KelTec Announces Recall of Certain Sub-2000 Rifles
KelTec Firearms has announced a voluntary recall of certain Sub-2000 (aka Sub2k) pistol-caliber collapsible rifles due to a potentially dangerous condition. While, thankfully, we escaped our personal firearms being subject to this condition, many others are still out there.
Sub-2000 owners can check to see if their firearm is subject to the recall by entering their serial number(s) on the recall page or by viewing the list of all affected serial numbers.
From KelTec:
ATTENTION
IMPORTANT SUB-2000 SAFETY RECALL NOTICE
We have recently identified an issue with the heat treatment of certain steel tubes received from a third‐party supplier from which the barrels for a limited number of Kel‐Tec SUB‐2000 rifles were manufactured. This could potentially cause the barrel to rupture when a cartridge is fired and could result in serious personal injury. The safety of our customers is our primary concern, so Kel‐Tec has voluntarily initiated this recall because of the possibility of a barrel rupturing.
This recall only affects a portion of SUB‐2000s that were manufactured in 2017.
All costs associated with the recall of your firearm shall be covered by Kel‐Tec. Continue reading
I.O. Inc. Mini Revolver Makes Progress for 2018
At last year’s SHOT Show 2017, we were excited to see Inter Ordnance venture into different territory than what they are known. In their booth, they had micro revolvers similar to what you have probably seen from the likes of North American Arms.
Until recently, I.O. Inc. was largely known (for better or for worse) for the AK platform rifles which they began producing in the mid-2000s – and which gained a less than stellar reputation for quality and reliability; something with which the GunLink team has had first hand experience as owners of one of their duds. A few years later, I.O. shut down their AK production, moved to a re-tooled production facility, and began cranking out higher quality AKs (and, later, ARs) and started work on rebuilding their sullied name.
So when we saw the diminutive .22LR revolvers, dubbed the Valkyrie, in their booth last year, our interest was piqued, despite the fact that they were, at that point, nothing more than rapid-prototyped titanium samples with 3D printed grips with an MSRP of $260 and an expected ship date of last spring. And then… crickets.
This year in the I.O. Inc. booth, they had what appeared to be (nearly) production models of the minuscule SAO revolver, now apparently named the Escort. Continue reading
Mossberg and Remington Unleash Double-Barreled Blast of Mag Fed Shotguns at SHOT Show 2018
Mag Fed Shotgun Showdown
A few weeks ago, Big Green made a lot of noise with their launch of the new Remington 870DM that involved a bunch of marketing-department-generated secrecy and rumors and buzz that culminated in a live online product unveiling of what turned out to be (much to nobody’s surprise) a detachable magazine fed model of their popular pump action 870 shotgun.
Then, last week at SHOT Show 2018, Mossberg introduced a competing detachable box magazine fed version of their popular pump action 590 shotgun called the 590M.
Nothing ground breaking, earth shattering, or game changing, but pretty cool products from the two main sport and defense shotgun manufacturers in the US. But the big question on our minds around here is “why did it take so long?” Or maybe it’s “which one is better?” We’ll try to answer at least one of those below.
Of course, box magazine fed shotguns are nothing especially new. Semi-auto box-fed shotguns have been around for a while. Black Aces Tactical does it with their Mossberg 500-based shotguns. And what about Hurricane Butterfly’s Typhoon 12, based on Hawk’s Chinese Remington 870 clone? Adaptive Tactical has been offering their Venom conversion kits for Mossberg/Maverick shotguns for a number of years, although they kind of cheat by feeding into the magazine tube and/or using a rotary magazine.
So, while feeding fat, blunt, sometimes ribbed, plastic, rimmed cartridges with varying lengths and weights from a magazine may be a challenge, it is not impossible. So, other than being difficult, why did it take so long for the major players to make their own? Our guess is that they were just taking a wait-and-see track and finally noticed the interest in this market segment based on the other third-party offerings.
