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Kel-Tec Sub Rifle 2000 9mm Carbine

Courtesy, Gun Tests

It shot all types of ammunition with surprising accuracy and shooter comfort. Kel-Tec's mission of supplying inexpensive but very usable weapons is perhaps at its zenith with the Sub Rifle 2000.

A gun that breaks in half? Well, this shouldn’t really be much of a manufacturing problem. After all, shotguns have been hinged for years with precision. What about the polymer and steel construction, and the orange plastic front sight blade? The skepticism that polymer once rang up should be well faded by now and besides, the Sub Rifle 2000 feeds from Glock magazines, synonymous with reliability.

The Kel-Tec Sub Rifle 2000 arrived in a flat rectangular “cake box” wherein it was stored folded. In this condition the rifle measured 16.1 by 7.3 inches. At the front edge was the trigger guard, with the mouth of the chamber exposed above it. In this condition care must be taken to shield the exposed bore and firing pin hole from dirt. At the rear was the muzzle and front sight assembly overlapping the butt-pad area. The folded position was latched by a spring-loaded sliding bolt that is located atop the buttstock. The folded position can be locked by a special key, which is provided.

The recommended way to unfold the Sub Rifle is to hold the barrel or fore end, which is on top when folded and then reach around the front sight with the thumb and forefinger to slide the latch forward. The butt will fall away as the barrel moves forward 180 degrees to snap into place. We found it hard to pick out the latch visually at first but it was easily indexed without actually needing to see it.

You’ll know when the rifle is fully closed and ready to activate when the bottom of the trigger guard is tightly in place against the grip. The release to return this rifle to its folded state is the trigger guard itself. Small tabs are molded into the rear of the trigger guard to help you index as you push down and forward to release the barrel and allow it to fold. We folded and unfolded the Kel-Tec countless times to see if we could upset the alignment. We could detect no shaving at the chamber or other symptom of defect throughout our test.

Construction is of polymer and steel. The barrel and stock are steel. The stock contains the bolt, recoil spring and operating handle. The operating handle (some might call it a charge bar) faces straight down so it is out of the way. To lock the gun back, the operating handle is pulled all the way back and slid to the right into a locking groove. The firing mechanism is fed by a standard Glock 9mm magazine with 10-round capacity. With many pre-ban magazines that feed up to 30 rounds still available, we think choosing to go outside Kel-Tec for mags is a bonus for

Courtesy, Gun Tests

We folded and unfolded the Kel-Tec countless times to see if we could upset the alignment. We could detect no shaving at the chamber.

For anyone who shoots double action regularly, this characteristic will not be a problem. The trigger safety is a crossbolt design, and it is found above the web of the hand below the rear edge of the ejection port. Pushed through to the right, the weapon is ready to fire. We had difficulty working the safety with the strong hand (the firing hand). We feel that a more effective technique might be to reach across the top of the weapon without releasing the pistol grip, allowing the weak hand to operate the safety with the thumb and forefinger.

The sights are adjustable for windage and elevation, but this is done at the front rather than rear assembly. The rear peep is static, but the orange front blade can be moved left and right via reciprocating screws (loosen one, tighten the other). A dime will work just as well as a screwdriver. According to the owner’s manual, a 1/8th-turn equals 1 inch at 100 yards (1 M.O.A). Before tightening the windage adjustment, the blade can also be moved up and down to alter elevation. However, we left sight adjustment as it arrived from the factory.

The owner’s manual also included test results that charge the Sub Rifle 2000 as working best with “premium U.S. manufacture hollowpoints of medium weight.” Their best results included 10-shot groups of 2.5 M.O.A. Our best five-shot groups at 50 yards came from shooting the Winchester USA (white box) 147-grain TCMC (truncated cone, metal case) ammunition. Not only did this produce the best single group of the test (1.2 inches), but an average of 1.5 inches. This is better accuracy than we experienced with the carbines in our February 2002 test. The remaining test cartridges, Winchester’s USA 115-grain hollowpoints and Federal’s 124-grain expanding metal jackets, each shot groups averaging 2.5 inches. With a high of 1315 fps and muzzle energy of 442 foot-pounds, we think we’d opt for the power of the 115s. At 50 yards, 2.5-inch groups are plenty good for a weapon of this type. Certainly, there is a variety of 9mm ammunition available, so matching power and accuracy should be easy for the Kel-Tec Sub Rifle 2000. This handy little folding rifle was a most pleasant surprise.

Reader Comments

How inexpensive is the gun; what does the Kel-Tec 2000 cost?

