Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Texas governor: Obama turning 'Constitution on its head' with transgender bathroom guidance

Texas governor: Obama turning 'Constitution on its head' with transgender bathroom guidance

Story highlights

  • Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said President Obama is overreaching
  • The White House directed schools to allow transgender students to use bathrooms matching their gender identity
Washington (CNN)Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday that the White House guidance on transgender bathrooms in schools is unconstitutional and the latest example of executive overreach.
"Understand this, there's only one body of the three branches of government that can write the law and that is Congress," Abbott said on Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "We have a president who decided, well, if Congress is not going to pass the law, he's going to impose the law. And so the President is turning the Constitution on its head."
Abbott charged that Obama is making executive decisions because he's in the "waning months" of his presidency.
"He's trying to cram down as many parts of his liberal agenda on the United States of America as he possibly can," Abbott said.
Abbott also said Hillary Clinton is nothing more than an "extension of the Obama agenda, if not worse."
In an earlier interview Monday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Abbott said he will support the Republican nominee for president, who he expects will be Donald Trump.
"We do have a choice, it's not like 'none of the above' is a potential option," he said. "Texans will robustly come out and support a campaign against Hillary Clinton ... Donald Trump is going to win the state of Texas."
Abbott's comments on the transgender bathroom issue come after the White House issued guidance last week directing public schools to allow transgender students to use bathrooms matching how they self-identify their gender. If schools don't follow the guidance, they risk the loss of federal funding.
The White House is in a heated legal standoff with North Carolina over its controversial House Bill 2, part of which has to do with transgender bathroom access.
CNN reached out to the Obama administration for comment on Abbott's remarks Monday. On Friday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest defended the guidance, saying it came after the "extensive requests for guidance and for information and advice that have been put forward by school administrators and teachers."
"It is my strongly held belief -- and I'm pretty sure I'm going to be right about this -- that the vast majority of schools and school districts and school administrators across the country will welcome this guidance and will implement it," Earnest said when asked about Republican opposition to the guidance. "For those that don't, there's an established process for them to raise any concerns that they may have."

Monday, May 16, 2016

AR-15 Maintenance & Care – 13 Things To Keep Your AR Rifle Running

By Tom McHale
This is a list of things I like to check out when I have my AR 15 rifle field stripped for basic AR-15 Maintenance & cleaning.

AR-15 Maintenance
AR-15 Maintenance Care – 13 Things To Keep Your AR Rifle Running
Tom McHale headshot low-res square
Tom McHale
USA –-(Ammoland.com)- Cleaning your AR-type rifle is a great opportunity to run through a quick checklist of preventative maintenance and inspection steps.
Investing a few seconds in some quick checks may just help your rifle from vomiting parts while at the range, which can ruin your fun range day and embarrass you in front of your friends.
If you kick in doors for a living, you (hopefully) already have a personal routine for rifle maintenance – it’s life and death after all.
But if you’re a recreational or competitive shooter, then you can afford to be slightly less rigorous. Contrary to internet myth, the AR platform has become a pretty darn reliable piece of equipment.
One thing to check at every cleaning is the extractor.
One thing to check at every cleaning is the extractor.
Back to the point. I jotted down this list of things I like to check out when I have my rifle field stripped for basic cleaning. Take a look, but don’t get all stressed out about every little detail. Your AR-type rifle is a remarkably resilient platform.
We’ll be using a Smith & Wesson M&P15 OR (Optics Ready) rifle as our model for this exercise. It’s a common gun that’s solid and reliable, with standard parts.

1. AR-15 Takedown Pins

You can check the very first item as you separate the upper and lower halves of your rifle. If everything is fit properly, you should be able to push the takedown pins through with hand pressure or very light tap. If you have to break out a hammer to move your takedown pins, something is wrong – the whole point of the AR design is to be able to use a finger, bullet tip or field-expedient tool, like the Real Avid Ar15 Tool, to field strip the rifle for basic maintenance.
Besides, hammering away on your (most likely) aluminum receiver is usually detrimental to the long-term health of your gun.
The takedown pins should not require excessive force to open. By the way, the safety lever shown here is a Blackhawk! Offset Safety - one of the neatest little AR inventions ever.
The takedown pins should not require excessive force to open. By the way, the safety lever shown here is a Blackhawk! Offset Safety – one of the neatest little AR inventions ever.

