6 June 18

Krebs PD-18 Pistol

For discrete carry when traveling, in addition to discrete storage, SBRs (Short-Barreled Rifles) represent an excellent compromise for many, myself included.

SBRs are lighter than their full-sized cousins, and the short barrel is handy for deployment and serious fighting within confined spaces, such as the interior of a typical sedan.

However, under Federal Rules (arbitrary, like most rules), “rifles” have to have barrels no shorter than sixteen inches. When a rifle’s barrel is shorter, it becomes an “SBR” and thus an NFA (National Firearms Act of 1934) item, like silencers.

Citizens can own NFA items, like SBRs, in most states, but the transfer must be approved at the federal level, which requires intrusive and never-ending paperwork, as well as a long wait for the Feds to “get around to it,” sometimes a year of more.

Current NFA-application backlogs are enormous, and getting worse.

So, NFA items are of scant interest to most firearms owners. Even police departments often shy-away from them, again due to paperwork, delays, and tedious accounting procedures.

Recently however, in an attempt to satisfy consumer demand, manufacturers have started making “pistols” that look a lot like SBRs!

“Pistols,” meeting federal regulations may have a barrel of any length, but no “shoulder-stock.”
It’s the exact definition of “shoulder-stock” that has kept ATF (along with the entire firearms industry) tied in knots for at least the past decade!

Under ATF’s current definition (at least for now) of “shoulder-stock,” certain “Arm-Braces” (which look a lot like shoulder-stocks to me) don’t meet the definition and are hence apparently “okay” to put on a rifle which has a barrel of less than sixteen inches.

With these “approved” arm-braces, one can now own, in effect, a non-NFA SBR (by definition, a “pistol”), and many are taking manufacturers up on the offer!

How the “arm-brace” is actually used by the shooter as the pistol is deployed is apparently no longer a concern of ATF!

Robinson Arms, Daniel Defense, Inland Manufacturing (M1 Carbine), and many others are jumping-in on the trend.

Business is brisk!

Among those at the top of the list is the Krebs PD-18!

I’m testing my copy now. It’s a 7.62×39 Kalashnikov with an 11″ barrel, which includes the flash-suppressor. It features all of Mark’s famous AK enhancements, including a top-rail.

Today, I put 400 rounds through it. Runs perfectly, like everything Mark Krebs makes!

It’s equipped with Aimpoint PRO, a BFG Vickers Sling, and Krebs custom trigger and wonderful Western-style BUIS.

The arm-brace folds sideways (much as a shoulder-stock would), making the whole thing only 23″ long. With the arm-brace thus folded, the PD-18 Pistol fits nicely into an innocuous gym-bag for low-profile transport.

Within 50m, the PD-18 is every bit as accurate as a standard rifle. And, I was getting very respectable accuracy at 100m.

I sighted-in my PD-18 to be dead-on at 40m, which puts it dead-on again at 170m, so it is basically a 200m gun, which represents all the range I need for most domestic challenges. And the 30cal 7.62×39 round suffers less velocity deterioration due to barrel-shortening than does the 5.56×45 (223).

Set-up as I have mine, the Krebs PD-18 w/optic runs 2.5k, or so.

Contact Brian at brian

/John