KelTec is the Mad Genius of the firearms world, creating a range of innovative and unique gun designs like my folding 9mm Sub-2000 carbine. At last year’s SHOT, they showed me a prototype of a Carbine Kit for their P50 5.7 pistol. Perhaps for regulatory or other reasons, they chose not to release that kit. Instead developed a fully assembled R50 rifle variant of the P50 pistol.
For all intents and purposes this appears identical to the Carbine Kit conversion of the P50 they showed me last year. Its obvious they planned to create one from the start because all P50s come with a cut-out in the lower hand guard for their folding stock. Due to recent DOJ policy changes regarding pistol braces, some features and variants will no longer be available for this rifle.
The KelTec website states they expect a Q3 product release. I would take that with a grain of salt considering they had planned to release the Carbine Kit last year. Regardless, us oppressed captives of the State of California may never see the P50 until KelTec releases a non-folding CA complaint model.