2. AR-15 Muzzle Devices

Witt Machine AR15 Tactical Muzzle Brake : http://goo.gl/xsO7ZX
Witt Machine AR15 Tactical Muzzle Brake : http://goo.gl/xsO7ZX
While we’re still on the outside, give your muzzle device (brake, flash hider or silencer) a firm twist in both directions. Is it solid? While rare for a factory mounted device to work loose, it happens.
If you’ve ever removed the factory muzzle device and put your own in place, it’s somewhat more likely.
A half-second check, every cleaning, can prevent a whole lot of embarrassment and worse yet, flying chunks of metal.

3. AR-15 Optic and Mount

Another no brainer is your optic and mount. Check the bases to make sure they’re still tightly affixed to the receiver. Check the scope rings, if applicable to make sure they’re tight to the proper specification. Poor accuracy from a rifle is almost always the result of something silly like a bad scope or scope loose mounts. Sometimes its optic internals and you can narrow that down by ensuring that the externals are solid.
One benefit of investing in a high-end optic like this Aimpoint PRO is that it will stay put. I love this self-torquing mount. Just give it a quick turn once in a while 'til it clicks, and you know it's tight.
One benefit of investing in a high-end optic like this Aimpoint PRO is that it will stay put. I love this self-torquing mount. Just give it a quick turn once in a while ’til it clicks, and you know it’s tight.

4. AR-15 Bolt Carrier Gas Key

When you open the upper receiver, the first thing you do is remove the charging handle and bolt carrier group. Since you’ve got your hand on it anyway, this is a great time to do a quick visual and tactile inspection of your bolt carrier gas key. Look at it to make sure the screws are firmly in place. More importantly, give it a firm twist with your hands. It should be rock solid on the carrier body itself. If it’s not, you’re going to have some malfunctions headed your way as gas is bleeding off before doing it’s thing. The repair procedure is too involved to cover here, just know you’re going to want to take it completely apart, thoroughly clean and degrease everything and firmly remount it and stake the screws in place.
This gas key is rock solid. The screws are properly staked. I also checked for cracks on the carrier body.
This gas key is rock solid. The screws are properly staked. I also checked for cracks on the carrier body.

5. AR-15 Bolt Carrier Body

As you disassemble the bolt from the carrier, check the carrier body itself for cracks. Pay close attention to high-impact areas like the cam pin hole – that takes a beating over time. If you see any cracks in your carrier, it needs to be replaced. No big worries though, for a recreational rifle, this is somewhat unlikely unless your bolt carrier group is made out of Mighty Putty.

6. AR-15 Maintenance – Bolt Lugs

This is also a good time to inspect the lugs on your bolt. Make sure there are no chips or peening signs. Peening is just a fancy word for “smashed” or “dented.” If you see signs of either, it’s time for a new Ar15 bolt.
These bolt lugs are sharp - just the way they should be.
These bolt lugs are sharp – just the way they should be.

7. AR-15 Maintenance – Firing Pin

When you wipe down the firing pin, put on your Mr. Magoo specs and look at the tip. It should be smooth and rounded – no chips or weird dents. Again, if you see either, get a new one. They’re cheap.
Slightly dirty, but this firing pin is in perfect condition.
Slightly dirty, but this firing pin is in perfect condition.

8. AR-15 Maintenance – Extractor and Spring

I like to pop off the extractor and take a quick look since that’s one of the more likely failure points. Check the extractor to make sure it’s whole and has nice sharp edges. Also take a look at the spring and booster. That’s a plastic insert inside the spring. Again, these are all cheap parts, so if anything is missing or looks wonky, replace it.

9.AR-15 Maintenance – Gas Rings, or Not

People get all lathered up about gas rings. If they’re not perfectly “unaligned,” meaning none of the gaps line up, then the moon might crash into Possum Kingdom, South Carolina. And that would be tragic indeed. In reality, If you have more than one gas ring in place, your rifle will most likely still function – gaps aligned or unaligned. If memory serves, AR guru Patrick Sweeney did some tests way back when to test this and found that it just doesn’t matter all that much. Once again, if you’re employed as one of those dudes or dudettes that line up outside Meth labs or clay huts, then you might pay more attention. As to the rest of us? Check them and tweak their orientation, but don’t lose a lot of sleep over the issue.
Oh no! These three gas rings are 'almost' lined up! Run for your lives!!!
Oh no! These three gas rings are ‘almost’ lined up! Run for your lives!!!
In an ideal world, what you should see is three normal looking gas rings, with the gaps unaligned. To test for wear, simply pull the bolt out of the carrier as far as it will go. Stand the bolt and carrier up on a flat surface. If the carrier doesn’t start to slip down, you’re good to go. If it does, your gas rings are worn. Get some new ones.

