Endowment Member
Did you even read my post? Not a fan at all much less die hard, but saying Keltec is going out of business because of the KSG is like saying that Chevy is going out of business because of the Volt. Probably not happening anytime soon.
Doesn't matter whether I like the company and their products or not (and I don't), my opinion of them doesn't change the fact that they are here to stay.
I am with LM, I love my PF9. It works well for me., I bought it based largely upon his recommendation and I certainly do not regret it.
I have found the general consensus among 'gun enthusiasts' to be that Keltecs are OK guns as far as quality of materials and general design characteristics. They just don't do as much of the expensive 'fluff and buff' that makes for smooth operation, straight out of the box, as you might expect from a gun that sells for twice their price. That still puts them ahead of gun manufacturers who cater to the budget minded customers and keep prices low by using cheap cast parts that they don't inspect properly before dumping them into the market.
I don't know anything about that shotgun. It may just need some tuning up, or it may be one of those mistakes that most gun manufacturers come out with occasionally. I would certainly rag on them till they get it right.
That's a shame.
It's obvious that you write a darn good gun review, are thorough, and are at least marginally knowledgeable about firearms. You should stick around for a while we can always use more folks to expand our knowledge.
As far as not looking for a debate......well you've come to the wrong place for that. The members here take pride in the fact that we will debate (argue) with ANYBODY about ANYTHING. :roll2:
Grow thick skin, pull up a chair, and hang out a while......I guarantee you'll learn more new stuff that you weren't even aware you didn't know.
Thanks,
Im in LE for over 15 years and have literally put tens of thousands of rounds down range with my Glocks, I cant recall one gun related failure ever...As far as shotgun training, thousands of rounds through our department issued shotguns never ever one singe issue like this...On a side note, for everyone paying $1800 for this gun...LOL I Buy a Benelli M4....Our Military has used it in combat for over 5 years now, ZERO % failure rate...
Rank does not concur privileges. It imposes responsibility. Author unknown
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God 9 not by works, lest any man should boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9
Dan
Looks like braze to me. Copper color,not rust..
You can write a report on a bad Pitbull, and damn 100,000 sweet loving pets. And, no I don't have one of those either.
But, because of your report...I doubt I would buy one. Is that fair?
Dan
Used guns are a lot cheaper than new and I don't mind buying used guns.
Rank does not concur privileges. It imposes responsibility. Author unknown
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God 9 not by works, lest any man should boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9
While I thought it was an interesting design and concept when first announced, I can't say I ever considered owning one