Alright guys we’re back today with one of the most impressive conversion kits I’ve ever seen for a Glock or similar pistol. It transforms your handgun into an actual rifle using a 16-inch barrel included in the kit. The bullpup conversion stock and the drop-in assembly are incredibly simple. This is the apex series from meta tactical and they sent this carbine conversion kit out to the channel for us to try out.
When I first saw it, I was a little bit skeptical because I’ve never seen something like this done before. I’ve always seen conversion kits for different pistol brace systems, but I’ve never seen something that adds a 16-inch barrel to a Glock and then converts it to a bullpup. This thing was so incredibly small I knew I had to give it a try. You don’t have to worry about any NFA violations or any NFA rules because it is a rifle. It also has an overall length of 26-inches when the stock is deployed making sure it’s not an NFA item in any way. This is just a normal rifle. You install the barrel first then slide it into the chassis system and now you are good to go and all rifle laws apply. Not only do you get enhanced ergonomics, a more stable shooting platform and the ease of adding optics, you actually get a 16-inch barrel over some of those other conversion kits allowing you to have increased muzzle velocity and better ballistic performance similar to a 357 magnum out of a 9millimeter. You still retain all of those ergonomic feels of some of those previous chassis systems without worrying about any of that NFA nonsense.
This is a really impressive setup and I’m super glad I got it out to the Channel. The other cool thing is Meta Tactical actually created a coupon code “704 tactical” to get you 10% off the price on this though comes out to about $599 before the code and about %540 after the code. Right now, though for this introductory offer they’re kind of knocking off the tax and the shipping. They’re also including a free range bag with the first 200 orders.
This is new to the market so I’m really excited that I got one out to the channel to try and the minute I pulled it out of the range bag I knew this was something cool.
It was really easy to install the Glock and barrel and unfortunately, I can’t show this process on camera, but I do want to talk about it really quick and then we’ll talk about the specs and features of the chassis system. The first thing you do is swap out a barrel like you normally swap out a Glock barrel. That’s it, you have to take off the muzzle device first so it slides into the Glock, but other than that it drops in the same.
At this point, you have a Glock with an absurdly long 16-inch barrel and it will function and cycle normally. Then you press a button on the bottom this entire back piece flips up and you slide it in and that’s it. It then presses back down and clips back down and you pop the pin through to actuate the trigger and that’s it. No actual attachments to the slide itself so you don’t add anything to the reciprocating mass of the slide affecting functionality. So inherently it’s more reliable than other chassis system platforms out there because it uses a hook system in the front to press the slide backwards allowing this to be a non-reciprocating charging handle. Which is another benefit to this design.
Before we get too far into the specs and features though, I want to give a huge shout out to Callaway Ballistics for sponsoring the ammo for this video. I ran a ton of different Callaway Ballistics ammo through this. We’ll talk a little bit more about that in the reliability section of this review. But they recently did a price drop on all of their ammunition or most of their ammunition and they’ve got a code “704 tactical” for free shipping on ammo orders over $200. And then I also want to give a huge shout out to Palmetto State Armory. They sent over some of the AAC Ammo that they’re selling. It’s good quality ammunition. I ran about 50 to 60 rounds through this so another huge shout out to them another good high value and budget ammo source.
So, let’s talk about the specs and features from the front to the back and let’s talk about why you might want something like this a little bit beyond what we just discussed in the intro part of this review. Right off the bat, it comes with a muzzle device and a thread protector on that 16-inch barrel but these are not standard 1/2×20 or sorry 1/2×28 threads. This is going to be a proprietary thread that they’re not releasing because they don’t want you to suppress it as of yet. There may be future models that will be able to be suppressed, but when you consider that it is a 16-inch barrel and you’re hanging a mass on that. The barrel has to tilt and actuate to function correctly. It really can’t cycle, at least this version is not going to be able to be suppressed and you’re not going to be able to swap out muzzle devices other than the two they give you either the flash hider or the thread-protector. Those are both good options, but something to consider this is not going to be something you’re going to suppress right out of the gate.