10. AR-15 Maintenance – Lower Receiver

Moving to the lower receiver, take a peek down into the trigger assembly area. You’ll almost certainly see grime and crud, and that’s OK – you’re about to clean it after all. What you don’t want to see are primers or pieces of primers. If primers are getting blown out of cartridges once in a while, that could be indicating pressure problems with your ammunition, overheating or possibly headspace problems.
AR-15 Maintenance Wow. Pretty clean for one of my rifles, so I had to show this photo. Most importantly, there are no primers or bits thereof in here.
AR-15 Maintenance Wow. Pretty clean for one of my rifles, so I had to show this photo. Most importantly, there are no primers or bits thereof in here.

11. AR-15 Maintenance – Recoil Buffer and Spring

Remove your AR15’s buffer and spring. Check for gunk in the buffer tube and wipe it out as necessary. While you have the parts out, check the buffer itself to make sure it’s smooth and not messed up. Give that spring a wipe too. If you’re a casual or recreational shooter, you can lube up the spring to quiet some of that “sproing” noise during recoil.
Sproing is another fancy word, but fortunately it does not cause harmful things like peening – it just sounds uncool.

12. AR-15 Maintenance – Magazines

You might as well pop the bottom off your magazines and give the interiors a quick inspection and wipe down. If you’re dropping them in the dirt, they will get crud in them. One of the biggest causes of malfunctions is dirty and / or damaged magazines and it’s easy to be proactive about that. If I’m having reliability issues, the magazines are the first thing I’m going to check.

13. AR-15 Maintenance – the Cool & Fun Factor

Last on the list, after you reassemble the upper and lower receivers, take a good look at your rifle as a whole. Is it still awesome? Does it still look ridiculously handy and fun to shoot? Yes? Then you’re good to go!

How about you? How rigorous are you with preventative maintenance? What are the things you look for?


Saturday, May 14, 2016

Texas Republicans to Vote on Seceding From U.S

GOP delegates at Texas’s Republican Party state convention will vote Friday on whether the state should secede from the U.S., after the idea passed a special platform committee on Wednesday.
The motion is not expected to pass the convention, but it’s a major step forward for activists with the Texas Nationalist Movement, who have long been agitating for the Lone Star State to secede from the union. The group reported a 400% increase in membership after the 2012 election, and more than 100,000 people signed a Change.org petition to the White House asking it to allow Texas’s secession.
Jon Carson, director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, responded to the petition by citing the Supreme Court’s 1869 decision in Texas v. White, which ruled “[t]he Constitution, in all its provisions, looks to an indestructible Union composed of indestructible States.”
“As much as we value a healthy debate, we don’t let that debate tear us apart,” Carson wrote.

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Journalist Jailed for Reporting on Bundy Ranch Siege Denied Release: “Danger to Community”

Journalist Jailed for Reporting on Bundy Ranch Siege Denied Release: “Danger to Community”

By:  TIM BROWN
Reporter Pete Santilli had his hearing in Nevada on Monday on trumped up charges he is facing for his reporting on the Bundy Ranch Siege in 2014. As he left the courtroom in chains, he cried out, “I’m a journalist. This is what they do in Communist China!”
The Law Vegas Review Journal reports:
Peter Santilli, a conservative Internet talk show host, lost another bid for freedom Monday while he faces felony charges in the criminal case stemming from the Bunkerville standoff.

Following a hearing, Chief U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro said she did not buy Santilli’s argument that he was a journalist covering the April 12, 2014, armed confrontation between the Bundy family and law enforcement. He hosts the Internet-based “Pete Santilli Show” from Cincinnati on YouTube.
Navarro ordered Santilli to remain behind bars after finding that he is a danger to the community and that he cannot be relied on to make his court appearances.

His lawyer, Chris Rasmussen, argued that Santilli’s free speech rights were being violated and sought the defendant’s release with conditions.

But First Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Myhre countered that the case was not about free speech, but rather about the armed assault of federal agents.
Sadly, Myhre is fantasizing about what he claims. There was no assault on federal agents. In fact, it was federal agents who assaulted protesters at Bundy Ranch. It was federal agents who attempted to corral citizens into “First Amendment Zones” to squelch their rights protected under the First Amendment. It was federal agents who burned property and cattle. It was federal agents who killed cattle that belonged to the Bundys. It was armed federal agents and snipers who surrounded the protesters in Bunkerville.

