I am not a bullpup guy, but I have always been bullpup curious. What keeps me away from the bullpup platform is the price of the rifles. However, the KelTec RDB offers an affordable, American-made option.
I recently got my hands on the RDB-S from KelTec and have been running it and myself ragged around the range.
Like most bullpups, it looks like it belongs in a science fiction movie. However, the RDB-S has a unique profile that makes it look even more like it belongs in the next sci-fi movie to grace the silver screen.
Beneath the futuristic exterior lies a rifle designed for specific purposes, with both advantages and drawbacks that set it apart. Let us take a closer look at what makes this gun tick, starting with its focus on survival.
Putting the S in Survival
RDB stands for Rifle, Downward Ejecting, Bullpup. The S in RDB-S denotes survival. The goal is to deliver an ultra-lightweight, streamlined carbine that is easy to pack and stow. The primary modification for the survival model is eliminating a distinct pistol grip.
This creates a slim profile, especially when paired with the 10-round magazine. The RDB-S model weighs just 5 pounds and 14 ounces. Its overall length is 26.1 inches, making it shorter than a Mossberg Shockwave, but retaining a 16-inch barrel.
The RDB-S can be easily attached to a pack, or even inside one. We can easily store the gun in a vehicle, a boat, or a bush plane. The slim, lightweight design, paired with a .223/5.56 cartridge and semi-automatic action, creates a very capable survival rifle.
Survival firearms are typically take-down designs. Guns like the Savage Model 42 that folds in half, the Henry AR-7, or the ultra-lightweight, folding Little Badger. The aim is to create a lightweight, compact firearm that is easy to store.
Most come in fairly small calibers, like the various rimfire cartridges, or maybe .410. Most are single-shot, though there are exceptions.
The RDB-S is giving you centerfire capability in a semi-auto, magazine-fed design that is still fairly lightweight and compact. Compared to guns like the Chiappa Little Badger and Henry AR-7, the RDB-S is a couple of pounds heavier but offers the benefit of using a capable rifle cartridge.
The RDB-S Layout
The KelTec RDB-S has to be the most ambidextrous bullpup rifle on the market. Bullpups are notoriously unfriendly to left-handed shooters. That is not the case with the RDB series as a whole.
The gun uses a bottom-ejection design that throws the shells directly downward into the dirt. The magazine release and bolt release are both ambidextrous and mirrored on each side. The charging handle can be positioned on the left or right-hand side, but it is not truly ambidextrous.
The safety is a push-button cross bolt design that works well. The gun does a fantastic job of accommodating lefties and allowing them to experience the joy of bullpups. The controls are all quite large and easy to find and engage. The charging handle is huge but naturally folds when not in use. This keeps the profile slim and simple.
Interestingly enough, the RDB-S has a length-of-pull adjustment. It only has two positions, but it is rare to see one on a bullpup. The gun comes with a simple polymer forend that is easily removable and replaceable.
KelTec produces an M-LOK handguard, and so do other aftermarket companies. The handguard is held on by a removable pin, making it easy to remove and replace. It is a bit rickety and moves back and forth, so do not expect it to hold zero with an IR laser.
At the bottom, we have sling loops that are fine, nothing special. I would love some QD slots.
Inside the RDB-S
The RDB-S uses what KelTec calls a short-stroke gas piston, but the whole setup looks a little long to qualify as short-stroke. It is not quite a long stroke either. Either way, it is a piston-driven design.
The gun has a highly adjustable gas system. It can be tuned to reduce recoil while ensuring reliability. You can open the gas piston up when the weapon is dirty, or tune it down to limit backpressure when using a suppressor.
The gun breaks down easily. Remove three pins, and it splits into three different sections. It is fairly easy to take apart and clean. KelTec keeps big bolts in business, and there are seemingly endless bolts holding everything together.
My example came with a 10-round Magpul P-MAG, but you can use any AR magazine with the rifle.