Comment by: Nebunkcle | June 18, 2009

How much does the Kel-Tec cost and does it have provisions to mount a scope. My old eyes have a little problem seeing iron sights.

Comment by: targetbuster | June 18, 2009

They are about $400 and there are scope mounts available. Problem with that is that it looses it's ability to fold in half with an optic mounted, maybe not a concern for everyone.

Comment by: GLENN A | June 18, 2009

400 bucks??? Ouch! I had one on order for $310, but the dealer sold his business! Maybe that's why he sold? HEH!

Comment by: Dunrovin | June 18, 2009

I have one of the Glock 'flavors' of this sub rifle and love it. It's a great companion for my Glock 17, as they share the same mags. The sub 2000 also comes in a 'Baretta' flavor (taking Baretta mags) and a S&W version. There is also a .40 cal. version (also Glock). Regarding scopes and other modifications, Keltec has a number of good add-ons but their fold-down scope mounting solution is not optimal; the scope does not hold zero well. However, there are third party solutions available that may work better. There is also a very active support group on the KTOG forum (http://www.ktog.org/) which has all kinds of advice for tricking out the Sub 2000 with scopes, lasers, lights, etc. via do-it-yourself projects or third party suppliers. Many owners replace the front site for better accuracy. Note that this inexpensive little sub rifle comes with Keltec's lifetime warranty. Street prices are often well under the $400 MSRP (I got mine for less than $300, new).

Comment by: MARK W | June 18, 2009

When will they come out with a 45 ACP?

Comment by: ggtgary | June 18, 2009

"...At 50 yards, 2.5-inch groups are plenty good for a weapon of this type...." 2.5 inches is good enough for me. For a handgun. I would not own a long gun of ANY type that could do no better than that.

Comment by: Markbo | June 18, 2009

I bought one of these a few years ago on advice from a gun magazine... well, I'm not too impressed. Granted, I have (7) AR-15's and am very likely spoiled, but here's what I found... It's pretty accurate at 50 yards. To my recollection, my results mirror Gun Test's. 75 yards, in my opinion, is about as far as you would want to try to be accurate with this gun. At 100 yards, it started to look like "throwing the bullets in the general direction". Granted, 100 yards for 9MM is pushing the envelope anyway, I agree. I put a mini-rail and light under mine, which worked out very well. Kel-Tec's mini-rail is great for that. The sights are very easy to use, and I think a laser would be too much on a gun of this price. The folding thing is neat... I kept it in a case under the seat of my truck for a while. You can get a clip-on cover from Kel-Tec that protects the exposed innards when folded, but pops off automatically when you un-fold the gun for firing. Very handy, provided you remember to pick it up off the ground. Mine is the 9mm Glock version, and the 33rnd Glock mags work pretty well in this gun (caveat below). But it shoots very dirty. It's straight blowback, and after 50 rounds of Speer +P hollowpoints, my firing hand was getting rather black. It had a few mis-chamberings due to the loose fit between the mag and the mag well/handle, which in my opinion definately needs to ge re-engineered for closer fit, and/or reinforced with some steel for more consistent magazine positioning relative to the bolt/chamber.

Overall, I thought it would be a cool little home defense/truck gun, but it's not. It's inconvenient compared to a handgun, and under-capable compared to a rifle. It's not the best of any world, and the loose mag fit in the handle causing mis-feeds is really what caused me to park it in the gun safe forever. Now I just keep Glock handguns and AR-15 rifles. Nothing personal, Kel-Tec. Really. That's just my take on the gun.

Comment by: jamraqui | June 18, 2009

I acquired a 9 mm in the S&W 59 flavor at a gun show several years ago for under $300. It shoots where you aim it, there's practically no recoil and it has never malfunctioned once. My only complaint has to do with the horizontal bolt tube (what would be the stock on a conventional rifle). Since there's zero drop @ comb it can be difficult to line up with the rear sight when you're wearing muff style hearing protectors.

Comment by: CHARLES S | June 19, 2009

Looking for 9mm rifle

Comment by: wags | October 25, 2009

NO Comment at this time.

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Comment by: vertigo | September 3, 2011

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Comment by: vertigo | September 3, 2011

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Comment by: vertigo | September 3, 2011

Update: I sold it to a buddy from work. He keeps it for home defense and seems to like it. Range and accuracy suit his property, the size of which presses the limits of a handgun, but neighbors are too close for him to use a full-power rifle. I guess for that situation the Kel-Tec SUB-2000 is a good fit.

Comment by: jamraqui | September 3, 2011