Monday, May 9, 2016

Prepping 101: Survival Computing on 12 Volts

Prepping 101: Survival Computing on 12 Volts

Resources:
12v – 19v / 5 amps Step Up Converter in Metal Chassis $18.23
Same Thing in 10 amp Model – $16.50
Adjustable Power Supply 80w – $12.50
100 amp/hour Sealed Lead Acid Storage Battery – $169
100 watt Solar Panel – $114
Charge Controller 30 amps – $40
5v/3amp Converter w/2 USB Ports -$3.05
5v/3amp Converter in Video w/2 USB Ports $3.50
5v/5amp Conerter in Metal Chassis $8.99
10 Pack 3a Buck Converters – $22.99
Raspberry Pi Information
The Pi on Ebay
It has been a long time since my last topic on solar power. Not much has changed. A basic solar system is still made up of panels, a charge controller, and storage batteries. It’s not rocket science, and the prices haven’t lowered significantly, except perhaps in storage batteries.
I did, however, find and tested something of late regarding power that I think I should share with you. It is survival computing. Most people think of computers, even laptops, in terms of wall socket, AC power, but they run on DC. That one of two functions of your power adapter, converting AC into DC, which on a laptop then charges your battery, and the laptop runs off of the battery. Desktop computers also run off of DC, and they have an internal power supply that does the same thing as your laptop adapter, but for this article we are going to stick to laptops, and other portable devices.
In general I am not a big fan of power inverters. They are always going to be your point of failure in a solar, wind, hydro, or thermo power solution, and they should be avoided whenever possible. I think you should run as much off of 12 volts as you can, but there are a lot of benefits to having a laptop available, and phones and tablets are priceless if you have kids. None of these will run off of pure 12 volts, so you will need a power inverter. The nice thing is, your batteries are DC and the computers run on DC, so half of the inverter isn’t required (the oscillator, to make the power AC). The other half, the part that changes the voltage, is much simpler as well. Instead of ramping 12 volts up to 120 volts, you only have to message the voltage up to 19 volts in the case of laptops, or cut it down to less than half for all of your 5 volt devices.
I’m also going to cover a $25 low voltage/low amperage computer solution that is currently being used to build perimeter security systems, remote listening posts, and even balloon lifted radio relay antennas, and that also runs on 5 volts. It is pretty cool stuff.
To focus down a bit first, my topic for this week is specifically about what most people call “buck converters,” or “step up/step down transformers.” They are made to lift or drop fairly low voltages to a percentage increase, or decrease. For this article we are looking at converters that will take 12 volts as a source (actually 13.6 or so on a regular deep cycle storage battery or car battery), and convert it to either 19 volts or 5 volts. This is DC to DC, remember.
Even though I am something of an electronics nerd, I haven’t looked into the actually schematics for these things. It appears that they use a coil and control circuits to work some low level voltage magic, and though the boards are full of components, they are cheap cheap. Some units have a variable resister pot to control the output voltage, and some are dedicated to a certain voltage, and come encased in a weatherproof and shockproof chassis.
The most common voltage for laptops is 19 volts and most of the buck converters are built to appeal primarily to that voltage, with enough power to cover the draw of most laptops. My current Lenovo power supplies say 20 volts, but if you open up the case, the actual internal battery is listed as 19.4 volts. For consumption, usually the power supplies will list a wattage rating of 60-100 watts, or they will say 3-5 amps, which at 19-20 volts is 60-100 watts.
When you buy a buck converter, the variable voltage models generally are listed in watts, and the fixed voltage ones are listed in amps. I have focused on the 60-100 watt range for this article, but they are now listed on Ebay for up to 200 watts, and even higher occasionally. For most single laptops this is overkill, but I do have a beast of a Dell that is several years old and that has a 7.7amps@19.5v power supply. That is 150 watts.

Fixed vs. Variable Voltage

When I first purchased these they were much more expensive, so this decision isn’t as important as it once was. The 12v to 19v converter that you see in the video, rated at 5 amps, used to be $40. Now it is $18.23 with free shipping. The 10 amp model is even cheaper than that these days, linked above.
The adjustable supply with the voltage readout is only $12.50 with shipping. To me it is a no brainer to buy one of these as well, because you never know what you might need to charge down the line. The Canon camera that I shot the above video on has an 8.4v power adapter. When the wall socket goes down for good, I may want to document what happens next. You also may want to run a wireless network, charge a remote control car for your kid, or play your guitar through a signal processor and headphones. A lot of things run on odd voltages and come with those odd voltage wall warts. Clip off the wart, dial in your inverter, and start shredding away.