The rifle comes with adjustable flip-down iron sights and a short rail for mounting optics and accessories. Your accessory space is extremely limited, but on a survival rifle, it might not matter. You might not even want an optic, so the profile stays small, and the design remains as light as possible.
There is no muzzle device, and the sight attaches at the end of the barrel. It can be removed to reveal a threaded portion of the barrel for attaching accessories. Sadly, you lose the front sight to attach muzzle devices.
Shooting the RDB-S
I followed the manual and began to tune the gas system. The gas piston is easy to adjust, and every position has a distinct audible and tactile click. I tuned it to run with some Ammunition Depot .223 and later tuned it for M855.
Making micro adjustments allows you to maximize reliability while reducing recoil. Bullpups do seem to have more recoil than standard rifles. Having the action right against your shoulder, with less room for recoil to dissipate, tends to do that, plus the gun weighs a mere 5 pounds and 14 ounces.
Is this recoil a big deal with .223 or 5.56? No. It is noticeable, but it is not exactly punishing. It is comfortable to shoot with a little muzzle rise. Putting less length out front tends to do that.
Still, the short, light rifle seems to have more muzzle rise than a standard 16-inch AR.
Reloads are a bit clumsy, like all bullpups. It took me a few tries to get anywhere near competent. The large, ambidextrous controls help, but reaching into your armpit is never easy.
The Bullpup Trigger
Bullpup triggers suck; that is the general rule. The RDB-S trigger does not suck, but it is not fantastic. For a bullpup, it is quite nice, really, but it is nowhere near as crisp as a good AR trigger. It is a bit of a long-but-light trigger pull that seems to just keep going until the rifle finally fires.
Which leads us to accuracy. How does the gun perform? It is a bit tough to say. I cannot quite bench the rifle the way I would like to because of its design. I do not have a good rest position to stabilize it.
In the best stable position I could assume, I created a 3-inch group at 100 yards. I feel confident saying it is a 2 to 2.5 MOA gun with bare-bones .223 loads, and would likely clean up nicely with better ammo and a more stable position.
The gun is certainly accurate enough to hit a deer, hog, or rabbit in a survival situation at most ranges you would use .223/5.56.
Hot, Hot, Hot
This gun gets hot. Real hot, real fast. There are two noticeable hot spots that you will feel when gripping the rifle. With the odd design, I find my thumb sitting right behind the optic rail. This portion of the metal gets hot fairly quickly. After about 60 rounds fired, my thumb had to find a new place to rest.
Additionally, a front push-pin gets quite hot. Its placement coincides with where your trigger finger rests when not firing, increasing the risk of burns during safe handling. It is annoying at the range, but in a survival scenario, you are not likely to fire more than a few shots at a time.
Additionally, I wore the Taculus chest rig on day one, and I found the hot brass ejecting downward and landing between my body and the chest rig, giving me a good bit of sting. It happened so often that I removed the chest rig to keep shooting.
Does it Run?
Mostly, yes. Of course, while I played with the gas system, I had some failures to cycle, but I will not count that against the gun. I did have three total malfunctions in 500 rounds.
I had two double feeds, which were fixed by removing the magazines and racking the action.
The third malfunction was an entire cartridge getting stuck above the chamber and pinned between the chamber and the rest of the gun. I could not fix this at the range, so I had to head home and take the gun apart to free the cartridge. This major malfunction would be a serious problem in a survival situation because there is no quick fix.
Going Survival Mode
The RDB-S is a neat gun. I tend to collect the eclectic, and this might be the most eclectic bullpup out there. The RDB-S provides a lightweight, ultra-compact rifle that is slim and trim.
It can certainly be a survival rifle, and honestly, it offers one of the most capable on the market thanks to its semi-automatic, centerfire design. The gun has a fair bit of quirks; it is definitely not the best choice as a main rifle if the Russians invade or the zombies come.
I enjoy shooting the RDB-S, but it will not be one I take to a 500-round course. It might get a little hot for that. KelTec has produced a reliable, lefty-friendly, ultra-light bullpup platform that is surprisingly affordable. That is a tough combination to master, but KelTec figured it out.
