KelTec KSG observations and brief initial range report

SCGeorge · March 9, 2025, 08:43 PM

I recently purchased a KSG. Wanted one since they came out but initial availability issues plus I wanted to wait while bugs were worked out meant I was going to wait. And, for a while, prices were crazy.

Mine is the standard 12 gauge KSG version. This is the standard length, dual tube, 12 to 14 round capacity version. There are NFA versions, a KSG25 version that holds a full box of shells, and also very popular, a KS7 version that is single tube and has a carry handle as a standard sight. There are also some .410 versions but I’m a 12 gauge man.

I have a good amount of experience with the Remington 870, Maverick88/Mossberg500/590, the Winchester 1300, and also some Benelli Supernova experience. This is my first bull pup of any kind and first bottom ejecting shotgun

Configuration

Sights- this version has a 1913 Picatinny rail to mount AR style sights and optics. This requires at minimum AR height sights, and a mount that puts a red dot sight at 1/3 lower co-witness is the right move. If you add a cheek pad, you will need risers. And a riser rail in general may make it more comfortable especially with ear pro. Currently I have a cheap AR front sight (junk) that somehow made it to my parts bin and a cut down AR carry handle as a rear sight. I will be replacing these with a set of Daniel Defense A1 style fixed BUIS. Many like the Magpul folding BUIS on these as well.

Optics- I intend to add a red dot sight once I agonize through the decision making progress to choose one.

Forend- I added a Magpul vertical grip at the front of the forend rail. This provides improved racking force and also acts as a safety device to prevent your hand from going in front of the muzzle.

Note- do not use junk parts for this. At least one injury from a breaking air soft grade junk (I think ATI?) vertical grip has occurred. A hand sliding in front of a load of buckshot or a slug going down the tube will not be just a flesh wound, you simply won’t have a hand. Some like a hand stop, I did not when I tried it on my gun. Grip tape on the forend is also an option you can employ.

Operation

Loading the KSG- you have to select the tube for loading and use using the selector lever. Effectively the lever is a magazine cutoff for the tube you do not want to use or load. Loading is a little slower than a standard tube shotgun and is not as easy by feel. Crimped shell length determines ultimate capacity- 6 or 7 rounds per tube for 2 3/4” shells. 3” shells, which I don’t have a ton of should be 6 per tube. The slowed down loading is balanced by the double capacity.

The KelTec does have a very neat feature of witness slots in the magazine tube so you can observe your ammo state. I have not encountered any other design that has such.

Being a bottom ejecting shotgun getting a good view of the chamber isn’t the easiest thing. Don’t forget your muzzle direction when loading and chamber checking. KelTec provides a neat chamber flag. It’s the trade off for ambidextrous use.

I had no problem with ejecting shells burning me or hitting me. Some people do and add a shell deflector. I suspect this is mainly a smaller frame person issue.

Racking- the slide release location is excellent. Many designs suck at this, with the Mossberg being the best of the traditional designs

It is widely noted that you cannot be gentle with this gun. It needs to be racked with authority or it will not dispense a shell from the magazine onto the lifter arms. I do not know if this was intentional, an unavoidable design feature, or needing breaking in but I have frequently heard it is very common to require forceful racking to run this gun. Not a problem for me, I’ve always since learning to shoot at a young age run the pump with authority. I have noticed in my shooting experience people seem to be very timid with running pump shotguns. My shooting partner for today shortstroked the gun due to this issue today several times.

Safety- I don’t know why they missed a perfect opportunity to have an AR safety. It’s a cross bolt safety, a large, square bar. Marked S for safe if pushed to the left, F for fire if it’s pushed to the right. Note- it is OPPOSITE of the common crossbolt safety as used for the 870, 10/22, Win 1300, and similar common firearms. I have heard it is a hammer block safety, but that might be hearsay. Would be nice if it is truly a drop safe long gun when the safety is engaged.