Charging Phones, Tablets, GPS, etc.

The nice thing about all of our nifty devices that clutter up our lives these days is that most of them have long lasting internal batteries, and they all charge on 5 volts. There are dedicated solar charging devices for them, and even thermal ones as I have reviewed in the past, but the problem is, the capacity of those batteries is really small. In solar panel terms it isn’t worth charging the devices directly, because they’ll be fully charged with the sun still shining using a real solar panel, and the gimicky backpacker solar chargers are a complete waste of time. You’ll pay as much for a small 2-3 watt designer solar panel that is rigged for 5v output as you will for a 40-100 watt real 12 volt solar panel, and if I were you I would opt for the real panel and real storage.
The battery you see in the video is a generic sealed lead acid 100 amp/hour model that goes for $169 shipped. If you are careful to not run it down past 50%, it should last years, if not a decade. 50 amp hours (half) equals 680 watt hours at 13.6 volts, (which it won’t hold for the entire life of the charge), but even if you say 500 watt hours, if your laptop is drawing a high amount, like 100 watts (which is most likely double what it really draws), that equals 5 hours. In practice it will be more like 12 hours.
To refill 680 watts, using a 100 watt panel, you should be able to match that in about one day worth of daylight, assuming some direct sun. But even if it takes a couple days, or a few days, or even a week, that much use out of a computer if you are using it as an RTL-SDR receiver, or with your Ham radio, or even just to watch movies, is pretty darn good. A 100 watt solar panel right now is as little as $114 shipped. The 30 amp charge controller you see here in the video is $12-40.
The buck converters for 5 volts are even cheaper. In a waterproof case with two USB ports pre-wired, the whole thing is all of $3.50 shipped. This will charge your phone or tablet just as fast as nearly any wall charger, and the input circuits of those devices generally limit the input to 2 amps at most regardless, so more amps isn’t going to charge you quicker. I have also linked to a 5 amp model meant to be mounted in a car and hard wired to mounted USB ports in the dash. I charged the dead dead Ipad you see in the video from that 100ah battery and it used about 1% of the charge.

The Raspberry Pi

I feel that I would be remiss if I failed to mention the newest revolution in computer technology for this article. It is called the Raspberry Pi, and it is a $25 full featured computer based on the Debian Linux operating system. Right now they are a little more expensive that that because they can’t make them fast enough and they are going for a premium. There is even a $5 Pi now (though I haven’t gotten one or tested it) and I just saw one being bid up on Ebay to over $25.
I call it a revolution, but it is more of a counter-revolution. Because going on 30 years, computing has been the battle of the stupid between the PC and the Mac. Apple is one of the most profitable companies in the world today because they have succeeding in making computer devices that are almost entire idiot-proof.
Well not of us are idiots, and some of us would even prefer to teach our kids to not be idiots. That as the idea behind the Raspberry Pi. Build a cheap, basic computer with enough power to do most stuff for a cheap cheap price, so that kids could use it in a classroom setting as a software and hardware development learning tool.
In a very inexpensive package, the Raspberry Pi was created to break out the things that the hardware of a computer can do into usable chunks, and with each of those chunks you can program everything from lighting simple LEDs, to running a sensor network, to controlling a robot army.
Google around and you’ll see some of the incredible things that people have done with this little $25 computer. In practice it isn’t really $25, because you have to buy a memory card, a wireless dongle, a keyboard, a mouse, a screen, and an HDMI cable. It will run on any TV, so you may be able to save money on the screen to get started.
What makes the Pi unique, (and it isn’t unique these days because there are a few good copies), is that you have access to all of the ports, and what they call GPIO pins, which are control points that you can program. I’m not going to get into the depth of the Pi, but you’ll see that people have used it for all kinds of nifty things that directly pertain to perimeter security, communications, and remote activation of electronic defenses. Based on a “system on a chip” originally designed for TV set top boxes, the Pi isn’t a ton of computing power, but you have complete access to everything that a computer can really do.
There is also a new version of Windows 10 that runs on the Pi, but it is experimental, and traditionally the Pi runs a special version of Debian Linux called Raspbian. For serious tasks you’ll be using the Python computer language, which isn’t that different than Perl, the original language of the web that GunsAmerica, Ebay, Amazon, and all the other first generation automated websites were built from. If you have any programming experience at all, Python should be easy, and when you see how cheap you can get some very serious sensor boards, relay boards, and even Arduino control boards for these days, if you have the time you’ll be digging in I can assure you. These little computers are truly modern wonders of technology.