The other thing is it’s incredibly ergonomic and a polymer design and on the top section though it actually has an aluminum monolithic pic-rail to attach optics over the entire span of the rifle. I selected a red dot but you could definitely put an LPVO on Here, or a magnifier red dot combo and attach pressure switches for different light combos because of that huge monolithic aluminum pic-rail that slides over the polymer gun. Overall, it’s got a pretty nice trigger-guard and a spot to swap out grips and I believe this is completely compatible with a natural AR grip just by looking at it, but I can’t confirm that. But this grip is comfortable enough and it works out well. The trigger is plastic, I might like to see an aluminum trigger, especially for the price you’re paying, but overall, it’s been holding up great. No issues whatsoever. Because it’s an entire polymer system with pieces of aluminum scattered about for rigidity and strength, it’s incredibly lightweight and probably only one of the only rifles I can get to fit on frame and pick up with one hand and just flip around like it’s nothing. this is incredibly nimble and it also just mitigates the recoil really well because of the ability to put it on your shoulder and have multiple points of contact. You have M-lock attachments on the side and the bottom allowing you to attach whatever lights and accessories you want. We’ll be doing that in the future because this is pretty much one of the ultimate CQB rifles I’ve shot in a while.
When you consider it’s also pretty slick because you can just pop out your Glock and have a normal Glock. So, if you’re one of those guys who’s like can only have one gun because their wife says so, or you really only want a rifle or a handgun occasionally, this is a great option to kind of change back and forth. On the other hand, you do have an ambidextrous charging handle. It’s non-reciprocating, so that works out pretty well. You can actually wrap your thumb around it to control recoil and these are metal components with nice knurling so you don’t have to worry about that breaking off when you’re charging that so that’s pretty slick. Now moving along to the rearward portion of the firearm. You do have the safety which is located right here. It’s just a simple push button safety. It’s not the fanciest in the world but it’s fairly ergonomic. You have the gun controlled right here, so you can simply push in the safety engage your target but you do have to pull your finger off the trigger to engage your safety again. Something to consider but not that big of a deal. This is the pivot location right here that just kind of snaps into place. Then this right here is the pin that you would press in to actuate the trigger. This is the pin you’ll snap in (this is kind of funky on camera), but you’ll just snap that in and it pulls the trigger right there and overall, it’s incredibly ergonomic when it’s all mounted up.
This one has a shell deflector as a secondary piece built-in with a very wide mouth. This allows the ejection of the shells incredibly nicely. This also has a pretty interesting design for the mag release. It has simple cuts in the polymer itself and large texturing so when you press it, it pops out the mag. This is probably one of the most innovative and interesting mag button solutions I’ve seen on a chassis system because it works so well and it enhances such a small button on the gun and it gives you a huge paddle that you can actuate now a lot easier.
This one also has an incredibly nice kind of rubberized feeling not polymer feeling butt-pad. You depress this lever and it’s adjustable. It actually rides on two aluminum rail systems. It bolts in solid and then it’s constrained on the top so there’s really not a ton of wobble or play so it locks up really solid. It’s got a nice cheek weld right here. Nothing pulls your beard hairs or anything like that. Then, again you have multiple lengths-of-pull and fully extended the overall length is going to be a little bit over 26 inches. You can see how far that extends out yet how stable it still is, so overall they’ve done an amazing job with this stock. I like to keep it in position two or three, that’s pretty much perfect for me. I’m right at about five-eight, so something to consider if you’re a little bit shorter than me or you want to really pull it in for CQB, you can keep it all the way collapsed. Even if you’re six-foot-two, six-foot-four, you can pull it all the way out and still shoot this bullpup conversion kit.
Now why would you want something like this? In a nutshell there are a few reasons.