As for which one of the new offerings from the big manufacturers is better, we’ll give you some info about them and let you decide. Continue reading
Franklin Armory’s Reformation – Brilliant End-Run or Spotlight on NFA Absurdity
Franklin Armory mystified the shooting community in the days leading up to SHOT Show 2018. Right around two weeks ahead of the show, the company – most well known for their binary triggers – issued a press release with photos of a weapon that, for all intents and purposes, appeared to be an NFA-regulated short barreled rifle (SBR). However, Franklin claimed that the item shown was not a rifle (so, not an SBR) nor were they playing sneaky semantics games with a shotgun (and, thus, not an SBS). Readers were left scratching their heads and trying to figure out how it might fit into the generic “firearm” category that might escape the purview of NFA regulations
Rumors swept the internet, along with speculation on how Franklin Armory had achieved this feat, if they had achieved it at all – many thought that the company was just trolling to generate buzz and that the new firearm, dubbed the Reformation, was just their 11.5″ SBR and that the entire campaign was a hoax. Everyone loves a good puzzle, and the only clues in the initial release were that the Reformation sported an 11.5″ barrel, a Magpul SL stock (not a brace), that it used patented “NRS” technology, and that it required no NFA tax stamp.
Guesses at how this was done included things like the stock being pinned to make it unusable as a stock (instead, being capable of functioning only as a cheek rest), having a smooth bore (no rifling, no short-barreled rifle) – with or without guesses at special ammunition like a rifled shotgun slug, firing only on release (to skirt the definition of one round per trigger pull), and other theories.
This is not the first time that the designers at Franklin Armory were able to dance around BATFE definitions of certain classes of firearms (see the XO-26, which sports a short barrel, pistol brace, and VFG, yet is not an AOW). The company played the Reformation release close to their vest, letting the shooting community continue to guess right up through their SHOT Show announcement. Continue reading
Sticky Holsters Unveils New EDC Products for SHOT Show
Just in time for SHOT Show, Sticky Holsters is unveiling a bevy of new products for Concealed Carry EDC.
We have been reviewing Sticky Holsters for years now, since we were first introduced to them by a GunLink Forum member. Since then, we have tried out and reviewed a number of their products, including their standard holsters in a variety of sizes, as well as their Super Mag Pouch, and the custom ECR-compatible holster for Viridian’s C5L compact light and laser.
We have had great experiences with Sticky Holsters’ products over the years and are happy to have them come on board with us as a SHOT Show Coverage Partner this year. Operations Manager, Eric, sent us over some details about the latest products coming out of the Sticky Holsters shop and we’re excited to get the opportunity to see them first hand at SHOT Show next week.
Sticky’s new products aren’t necessarily directly pistol-holster related but, rather, geared more toward the EDC stuff that you might lug around if you are packing heat already, like spare mags, tourniquets, a knife, etc.
The first set of new products are their Mini Mag Sleeves and Pouches. As you saw in our review of the Super Mag Pouch (SMP), we generally used that product for double-stack pistol mags like those for the G19 and G17. Using the SMP for single-stack mags, like those for the XDS45, was passable, but not ideal since they didn’t fill out the pouch enough and we worried about the possibility of the magazine sliding out at inopportune times. Trying to use the SMP for tiny mags, like those for the .380 ACP Ruger LCP, was nigh impossible. This is what we wrote at the time: Continue reading
Franklin Armory to Release new Non-NFA Short Barreled… Thing
Reformation – Redefining Firearms
Innovative firearms manufacturer, Franklin Armory, has brought another out of the box idea to the firearms industry. Known for their ground breaking American made products such as their Binary Firing System, F17 series rifles, and the XO-26, Franklin Armory has changed the industry once again. The new products are part of the Reformation line of patent pending NRS firearms, and the first SKUs in the Reformation line include a non-NFA configuration with an 11.5″ barrel and a conventional stock as depicted below:
Having already received approval as a non-rifle from the Chief of the Firearms Technology Division, Reformation will be shipping without any onerous NFA paperwork required.
Franklin Armory President, Jay Jacobson, noted, “The patent pending technology employed in Reformation will create a whole new market segment that will not require NFA approval.”
For more discussion on the new Franklin offering, and other SHOT Show offerings, join us in the SHOT Show board of the GunLink Forums.
