My review of the KelTec KSG shotgun - The Firearms Forum

Dajerseyrat · 04-15-2012, 10:57 AM

I can tell you this much about the gun, dont buy it. I waited months for mine and recently took delivery of it and as any excited boy with a new toy would do,I cleaned it and I went straight to the range. First Impression,it looks cool and that’s where the good impressions end.

The gun is very awkward almost to the point of difficult to load and you will most likely cut your finger doing so. Now imagine trying to load this thing in the field under high stress situations. I dont see how it is possible to combat load a round into the chamber without turning the gun upside down. The magazine selector switch is very hard to manipulate from right to left on my gun and would need to be in the neutral position to attempt a combat load, which is one more extra step which would most likely get you shot in the face in real combat..

Chambered and fired first round, and racked it back only to encounter a double feed jam! The gun failed to extract the spent shell and attempted to load not 1 but 2 additional rounds at once, so a total of 3 rounds were stuck in there, leaving me with a 26″ long baseball bat to defend myself with. This type of jam is simply impossible to clear in a combat situation and would have cost me my life. It takes several minutes to clear the jams once they happen. I fired another round and it did the same exact thing. In fact the first 6-7 attempts the gun jammed the same way. Thinking it was me possibly limp wristing the slide, I allowed 4 other colleges to attempt to shoot it and it did the same thing for all 4 of them, including one range master/fire arms instructor. So it was not me. Now I am far from a gun expert, but I have been in law enforcement for over 15 years and qualify 2 times a year with our shotgun and have put thousands of shotgun rounds down range and never once had a shotgun jam on me.

I notified Kel-tec who told me they wanted me to return the gun which keep in mind was just purchased a day or two prior, and would send me a call tag and take a look at it when they get a chance. That was over 4-5 days ago, no call tag, no returned email or phone call.

I fired the gun several more times since and the gun now religiously jams on me at least once out of every 10-15 rounds.

To make things worse I attempted one more time today to shoot it utilizing a forward pistol grip which subsequently broke 2 teeth of the rail within the first 3 shots….

Kel-tec stated this gun would revolutionize the industry, and if by revolutionize they mean get a ton of people killed, then yes they are doing it. At this point I fell that Kel Tec is utilizing people like me to do their R&D for them while making big money on markups.

The design is really stupid when you look at it in detail and how the rounds are extracted and rechambered via one exit which increases the jamming probability much more than a side eject. The extracted round has to pass downward past the rounds in the magazine, then a new round needs to be fed upward. In my opinion this X-crossing effect is a poor design prone to failure and jamming. There is no way this gun would ever stand up to the abuse of actual combat performance either for police or military.

Save your money and buy a real shotgun this thing is a video game cool looking novelty, and I dont predict Kel Tec being around the marketplace much longer with failures like this weapon.

Now reliable sources tell me that out of 100 guns shipped so far, the have had 8 failures not including mine which would be 9. Now that's assuming all 100 guns are in the hands of end users and not sitting on shelves in gun stores being gouged for 3X's the MSRP by these animals...That's also a conservative number released by KelTec to my source, which means the actual failure rate may be much higher than that..Even so lets assume 10 guns out of 100 had issues thus far, that is an dismal 10% failure rate!!! What do you think the Military or police personnel would do with a 10% failure rate? It would not make the initial testing and be cut from their arsenal for sure. Lets take our assumption 1 step further, and realize that out of the 100 guns shipped, all 100 of them are in the hands of recreational shooters who shoot in a controlled environment and very few of these guns will see actual combat or real life scenarios. When you look at the fact that 10% of these guns have failed under those conditions and almost immediately, it is quite disturbing.....Put this gun in a harsh dessert or jungle environment and the failure rate will skyrocket IMHO...

Keep the Keltec in the video games, because in real life you dont have extra lives..

Dajerseyrat · 04-15-2012, 03:53 PM

Here are some pictures of the 2 piece construction if thin plastic used in the gun. Some of the edges are still rough.

In this picture you can see what appears to be rust in between the barrels of a brand new gun...Rust!!! Seriously? How do you make a gun that starts to rust immediately?

Bill DeShivs · 04-15-2012, 05:22 PM

That's not rust. The barrels are brazed together.

GunNut89 · 04-15-2012, 07:39 PM

did you do research on this gun before ordering one? did you handle one before odering one? it seems if you had then you would have thought twice about buying one

Dajerseyrat · 04-16-2012, 12:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GunNut89

did you do research on this gun before ordering one? did you handle one before odering one? it seems if you had then you would have thought twice about buying one

No on all accounts...My fault I guess..