Range Time

Today I shot at an indoor range. This range requires slug and buck due to birdshot not having the energy to make it to the backstop. They said sometimes small shot and BBs bounce around the shooting bay so that’s why they require higher energy and heavier projectiles. Being this was the first time I have shot a shotgun at this range, I was unaware of that rule until I arrived. I had only about 12 slugs for zeroing and 20 rounds of buckshot for pattern checking, and I was thus unable to use my 100 rounds of birdshot for working out the gun. I’ll make my next range trip to an outdoor facility to be able to shoot a large amount

The KSGs have a reputation for having pretty good accuracy, I can vouch for that. Based on todays performance this is going to be a great shooter with slugs and keeping buck patterns tight. I have heard these may be a little tighter than a typical cylinder bore, some say it’s almost a modified choke. Great slug accuracy on the short 25 yard range, shot pattern is pretty good so far. I’m eager for some serious time on the pattern board at 50-100 yards but I can tell you this thing blows big holes and tight patterns at closer ranges.

So to sum it up, it’s got its quirks but it’s a really fun shotgun. 14 rounds in a 26” long gun is wild.

Once I prove it and get very comfortable with the manual of arms plus improve the sighting arrangement with better sights and an optic it will be a primary defensive gun, right along my 870 and AR carbine.

BourbonCowboy · March 10, 2025, 02:55 PM

When you discover the fun of minishells, you'll really enjoy it. I love taking it -along with my Mossberg Shockwave - out for a hundred round session.

Dfariswheel · March 10, 2025, 08:18 PM

The KSG is a version of the John Browning Ithaca Model 37 action.

Feed occurs in the last 1/2 inch of movement of the forearm to the rear, and reset happens in the last 1/2 inch movement forward.
Nothing happens in between.
The gun doesn't not have to be operated with great force as long as you pull it ALL the way back and push ALL the way forward.

With use, or a fluff and buff, operation gets much smoother .
I put up a fluff article on the KS7 on the Kel-Tec forum, and the key areas for smoothing are much the same as the KSG......

https://www.thektog.org/threads/fluf...replies-header

One special area of the KSG is to cut a "U" shaped notch in the lower-rear of the plastic forearm where it contacts the slide release.
For some reason the forearm contacts the release and pushes it downward slightly.
This serves no purpose and only adds some resistents to operation that can contribute to short stroking.
It's possible Kel-Tec has corrected this on late guns.

The KSG and KS7 cross bolt safety blocks only the trigger and sear.
The firing pin is fitted with a spring so it's reasonably drop safe.

I strongly recommend not disassembling the trigger group....It doesn't come apart like most guns, and it's disassembled with the left side down on the bench, not the normal right side. Getting it back together is an absolute bear even for a professional.

If you feel the need to disassemble the trigger unit, view the video on the M-Carbo site on installing their upgrade trigger.
Truth be told, the Kel-Tec trigger is the best ever used in a bullpup and you won't get a lot of improvement for the squeeze.

Many people install a longer magazine selector switch, but this may not be a good addition.
The longer switch is easy to get caught or bumped and broken off.
It's held by a tiny Allen screw and if broken there's no practical way to extract it, short of a trip back to the factory.

The Kel-Tec's may or may not handle mini shells reliably.
Many do, some are iffy, and some just won't.
The only way to know is to shoot enough to satisfy yourself it's good to go... or not.

Gaining access to the magazine tubes requires a special tool and warming of the mag caps to melt the Loctite used to secure them.
WARM not smoking hot....

https://www.mcarbo.com/KSG-Follower-Nut-Tool.aspx

To insure the caps don't unscrew once reassembled, use a little Loctite Blue on the threads.
The tubes can be serviced by pushing the followers up the tube and inserting a pin under the follower through one of the witness slots to hold it up.
Use a shotgun rod to clean it out.

