I was out on a range yesterday with Basilisk. This was the first chance I have had to shoot my new Kel-tec SU-22, .22 LR carbine. The weapon came well bore sighted and zeroed from the factory. With iron sights (peep sight and post) I had a tight group at 100 yards.
The action functions beautifully, smoothly and without misfires.
Taking down the gun is simple. there is one assembly pin to be drifted out and then the whole bolt, and operating spring assembly comes out in one piece.
This gun weighs 4 pounds empty.
My only complaint about it is that in re-assembly, the front end of the tube holding the operating spring gets hung up on the fitting at the end of the spring itself. You have to fiddle with it a bit.
All in all, a great little rifle, and completely US made. pl
Kel-Tec is a VERY mixed bag. My SU-16 (.223 version of your SU-22) came from the factory in non-firing condition. It had obviously not been test-fired before going out the door. One year later and it is still not fixed, and I get stall after stall from their service department. At this point I want to fix it, sell it, and forget I ever owned the accursed thing.
I'm not willing to say that they're bad firearms - a LOT of people like them - but for me this gun has been such a frustration from day one that I'm not personally willing to give the company any more business.
Posted by: The Moar You Know | 06 October 2011 at 11:12 AM
I too was impressed by this interesting little rifle, it's kinda like one of those Yankee rifles you could load in the morning and shoot all day. Besides that, when you fold it up and put it in its little case it could pass for a custom pool cue--what my brother would call a "trunk gun."
Posted by: Basilisk | 06 October 2011 at 12:04 PM
I happen to know the man behind Kel-Tec, who like me was born in Sweden and now both of us live in Brevard Co, FL.
He makes all kinds of interesting weapons and I find his new shotgun to be exceptional.
Posted by: Lars | 06 October 2011 at 02:25 PM
Lars
Please send him my review and compliments and tell him that I will pleased to buy and review an RMR-30 when they are available. pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 07 October 2011 at 08:54 PM
I'm glad to hear you can get some time away from other commitments to do some shooting.
Have to say though I can't stand the psuedo military tackycal look so popular now.
Remember the somewhat puny .30 Carbine we used back in the 60s?
I just gor an early 3 screw Ruger Blackhawk in that caliber.
A whole new ball game with a 7 1/2 inch barrel.
Muzzle blast will wake the dead, but recoil with the light bullets is minimal.
I'll soon have a 220 Swift heavy barrel on a Ruger M77.
That one should be fun shooting a 40 grn bullet at over 4000 FPS MV.
Posted by: John Minnerath | 08 October 2011 at 11:37 AM
I talked to him this morning and I am sending him a link to this thread.
Posted by: Lars | 10 October 2011 at 02:03 PM
Could that military look come from experience gained in real field tests? That is has to do with efficiency and ease of maintenance, etc.?
I know that in the past, some guns had a lot of art work on them that had nothing to do with shooting a bullet.
Posted by: Lars | 11 October 2011 at 11:45 AM
Military small arms have several criteria. Two of which are durability under extremely harsh conditions and ease of maintenance.
I prefer mine with the art of fine wood and polished blued steel.
Posted by: John Minnerath | 11 October 2011 at 05:05 PM
There are a lot of beautiful weapons made, but they require a lot of attention too. I guess it comes down to utility and less maintenance for some. Whether you keep it on the wall, or in the trunk of your car is another aspect. In Florida, where I live, metal and humidity do not get along.
Posted by: Lars | 11 October 2011 at 05:25 PM
If anyone knows a gunsmith that uses black walnut for stocks please have them contact me as I have two 1-2 ft diameter black walnut trees about 30 feet high I wish to have removed and would prefer not to turn into fire wood.
Of course it would need cutting and aging but black walnut makes for beautiful stocks.
Weatherbee used to almost exclusively use black walnut. And many Pennsylania long rifle colonial gunsmiths.
Posted by: William R. Cumming | 11 October 2011 at 07:32 PM
WRC,
I put out the word the trees are available. If I hear anything I'll post back.
Posted by: John Minnerath | 12 October 2011 at 09:34 AM
All
Make sure you use high velocity ammunition with this weapon. Otherwise the blowback action will not function well. pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 12 January 2012 at 05:10 PM
That SU-22 is a sweet little weapon; very comfortable to shoot, feels solid despite its light weight and the stock sights are more than adequate for my farsighted eyes. I've been reading that keeping it well lubed during break in also helps the functioning.
