KelTec Discontinues Production of P11
Subcompact 9mm handguns are all the rage with many CCW-ers. The Sig P365, Springfield Hellcat, and Glock 43 are hot sellers thanks to their fairly high round count relative to their fits-in-a-pocket size real-ammo chambering. Back in the olden days, however, there weren’t as many options. Sure, circa mid-90s Glock introduced the chunky chopped-down Baby Glock G26 that could pack 11 rounds of 9×19 NATO, but that same year, KelTec introduced their P11 – a DAO 10+1 9mm that could fit in a pocket or disappear in a waistband.
Sure, the OEM trigger was (and continued to be) terrible. Sure, it wasn’t a piece of art. Sure, the sights were crude. But I carried one for several years, either as a primary CCW or a backup piece, and we had a lot of fun improving ours.
But, alas, those days have come to an end with KelTec announcing the discontinuation of the P11 model. Quite likely due to the newcomers on the market who scratch the itch for this category with a far better executed pistol for a hundred or two bucks more or the SCCY CPX1/2 clones for roughly the same price.
Although the pistols will no longer continue to be made, KelTec says that they will continue to honor the warranty and provide service as long as replacement parts are available.
RIP, KelTec P11. The company even laid the venerable pocket pistol to rest with a… Viking funeral?
SHOT Show 2020 Range Day Highlights
Each year before industry insiders flock to the halls of the Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trade Show – better known as SHOT Show – a contingent of firearm folks head out into the desert of southwest Nevada for a pre-show lineup of exhibitors. Live ammunition is forbidden on the SHOT Show floor and any firearms in the exhibit hall must be disabled and are inspected to ensure that they are non-functional.
This policy, however, is not in effect at the annual SHOT Show Industry Day at the Range in Boulder City. Not by a long shot.
At this pre-show demo day, invited members of the media and buyers have the opportunity to meet with manufacturers and vendors among smaller crowds than those at SHOT Show proper. Attendees also have the opportunity to get hands-on live fire trigger time with the latest guns and gear to hit the market and many that are yet to be released. The GunLink team has again been invited to this event and did just that.
We got to see some pretty great firearms and gear at Range Day that seem to indicate that the industry has actually been listening to consumers and developing some new products that fit their needs. And the show has not even begun yet! If this demo day is an indication of what else we will be seeing at SHOT Show 2020, we think this will be a great year for a firearms industry that has shown some signs of slowing down somewhat in the past couple of years.
Read on to see our Range Day highlights and be sure to watch the GunLink Blog and GunLink Forums for more. Continue reading
First Look: KelTec RDB Survival Bullpup Rifle
Sorry about your luck, everyone who left SHOT Show Industry Day at the Range any time throughout the day up until about 25 minutes before all of the action wrapped up. Because that is around when the folks at KelTec remembered that they had forgotten to uncase their latest contribution to to the firearms market: the RDB Survival Edition bullpup rifle.
We had just finally made our way to the the KelTec booth and finished being confused by why the KSG bullpup shotgun on the bench was obscenely long (it is because of the Germans, in case you were wondering, and it is called the KSG 25) when we heard the company reps start expressing concern over some piece of missing equipment. That missing piece of equipment happened to be a literal one-of-a-kind on earth prototype firearm that relatively few other humans have laid eyes on or had the opportunity to fire – including everyone else at the range day until Chad Enos and crew happened to locate it in a case under one of their shooting tables and pulled it out with minutes to spare during shooting hours, providing Team GunLink the opportunity to be the first to snap some photos and send some rounds downrange with it. Continue reading
Kel-Tec P-11: What a Difference A Trigger Makes
As part of our Kel-Tec P-11 Improvement Project, we wanted to do something about the trigger. If you aren’t familiar with this firearm, the trigger has some… character. As with many double-action only (DAO) pistols, the P-11 has a long, heavy (9-pound) trigger pull. This is because, without an external manual safety, that trigger pull acts as a safety. However, the heavy pull can wear out your trigger finger and doesn’t exactly encourage you to shoot box after box of ammo at the range. Our female shooter on this project had trouble with the heavy trigger, barely being able to squeeze off a shot.
The stock trigger on the P-11 is a sharply-curved plastic number that has some side-to-side wiggle, some pre-travel and significant over-travel. The sharp curve of the trigger allows enough space for a finger to drag between the trigger and the guard during reset, which can wear a raw spot or blister in the span of a short range trip. The top of the trigger also allows for a shooter to pinch their finger between the grip frame and the upper part of the trigger.
Don’t misunderstand – the stock trigger on the P-11 is certainly passable and many enjoy their pistol just fine without any modifications. However, there is a lot of room for improvement. Continue reading
Kel-Tec Adds New Bullpups to Kennel with RDB and M43
SHOT Show 2014 saw Kel-Tec add two new bullpups to their lineup that already includes the KSG shotgun and RFB in 7.62 NATO. Their latest offerings, the RDB and M43, bring the 5.56 caliber into the mix with standard AR-15 magazine compatibility. Built around the same steel frame and downward-ejecting, rotating bolt, piston operated bullpup action, the two are essentially the same firearm – albeit dressed in radically different furniture.
The RDB (for Rifle, Downward-ejecting, Bullpup) looks like something you would expect to come out of the Kel-Tec labs, wit its polymer furniture and familiar styling. This is the tactical model, featuring a picatinny rail for mounting your favorite optics and/or irons. The lightweight tactical RDB, with its aluminum and polymer parts, tips the scales at just 7 pounds.
The sheet metal and wood of the M43 adds a Continue reading
Optimizing the KelTec P-11
Perfecting the Compact Pistol for Carry, Defense and the Range
Kel-Tec pistols are wildly popular for concealed carry and personal/home defense. According to ATF reports, Kel-Tec has produced an average of around 110,000 pistols per year for the past five years year (130,000 in 2009 alone) placing them solidly among the top manufacturers. Their USA-made pistols are available in a variety of calibers, each coming with a lifetime manufacturer’s warranty. A Kel-Tec representative couldn’t give us exact numbers but said that many of their models are “pushing or over a million already.”
However, along with these large numbers there are also a number of common complaints about the pistols. Some of these gripes include Continue reading
