At first glance the Kel-Tec SUB-2000 rifle is as ugly as 40 miles of bad road. But as I took it out of its box and began to look it over, its beauty began to shine through. Its appearance is certainly Spartan--tactical black with a rectangular receiver and tubular stock, a utilitarian design with no frills. Every line and shape is purely functional, and that is a good thing. Function has its own beauty.

(Left) The SUB-2000 folds into a compact package, and the design allows you to clean the bore easily from the breech—avoiding potential damage to the crown. (Right) The front sight is merely a piece of Day-Glo orange plastic, but it is fully adjustable for windage and elevation. This rudimentary setup prompted the author to shoot the gun at 25 yards, where it performed very well.

The SUB-2000 is a self-loading, blowback carbine chambered for 9mm or .40 S&W. All functioning parts except the trigger group are located within the tubular stock. The receiver is made from glass-reinforced Zytel, and it accepts a Glock double-stack handgun magazine.

An operating handle on the underside of the tubular stock may be pulled to the rear and rotated into a detent to hold it open. Nudging it out of the detent allows it to slam forward, chambering a round. A cross-bolt safety is located above the pistol grip at the rear of the receiver. The polymer fore-end has a rectangular cross-section and encloses the barrel from the front of the receiver to 31?2 inches aft of the muzzle.

SPECIFICATIONS KEL-TEC SUB-2000
MAKER:	Kel-Tec CNC Industries
TYPE:	Self-loading carbine
CALIBER:	9mm Luger, .40 S&W
CAPACITY:	10 + 1
BARREL LENGTH:	16.1 inches
OVERALL LENGTH:	29 1/2 inches (open), 16.1 inches (closed)>
WEIGHT:	4 pounds
SIGHTS:	Fixed Aperture rear, adjustable front w/ hood
STOCK:	Tubular steel w/ polymer buttplate
METAL:	Black
PRICE:	$383

Sights are rudimentary, with a fixed rear aperture and a front-sight post made from a flat piece of Day-Glo orange plastic clamped in place using plastic pressure pads. Backing out one pressure pad and tightening the opposite one allows you to adjust windage and elevation. One-eighth turn moves bullet impact one inch at 100 yards. Remember, moving the front sight to the right moves the point of impact left (and vice versa). Moving it up moves point of impact down.

A hinge at the top of the breech allows the SUB-2000's barrel and fore-end to fold up and back, where a detent on the back of the front-sight fixture engages a latch on the heel of the buttstock. Folded, the SUB-2000 measures a hair over 16 inches long by seven inches wide. Its weight is four pounds unloaded.

Field-stripping the SUB-2000 for cleaning is easy. First, make sure the gun is unloaded, the bolt is forward, the hammer cocked and the safety on. Then, use a stick or pointed object to withdraw (but not remove) a stock pin that passes through the tubular stock, which houses the buffer, recoil spring and two-piece bolt. This frees the buffer, which should pop up out of the buttplate. Remove the buffer and the recoil spring, which will come out with the buffer.

A pointed stick is all you need to field-strip the SUB-2000. It breaks down into six parts plus the magazine for easy cleaning.

Now you can pull the operating handle downward and out, which allows the two-piece bolt to slip out the rear of the tubular stock and separate into its two components. The SUB-2000 is now disassembled into six parts, plus the magazine. Unlike most self-loading designs, the SUB-2000 is hinged so the barrel folds away from the receiver. This allows easy bore cleaning from the breech, which I liked very much.

Reassembly is in reverse order. Do not release the hammer until reassembly is complete, because the manufacturer says this "will make the SUB rifle totally inoperable." We decided to take their word for it and not test this claim.

ACCURACY RESULTS: Kel-Tec SUB-2000
LOAD (.40 S&W)	BULLET WEIGHT (gr.)	AVERAGE VELOCITY (fps)	STANDARD DEVIATION	AVERAGE GROUP (in.)
Hornady TAP	155	1,365	8	1.74
Remington FNEB	180	1,027	54	1.88
Winchester FMJ	180	1,132	17	1.71
Velocity recorded 10 feet from the muzzle with an Oehler M35P Chronograph. Accuracy tested with a benchrest pedestal and rear bag. Results are the average of five five-shot groups at 25 yards. Abbreviations: FNEB, flat-nose enclosed base; FMJ, full metal jacket

At the range, my SUB-2000 in .40 S&W performed very well. After firing more than 200 rounds from three manufacturers, we experienced no stoppages. We performed our accuracy test at 25 yards because of the rudimentary sights, and all three loads tested produced five-shot groups that averaged less than two inches. The smallest group measured .61 inch and several others would have measured under an inch except for a solitary flyer in each case that enlarged the group substantially.

The Kel-Tec website lists a swing-away scope mount and an under-barrel laser mount that would greatly improve the rifle's accuracy potential. This is not a mere toy to stroke an overactive macho ego. It comes close to being an ideal home defense weapon and would fit easily into a bedside drawer--plus it's hell on jackrabbits.