Kel-Tec RFB 7.62mm bullpup rifle
Kel-Tec displayed their new RFB 7.62×51mm (.308) bullpup rifle at SHOT Show. SMGLee took some great photos.
With suppressor, nice!
Wikipedia has this to say about the rifle:
The Kel-Tec RFB High Efficiency Rifle (Rifle, Forward-ejection, Bullpup) is a gas-operated semi-automatic rifle with a tilting breechblock locking mechanism, manufactured by Kel-Tec Industries of Florida. It loads the 7.62×51mm NATO (.308 Winchester) cartridge and uses metric FAL magazines. The rifle uses a patented forward-ejection system via a tube placed over the barrel that ejects the spent case forwards, over the handguard of the rifle.
The rifle is a forward ejecting semi-automatic firearm chambered in 7.62 mm NATO (.308 Winchester), utilizing a short-stroke gas piston. To avoid the sloppy trigger pull typical of bullpup style firearms, the RFB utilizes a floating linkage bar between the sear and the hammer, allowing the sear to remain above the trigger. The weapon is fully ambidextrous, much in the style of the French FAMAS bullpup assault rifle. The RFB accepts FN FAL style magazines, and is delivered without iron sights. A mil-spec Picatinny rail is standard.
Here is a video of the rifle, clearly showing the forward ejection.
Kel-Tec plans to offer three different four versions each with a different barrel length:
- Carbine (18″),
- Sporter (24″),
- Target (32″ heavy barrel, or 26″ stainless steel barrel)
The rifle is expected this quarter (1st quarter 2008) in the forth quarter, see the comments by dogon1013.
More images after the jump.
Click to enlarge the images.
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I heard they were going to retail these for a couple of grand.
Might as well get an AR for that.
James
Sorry,
But the official word is that the release is being pushed back to 4th quarter this year. (from 2008 SHOT show info).
dogon1013on, thanks for the info, I have updated the article. Thats a pity
Yeah, that’s too bad about the delay. I totally want one of these critters!
BTW, 7.62×51. The x53 was the Belgian/Argentine equivalent. I’m a retired military weapons instructor, in case you want my credentials. Not slamming you, just want to catch you before you look bad. Just trying to help.
Thank scmblake6! That was a typo. I wrote most of that post late at night
Please feel free to correct my mistakes.
Hi James, thanks for the info. Even if it is pricey, it is very cool!
the forward ejection system looks like it could jam if the gun used burst or auto, and the recoil looks high. i mean, thats never going to be fielded methinks
Yes, I also wondered about that forward ejection.
I shot a lot of weapons in the military and would choose maybe a handful to take into a hot situation. Thats the point of having an “assault” rifle right? I own several and they’re either an Ak style or AR style because they are simple to use, always work, and are comfortable. I would really need to fire it myself. It seemed like those guys in the video were having trouble keeping it steady. Now if it were 5.56 id take a closer look. Also, does anyone think that the casings might fall in front of the barrel during operation?
I don’t know. They could easily direct the brass to fly out at a slight angle.
The forward eject MAY have some uses/benefits, but other than making the rifle ambidextrous I can’t see it. Firing level or downhill, fine. Uphill or clearing stairwells, etc, can you say potential for jamming is just too high?
Great, unsafe behavior propagated on the net. How nice.
If anyone knows who those guys are tell them to keep their finger off the **** trigger when their sights are not on the target. No, hovering slightly off the trigger is not ‘off the trigger’. Completely out of the trigger guard and pressed against something else is ‘off the trigger’.
For everyone else, before you start posting movies of yourself shooting guns on the net please learn how to shoot safely.
After you fire the last round in your mag and the bolt-hold-open device holds your bolt open, THERE IS STILL AN EMPTY ROUND SUSPENDED IN THE RECEIVER!
It somehow seems untidy engineering.
I just think forward ejection is not the final answer to th bullpup ejection problem Downward ejection is the answer, as in the FN P90.
Of course the problem with downward ejection is you need the mag on top. And it sticks up right beside your face. FN solved the problem in the P90 by stacking the rounds horizontally and rotating them during feeding. Calico arms solved the problem with a helical (spiral) feed.
Maybe the P90 solution could extended to bigger rounds, but you would need a perfectly cylindrical body on the case same as the 5.7 X 28.
I wonder if a straight Bren-gun-type mag sticking up in the air on a bullpup might be acceptable, if it were positioned a bit further back. This would require a design with a very short bolt, even a telescoping bolt.
Maybe the Robinson Arms M96 top-feed could be adapted.
dan, the rule has always been finger on the triger only when pointed in a safe direction. the gun is always pointed downrange in the video and when angled slightly up for reloading the finger was clearly off the triger and the bolt was locked back.
quit being overly critical of peoples gun handeling. at no point in this video was anything unsafe done. i agree that guns should be handled very carefully, but being a nazi is unnecessary.
Mmmm, methinks this gun has potential. There seem to quite a few design issues though none of which can’t be solved. Personally i’d prefer a assault rifle to have less recoil, there has to be some way to use spent casing work against muzzle climb. this gun would make hell of a cool bull pup sniper style rifle. “THE GAMER GUN NUT”
Hmmmmmm….. Santa I’d like this for Xmas! The pros of a lightweight bullpup, firing 7.62 NATO in a package the size of a M-4 is great. I’ve been considering buying a FN Fs-2000 rifle for a while now. It however is in 5.56mm and goes for $2000. If kel Tec can sell this for a bit less they have a winner.
Well, I’ve watched the video a number of times. Gun SEEMS to work just fine. If I had the money, I’d probably get one. I’d still like to see a bottom ejection, but that would be difficult. It’s been tested, it obviously works, but I’ve just got this nagging whisper in the back of my head about working upwards for clearing stairwells and such. Can’t help it.
On my gun wish list. Check out the feature article in Special Weapons August September 2008 issue.
Just wish the stupid thing didn’t cost so flaming much. I’d absolutely LOVE to have one, but my bank account precludes that.
i don’t know about that forward ejection, i am assuming this rifle is intended for military applications, and something like that looks like a jam waiting to happen. i would imagine that any bump on the tube or debris would block the rounds, backing up the whole system and causing a long delay, since you wouldn’t know you had a jam for about 3 rounds, and then you would jam and have to deal with 3 stuck casings in the ejection tube.
If you will help I have a ? for you. Does Kel-Tec mannufacture a RFB model in .223? If so, please send details.
“i would imagine that any bump on the tube or debris would block the rounds, backing up the whole system and causing a long delay, since you wouldn’t know you had a jam for about 3 rounds, and then you would jam and have to deal with 3 stuck casings in the ejection tube.”
Well, any debris large enough to cause that kind of problem is probably going to screw with any weapon. There is a small ramp (spring loaded) in the tube that prevents spent brass from falling back into the ejection area of the receiver.
The main threat will come from crappy brass that blows up and gets stuck in the chamber. Shoot cheap ammo at your own risk.
I’ve seen video of the gun with the action/ejection area cut away in operation. If anything, the rifle is less prone to some types of ejection problems (such as stove piping) than a standard ejector that grabs the rim and flings the brass. The brass is pushed forward at the same time that a fresh round is chambered. If you have several casings in the tube and fire straight up it should work fine. As for brass being flung in front of the barrel, that won’t happen either unless you were shooting down, conceivably, but that is a risk with any other rifle, too. Sure the p90 is neat-o, but you don’t want to dip that thing in the mud and pray that its going to work. That is almost a Rube Goldberg solution and I wouldn’t want to carry it in the field.
also, this is a .308. That’s not typically a caliber you want to fire full auto or auto burst…