Kel-Tec
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Kel-Tec CNC Industries Inc. | |
 |
|
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1991 |
| Headquarters | Cocoa, Florida |
| Key people | George Kelgren, Owner & Chief Engineer |
| Industry | Firearms |
| Website | www.kel-tec.com |
Kel-Tec CNC Industries Inc. is a United States manufacturer of firearms. Founded in 1991 and based in Cocoa, Florida, the company has manufactured firearms since 1995, starting with semi-automatic pistols and expanding to rifles. Kel-Tec is a privately-owned Florida corporation. George Kelgren is an owner, and is the Chief Engineer. He is the innovative Swedish designer who also designed many earlier Husqvarna (in Sweden), Swedish Interdynamics AB (in Sweden), Intratec, and Grendel brand firearms.
Weapons currently (and formerly) manufactured by Kel-Tec include the 9 mm P11 pistol; the 32 ACP P-32 pistol; the .380 ACP P3AT pistol; the .40 S&W Kel-Tec P-40 (now discontinued but highly collected due to its design pushing the limits of power for its size and weight)); the Kel-Tec Sub-9 (now discontinued) and the SUB 2000, both semiautomatic pistol caliber carbines that fold for storage. In addition, the company offers a family of 5.56mm caliber rifles known as the SU-16 series. Newly-introduced in November 2005 is the Kel-Tec PLR-16, an unusual Long Range pistol design based in large part on key design elements copied from the earlier SU-16 rifle design.
Scheduled for availability in October 2006 is the PF-9 flat 9 mm pistol, a single column magazine semi-automatic pistol, based in large part on the earlier P11 and P3AT designs. It is claimed to be the flattest and lightest 9 mm pistol ever mass-produced; it was announced on February 9, 2006.
According to the company's website, Kel-Tec is one of the top ten handgun makers in the U.S.
[edit] Trivia
George Kelgren's name has figured prominently in the names of two firearms manufacturers. His initials have figured prominently for naming two well-known weapons.
- The second syllable of his last name was the basis for Grendel firearms. Likewise, Kel-Tec is a combination of the last part of Intratec tacked onto to the first syllable of George Kelgren's last name. It also pays homage to the TEC-9 pistol made by Intratec and designed by George Kelgren.
- In recognition of George Kelgren's design work, the original open bolt design TEC-9 was named model KG-9. The re-designed closed-bolt model was designated KG-99 and marketed at first as the TEC-9 and later the TEC-DC9. The significance is that the "KG" in both names, KG-9 and KG-99, simply represents George Kelgren's initials, in reverse order.
- The Kel-Tec Model P3AT, when spelled out phonetically and quickly as P, 3, A, T is meant to indicate a Pistol in three-eighty caliber.
- Some users of more expensive and larger caliber firearms by other manufacturers have dubbed weapons sold by Kel-Tec as being 'Kel-Tyke' weapons, due to the small size and composite construction of significant parts of each of Kel-Tec's designs. Some of this belief is undoubtedly due to the low cost of the weapons. Nonetheless, users of Kel-Tec firearms are uniformly consistent in lauding the quality and timeliness of warranty service if it ever is required, as original buyers have a lifetime factory-repair warranty on all firearms.
[edit] See also
- Kel-Tec P11 (9 mm Parabellum) Pistol
- Kel-Tec P-32 (32 ACP, 7.65 mm Browning) Pistol
- Kel-Tec P3AT (.380 ACP, 9mm Browning short, 9x17mm, 9mm Kurtz) Pistol
- Kel-Tec SUB-2000 (9 mm Parabellum, .40 S&W) Pistol Cartridge Carbine Rifle
- Kel-Tec SU-16 (5.56mm) Series of rifles and carbines
- Kel-Tec PLR-16 (5.56mm) Pistol, Long Range
