Shootgunnery & Giggles

[Rick R]

Today at my local skeet, trap and five stand club one curmudgeon brought his son’s KelTec KS7.

https://www.keltecweapons.com/firearm/shotguns/ks7/

The guys in the club are hardcore clay pigeon shooters with high end over unders, side/side or semi autos who also own a deer rifle and a pistol or two. Any kind of “tactical” gun gets the hairy eyebrow and a “Hrumph!”.

I shot it on skeet station 1 & 2 going 6/8 then later took it to the five stand field and got 60% hits on random targets. One older very good shot went 0/8 and put it down like it was hot, his two adult sons absconded to the end of the field and were heard giggling like school girls shooting it from the shoulder and one handed. One or two other guys tried it with mixed accuracy.

We didn’t have any malfunctions and the controls aren’t half bad. Loading the magazine is a bit kludgy and I managed to tie it up by chamber loading and then putting a shell in the magazine without closing the bolt first. It took a couple minutes to figure out how to un-F that but we managed. Recoil wasn’t bad for a pretty light package.

There is apparently a rail that replaces the carry handle, with a RDS and 7 round magazine full of social buckshot or slugs this might be an interesting truck or travel gun. For a KelTec.

Has anyone else played with one?

[TCinVA]

They show up in classes like VD cases after shore leave.

Bullpup shotguns are generally a terrible idea.

It's a matter of time until they stop working properly...as clients who formerly loved their KSG until they shat the bed in class found out the hard way. Then they come to the next class with an 870 or 1301 and never look back.

[jlw]

I had a student email the week of a shotgun class recently to tell me that his KSG had gone down. I loaned him a 590 so that he could take the class, and another student let him have some time on a 1301.

[Rick R]

They show up in classes like VD cases after shore leave.

Sort of like the moped of shotguns? :cool:

I think the plan was for us to break it in as the son bought it as a house gun but is going thru some medical problems.

The format is kind of cool, seven rounds of buckshot would be good for breaking contact and getting to a real gun.

But then they had to KelTec it up.

Thanks guys.

[LHS]

I can second TC's experience with KelTec shotguns in classes. I've yet to see one that runs well if it runs at all. The first KS7 I saw, for instance, managed to flip a slug vertical in the feedway during cycling, locking the gun up so hard it had to be disassembled to clear it. Then it did it again on the very next round. Just regular old slugs, nothing fancy.

[MandoWookie]

Makes me wonder how hard the S&W version of the KSG is going to crash and burn once they start getting out in the market.

[GearFondler]

Makes me wonder how hard the S&W version of the KSG is going to crash and burn once they start getting out in the market.It doesn't have to work, it just has to sell, and the people who will buy that abomination will either never shoot it or simply make excuses for its failures.

[Borderland]

I'm not sure why anyone would buy anything except a Benelli M4 (if you have the means) or just build an old 870 up with a Carlson 18" barrel.

https://www.brownells.com/shotgun-parts/barrel-parts/barrels/replacement-shotgun-barrels-prod54805.aspx?avad=238737_a28f0fed1&aid=188133&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=Avantlink&utm_content=NA&utm_campaign=188133&cm_mmc=affiliate-_-Itwine-_-Avantlink-_-188133

When you can't buy a 20 rd. mag or a AR anymore, a shotgun looks like a good alternative. Never mind Biden and his two shots and out SD plan. I'm a pistol proponent because that's what I train with and what I like to shoot these days, but for the average home SD firearm a shotgun has some merit.

I know shotguns well and have an opinion on that. I've had a dozen or so and used them to compete. Mostly O/U. Never had any endorsements from Beretta though because i'm not an Olympic level shooter. ;) Duck Commander and Benelli was marketing genius. Benelli is a hammer. USMC approved.

[GearFondler]

I'm not sure why anyone would buy anything except a Benelli M4 (if you have the means) or just build an old 870 up with a Carlson 18" barrel.


Because 1301T.

[Spartan1980]

I have a bunch of rifles of all flavors and persuasions. My HD long gun is a Browning Auto-5 with an Nordic mag extension and a chopped barrel.

[TCinVA]

people who will buy that abomination will either never shoot it or simply make excuses for its failures.

You have no idea how true that is.

When they find out that any sort of emergency loading of the gun is slow, complicated, and stupid because of the design, they immediately mention the magazine capacity as a means to not ever have to do that in defense. When they've repeatedly gotten a click instead of a bang because they failed to swap mag tubes during a string of fire, they immediately say it's a training issue they can correct. When the thing starts cycling like it's running in molasses because it's not built to have the level of force we're using to mitigate recoil and run the gun effectively put into it and shit has bent or broken, causing the gun to stop cycling or causing them to short-cycle the action and not feed a round, they claim they just need to pay more attention to how they're running the action. When the tube selector gets stuck in the middle position where it doesn't feed anything, they immediately say they can just knock it back to one of the tubes and keep going. When they fail to account for offset because these ridiculous contraptions introduce AR-15 levels of offset to worry about at any realistic distance these things will be used, they immediately say it's a training issue that can be worked through.

Keep in mind that when they're saying this, they're usually saying it looking at me as I'm standing there with a timer in my hand that's still going after they've failed to successfully complete an exercise.

I've watched someone go through the seven stages of grief with these stupid things throughout a class more than once.