Note that the Kel-Tec guns are parkerized inside the magazine tubes and inside the barrel.
The rough parkerized finish can cause failures to extract, especially with budget shells.
Polishing the chamber and bore can usually eliminate this.

SCGeorge · March 11, 2025, 07:18 AM

I am extremely happy with the trigger

I will check out the forearm and slide release contact

I did notice the parkerizing inside the barrel. It was a ███ moment when I couldn’t get the barrel clean during my initial field strip, clean, and lubricate but a quick Google search set my mind at ease.

I have had no feeding problems myself.

I was planning to put about a thousand rounds through it to wring any teething issues before doing any work (if necessary) for smoothing out. I will be checking function with cheap promo loads next of different brands. Remington Slugger high brass slugs and PMC buckshot which had a weird medium brass functioned fine for me the other day

Besides sighting the only upgrade I wanted to do was aluminum followers, and now I know there is Loctite so I’ll get my big heat gun from work for that task.

I really enjoyed shooting it so I’m definitely excited for my next trip.

Screwball · March 11, 2025, 08:56 AM

I picked a KSG up when Trump was elected the first time… kept it for about a year and sold it.

It is a nice design. I’m very partial to the Ithaca design, which actually is sitting next to my bed right now. Don’t think I had a failure related to function.

My issue is that the design is too different than traditional shotguns, and at that point, we still had shotguns at work that made it a familiarity issue. I could get around the bullpup design. But the tube selector was the biggest issue. I originally tried it as one round type in one side, another in the second. Too confusing, and easy to flip the wrong tube and send buckshot when I wanted a slug (would never do less lethal in one and lethal in the other; separate guns for that).

Once I got over that (same round in both the tubes), I had the tubes loaded with the chamber empty. Pulled the gun out of the case, cycled the action, aim… click. Did it again… click. The case bumped the tube selector into the middle, which disabled both tubes. While it was something I could easily fix, that was the moment I decided to drop it. Don’t want a gun holding 10+ rounds, cycle it and cannot get a round in the chamber. Nor do I want to find that out the moment I need the gun to shoot.

Now, the KS7 fixes that… but doesn’t really give me something greater than the 14” 870 that I currently have a decade behind the platform (goes in my truck to some of the outports I work at). The KSG, do I really need 14 rounds of shotgun ammo in a self defense gun? I’m usually the “more is better” type of guy, but with size/weight, I just don’t see it as a step in the right direction. Bottom eject shotguns… I don’t put in the fast ammo swap group. Feel a traditional pump (870, 500/590) works better in that regard. My Ithaca just has 00 loaded and in the carrier. My 870 has a slug option in each card. Switching the KSG to center prior to ejection would make it easier, just like pushing the shell into the magazine tube past the detent would keep it from being ejected onto the lifter in my Ithaca… but still has all that extra headache. For me, self defense guns should be instinctive… whether by design or by training.

That being said, good luck with it. If I were to only have one shotgun, with no chance of ever using a different design… it would be a good option. Unfortunately, that doesn’t fit my situation. I like KelTec’s take on a lot of different designs. Still have a SUB-2000 as a bag gun (takes my duty gun’s magazines)… just rarely use it after getting a 10.5” AR9 with the Vanquish suppressor.

If they make a Gen 2 that it automatically switches from one tube to the other upon running empty, I’d probably buy one to try out again. If it made it a little harder to shut off both tubes… even more likely.

SCGeorge · March 11, 2025, 05:36 PM

By the way the forend, or more accurately the picatinny rail on the forend contacts the slide release and moves it down. It’s ramped to force it down as well. I’m not taking a dremel to a new $900 shotgun so I’m just going to live with it by running the slide with enthusiasm, per the normal.

Dfariswheel · March 11, 2025, 07:56 PM

I never saw a need to replace the stock Kel-Tec white plastic followers.
The factory work perfectly and I've never heard of anyone having a problem with them.
This seems to be mostly a desire to personalize the gun with expensive after market parts.

