Has anyone seen or have thoughts on the Kel Tec SU 16?

TheHuntedOne

TheHuntedOne

New member
This little rifle is made mostly of some kind of polymere - plastic or what ever. It weighs in at 5 pounds. It's a semi auto 223 that takes standard m 16 mags, seems to shoot pretty good groups with decent optics and can be had for somewhere in the 430 to 475 range. The forend flolds down into a bipod and the thing folds up for transport too. I saw one at the gun shop the other day, it looked kind of neat once you got past the butt ugly part.

I did a search here of Kel Tec but only got some hits on the pistols.

I have an 11 year old that is interested in going out with me this year and I was thinking of this for him. He said he wanted a "machine gun", /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
I figure this and a red dot might be just the ticket for him.

And at just 5 pounds, it looks like it could be a pretty nice little carry rifle in places where you are not going to shoot over 100 to 200 yards.

A search on the internet yielded a lot of reviews, and I did not find one bad one on this gun, but never believe anything I read on the internet. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Figured someone here must have some info or experiance with it.

Thanks

Al
 
Never played with the gun, but from what I hear Keltec has good customer service should you get a lemon.

You could always take a gamble, do a write-up on it, and if it doesn't work out for you, sell it for something else.
 
Hi TheHuntedOne;

I believe that KelTec really established themselves in the market place a few years ago with the introduction of their P-32 pocket pistol. It is a very small, very light, mostly polymer, semi automatic chambered in the 32 Auto caliber. Fully loaded it comes in under 10 ounces.

Quality control with the P-32's has been very spotty. Some fellows get a good one, some don't.

I have a P-32. Mine did need to go back to the factory for warranty work. It did return to me a much better quality gun. I did pay shipping to Florida, KelTec paid return shipping.

It looks like they are trying to do pretty much the same thing in the market with a rifle to fit in a small, reasonably priced, niche market.

Personally, I don't think I would recommend a rifle that even might have quality problems for a child. Personally, I think a youngster should start out with either a single shot, or a quality bolt action. But that's just my opinion and I probably shouldn't have stated it.

Regards,

Jerry.
 
No Jerry, your opinion is well founded and I agree with you. My little guy has been shooting since he was 8.

He started with a BB gun, went up to a bolt action 22 and then he has shot my 22 mag, also a bolt. He loves to shoot my Trapper muzzle loading pistol, and he is deadly with my Remington 597 17 HMR off the bench, which is where he got the "machine gun" thing from. He even talked me into getting him a Martin Stick Longbow a few years ago and he is my 3D archery shooting partner when we get out too. Anyway, we made him a few coyote calls this summer and he is itching to get out, but we need a rifle for him.

I've read a great number of reviews on the SU 16, and I did not find one bad thing said about them. No quality control issues reported, not once. I take it back, the early ones had some bad magazines but that was fixed a few years ago. It seems to be reliable, and some of the guys testing it really put it through heck and back.

I'm a bit concerned about him having a semi auto to hunt with, but he would be sitting right with me when we are out because of his age, and NH law says I must have direct control over him, which they interpet to mean I have to be able to reach out and physically touch him when he is carrying a firearm before he reaches 16.. If we get it, we will have to work on safety at the range for a while. don't think the recoil of a .223 will bother him at all either.

I tried to get something for him that would fit him, but short of a handi rifle or a kids 243 from ruger, nothing was working. All my guns are too big and a bit heavy for him too. The Kel Tec is 37 1/2 inches long, and I think the length of pull wont be an issue due to the compact size of the weapon.

Anyway, figured this was the place to get some feedback, and I appreciate what you wrote.

Thanks

Al
 
My experience with all Kel-Tec products is very good. I recently sold one to a customer and we live along the gulf coast of Texas. This is going to be his pickup gun and he ordered the case Kel-Tec offers direct from their site. Your idea with a dot site sounds good and you will be pleased with Kel-Tec's quality. One word of caution is to closely monitor the "training" of a youngster handling a semi-automatic firearm. Best of luck!
 
Its odd that this came up today as just yesterday I had a chance to play with one at the range for a few minutes.
The guy who owned said it was going to be traded off today.
Over all, the stock felt flimsy, I scorched my thumb on the barrel with the "bipod" down. And I use the term Bipod very loosely, It just seemed well... fragile. also its a pain in the behind to deploy and fold up, and when its down after about 5 or 6 rounds its H O T and completely exposed to ones tender didgits. as to how it shot , he had a tasco 3x9 on it and its right up there with a good mini 14 or .223 mak 90. about 2 to 5 inch groups at 100 yds.
Please keep in mind that I only stood around and talked to this guy for about 20 minutes and only ran about 30 rounds through this rifle. It was wolf fmj .
He was getting about the same types of groups as I was with it and not overly impressed.
Personaly I would put it in the same class as the A R 7 rifle only more potent- a great portable rifle to stash in the "ah crap kit " in the trunk or tool box of the car or truck but not for everyday use.
I think that if given the choice I would go with a mini 14, at least then I can put the cool bolt on goodies on it (flash hider,barrel shroud,p grip,stock ect)
Just my $0.02
 
Yeah, after reading some on the Kel Tec owners group, it seems that after 2000 to 3000 rounds it starts to have extractor problems also. As for the accuracy, most guys reported much better than the mini 14 and almost all of them say to stay away from Wolf Ammo in this firearm.

Right now I think we are going to look at a youth model 870 in 20 gauge for him.

You guys saved me 500 bucks. I owe ya a beer /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Maybe two.
 
I've had one for a couple of years now. It's a handy rifle to fold up and tuck under the seat of the truck. Its pretty much what you see you get. Mine shoots in the 1" range. The only glitch I found was the scope bases which are cast into the receiver are polymere & you have to really torque down the screws, and check them every so often, because the worked loose. Trigger groups is polymere & hence a bit on the heavy side. I had tried wold ammo in it but it sort of patterned it, handloads with BT's do well.
 
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