It was going to be a typical Thursday evening at the range. But my old friend and former TTAG contributor Capt. John Raguso was able to procure a testing and evaluation sample of the much-anticipated Kel-Tec KSG. That would be the gunmaker’s plastic fantastic bullpup shotgun—the prototypical star of last year’s SHOT Show. Note: Capt. John, now scribing for Gun World magazine, is not a sales rep for Kel Tec. He just sounds that way. The net effect is the same (so to speak) . . .
I only confided in one person that the special guest and firearm would be making an appearance. It was kept off the interwebs, but the text message world went ablaze. Fanboys are attracted to the KSG like Star Wars fans to George Lucas trailer of Episode 7 at the El Capitan. What was supposed to be me, the Captain and one other dude turned into a full-on can’t-keep-their-hands-off demo.
My impressions? Once I learned the battery of arms, the KSG is super sweet. The large guy in the audience said he couldn’t believe the lack of movement on my small frame when I pressed play. “Brett that thing did not knock you over and I was expecting it to hit you like Roy Jones Jr.” Because of the inherent balance of the bullpup design, the recoil was no worse than my AK without a padded stock. I didn’t get enough shots, but the trigger seemed up to the job, considering the application.
I shot 12 gauge 2 3/4″ Remington slugs. Hakuna mutata. My friend Glenn loaded the Kel-Tec KSG with some 3″ weird non-SAMMI-spec euro loads. They clogged the beast after he short-stroked the gun. Glenn with your Eurotrash! That stopped the fun for the evening.
Capt. John (in full salesman mode) assured the group of gun guys that pre-production models are more sensitive to clogging than the eventual production models will be. A leap of faith? Probably. It wouldn’t be the first time an innovative firearm created pre-emptive loyalty.
When it works, the Kel-Tec KSG is one Badass Mutha Riot Pump! I can think of nothing more devastating for home defense. Or evil looking. New York will probably add another law on the books to make sure the KSG is banned before release. It’s that good—at least in theory.