Dirtypacman · 04-16-2012, 12:05 PM

I think it has a cool factor as you stated. When I say a couple videos of people shooting it I knew it was a bit awkward. Sorry to hear your dissatisfaction with it. Hopefully Keltec will make it right when they finally get back to you on it.

I appreciate you taking out the time to let us know of your troubles with it.

Just a question also - did you run just one type of shell through it or did you try different types?

Guts3d · 04-16-2012, 12:22 PM

Up until this point I wanted one... Now I guess I'll wait for the Gen 2.

ms6852 · 04-16-2012, 07:27 PM

If I were to buy a high capacity shotgun, this would not be it. I prefer the SRM1216.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M29ew...eature=related

http://www.srmarms.com/store/pc/home.asp

Of course there is always SAIGA.

Lanrezac · 04-17-2012, 01:32 AM

I've had two Kel Tec pistols, both P-32s. The first was an early production gun, and something inside of it was so soft that just firing the gun would peen it up and lock the slide open - in which position, it could not be dismantled. The second one was a "second generation" (revised extractor) and has worked fine since day one. (I sold the first one to an FFL dealer at a gun show after telling him the trouble I had with it; he sent it to Kel Tec and they sent him pretty much a new gun, he said. He was quite happy with them.)

Dajerseyrat, my father (who grew up in Dover, NJ) always said "Never buy a car the first year they make it." Now both you and I know why. Good luck!

Dajerseyrat · 04-17-2012, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dirtypacman

I think it has a cool factor as you stated. When I say a couple videos of people shooting it I knew it was a bit awkward. Sorry to hear your dissatisfaction with it. Hopefully Keltec will make it right when they finally get back to you on it.

I appreciate you taking out the time to let us know of your troubles with it.

Just a question also - did you run just one type of shell through it or did you try different types?

2 3/4 #8, 3" and 2 3/4 00 buck and 3" rifled slug...Same results.

04-17-2012, 01:10 PM

I played with that one at SHOT and I can tell you it is a solid gun. It is nice that you can load one side with Buck shot and the other with slugs and switch between the two with the flick of a lever.

3/2 STA SS · 04-17-2012, 02:14 PM

That SRM1216 is a bad ass concept...leave it to the Russians....Something they didn't copy from the USA for once,ie.Space Shuttle.

Double D · 04-17-2012, 04:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GunNut89

did you do research on this gun before ordering one? did you handle one before odering one? it seems if you had then you would have thought twice about buying one

You would have a hard time handling one since you cant find them anywhere and there is a waiting list for them, just like their PMR 30s that they promised the public over 2 years ago. They stopped responding to my calls and emails on the PMRs. I liked the looks of the shotgun but I am sorry you had this trouble, but I hope they will make it right in the end. I will stick with a saiga.

Dirtypacman · 04-18-2012, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dajerseyrat

2 3/4 #8, 3" and 2 3/4 00 buck and 3" rifled slug...Same results.

Ughh looks like you did your due diligence trying out different sizes.
Again sorry to hear it is not working as it should.
Thanks for the reply.

Dajerseyrat · 04-18-2012, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dirtypacman

Ughh looks like you did your due diligence trying out different sizes.
Again sorry to hear it is not working as it should.
Thanks for the reply.

I tried it 4 times in on week..Spent well over $200 in shotgun shells and range fees..

Some funny news, not only has Keltec still not responded to my issues, I was banned for posting my review on the Keltec Owners Group Forums...LOL the owners of Keltec firearms cant handle negative comments about their firearms..

This nightmare keeps getting worse and worse emails to Ryan at keltec, 3 messages left with him and the main number, no call back no call tag. I got one reply from him stating he was looking into why I haven't received a call tag and how this is not Keltec standard. I cant imagine if i do get the call tag I will get the gun back anytime soon....My only recourse thus far has been to do a dispute on my credit card since I purchased the gun directly from Keltec.

Dajerseyrat · 04-18-2012, 01:05 PM

could someone please go to their contact email page and let me know if your able to contact them cause i keep getting an error message that the confirmation code is incorrect ::sosp:

http://www.keltecweapons.com/contact/

I just got off the phone with Janis,(apparently she is the only one who works or answers the phone at Keltec) who put me in contact with customer service, who told me they just received my information this morning for email me a label.:sosp: I told her my complaints but she did not seemed to give a crap honestly and said they will be emailing me the label today at 4...We shall see...