Some people have caused problems by installing after market followers and having problems with sticking or catching in the tube.
One person bought followers with a large hole and had trouble with mini shells catching on the hole during loading.

I don't think I've ever encountered a factory shotgun follower causing problems other then old steel types rusting, and a old 870 Police gun where the thin factory follower just disintegrated from age.

Bullpup shotguns have a lot going for them.
I can move around the home and open doors while holding the KS7 with one hand, up and ready to fire at least the first shot.
Even a body builder can't hold a standard shotgun up very long with one hand.

Unlike the Shockwave type guns you get a full 18 1/2 inch barrel in a gun that's actually shorter then the Shockwave, and with a usable buttstock for better control.

For an actual inside the home defense shotgun the bullpups may be well be the default with the Kel-Tec's being the leaders for cost-quality.

Screwball · March 11, 2025, 09:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dfariswheel

I don't think I've ever encountered a factory shotgun follower causing problems other then old steel types rusting, and a old 870 Police gun where the thin factory follower just disintegrated from age.

I’ve had pre-bankruptcy Remington polymer followers freeze in the tube opening, to the point I had to force rounds in to load. Was during a qualification. All my shotguns either get steel or high visibility followers… never had it or another issue happen with those followers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dfariswheel

Bullpup shotguns have a lot going for them.
I can move around the home and open doors while holding the KS7 with one hand, up and ready to fire at least the first shot.
Even a body builder can't hold a standard shotgun up very long with one hand.

While that seems like a benefit, I don’t see it as something that useful. Yes, you can sometimes be in awkward positions… but one handing a shotgun usually doesn’t result in hits on target. I have done it in training, and minus bracing it against a fixed position… it is difficult to make hits. Prime and old example… look at 1986 Miami and that only one out of five one handed shotgun patterns hit one of the suspects (in the feet).

I am definitely not a body builder. In decent shape and have zero issues physically. I have one handed a 14” 870 on occasion, cuffing the subject by myself without incident. Now, I’m not going to hold the shotgun up, one handed, for an hour (why would you)… but if you need to accomplish a task, it can be done.

Dfariswheel · March 12, 2025, 08:17 PM

Making hits with a bullpup held in one hand is not an issue at absolute point blank range, as in answering the door at 3:00am and someone tries to push in.

As for holding a shotgun with one hand being difficult, I was referring to a standard gun with an 18 inch or longer barrel.

