My relationship with Kelbly's is one of the longest that I have with anyone in this industry. A few years back, when I was just starting to write optics reviews and really didn't have much of an idea what I was doing, or much of a readership, Kelbly's nevertheless agreed to have me come up and do a review of their 1-10x. They gave me a tour of the facilities and as much range time as I wanted to get to know the 1-10x. In the end, I was a good deal more impressed with their facilities than with the 1-10x March scope. It had a reticle I didn't care for and a very, very, small eye box. Despite the less than stellar review, the Kelbly's folks have always treated me well and in these intervening years I have kept in touch and attended the yearly giant benchrest Super Shoot that they hold in the spring.
At the time of my first scope review, Kelbly's was making mostly benchrest rifles with some hunting rifles here and there, but not really much in the way of tactical rifles though Ian expressed interest at getting into this market. It is not that Kelbly's couldn't make tactical rifles. They can build virtually any kind of rifle that you desire. They just didn't make a true tactical stock and weren't well known in the tactical shooting community. They still aren't, but that is about to change because Kelbly offers a number of advantages that you would be hard pressed to find anywhere else.
The first thing to note about Kelbly's is that they did not show up on the scene yesterday. They have been making fully custom benchrest rifles for more than 30 years. They grew up with the sport. During the 40 years that they have run the Super Shoot, it has progressed from people running close to stock Remington 700's in .223 to completely hand built guns in 6mm ppc. Kelbly's capabilities have progressed along with the sport.
At this point, Kelbly completely manufactures Stocks, Actions, Triggers, Rings, and Rails. That is greater vertical integration than virtually any other custom manufacturer. When they say that they can build your whole gun, they do not mean that they can assemble it. They mean that they can build it, and they will do so to benchrest accuracy standards. Even their low end guns feature not just a custom barrel, but also a custom action and trigger, and they are fully glass bedded, not dropped in a stock. This article is not about their $2,300 hunting rifle though, it is about their new KTS stocked tactical line.
I expected to be greeted by the same benchrest and hunting guns this year as last year when I got to the Kelbly booth, but I was overjoyed to instead see a .338 LM in a real tactical stock with adjustable cheek, length of pull, and even a detachable box mag. I was even happier to find out that the stock was theirs. Sure, the stock is red, but for benchrest it would be a very subdued mottled red, almost camouflaged on the line. It could have been much flashier, with that shiny stripper glitter effect that I have seen many rifles sport. Incidentally, in benchrest, as with strippers, you do not actually get to cuddle up with the object of your affection. Rather, you carefully, surreptitiously reach around to operate the trigger without actually holding on to anything. In any case, you do not have to buy your rifle in red, you can get whatever you want: stripper glitter to FDE.
As for the price, this is the real kicker, short actions, such as the .308 and .223 would run $3,500 loaded up and cerakoted. The .338 LM is $5k. Not bad prices for a gun that will shoot those pesky flies off your target stand at 100 yards. This summer I will be going up to Kelbly's to do a hands on review of these new tactical rifles with video from production all the way through load testing. I really expect something special. I have seen the Kelbly rifles at Super Shoot and .5" at 100 yards is not something to aspire to, it is a bad group.
For those wondering about the March 1-8x scope, I will have a report up shortly.
At the time of my first scope review, Kelbly's was making mostly benchrest rifles with some hunting rifles here and there, but not really much in the way of tactical rifles though Ian expressed interest at getting into this market. It is not that Kelbly's couldn't make tactical rifles. They can build virtually any kind of rifle that you desire. They just didn't make a true tactical stock and weren't well known in the tactical shooting community. They still aren't, but that is about to change because Kelbly offers a number of advantages that you would be hard pressed to find anywhere else.
The first thing to note about Kelbly's is that they did not show up on the scene yesterday. They have been making fully custom benchrest rifles for more than 30 years. They grew up with the sport. During the 40 years that they have run the Super Shoot, it has progressed from people running close to stock Remington 700's in .223 to completely hand built guns in 6mm ppc. Kelbly's capabilities have progressed along with the sport.
At this point, Kelbly completely manufactures Stocks, Actions, Triggers, Rings, and Rails. That is greater vertical integration than virtually any other custom manufacturer. When they say that they can build your whole gun, they do not mean that they can assemble it. They mean that they can build it, and they will do so to benchrest accuracy standards. Even their low end guns feature not just a custom barrel, but also a custom action and trigger, and they are fully glass bedded, not dropped in a stock. This article is not about their $2,300 hunting rifle though, it is about their new KTS stocked tactical line.
I expected to be greeted by the same benchrest and hunting guns this year as last year when I got to the Kelbly booth, but I was overjoyed to instead see a .338 LM in a real tactical stock with adjustable cheek, length of pull, and even a detachable box mag. I was even happier to find out that the stock was theirs. Sure, the stock is red, but for benchrest it would be a very subdued mottled red, almost camouflaged on the line. It could have been much flashier, with that shiny stripper glitter effect that I have seen many rifles sport. Incidentally, in benchrest, as with strippers, you do not actually get to cuddle up with the object of your affection. Rather, you carefully, surreptitiously reach around to operate the trigger without actually holding on to anything. In any case, you do not have to buy your rifle in red, you can get whatever you want: stripper glitter to FDE.
As for the price, this is the real kicker, short actions, such as the .308 and .223 would run $3,500 loaded up and cerakoted. The .338 LM is $5k. Not bad prices for a gun that will shoot those pesky flies off your target stand at 100 yards. This summer I will be going up to Kelbly's to do a hands on review of these new tactical rifles with video from production all the way through load testing. I really expect something special. I have seen the Kelbly rifles at Super Shoot and .5" at 100 yards is not something to aspire to, it is a bad group.
For those wondering about the March 1-8x scope, I will have a report up shortly.