3/2 STA SS · 04-18-2012, 05:48 PM

They have had server issues so you may not be alone....

gdmoody · 04-18-2012, 06:59 PM

Dajerseyrat, first of all welcome to The Firearms Forum.

I tried to send them a comment and I am getting the same thing (The confirmation code you have entered s not correct. Please try again). I tried half a dozen times and I know I saw it right at least once!!

Dajerseyrat · 04-18-2012, 09:03 PM

Thank you guys...I did manage to contact someone there today. Apparently they just got word today to send me the call tag from UPS. Coincidentally one day after i stopped payment for the weapon...We will see how this goes. I really hope I get back a problem free weapon cause I really do like it despite my negative comments. It looks cool and is fairly accurate even at 100 yards, I managed to put a rifled slug through Osama Bin Laden's turbin..

Dajerseyrat · 04-19-2012, 01:04 PM

I spoke with Ryan today and he was very apologetic as to what happened with the call tag not being sent and he assured me he would get the weapon broken down and repaired in a timely manner. He also explained to me there was an issue with the Sig Saur grip and a few others breaking the rail and they may be adding that they dont recommend those grips to their manual in the future. He listened to my complains with the gun and took down notes so that the proper repairs can be made.The gun is packed up and awaiting UPS pick up. Ill keep yall posted.

Dirtypacman · 04-20-2012, 01:45 PM

Progress is a good thing, lets see if they can make it right.
crossing my fingers for you bud

Dajerseyrat · 04-21-2012, 12:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dirtypacman

Progress is a good thing, lets see if they can make it right.
crossing my fingers for you bud

Thanks, I just hope i dont have to keep shipping this gun back and forth..

Zane71464 · 04-21-2012, 12:25 AM

Sorry to hear of the problems with your new KelTec.
Are the picateeny/style rails really made of PLASTIC?

Zane71464 · 04-21-2012, 12:27 AM

...stupid queastion, looked at the pictures closer! Wow!

Dajerseyrat · 04-21-2012, 12:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zane71464

Sorry to hear of the problems with your new KelTec.
Are the picateeny/style rails really made of PLASTIC?

Yes, in fact about 80% of the gun is plastic. FYI the gun is on the way back to Keltec for repair. I will keep everyone posted.

04-15-2012, 10:57 AM	#1
Dajerseyrat Member Join Date: Apr 2012 Posts: 18	My review of the KelTec KSG shotgun I can tell you this much about the gun, dont buy it. I waited months for mine and recently took delivery of it and as any excited boy with a new toy would do,I cleaned it and I went straight to the range. First Impression,it looks cool and that’s where the good impressions end. The gun is very awkward almost to the point of difficult to load and you will most likely cut your finger doing so. Now imagine trying to load this thing in the field under high stress situations. I dont see how it is possible to combat load a round into the chamber without turning the gun upside down. The magazine selector switch is very hard to manipulate from right to left on my gun and would need to be in the neutral position to attempt a combat load, which is one more extra step which would most likely get you shot in the face in real combat.. Chambered and fired first round, and racked it back only to encounter a double feed jam! The gun failed to extract the spent shell and attempted to load not 1 but 2 additional rounds at once, so a total of 3 rounds were stuck in there, leaving me with a 26″ long baseball bat to defend myself with. This type of jam is simply impossible to clear in a combat situation and would have cost me my life. It takes several minutes to clear the jams once they happen. I fired another round and it did the same exact thing. In fact the first 6-7 attempts the gun jammed the same way. Thinking it was me possibly limp wristing the slide, I allowed 4 other colleges to attempt to shoot it and it did the same thing for all 4 of them, including one range master/fire arms instructor. So it was not me. Now I am far from a gun expert, but I have been in law enforcement for over 15 years and qualify 2 times a year with our shotgun and have put thousands of shotgun rounds down range and never once had a shotgun jam on me. I notified Kel-tec who told me they wanted me to return the gun which keep in mind was just purchased a day or two prior, and would send me a call tag and take a look at it when they get a chance. That was over 4-5 days ago, no call tag, no returned email or phone call. I fired the gun several more times since and the gun now religiously jams on me at least once out of every 10-15 rounds. To make things worse I attempted one more time today to shoot it utilizing a forward pistol grip which subsequently broke 2 teeth of the rail within the first 3 shots…. Kel-tec stated this gun would revolutionize the industry, and if by revolutionize they mean get a ton of people killed, then yes they are doing it. At this point I fell that Kel Tec is utilizing people like me to do their R&D for them while making big money on markups. The design is really stupid when you look at it in detail and how the rounds are extracted and rechambered via one exit which increases the jamming probability much more than a side eject. The extracted round has to pass downward past the rounds in the magazine, then a new round needs to be fed upward. In my opinion this X-crossing effect is a poor design prone to failure and jamming. There is no way this gun would ever stand up to the abuse of actual combat performance either for police or military. Save your money and buy a real shotgun this thing is a video game cool looking novelty, and I dont predict Kel Tec being around the marketplace much longer with failures like this weapon. Now reliable sources tell me that out of 100 guns shipped so far, the have had 8 failures not including mine which would be 9. Now that's assuming all 100 guns are in the hands of end users and not sitting on shelves in gun stores being gouged for 3X's the MSRP by these animals...That's also a conservative number released by KelTec to my source, which means the actual failure rate may be much higher than that..Even so lets assume 10 guns out of 100 had issues thus far, that is an dismal 10% failure rate!!! What do you think the Military or police personnel would do with a 10% failure rate? It would not make the initial testing and be cut from their arsenal for sure. Lets take our assumption 1 step further, and realize that out of the 100 guns shipped, all 100 of them are in the hands of recreational shooters who shoot in a controlled environment and very few of these guns will see actual combat or real life scenarios. When you look at the fact that 10% of these guns have failed under those conditions and almost immediately, it is quite disturbing.....Put this gun in a harsh dessert or jungle environment and the failure rate will skyrocket IMHO... Keep the Keltec in the video games, because in real life you dont have extra lives.. -->

