The ingenuity of free Americans will always triumph over small-minded fearmongers seeking to stifle liberty. There’s no greater example of this in the gun industry than the myriad solutions companies have developed in order to allow shooters to comply with California’s ludicrous, inhumane, and unconstitutional assault on Americans’ right to keep and bear arms.
For those who want all of the ergonomics, magazine capacity, ease of use, and affordability of shooting the AR-15 pattern rifle — and still remain compliant with California’s laws — the Kali Key is a solid alternative.
In essence, the Kali Key turns the semi-automatic AR-15 into a bolt action rifle. After installing the Kali Key, the rifle will only fire a single round with each trigger pull, and then requires the shooter manually operate the charging handle in order to eject and chamber the next round.
The Kali Key is only for traditional direct impingement Mil-Spec AR-15 rifles. Installation is pretty simple, requiring only a single Allen wrench.
If you’re installing the Kali Key on an existing complete bolt carrier group, you’re going to have remove the traditional gas key on the carrier. Assuming that your gas key screws have been properly staked, this may take considerable force.
For those of us in the free states, this is likely a no-go. It certainly is for me. I’m not going to swap back and forth from a traditional gas key to the Kali Key’s gas diversion block if I have to remove and then re-stake the screws each time.
The alternative is obvious; use a separate, dedicated bolt carrier for the Kali Key set-up. That’s why the Kali Key is sold as a stand alone item or with a BCG as a bundle.
With a bolt carrier that doesn’t have a gas key installed, all you have to do is line the gas diversion block up and screw the two screws into the carrier. I didn’t stake the gas diversion block down, and I doubt it would be an issue with what is essentially now a bolt action rifle.
Kali Key recommends 45-50 inch pounds of force. I just turned it hard with a simple single Allen wrench, and that measured to 40 inch pounds. They also recommend thread locker. I didn’t use a thread locker, and had no issues, but if this was the kind of thing I would be using for a while, I’d Lock-Tite it down.
After installing the gas diversion block onto the carrier, simply slide the charging handle into the block and insert the entire charging handle and carrier right into the upper receiver.
Note that you don’t need the gas rings on the bolt anymore, and it may be a little easier to manually charge the action without them.
That’s it, you’re done. If it took you even five full minutes to do that, you did it wrong.
There’s no need to reduce your magazine size (local laws allowing). No use for a “bullet button,” no reason to change to a fixed stock, or whatever other ridiculous statues the Golden Statists have come up with.
I tried the Kali Key with two different rifles, one from Colt Competition and one from Underground Tactical. I had no issues at all installing the Kali Key on either rifle, and had absolutely no problems with function in either gun.
There’s really nothing to go wrong here. Now, when you pull the trigger on a chambered receiver with a full magazine, one round fires. The bolt will then remain in the forward position until you pull the charging handle back.
The whole point of the Kali Key is to turn your AR into a bolt action rifle, and you’ve done just that.
The Kali Key’s bolt handle is ambidextrous, and quite large on both sides. I found it no trouble at all to simple reach back and pull the handle, extracting the round. Simply release the handle to allow the buffer spring to do its job and chamber the next round.
There are other uses to the Kali Key, beyond compliance with the Nationalsozialistiche California Arbeiterpartei.
The AR-15 platform is great for new shooters. Its ease of adjustment and wide range of furniture make it fit many shooters well, and growing shooters especially well. Some of those features, like an adjustable stock, go out the window if you have to meet the dictates of the overlords by using a fixed stock.
The Kali Key allows you to keep all of those features that work so well for new shooters. It also allows a new shooter, or the instructor of a new shooter, to help focus shooting on one single round at a time.
For load development, the Kali Key also allows the shooter to slowly open the bolt and gently deposit spent brass right next to the rifle. There’s no need for a brass catcher…it’s just going to be lying there within grasp.
For those of us who shoot suppressed at night, note that as the gun won’t cycle at all, now there’s no sound of the action, making for an even quieter hunt.
The Kali Key is well made, with the charging handle rod made of 7075 anodized aluminum and the gas key block being black nitride coated. I shot 100 rounds between two different rifles with the Kali Key, and had no issues at all. All photos in this review taken were after shooting, and the finishes held up well.
The Kali Key is a great, well made and well thought out product for beleaguered shooters fighting the good fight in the shadow of the Sacramento slavers. It does the job, and may also find some use for those shooters who want all of the ergonomic features of the AR platform, but also want to slow down a bit.
Features: Kali Key Gen2-A1
Black Nitride Bolt Carrier Group with MPI BoltMPI Bolt (Magnetic Particle Inspected)
9310 Heat Treated and Shot Peened Bolt (H&M Blacknitride+™ Coating)
8620 Heat Treated Carrier (H&M Blacknitride+™ Coating)
4140 Heat Treated and Shot Peened Extractor (H&M Blacknitride+™ Coating)
4340 Heat Treated Cam Pin (H&M Blacknitride+™ Coating)
Shot Peened and Heat Treated Firing Pin
Also available for AR-10
Price: Kali Key alone = $97.95, Kali Key BCG Bundle = $182.95
Rating (out of five stars):
Overall * * * * *
A well made product that has uses beyond simple left coast compliance. The ease of use and the fact that it allows all other features of the AR-15 pattern gun to stay in place puts the Kali Key at the top of the list for compliance products.