March 9, 2025, 08:43 PM	#1
SCGeorge Junior Member Join Date: February 28, 2025 Posts: 3	KelTec KSG observations and brief initial range report I recently purchased a KSG. Wanted one since they came out but initial availability issues plus I wanted to wait while bugs were worked out meant I was going to wait. And, for a while, prices were crazy. Mine is the standard 12 gauge KSG version. This is the standard length, dual tube, 12 to 14 round capacity version. There are NFA versions, a KSG25 version that holds a full box of shells, and also very popular, a KS7 version that is single tube and has a carry handle as a standard sight. There are also some .410 versions but I’m a 12 gauge man. I have a good amount of experience with the Remington 870, Maverick88/Mossberg500/590, the Winchester 1300, and also some Benelli Supernova experience. This is my first bull pup of any kind and first bottom ejecting shotgun Configuration Sights- this version has a 1913 Picatinny rail to mount AR style sights and optics. This requires at minimum AR height sights, and a mount that puts a red dot sight at 1/3 lower co-witness is the right move. If you add a cheek pad, you will need risers. And a riser rail in general may make it more comfortable especially with ear pro. Currently I have a cheap AR front sight (junk) that somehow made it to my parts bin and a cut down AR carry handle as a rear sight. I will be replacing these with a set of Daniel Defense A1 style fixed BUIS. Many like the Magpul folding BUIS on these as well. Optics- I intend to add a red dot sight once I agonize through the decision making progress to choose one. Forend- I added a Magpul vertical grip at the front of the forend rail. This provides improved racking force and also acts as a safety device to prevent your hand from going in front of the muzzle. Note- do not use junk parts for this. At least one injury from a breaking air soft grade junk (I think ATI?) vertical grip has occurred. A hand sliding in front of a load of buckshot or a slug going down the tube will not be just a flesh wound, you simply won’t have a hand. Some like a hand stop, I did not when I tried it on my gun. Grip tape on the forend is also an option you can employ. Operation Loading the KSG- you have to select the tube for loading and use using the selector lever. Effectively the lever is a magazine cutoff for the tube you do not want to use or load. Loading is a little slower than a standard tube shotgun and is not as easy by feel. Crimped shell length determines ultimate capacity- 6 or 7 rounds per tube for 2 3/4” shells. 3” shells, which I don’t have a ton of should be 6 per tube. The slowed down loading is balanced by the double capacity. The KelTec does have a very neat feature of witness slots in the magazine tube so you can observe your ammo state. I have not encountered any other design that has such. Being a bottom ejecting shotgun getting a good view of the chamber isn’t the easiest thing. Don’t forget your muzzle direction when loading and chamber checking. KelTec provides a neat chamber flag. It’s the trade off for ambidextrous use. I had no problem with ejecting shells burning me or hitting me. Some people do and add a shell deflector. I suspect this is mainly a smaller frame person issue. Racking- the slide release location is excellent. Many designs suck at this, with the Mossberg being the best of the traditional designs It is widely noted that you cannot be gentle with this gun. It needs to be racked with authority or it will not dispense a shell from the magazine onto the lifter arms. I do not know if this was intentional, an unavoidable design feature, or needing breaking in but I have frequently heard it is very common to require forceful racking to run this gun. Not a problem for me, I’ve always since learning to shoot at a young age run the pump with authority. I have noticed in my shooting experience people seem to be very timid with running pump shotguns. My shooting partner for today shortstroked the gun due to this issue today several times. Safety- I don’t know why they missed a perfect opportunity to have an AR safety. It’s a cross bolt safety, a large, square bar. Marked S for safe if pushed to the left, F for fire if it’s pushed to the right. Note- it is OPPOSITE of the common crossbolt safety as used for the 870, 10/22, Win 1300, and similar common firearms. I have heard it is a hammer block safety, but that might be hearsay. Would be nice if it is truly a drop safe long gun when the safety is engaged. Range Time Today I shot at an indoor range. This range requires slug and buck due to birdshot not having the energy to make it to the backstop. They said sometimes small shot and BBs bounce around the shooting bay so that’s why they require higher energy and heavier projectiles. Being this was the first time I have shot a shotgun at this range, I was unaware of that rule until I arrived. I had only about 12 slugs for zeroing and 20 rounds of buckshot for pattern checking, and I was thus unable to use my 100 rounds of birdshot for working out the gun. I’ll make my next range trip to an outdoor facility to be able to shoot a large amount The KSGs have a reputation for having pretty good accuracy, I can vouch for that. Based on todays performance this is going to be a great shooter with slugs and keeping buck patterns tight. I have heard these may be a little tighter than a typical cylinder bore, some say it’s almost a modified choke. Great slug accuracy on the short 25 yard range, shot pattern is pretty good so far. I’m eager for some serious time on the pattern board at 50-100 yards but I can tell you this thing blows big holes and tight patterns at closer ranges. So to sum it up, it’s got its quirks but it’s a really fun shotgun. 14 rounds in a 26” long gun is wild. Once I prove it and get very comfortable with the manual of arms plus improve the sighting arrangement with better sights and an optic it will be a primary defensive gun, right along my 870 and AR carbine.

March 10, 2025, 02:55 PM	#2
BourbonCowboy Senior Member Join Date: April 7, 2019 Posts: 143	When you discover the fun of minishells, you'll really enjoy it. I love taking it -along with my Mossberg Shockwave - out for a hundred round session.

