Keltech Sub CQB First Look

The tax stamp finally came in for my Keltec Sub CQB. That’s their integrally suppressed folding 9mm pistol caliber carbine. In this video, I take it out to the range and try it out.

Videos:

What’s a CQB?

The Keltec Sub 2000 CQB is an integrally suppressed folding 9mm carbine. Mine uses Glock 17 mags.

Differences from the Sub2000:

  • Only 4.25 inches of rifled barrel.
  • Integrally suppressed.
  • Total barrel + suppressor length of 16.2 inches so it’s not an SBR.
  • The barrel rotates when folding so it can fold with an optic mounted.

Chronograph

Compared against a Sig P365XL with a 3.7 inch barrel.

  • Sig P365XL w/ Federal 115gn: 1156, 1154, 1108; avg = 1139
  • Keltec CQB w/ Federal 115gn: 1007, 1137, 1077; avg = 1074
  • Sig P365XL w/ Federal 147gn: 957, 943, 941; avg = 947
  • Keltec CQB w/ Federal 147gn: 861, 868, 908; avg = 879

Interesting results:

  • Subsonic ammo is subsonic.
  • The CQB gives lower velocities even with a slightly longer barrel.

Accuracy

One of the few videos up on this gun was by this video by GunSpot back in November. They reported poor accuracy, specifically they got an 8 inch group shooting prone from 30 yards.

I wanted to see if I got similar accuracy results, so I shot several groups from 30 yards. The results were inconsistent, but I got a couple of clean 4 inch groups. I then had no trouble hitting a 12 inch plate at around 50 yards. I’d need to do some more testing to draw any strong conclusions about accuracy.

Rewatching the GunSpot video, they did another group which was a bit smaller. Maybe there’s some trick that we’re both missing.

Final Thoughts

This is an amusing gun, nice and quiet with subsonic ammo. It seems to be direct blowback, which loses some velocity and makes it pretty dirty especially with the suppressor.

This is the first Keltec I’ve played with. The general opinion online seems to be that they make neat range toys with questionable build quality. My experience with this gun has been consistent with that.

Another amusing fact is that my serial number is less than 50.