What Can I Do With This Computing Power?

If you didn’t see my article on RTL-SDR, you should read it now. It is from last year, so there is no accompany video. We take communication and information for granted, but after this whole mess burns down and evolves into chaos, there will be neither. I think the powers that be will try to keep the Fox News et al propaganda machine on as long as possible, but at some point everything is going to go dark, simply because the supply lines of food are going to fail.
An RTL-SDR radio is not unlike the Pi (though the Pi is not powerful enough to run the graphical software, but people do use Pis to transmit raw data from balloon antennas to laptops on the ground). The RTL-SDR took something we consider simple, like turning on a TV, a little more complex, but with that complexity (really not more than installing software and learning something about antennas), that in turn made the technology more flexible. This brought an enormous power to really use the simple technology (in this case it was a laptop TV dongle chip) to give you what could only be achieved by expensive systems before.
You can “watch” huge swaths of radio bandwidth with an RTL-SDR for any audible signals. Think about this in contrast to even an expensive Ham radio, which is limited to certain frequency blocks anyway. On a Ham radio, unless you use it’s computer interface, you can listen to about 3,000 hertz at a time. With an RTL-SDR and a decent laptop you can watch and listen on 2,000,000 hertz. Prior to this, you needed an expensive modern Ham radio, interface cables and more knowhow than it takes to get the RTL-SDR going.
You can also monitor radiation levels while you are sleeping with a laptop and some of the USB Geigers I have covered here, and don’t discount the value of entertainment in a survival situation. A 2 terabyte drive right now is about $60. You can put hundreds of movies on one drive, tens of thousands of books, fiction and nonfiction including encyclopedias and how to books for just about everything.
Tablets and phones, primarily the Android devices, are also valuable for entertainment, and if you have kids, the games will for the most part work off of the network. I have also covered a network free GPS topo map you can buy for Android, and there now both Ham radio and RTL-SDR apps you can get for Android. This is no joke stuff, you just have to learn to use it now, before the collapse.
That is why I suggest you do take some time and download the RTL-SDR software, buy a couple of good antennas, get a good Geiger, and get busy downloading movies. If you have time for the Pi, go for it. There are dozens of uses for sensors and relays in a survival situation. But you have to get going now. You know they say there only two times in your life that it is wise to plant a tree. Thirty years ago and right now.

Kel-Tec RDB Review–America’s 5.56 Bullpup

Kel-Tec RDB Review–America’s 5.56 Bullpup

Read More at Kel-Tec: http://www.keltecweapons.com/our-guns/pistol/rdb
The first Kel-Tec firearm I ever shot was a KSG. The radically redesigned 12 gauge left me impressed. Since then I’ve shot and loved almost every gun Kel-Tec has produced. Just like the KSG shook up the shotgun world, Kel-Tec’s newest offering–the RDB (Rifle, Downward-ejecting Bullpup)–is poised to redefine what a black rifle can be.
The gun is less alien looking that most of the other bullpups on the market.
The gun is less alien looking that most of the other bullpups on the market.

Specifications

  • Caliber 5.56mm NATO
  • Magazines AR Stanag
  • Barrel Length            17.4″
  • Overall Length 27.4″
  • Weight Empty 7 lbs.
  • MSRP $1272.73
Slim, trim, compact.... The RDB is one of the smallest, lightest bullpups available.
Slim, trim, compact…. The RDB is also one of the smallest, lightest bullpups available.
What makes the RDB special? We’ll scatter that out through this review, because it isn’t just one thing–though what’s getting the most attention is in the name itself. The gun ejects empty brass down, out the bottom of the stock, which solves one of the biggest questions bullpup designers have had to face.
The rounds eject from the gap here between the butt and the magazine.
The rounds eject from the gap here between the butt and the magazine.
Consider that many bullpups are just kits. You take a barreled action and slap it in a chassis of some sort that moves the trigger forward and the breech back. Many of the others, the ones built from the ground up, eject out the side–just like most automatic rifles. This means brass is ejecting close to the shooter’s face, and that it limits left handed shooters–as most bullpups shoot that brass directly into the shooter.
Kel-Tec has tackled this dilemma before. The RFB (Rifle, Forward-ejecting, Bullpup) collects brass inside the frame and spits it out the front. I’ve spent some quality time with the RFB. One of the fun things about that gun is shooting, then tipping the gun forward so the empties can spill out. It is the mic-drop equivalent of the gun world. But the design never really caught on, and many had reliability issues with the gun.
Reliability in any gun design is really important. If you get a jam in a bullpup, clearing it can be a bitch. Even if you are a wizard with an AR, getting your fingers up inside a bullpup (especially a hot bullpup) can take you out of the fight. But this downward brass dump seems to run without a hitch.

