By J. B. Wood | Contributing Editor
The magazine release lever is centrally located at the front of the magazine housing.
A few years back, Kel-Tec’s first carbine of bullpup design, the .308 RPB, had one unique feature. The fired cases did not eject to the side or downward, they were flicked out toward the front. The model designation letters stand for “Rifle, Forward-ejecting, Bull-pup.” After quite a few rounds over the years, mine still works perfectly.
And now, in the second Kel-Tec bull-pup, the design genius of George Kellgren has resulted in the Model RDB (Rifle, Downward-ejecting, Bull-pup). In .223 chambering, it is simpler, slimmer, and lighter. Those last two words are important, as bull-pups tend to be a bit fat and heavy. The figures for the RDB are 7 pounds and 2.05 inches wide.
The manual safety, on both sides, is at the top of the hand-grip. It is shown here off-safe.
For the other dimensional data, the barrel length is 17.4 inches, and overall length is 27.4 inches. The operation is gas/piston, and the gas is adjustable for perfect operation with any load. The turning bolt has multiple locking lugs that mate with recesses in the barrel extension, a strong system with minimal rotation.
The bolt release pedal (up there by the MRDBW letters) is also on the other side.
The bolt-retraction handle is spring-loaded to lie flat up front. When opened for use, it has a good length for easy operation. The manual safety and bolt release have well-placed levers on both sides, and the magazine release is particularly neat. It’s a vertical lever at the front of the magazine well.
The 20-round magazines are of the best quality, made for Kel-Tec by Magpul. Actually, any standard AR-type magazine will probably work, but you should test others for functioning before serious use. I tried out a nice aluminum-body 30-rounder from Brownell’s, and it worked without any problems.
The “downward” ejection port is at the extreme rear, and internally, it is metal-lined, so the cases won’t “eat” the polymer sides. The port location did result in one amusing incident: During the test-firing, the RDB put two ejected cases in an open shirt pocket. They were quite warm. The pocket flap was quickly buttoned.
The Magpul sights that were used spring into the vertical position when the pedal is depressed.
There are standard rails on the top and bottom, and the longer top one is numbered for reference. The lower one will mount a light or laser, and the top one allows ample choices for positioning a red-dot or a scope sight. For my 25-yard test-firing, I installed a set of really neat flip-up open sights by Magpul.
The .223 ammunition used had been on my shelf quite a while— it was an old “blue box” from Black Hills. It worked perfectly. Standing, off-hand, the groups averaged four inches, and they were right in the middle of the 8-inch black of the Champion VisiShot targets.
The bolt retraction lever is spring-loaded to lie flat against the receiver. When pulled out for use, it gives an ample grasping surface.
The handling qualities of the RDB are marvelous, and the trigger is the best I have ever found on a gun of this type. In bull-pup design, the necessarily long linkage often results in a lot of creep. Not on this one. There is practically no take-up, and the clean let-off averaged just below five pounds. After the target stuff, I fired a few rounds from belt level, no sights, at some ground items. Great fun!
If you like bull-pup design, and have lately looked at imports from Israel, Austria, and else/here, you know that their retail prices can run above $2,000. Kel-Tec has set the suggested retail for the RDB at just a hair over $1,270—quite reasonable, for this level of quality and dependability. If there’s anything else you want to know, the web address is keltecweapons.com, and the phone is 800-515-9983.