March 10, 2025, 08:18 PM	#3
Dfariswheel Senior Member Join Date: May 4, 2001 Posts: 7,555	The KSG is a version of the John Browning Ithaca Model 37 action. Feed occurs in the last 1/2 inch of movement of the forearm to the rear, and reset happens in the last 1/2 inch movement forward. Nothing happens in between. The gun doesn't not have to be operated with great force as long as you pull it ALL the way back and push ALL the way forward. With use, or a fluff and buff, operation gets much smoother . I put up a fluff article on the KS7 on the Kel-Tec forum, and the key areas for smoothing are much the same as the KSG...... https://www.thektog.org/threads/fluf...replies-header One special area of the KSG is to cut a "U" shaped notch in the lower-rear of the plastic forearm where it contacts the slide release. For some reason the forearm contacts the release and pushes it downward slightly. This serves no purpose and only adds some resistents to operation that can contribute to short stroking. It's possible Kel-Tec has corrected this on late guns. The KSG and KS7 cross bolt safety blocks only the trigger and sear. The firing pin is fitted with a spring so it's reasonably drop safe. I strongly recommend not disassembling the trigger group....It doesn't come apart like most guns, and it's disassembled with the left side down on the bench, not the normal right side. Getting it back together is an absolute bear even for a professional. If you feel the need to disassemble the trigger unit, view the video on the M-Carbo site on installing their upgrade trigger. Truth be told, the Kel-Tec trigger is the best ever used in a bullpup and you won't get a lot of improvement for the squeeze. Many people install a longer magazine selector switch, but this may not be a good addition. The longer switch is easy to get caught or bumped and broken off. It's held by a tiny Allen screw and if broken there's no practical way to extract it, short of a trip back to the factory. The Kel-Tec's may or may not handle mini shells reliably. Many do, some are iffy, and some just won't. The only way to know is to shoot enough to satisfy yourself it's good to go... or not. Gaining access to the magazine tubes requires a special tool and warming of the mag caps to melt the Loctite used to secure them. WARM not smoking hot.... https://www.mcarbo.com/KSG-Follower-Nut-Tool.aspx To insure the caps don't unscrew once reassembled, use a little Loctite Blue on the threads. The tubes can be serviced by pushing the followers up the tube and inserting a pin under the follower through one of the witness slots to hold it up. Use a shotgun rod to clean it out. Note that the Kel-Tec guns are parkerized inside the magazine tubes and inside the barrel. The rough parkerized finish can cause failures to extract, especially with budget shells. Polishing the chamber and bore can usually eliminate this.

March 11, 2025, 07:18 AM	#4
SCGeorge Junior Member Join Date: February 28, 2025 Posts: 3	I am extremely happy with the trigger I will check out the forearm and slide release contact I did notice the parkerizing inside the barrel. It was a ███ moment when I couldn’t get the barrel clean during my initial field strip, clean, and lubricate but a quick Google search set my mind at ease. I have had no feeding problems myself. I was planning to put about a thousand rounds through it to wring any teething issues before doing any work (if necessary) for smoothing out. I will be checking function with cheap promo loads next of different brands. Remington Slugger high brass slugs and PMC buckshot which had a weird medium brass functioned fine for me the other day Besides sighting the only upgrade I wanted to do was aluminum followers, and now I know there is Loctite so I’ll get my big heat gun from work for that task. I really enjoyed shooting it so I’m definitely excited for my next trip.