Ergonomics

The RDB was developed to be fully ambidextrous in every way shape and form. Starting at the back, the RDB has ambidextrous sling mounting points, bolt releases, a centrally located magazine release, 45-degree-throw safeties, a left or right-side interchangeable non-reciprocating charging handle, and even ambidextrous forward sling mounting points.
The mag release is a piece of spring steel that wraps around the mag.
The mag release is a piece of spring steel that wraps around the mag.
The safety, easy to find with the thumb.
The safety, easy to find with the thumb.
This aspect is innovative, and has helped build the buzz around the gun, but there are more subtle features that make it a true contender for those looking for a tactical carbine. The RDB has a slim rubber butt pad that helps to keep traction on your shoulder. Moving up the rifle, the RDB has an integral polymer cheek rest. Most of Kel-Tec’s other other bullpup weapons were missing this feature, so I’d say this is evidence that Kel-Tec has been listening customer feedback. The rest of the RDB’s furniture is polymer and is textured with their Gator Grip pattern. The Gator Grip provides plenty of traction and looks good on the gun.
Best of all, the RDB doesn’t punish the shooter with recoil or muzzle rise and I have to think this is partially due to its caliber and adjustable gas system.
Gator grip.
Gator grip.
The gas tube sits about where it would on a carbine length AR, but this system is adjustable.
The gas tube sits about where it would on a carbine length AR, but this system is adjustable.

Shooting The RDB

Running the RDB isn’t like any other rifle I’ve ever fired. It’s the abundance of ambidextrous controls and the downward ejection of spent cases that will seem unusual at first. I’ve got a lot of trigger time on my Tavor, so I’m used to bullpups, but learning a new set of controls and behaviors always takes time.
Still, from what I’ve seen so far, the RDB is worth the steep learning curve. The ambidextrous controls allow for a lot of flexibility, the long barrel in the short package gives the RDB better ballistic potential than many AR-15s, and it weighs in at just 7 pounds.
The gun ships with one 20 round Gen 3 P-mag and is capable of using just about every AR style magazine on the market. I found that the Gen 3 P-mags ran flawlessly but were sluggish to drop free with the bolt locked back to the rear. These dudes are light when empty, and wider than a typical steel or aluminum AR mag. They can get sticky in most guns, which is why AR shooters have developed that wrist-snap motion to sling them free of the mag well.
I have confirmed that these will drop free: Lancer, USGI, Hexmag, E-Lander, Gen2 P-Mag, and the Fab Defense Ultimag. This is important, as the mag is under your shooting arm and there’s less room to manipulate the gun.
The Primary Arms red dot.
The Primary Arms red dot.
The barrel, with rail attached. This method of mounting the rail gives more stability than you would get from mounting the rail to the polymer parts.
The barrel, with rail attached. This method of mounting the rail gives more stability than you would get from mounting the rail to the polymer parts.
The gun ships naked, leaving sight options up to you. I went with a simple Primary Arms Micro Dot in an effort to keep weight down, but the RDB would be equally well served with a 1-6 scope. There’s ample rail to work with, too, so you could combine any number of options.

Accuracy

Why do most shooters struggle with bullpup accuracy? There can be a number of reasons. Some have sub-standard, or heavy trigger systems. Placing the barrel farther back means a reduction in sight radius for those using irons. And then some of the barrels themselves aren’t free-floated. But non of this matters for a rifle that is incredibly maneuverable, fast to the target, and optimized for close-quarters combat distances. Or at least that’s the list of excuses for poor accuracy.
5 in under an inch. This was shot with a Primary Arms 1-6 from 50 meters.
5 in under an inch. This was shot with a Primary Arms 1-6 from 50 meters.
5 under two inches from 100 meters. Standing.
5 under two inches from 100 meters, from the bench. This group would be much tighter but for the one flier.
So where does the RDB stand?  Unlike some of the other Kel-Tecs I’ve shot, the RDB has a near match-quality trigger. It breaks right at 5 lbs. and has a short take-up with a clean, glass-like break. It simply makes for accurate and consistent shooting.
I was consistently shooting sub 1.5 inch groups at 50 meters and right at 2 inches at 100 meters with a Primary Arms 1-6 scope.
The trigger's return spring is exposed. This is the one obvious point of concern for me, as an exposed spring picks up grit and grime. It also clears it out, too. I had no issues with it.
The polymer trigger has one spring is exposed. This is the one obvious point of concern for me, as an exposed spring picks up grit and grime. It clears it out, too. I had no issues with it, but it is an unusual design choice.

