Many years ago, when I first became a gun owner and gunwriter, it occurred to me that having something near me that was easy to carry around and yet offered me a little more “oomph” than the pistol I used for concealed carry would be a good idea. Ideally, it should use the same ammunition my concealed-carry arm used and, if possible, the same magazines.
Looking at the choices available at the time, my options for that kind of gun turned out to be the KelTec Sub2000 … and that was about it. Things change, and with the sunsetting of the Federal 1994 Assault Weapons Ban and the introduction of Pistol Caliber Carbine (PCC) divisions in the various practical shooting sports, suddenly PCCs were one of the hottest tickets in town.
What didn’t change was what set the KelTec Sub2000 apart from the rest of the field. It was light, easy to shoot and quite easy to take with you—because it folded in half for easy and discreet transport. However, the top of the handguard of the original Sub2000 nestled up against the stock when folded, which made it nigh-impossible to mount an optic on the gun. A Gen2 version followed, with better iron sights and M-Lok slots to mount lights and lasers on your Sub2000, but the fact remained that adding a red dot or other optic to your gun still required a dash of makeshift gunsmithing.
The latest version, Gen3 of the Sub2000, solves this by adding a new twist, as in literally adding in a twist in order to fold the gun in half for storage. The process of folding the Gen3 Sub2000 begins the same way as other models. You push the trigger guard forward and the action unlatches at the bolt face. You then twist the barrel and fore-end assembly 90 degrees and snap it shut. The barrel and handguard are held in place by a latch that engages into an M-Lok slot at the end of the handguard by the muzzle. In a clever little design hack, the charging handle butts against the rear of that button when the bolt is locked back, preventing it from being released. This means that the gun must be stored with the bolt forward. Then, to get the Sub2000 Gen3 into action, you depress that same button, bring the barrel/fore-end forward, rotate it, snap it into place and then charge the gun. Any optic you’ve mounted will stick up somewhat awkwardly when folded, so be sure to store your gun carefully if you want to retain zero.
The barrel and fore-end don’t merely fold; they can be rotated 90 degrees so the Picatinny top rail (and any mounted optic) point to the side, and the barrel and fore-end lie flat • Folded, the carbine’s breech is exposed, facilitating cleaning and maintenance.
The gun ships with two Magpul 15-round 9 mm Glock magazines, and just about any 9 mm Glock magazine of that size or larger can be shoved into the magazine well in the grip, though larger ones will protrude.
The Sub2000 Gen3 retains the threaded barrel of the Gen2 version. However, there are no iron sights included, meaning you’ll need to add them to the Picatinny rail on the handguard if they’re needed, either as your primary sights or for backups to your optic. The charging handle is ambidextrous, and while the cross-bolt safety and magazine release are technically not ambidextrous, both were nonetheless easy to operate when shooting left-handed.
The Sub2000 Gen3, like all other Sub2000s before it, is blowback operated. Not roller-delayed, not tilting-barrel delayed—straight blowback operated. What this means is the mainspring needs to be strong enough to hold the bolt closed as the bullet makes its way down the 16.15-inch barrel. As a result, “easy-cocking” are not the words I’d use to describe this gun, although you can readily perform that task with the gun braced against your shoulder. The trigger has a lot of slack, a fair amount of take-up and a hard-to-discern wall, with a long reset. That’s the bad news. The good news is, it broke at around 3.5 pounds on my Lyman trigger gauge, something that is rare indeed on a long gun for less than $1,000.
The question many people have with the KelTec Sub2000—and indeed with pistol-caliber carbines in general—is, why bother? Why not go with an AR-pattern, large-format pistol that’s chambered in a rifle caliber, rather than a long gun that uses a less-powerful, less-capable pistol round?
The bolt handle points down and can be locked back in a recess to the right or left. Retracting the bolt is best accomplished by placing the butt against your body or thigh • Direct mounting of a suppressor is possible due to the threaded muzzle, which comes with a thread protector • Lever down the hinged trigger guard to unlock the fore-end from the frame to fold the carbine • Two Glock-compatible magazines are included. Suffice to say, they are a proven and ubiquitous design.
Answers vary on this one, but for me, I see the Sub2000 Gen3 and similar guns as a home-defense gun for when I’m away from home. I’m not a fan of “truck guns” or something similar, where a gun is left unattended in a vehicle for days on end. If I store a firearm in my vehicle, it’s locked away someplace that would require a car thief to use much more effort than usual to access.
For me, a pistol-caliber carbine gives me a defensive option that is more than my concealed-carry pistol, but less than a long gun. I don’t live in the great outdoors: 50 yards would be an extremely long-range shot for my environment, and so the ability of an AR-15 to reach out to 300 yards and beyond is wasted. The Sub2000 Gen3 uses Glock magazines, and while I don’t carry a Glock at this point in time, I do carry a 9 mm pistol. This means that I can carry one type of ammunition for both my immediate-reaction gun (my concealed-carry pistol) and a more capable alternative. In addition to all of this, the Sub2000 is a particularly attractive choice because, when folded, it fits neatly into a backpack, large laptop bag or just about any medium-size bag you can think of. As a result, you can carry the gun around without looking like you’re carrying a gun case, a useful feature indeed when you’re traveling with a firearm and don’t want to broadcast to others that you have a gun with you.
To see how effective the Sub2000 Gen3 was at distances beyond what my concealed-carry pistol can do, I added a Gideon Optics Mediator red-dot sight on the gun. The carbine handled the am- munition I put into it from my “leftover 9 mm ammunition from other gun tests” bin with no troubles. What bullet weights, manufacturer and/or bullet types were in that bin, I couldn’t tell you, but the Sub2000 ran all 250 rounds in addition to the formal-testing protocol. The light trigger pull helped with accuracy, and while there was more recoil than there would be with a heavier gun or a gun that used a delayed-action blowback system, rapid-fire A-zone hits were no problem out to 50 yards with this PCC, and making 100-yard silhouette hits was a breeze compared with trying the same shot with my pistol. Also, felt recoil was significantly less compared to something like a rifle-caliber, large-format pistol. Finally, the Sub2000 Gen3 held zero despite repeated folding and unfolding.
In the burgeoning market for pistol-caliber carbines, it’s nice to see a small but well-established manufacturer still running with the pack. If you can imagine a situation in your life that might require something generating more muzzle energy than your concealed-carry pistol, but you don’t want to walk around with a gun case over your shoulder, the Sub2000 Gen3 might be just what you’re looking for.
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