04-15-2012, 03:53 PM	#2
Dajerseyrat Member Join Date: Apr 2012 Posts: 18	Re: My review of the KelTec KSG shotgun Here are some pictures of the 2 piece construction if thin plastic used in the gun. Some of the edges are still rough. In this picture you can see what appears to be rust in between the barrels of a brand new gun...Rust!!! Seriously? How do you make a gun that starts to rust immediately?

04-15-2012, 05:22 PM	#3
Bill DeShivs Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Contributor Posts: 1,478	Re: My review of the KelTec KSG shotgun That's not rust. The barrels are brazed together. __________________ Bill DeShivs www.billdeshivs.com

04-15-2012, 07:39 PM	#4
GunNut89 V.I.P. Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Michigan Posts: 339	Re: My review of the KelTec KSG shotgun did you do research on this gun before ordering one? did you handle one before odering one? it seems if you had then you would have thought twice about buying one

04-16-2012, 12:05 PM	#6
Dirtypacman Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Merrimac Valley, MA Posts: 908	Re: My review of the KelTec KSG shotgun I think it has a cool factor as you stated. When I say a couple videos of people shooting it I knew it was a bit awkward. Sorry to hear your dissatisfaction with it. Hopefully Keltec will make it right when they finally get back to you on it. I appreciate you taking out the time to let us know of your troubles with it. Just a question also - did you run just one type of shell through it or did you try different types? __________________ Member HHRG and HSC, NRA Life Member, GOAL Member LTC-A

04-16-2012, 12:22 PM	#7
Guts3d V.I.P. Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Pittsburgh, Pa Posts: 166	Re: My review of the KelTec KSG shotgun Up until this point I wanted one... Now I guess I'll wait for the Gen 2. __________________ "I don't like the idea of gettin' shot in the hand" - Blackie from "Rustler's Rhapsody"

04-16-2012, 07:27 PM	#8
ms6852 V.I.P. Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: San Antonio Texas Posts: 161	Re: My review of the KelTec KSG shotgun If I were to buy a high capacity shotgun, this would not be it. I prefer the SRM1216. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M29ew...eature=related http://www.srmarms.com/store/pc/home.asp Of course there is always SAIGA. __________________ ONLY TWO DEFINING FORCES HAVE GIVEN UP THEIR LIVES FOR YOU. ONE IS JESUS CHRIST, FOR YOUR SOUL, AND THE OTHER IS THE AMERICAN SOLDIER, FOR YOUR FREEDOM.

04-17-2012, 01:32 AM	#9
Lanrezac Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Milwaukee, WI Posts: 699	Re: My review of the KelTec KSG shotgun I've had two Kel Tec pistols, both P-32s. The first was an early production gun, and something inside of it was so soft that just firing the gun would peen it up and lock the slide open - in which position, it could not be dismantled. The second one was a "second generation" (revised extractor) and has worked fine since day one. (I sold the first one to an FFL dealer at a gun show after telling him the trouble I had with it; he sent it to Kel Tec and they sent him pretty much a new gun, he said. He was quite happy with them.) Dajerseyrat, my father (who grew up in Dover, NJ) always said "Never buy a car the first year they make it." Now both you and I know why. Good luck!

