When configured to shoot the same cartridge and accept the same magazines as your everyday carry pistol, the SUB-2000 provides a lot of more accurate, higher velocity and longer-range firepower when the need arises. With typical 9mm defensive cartridges, you can expect 150 to 200 f.p.s. extra velocity out of the SUB-2000’s 16-inch barrel compared to a 4-inch pistol barrel. That increase in velocity is somewhat greater with typical .40 S&W defensive ammunition.
Other features include polymer furniture, aperture rear sight, hooded adjustable fiber-optic front sight, no-tools disassembly, push-type manual safety disconnects the trigger bar and locks the hammer and sear and bolt hold-open lock built into the operating handle.
During testing we used a Glock 17 magazine and shot for accuracy from a bench at 50 yards with the open sights. Reliability was nearly 100%, with a couple of short strokes and failures to fully eject with one particularly light 115-gr. load. Our best 5-shot group, which printed 2.67 inches, was fired with Black Hills 124-gr JHP. The sights were tough to use for precision work, so groups ranged all the way up to 5+ inches.
SU-16C
If a longer-range folding rifle with significantly greater lethality is more appropriate to your needs, consider the 5.56 NATO chambered Kel-Tec SU-16. Offered in four models—designated A, B, C and CA, and priced from $665 to $770—the only real differences among them are their barrel lengths (18-inch or 16-inch), the types of sights they offer, and the configuration of their folding buttstocks. Otherwise, all four models are identical.