Problems with the gun?

No gun is perfect. In fact, most guns I own and love have quirks about them. The RDB is no exception. In my testing, I found the reliability was solid and the gun worked well from round 1–no awkward break-in period needed. My malfunctions occurred when trying to make mag changes too fast. You have to take things slow at first to get used to working in a space that’s far less accessible than the mag well on an AR. The only true malfunctions happened while I was tuning the gas system, and those are–without question–warranted.
How would the RDB fair in a much longer testing period? I shot 750+ rounds of ZQI SS109 and Wolf Polyformance for this review, so I can’t say for sure. I have no reason to doubt that it won’t keep chugging along.
So what are the points of concern? What I’m seeing has less to do with the gun itself, and more to do with the bullpup philosophy. When a malfunction happens–like a double feed or a failure to extract–you must clear the issue to stay in the fight. If you aren’t practicing these skills, but relying on your gun to work as advertised, than you’re missing an important step.
The AR and AK put the chamber and mag well right in the center of the rifle. When you bring the gun in to your chest, both hands have access to everything that’s important. Strip the mag, rack the bolt (multiple times), jam a finger up in gun if there’s still a problem.
With the bullpup, you give up that convenience and problem solving speed.

America’s bullpup

There’s one other detail worth noting. The AR-15 is the definitive black rifle, at least in this country. In its short barreled format, the rifle is compact enough. Yet most of the guns are still carbine length, or longer. This extra length, many think, is a deterrent to effective maneuverability.
That’s the motive behind the bullpup movement. A short-barreled AR loses some of the 5.56’s punch. So why not leave the full length barrel in place and just scoot the whole action back into the stock? What would you lose? The only answer seems to be–as I mentioned earlier–the problem solving and the ergonomic advantage of reloading.
The best known bullpup here in America isn’t an American gun. The IWI Tavor is the reigning champ. Though the Tavor is compact (in terms of length), it is hardly slim. Part of the Tavor’s diehard reputation has grown from the serious strength of the gun. The AR, by contrast, seem skinny. The AR (and, to a lesser extent, the Tavor) has a proven track record.
The RDB combines the two ideas. The gun is more narrow. The frame, though polymer, doesn’t feel as large in the hand, and the design maintains a visual aesthetic that will be familiar to those who know Kel-Tec. Will it stand up to abuse like a Tavor or the AR? The verdict on that is still out.
But the RDB does have an American pedigree. While Kel-Tec has included a long stroke piston design that is vaguely similar to some Russian designs, it is American–all the way.
The muzzle brake and a ridge of polymer to use as a hand stop.
The muzzle brake and a ridge of polymer to use as a hand stop.

Price and Availability

The RDB is in production and available now. They are normally available online, but–like all Kel-Tec products–there is a serious demand, so they will normally bring a premium and be somewhat hard to find. My advice is to be patient and check often.
Where will that $1.2K price settle out? After the demand subsides, and the market levels out, I’d guess the gun will sell for closer to the $1,000 mark.
The Kel-Tec RDB is truly a unique firearm that is building quite the reputation for itself. Is it going to replace my go-to fighting rifle? I can say this; it hasn’t missed a range trip yet since I picked it up.
The gun is easy to break down and service.
The gun is easy to break down and service.
The mag release paddle is central on the frame, while the bolt release (the small trapazoidal lever) is on both sides.
The mag release paddle is central on the frame, while the bolt release (the small trapezoidal lever) is on both sides.
The hand-guard.
The hand-guard.
Push the pins through to take it down.
Push the pins through to take it down.
The upper, assembled.
The upper, assembled.
The operating rod contains the recoil spring--the thin plunger sticking out the back end.
The bolt carrier contains the recoil spring–the thin plunger sticking out the back end.
The stock/bolt cover.
The stock/bolt cover.