04-17-2012, 01:10 PM	#11
cpttango30 Adnanced Senior Member Posts: n/a	Re: My review of the KelTec KSG shotgun I played with that one at SHOT and I can tell you it is a solid gun. It is nice that you can load one side with Buck shot and the other with slugs and switch between the two with the flick of a lever.

04-17-2012, 02:14 PM	#12
3/2 STA SS Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Tampa Bay Area, FL Posts: 1,454	Re: My review of the KelTec KSG shotgun That SRM1216 is a bad ass concept...leave it to the Russians....Something they didn't copy from the USA for once,ie.Space Shuttle. __________________ MORS DE CONTACTUS-DEATH ON CONTACT

04-18-2012, 01:05 PM	#16
Dajerseyrat Member Join Date: Apr 2012 Posts: 18	Re: My review of the KelTec KSG shotgun could someone please go to their contact email page and let me know if your able to contact them cause i keep getting an error message that the confirmation code is incorrect ::sosp: http://www.keltecweapons.com/contact/ I just got off the phone with Janis,(apparently she is the only one who works or answers the phone at Keltec) who put me in contact with customer service, who told me they just received my information this morning for email me a label.:sosp: I told her my complaints but she did not seemed to give a crap honestly and said they will be emailing me the label today at 4...We shall see...

04-18-2012, 05:48 PM	#17
3/2 STA SS Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Tampa Bay Area, FL Posts: 1,454	Re: My review of the KelTec KSG shotgun They have had server issues so you may not be alone.... __________________ MORS DE CONTACTUS-DEATH ON CONTACT

04-18-2012, 06:59 PM	#18
gdmoody Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Northeast Georgia Contributor Posts: 6,408	Re: My review of the KelTec KSG shotgun Dajerseyrat, first of all welcome to The Firearms Forum. I tried to send them a comment and I am getting the same thing (The confirmation code you have entered s not correct. Please try again). I tried half a dozen times and I know I saw it right at least once!! __________________ NRA Endowment Member GeorgiaCarry.Org Member Retired US Army Postal Worker Personally, I carry a gun because I'm too young to die and too old to take an ass whoopin'.....author unknown (but obviously brilliant)

04-18-2012, 09:03 PM	#19
Dajerseyrat Member Join Date: Apr 2012 Posts: 18	Re: My review of the KelTec KSG shotgun Thank you guys...I did manage to contact someone there today. Apparently they just got word today to send me the call tag from UPS. Coincidentally one day after i stopped payment for the weapon...We will see how this goes. I really hope I get back a problem free weapon cause I really do like it despite my negative comments. It looks cool and is fairly accurate even at 100 yards, I managed to put a rifled slug through Osama Bin Laden's turbin.. Last edited by Dajerseyrat; 04-18-2012 at 09:05 PM..

04-19-2012, 01:04 PM	#20
Dajerseyrat Member Join Date: Apr 2012 Posts: 18	Re: My review of the KelTec KSG shotgun I spoke with Ryan today and he was very apologetic as to what happened with the call tag not being sent and he assured me he would get the weapon broken down and repaired in a timely manner. He also explained to me there was an issue with the Sig Saur grip and a few others breaking the rail and they may be adding that they dont recommend those grips to their manual in the future. He listened to my complains with the gun and took down notes so that the proper repairs can be made.The gun is packed up and awaiting UPS pick up. Ill keep yall posted.

04-20-2012, 01:45 PM	#21
Dirtypacman Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Merrimac Valley, MA Posts: 908	Re: My review of the KelTec KSG shotgun Progress is a good thing, lets see if they can make it right. crossing my fingers for you bud __________________ Member HHRG and HSC, NRA Life Member, GOAL Member LTC-A

04-21-2012, 12:25 AM	#23
Zane71464 Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Ohio NRA Member Contributor Posts: 5,415	Re: My review of the KelTec KSG shotgun Sorry to hear of the problems with your new KelTec. Are the picateeny/style rails really made of PLASTIC? __________________ Two Words; "Simple Man", song by Charlie Daniels sums up my thoughts on a "few things"!

04-21-2012, 12:27 AM	#24
Zane71464 Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Ohio NRA Member Contributor Posts: 5,415	Re: My review of the KelTec KSG shotgun ...stupid queastion, looked at the pictures closer! Wow! __________________ Two Words; "Simple Man", song by Charlie Daniels sums up my thoughts on a "few things"!