Posted by: The Twisted Genius | 12 January 2012 at 05:54 PM
All
Basilisk, TTG and I were out on a range today. I fired 100 rounds through the SU-22 without a malfunction. TTG took it over coincident to an ammunition change and it hung up several times, failing to extact and eject. I lubed it yesterday so I think it was the ammunition. BTW it is a surprisingly accurate carbine. At 100 yards with iron sights I had a lot of rounds in a respectable circle. pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 12 January 2012 at 06:16 PM
I've had my SU-22 for about 2 months and have taken it to the range right around 6 times since I purchased it. On my last trip to the range, I became highly agitated when it was ejecting literally EVERY cartridge in my magazine. I've tried several brands of ammunition including the Federal, Winchester, and another brand I can't remember the name of...:-/ anyway, I've had problems with it since the day I bought it, but I pray the next time I take it to the range, it acts right!
Posted by: Kenny | 25 February 2012 at 05:42 PM
kenny
The rifle is blowback operated and semi-automatic. How could it eject all the ammunition in your magazine? For it to cycle, the cartridges must fire and impart energy to the operating system. Are you saying that the weapon fired full automatic and ejected a stream of of fired casings or are you saying that the weapon magically cycled without energy and ejected all the unfired rounds in your magazine? pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 25 February 2012 at 10:32 PM
I've had this rifle since 2013 and its only this year that I was able to have a lot of fun with it. For a long while I was always feeling a bit envious over the other popular .22lr platforms out there, particularly the Ruger 10/22, S&W M&P 15/22, and the ARs Conversion kits. Why? Because they're everywhere! And I was fixated on a pistol grip rifle for quite a while...
I was and still am one of the few SU-22 owners in my area, and majority of IPSC Mini-Rifle users run those types of rifles. IPSC Mini-Rifle is a fun competitive format that used pistol course of fire stages with our .22lr rifles.
We get a lot of kicks outta this format 'coz it lets us play with CQB-style stages using rifles but at the much lower cost of .22lr. In our part of the world (Philippines and Southeast Asia), this is growing rapidly in popularity due to ease of access compared to the 3Gun format.
Anyway, my SU22 shoots Armscor Subsonic (round nose) pretty well. I have not had a malfunction on this ammo. It is also OK with Remington GBs. I noticed that the gummier coating of the CCI Standard velocity ammo gave me some problems because it would have trouble feeding into the chamber when the rifle was dirty. Some guys like to clean each round prior to shooting, as for me I just go with the other ammo that it likes to eat.
I've started to appreciate the SU22 much more because of its reliability with its chosen ammo. And I believe there is a wide selection in its menu except for the CCI Standards as per my experience.
Downside? This rifle is a bit of a pain in the ass to clean because of the hard to reach spot behind the chamber in the upper receiver area, and you're gonna need a narrow little screwdriver to clear a dud because the extractor can't yank a stuck round if the chamber is dirty. Its also not easy to break open unlike the AR style rifles or the SIG 522.
My firing pin also broke from the constant dry firing. The good news is that getting a replacement from the factory was a breeze and they do respond to emails fairly quickly. I just wished that they had a better website because their accessory page is quite sparse. Frustratingly sparse. Calling them on the phone is real hard too.
Another big plus is its a lot lighter than all the other popular rifles that I mentioned. Its easy to get weighted down with scopes, mounts, grips, and other accessories. With its 4 pounds to start with, you have much more flexibility than others.
I can also use Chiappa MFour magazines, the gray CMMG mags, and the whole line of BDM mags. I'm sure there are a few more AR conversion type mags that I could use with the Kel-Tec. That's a huge plus. My brother owns a SIG 522 and we can swap mags, thats cool. His drawback is that the Mfour mags don't work with him.
So yeah I can say that I have grown into being a proud owner of the Kel-Tec SU22. Grab one if you could. You won't regret it. It shoots reliably, its got a threaded muzzle, its design makes it suitable to all sorts of tasks, and its ready to play straight out of the box.
Posted by: TZH | 02 September 2015 at 06:43 AM