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I have long been interested in the KelTec SU2000. When it was first introduced, we looked at them and liked the way it looked, but the MSRP was crazy. I decided to wait until they came down to a reasonable price to get one.

I had originally thought I wanted one in 9mm, but recently noticed that I had only one .40 S&W pistol, a Glock 22, and I had several thousand rounds of .40 S&W brass. So, I decided to get a SU2000 on .40 S&W and one that would take the Glock 22 magazines.

I finally found one and bought it. Here it is.

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The little rifle is a folding design, and would make a great backpack carbine or a trunk gun, as it is only about 15 inches long when folded.



To open it up for use, you use the button located near the rear of the stock...

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... and pull it back to unlock the plunger and release the barrel.



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The barrel then folds back and locks into position with a quick snap.

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Once opened, the rifle is about 29 inches long.

Here it is, along with my Glock 22.

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To unlock and close the rifle into the folded position, you just pull down on the trigger guard and reverse the process.



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The charging handle in located under the bolt tube.

This cycles back and forth as the rifle is fired, so the instructions warn the shooter not to place your hand on this tube while shooting.

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There is also a slot cut into the tube to allow you to lock the bolt back.

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The safety is a nice big button located within easy reach of the thumb.



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The front sight has a high visibility insert which is very easy to acquire quickly.

All sight adjustments must be made with the front sight.







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They supply a small tool to be used to adjust the sight.

You first loosen a Phillips screw that locks the adjustment.

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Then you pull the tool apart and reverse it to use the hex end of the tool to adjust the sights.



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You loosen one side and tighten up on the other side to make the sight move in the desired direction.

Then tighten the Phillips locking screw and you are done.

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The rear sight is an aperture and does not adjust.

It is easy to use and the sights are clear.

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I had a problem, however, as the rifle was grouping about a foot high and a foot to the left at 50 yards.

I adjusted the sights per the Instruction Manual, and finally shot this group at about 35 yards.



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But the front sight is now way over to the side.

Not the best sight picture and disappointing to me.

I ran several types of ammo through the rifle with zero problems.

I wondered if it would cycle with my lead 170 grain handloads, but it ate them right up.

The hot factory loads were noticeably hotter, but the rifle didn't hiccup at all.





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Disassembly to clean the rifle is easy.

The instructions warn that the rifle must be cocked and placed on SAFE before disassembly.

It also warns the shooter not to "Release the hammer with the bolt removed, as this will make the SUB rifle totally inoperable".

Sounds like I need to remember that.

After cocking the rifle and putting it on SAFE, you push through a pin located in the rear side of the stock.

That allows the recoil spring and buffer to come out of the butt stock.



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This will then allow the charging handle to be pulled out of its location.




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Charging handle and spring.



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Then the two part bolt assembly will drop out of the bolt tube.

This is as far as the instructions suggest the rifle be disassembled.

It allows the bolt face to be easily cleaned.

Then clean all parts, re-lubricate them, and reverse the order to reassemble the rifle.









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One of the neat things about this rifle is that the shooter can clean the barrel from the rear when the barrel is in the folded position.

This allows a very thorough cleaning of the barrel.



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Recoil is very mild, as you would expect.

The longer barrel will give the .40 S&W about 200 to 300 feet per second more velocity than in a pistol barrel. One might think that this is "always" better, but that is not always the case.

Pistol bullets are designed for a fairly narrow velocity window, and pushing some bullets too fast can cause them to break up when they hit the target and possibly fail.

And anyone shooting a rifle like this needs to understand that this is still a pistol caliber weapon and not a true rifle caliber.



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But it will do just about anything a pistol will do, and will add the advantage of increased velocity and better accuracy due to the longer sight radius.

The rifle can be pruchased in several configurations, allowing the shooter's preference of magazines to be used. I chose a Glock, but other models are available.

One disappointment was that it is only supplied with one 10 round Glock magazine. I don't understand why they didn't just supply a standard 15 round Glock 22 magazine with the rifle. I plan on looking for a Glock 30 round magazine at the next gun show.

Conclusions:
The SU2000 is a fine little rifle and a pleasure to shoot. I look forward to burning up a lot of ammo with it.