March 11, 2025, 08:56 AM	#5
Screwball Senior Member Join Date: May 16, 2012 Location: ME Posts: 824	I picked a KSG up when Trump was elected the first time… kept it for about a year and sold it. It is a nice design. I’m very partial to the Ithaca design, which actually is sitting next to my bed right now. Don’t think I had a failure related to function. My issue is that the design is too different than traditional shotguns, and at that point, we still had shotguns at work that made it a familiarity issue. I could get around the bullpup design. But the tube selector was the biggest issue. I originally tried it as one round type in one side, another in the second. Too confusing, and easy to flip the wrong tube and send buckshot when I wanted a slug (would never do less lethal in one and lethal in the other; separate guns for that). Once I got over that (same round in both the tubes), I had the tubes loaded with the chamber empty. Pulled the gun out of the case, cycled the action, aim… click. Did it again… click. The case bumped the tube selector into the middle, which disabled both tubes. While it was something I could easily fix, that was the moment I decided to drop it. Don’t want a gun holding 10+ rounds, cycle it and cannot get a round in the chamber. Nor do I want to find that out the moment I need the gun to shoot. Now, the KS7 fixes that… but doesn’t really give me something greater than the 14” 870 that I currently have a decade behind the platform (goes in my truck to some of the outports I work at). The KSG, do I really need 14 rounds of shotgun ammo in a self defense gun? I’m usually the “more is better” type of guy, but with size/weight, I just don’t see it as a step in the right direction. Bottom eject shotguns… I don’t put in the fast ammo swap group. Feel a traditional pump (870, 500/590) works better in that regard. My Ithaca just has 00 loaded and in the carrier. My 870 has a slug option in each card. Switching the KSG to center prior to ejection would make it easier, just like pushing the shell into the magazine tube past the detent would keep it from being ejected onto the lifter in my Ithaca… but still has all that extra headache. For me, self defense guns should be instinctive… whether by design or by training. That being said, good luck with it. If I were to only have one shotgun, with no chance of ever using a different design… it would be a good option. Unfortunately, that doesn’t fit my situation. I like KelTec’s take on a lot of different designs. Still have a SUB-2000 as a bag gun (takes my duty gun’s magazines)… just rarely use it after getting a 10.5” AR9 with the Vanquish suppressor. If they make a Gen 2 that it automatically switches from one tube to the other upon running empty, I’d probably buy one to try out again. If it made it a little harder to shut off both tubes… even more likely.

March 11, 2025, 05:36 PM	#6
SCGeorge Junior Member Join Date: February 28, 2025 Posts: 3	By the way the forend, or more accurately the picatinny rail on the forend contacts the slide release and moves it down. It’s ramped to force it down as well. I’m not taking a dremel to a new $900 shotgun so I’m just going to live with it by running the slide with enthusiasm, per the normal.

March 11, 2025, 07:56 PM	#7
Dfariswheel Senior Member Join Date: May 4, 2001 Posts: 7,555	I never saw a need to replace the stock Kel-Tec white plastic followers. The factory work perfectly and I've never heard of anyone having a problem with them. This seems to be mostly a desire to personalize the gun with expensive after market parts. Some people have caused problems by installing after market followers and having problems with sticking or catching in the tube. One person bought followers with a large hole and had trouble with mini shells catching on the hole during loading. I don't think I've ever encountered a factory shotgun follower causing problems other then old steel types rusting, and a old 870 Police gun where the thin factory follower just disintegrated from age. Bullpup shotguns have a lot going for them. I can move around the home and open doors while holding the KS7 with one hand, up and ready to fire at least the first shot. Even a body builder can't hold a standard shotgun up very long with one hand. Unlike the Shockwave type guns you get a full 18 1/2 inch barrel in a gun that's actually shorter then the Shockwave, and with a usable buttstock for better control. For an actual inside the home defense shotgun the bullpups may be well be the default with the Kel-Tec's being the leaders for cost-quality.

March 12, 2025, 08:17 PM	#9
Dfariswheel Senior Member Join Date: May 4, 2001 Posts: 7,555	Making hits with a bullpup held in one hand is not an issue at absolute point blank range, as in answering the door at 3:00am and someone tries to push in. As for holding a shotgun with one hand being difficult, I was referring to a standard gun with an 18 inch or longer barrel.