__NOTOC__ The KelTec RDB (Rifle, Downward-ejection, Bullpup) is a

bullpup A bullpup firearm is one with its firing grip located in front of the Chamber (firearms), breech of the weapon, instead of behind it. This creates a weapon with a shorter overall length for a given barrel length, and one that is often lighter, ...

carbine offered in

5.56×45mm NATO The 5.56×45mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 5.56 NATO, commonly pronounced "five-five-six") is a rimless bottlenecked centerfire intermediate cartridge family developed in the late 1970s in Belgium by FN Herstal. It consists of the SS109, ...

semi-automatic rifle A semi-automatic rifle is a type of rifle that fires a single round each time the Trigger (firearms), trigger is pulled while automatically loading the next Cartridge (firearms), cartridge. These rifles were developed Pre-World War II, and w ...

, manufactured by KelTec Industries of

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. It uses a rotary bolt with a spring-loaded ejector and an extractor facing down, ejecting spent shell casings downward, allowing easy

ambidextrous Ambidexterity is the ability to use both the right and left hand equally well. When referring to objects, the term indicates that the object is equally suitable for right-handed and left-handed people. When referring to humans, it indicates that ...

use.

Design

The RDB was designed to be modular, and is broken down into four Assembly Groups, held together with HK style pushpins: * The Barrel Assembly Group, made up of the barrel assembly, optic rail, handguard, gas system and charging handle; * The Receiver Assembly Group, primarily the serialized steel receiver, butt pad, recoil buffer and heat shield / cheek rest; * The Bolt Assembly Group, consisting of the bolt carrier, guide rod, recoil spring and bolt assembly and; * The Grip Assembly Group, containing the fire controls, trigger and hammer mechanism, magazine well and ejection port. The RDB operates using the short-stroke piston system, firing from a

closed bolt A semi or full-automatic firearm which is said to fire from a closed bolt or closed breech is one where, when ready to fire, a round is in the chamber and the bolt and working parts are forward ''in battery''. When the trigger is pulled, the ...

. A gas regulator is built into the Barrel Assembly Group to allow the operator to adjust the amount of gas used to cycle the action. The RDB uses a unique downward ejection method to permit the operator to fire the rifle from either side. During the extraction and ejection cycle, spent casings are dragged rearward over the magazine to the ejection chute located directly behind. The RDB bolt uses dual ejectors to assist in positive ejection, and has been demonstrated to operate normally even if the rifle is turned upside-down. While other bullpup rifles ( FN 2000, KelTec RFB, Desert Tech MDR) have used forward-ejection to allow ambidextrous use, these solutions tend to add parts and complexity to the design. Other bullpups can be converted to eject from one side to the other (

IWI Tavor The IWI Tavor, previously designated as the Tavor TAR-21 (Tavor Assault Rifle – 21st century), is an Israeli bullpup assault rifle chambered in 5.56×45mm NATO, designed and produced by Israel Weapon Industries (IWI). It is part of the Tavor ...

Steyr AUG The Steyr AUG () is an Austrian bullpup assault rifle chambered for the 5.56×45mm NATO intermediate cartridge, designed in the 1960s by Steyr-Daimler-Puch, and now manufactured by Steyr Arms GmbH & Co KG. The AUG was adopted by the Austri ...

) but may not be able to do so without special parts.

Variants

* RDB-17 - The standard RDB model for US market, chambered in 5.56 NATO with a 17.2” barrel with a 1/7 twist. * RDB-20 - Identical to the RDB-17, but with a 20" barrel. * RDB-C - Similar in operation to the RDB-17, the C model uses a 'hunter' style grip and a modified handguard. * RDB Survival - Similar to the RDB-C, the Survival model shares the 'hunter' grip paired with a lighter 16" barrel and comes with folding iron sights. All variants accept AR-15

STANAG magazine A STANAG magazine or NATO magazine is a type of detachable firearm magazine proposed by NATO in October 1980. Shortly after NATO's acceptance of the 5.56×45mm NATO rifle cartridge, Draft Standardization Agreement ( STANAG) 4179 was proposed i ...

s. They feature an ambidextrous bolt release and a manually locked back charging handle.

M43

The KelTec M43 is a similar design replacing polymer parts with

parkerized Phosphate conversion coating is a chemical treatment applied to steel parts that creates a thin adhering layer of iron, zinc, or manganese phosphates to improve corrosion resistance or lubrication or as a foundation for subsequent coatings or pai ...

steel or with wood for the

stock Stocks (also capital stock, or sometimes interchangeably, shares) consist of all the Share (finance), shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided. A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporatio ...

furniture. Compared to RDB models, it has additional integral folding

sights A sight or sighting device is any device used to assist in precise visual alignment (i.e. ''aiming'') of weapons, surveying instruments, aircraft equipment, optical illumination equipment or larger optical instruments with the intended target. ...

and a heat shield over the short stroke piston.

References

External links

Official Page

KTOG RFB Forum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kel-Tec Rfb 5.56×45mm NATO semi-automatic rifles Bullpup rifles Semi-automatic rifles of the United States

Design

Variants

M43

See also

References

External links