One, you can absolutely rattle off shots insanely quick and I was doing that at about 50 yards hitting the target every single time. So, for me, this is like a 50 yard and in rifle but definitely can stretch out a little bit further. For the first shots of the video, I just kept it at about 50 yards and again you can just absolutely rattle off shots. I can hit the target quicker with this than I can with a handgun, so that allows you to have a handgun for most traditional rolls, but if you wanted to take it out and have more of a CQB package you can simply swap out the barrel and drop it in and now you’re more effective. You can also easily add optics, lights, and lasers way easier than you can on a handgun and you can have it all set up for a little bit more further distance shooting. This also allows you a really stable and nimble package inside and around a vehicle, for personal defense, or inside your home because this is a rifle but it’s also a bullpup. The action is behind the trigger allowing for a good compact package, but having again the higher velocity is of a 16-inch barrel equivalent to a 357 magnum. I feel like this applies to a ton of different applications and it integrates and works nicely into my arsenal and I’m really glad I have this now.
Again, some of the downfalls are well you have to swap out the barrel to drop it back to a handgun and vice versa. To assemble, it’s not as quick as two seconds, but it’s only about a two minute or one minute changeover depending how fast you are swapping out a Glock barrel so not that big of a deal at all.
Overall I’m a huge fan of this system, and I can’t wait to see where it progresses. Now I do want to talk about reliability and performance down at the range. Again, I said it was very accurate at about 50 yards hitting an 8inch or a 10-inch steel plate no issues whatsoever, so the accuracy is there and the reliability is there.
Now I tried this with an aftermarket Glock slide and it’s incredibly versatile in the slides it can use because of the fork design in the front rather than attaching to the slide itself so inherently it’s more reliable. Now the tighter tolerances, it was actually a precision machined Glock slide that I put in there, a premium one designed for accuracy well the
tolerances were way tighter than a traditional Glock slide and I had occasional feed issues with certain types of ammunition. When I put a traditional Glock 17 slide in here or a basic aftermarket Glock 17 slide, there were absolutely no feed issues. 100% functional. I ran Callaway Ballistics 115 grand ammunition with no issues whatsoever. Callaway Ballistics 147 grain ammunition no issues whatsoever TulAmmo steel cased ammo with no issues. AAC ammo with no issues as well. The round count on this platform with the traditional Glock 17 generation three that you see inside right now this is actually the rtf version that comes in at about 350 to 400 rounds and close
to about 500 rounds total through this system to get the ergonomic feel. But with a basic Glock 17 with no modifications to the Glock itself, other than swapping out the barrel for this setup, it was a hundred percent functional for about 350 to 400 rounds straight with both 147 and 115 grain ammo. I’d say that’s darn good reliability and again that lends into the way it interfaces with the system. You’re not adding extra mass to the
reciprocating mass of the slide so it works out great and the feed worked really well on this barrel no issues there whatsoever. In a nutshell it’s awesome. It works in close quarters and you get increased muzzle velocity.
About the only negative would be you have to spend about $540 on it. I wish it was a little bit cheaper, but nobody else is doing anything like this on the market and I feel like it’s worth it. I feel like the technology’s there and you have to remember you’re actually getting a secondary barrel in the setup as well not just the bullpup chassis system. I’ll leave all the information that I can in the description below. Unfortunately, I can’t link to this in the description below because of YouTube’s policies, but I can link to it on my campsite page and I’ll post my campsite page in the description below and I will post a link there so if you go to buy one remember to use that link. It is an affiliate link so if you guys decide to buy one and use the link it saves you money and helps out the channel at the same time and I greatly appreciate it. Putting 400 rounds through a gun for the first shots of the video, not even the full review, is expensive. It costs money. Now Callaway Ballistics and Palmetto State Armory help out, but there were a few different rounds like hollow points and stuff I tried through here that I had to pay for myself so those costs add up over time. I just appreciate you guys supporting the channel subscribing and liking and sharing the videos thanks for watching have a good one.
