KPOS Scout Glock Conversion Kit Review

Israel is the source of many outside-the-box designs for tactical gear. A recent example is the KPOS Scout, a conversion kit that turns a Glock pistol into a folding-stock carbine. Along with the similar CAA Micro Roni, they’re both viable options for expanding the utility of a Glock pistol for home and vehicle defense. The KPOS Scout is a shroud that clamps firmly onto the slide of a Glock, making it, visually and legally, a folding-stock short-barreled rifle (SBR), which also means it requires a tax stamp. The device fits a wide swath of Gen 3 through Gen 5 Glocks, including the 17, 19, 22, 23, 25, 31, and 32. Ported models are also accepted. Gen 4 and Gen 5 pistols will work as long as they aren’t wearing Glock’s add-on backstraps. Tricking out your Glock to make a carbine by adding a stock is really cool and has some advantages for defensive use. However, dealing with NFA paperwork to make that SBR legal is time-consuming. For those with a little more cash than time or patience, there’s a solution: a drop-in 16-inch barrel by IGB Austria that makes it a full rifle instead of an SBR.

Available in the U.S. from YRS, Inc., International Gun Barrels (IGBs) are crafted from cold-forged steel. Inside is a hardened mirror finish created by plasma nitration.

Packability is the name of the game with the Scout. It’s a light 1.6 pounds without the handgun. The upper is formed of 6061 T6 aluminum; the lower is polymer.

With the stock folded the entire unit is 12.8 inches long. With the stock deployed, it measures 21.3 inches. The portion of the IGB barrel that sticks out beyond the muzzle adds another 9.3 inches to the overall length when the device is set up as a carbine. Folded, its width is just 2.9 inches.

All that to say when folded, the assembled Glock/Scout fits into my backpack, made for a 17-inch laptop, when placed inside diagonally. Also handy is the elasticized single-point sling that’s included with the kit.

Putting It Together

Assembling the Gen 4 Glock 17 and Scout as a unit is easy, but only with the right information.

Replacing the barrel is a simple field strip procedure that only requires the IGB to be inserted in place of the pistol’s regular barrel.

Installing the Glock 17 into the Scout didn’t go quite as fast. A critical step is missing from the written instructions in the box, and several online videos fell short in the same fashion. Finally, one video mentioned a step about pushing a very inconspicuous button on the rear of the receiver out of the way, and the whole works came together in a few seconds. The distributor rep at ZFI, Inc. acknowledged the lack of good assembly information and said the company is working on that.

A more obvious button releases the skeletonized stock from folded to deployed position. The collapsible, folding foregrip serves three functions: it acts as a trigger protector when the unit is folded for carry or storage; deployed, it serves as a vertical foregrip to help the user pull the stock into the shoulder pocket; and it also acts as a hand stop and protects the user from placing precious digits in front of the muzzle, especially with the short barrel in place.

Instructions for using the Scout include a stern admonition to use the vertical foregrip—and I agree.

In addition to being a jack of all trades, the foregrip is also customizable for hand size or to be used as a monopod. With the squeeze of tabs on either side, an extension pops downward, making the grip suitable for large or gloved hands and providing a rest of sorts.

On top of the Scout is a generous helping of 1913 MIL-STD Picatinny rail. There’s plenty of room for a scope, iron sights, or a non-magnifying optic. On either side of the forend is a small section of rail for a gun light. These rails are placed well forward to virtually eliminate dark spots in the potential firing zone.

Operation is straightforward. An AR-platform-like charging handle racks the slide of the pistol, and firing is the same as any carbine or SBR—with a Glock trigger, of course. The charging handle and foregrip, and therefore the entire assembly with the exception of brass ejection, are fully ambidextrous out of the box.

Range Test

Effective range is increased a bit by the addition of the carbine-length barrel. IGB reps say that muzzle velocity is enhanced by about 14 fps with a 10-inch, 9mm barrel.

Accuracy in this test was good, but not great. Several loads were tested from a supported bench rest position at 25 yards, using a red dot optic. The results are as follows—

Reliability is very good, but not perfect as with the bare Glock, which only malfunctions from shooter-induced error. In a 250-round test, there were three incomplete extractions where the brass was cleared of the chamber but caught in the walls of the ejection port, which is twice the thickness of the pistol’s ejection port. This occurred with two different brands of ammunition.

While I was able to pull off a group just a tad over two inches with the Glock alone, that was done from a benched and bagged position. Chances of having that kind of setup in a defensive encounter are close to zero. Having a rifle-like devices is more efficient and stable for engaging most targets in the real world.

Outfitting the KPOS Scout for Personal Defense

I’ve run the Scout with backup iron sights that happen to also be by FAB Defense, a Lucid magnifying scope, and two red dot optics. For the relatively short distances this combo is designed for, i.e. inside a living room or warehouse, or across a street, I like a red dot zeroed at 25 or 50 yards, with the FAB Defense irons as back-up.

For best accuracy, choose an optic mount made for Picatinny rail. While a generic or Weaver rail attachment will work, our testing produced groups that were 3-4 inches tighter with a Pic rail mount. At the average indoor household space distances, the difference between the two isn’t significant for so-called combat accuracy.

In this test, a high mount was used with ease. Though some press photos show a red dot type optic on the Scout with a low mount, the high one allows for co-witness with the iron sights in the lower third of the optic. If a suppressor is added, increased sight height is a necessity.

The one-point elastic sling included with the Scout is handy for practice and the short-term use likely to be faced in a defensive situation. For a drawn-out situation like a natural disaster or other event when help may be hours or days away, I’d grab some paracord and a two-point sling to make It possible to carry on my back and to stop the annoying pendulum effect that can happen using a one-point sling without hands on the rifle.

Any personal defense rifle should have a light option. After all, most violent crime happens at night. There are many options for weapon-mounted lights that would work well with the KPOS Scout. Choosing one with a power source and lumen rating that will reliably light the environment where you plan to use it, without making it so bright as to be blinding, is up to the individual.

Additionally, there is the option of attaching a suppressor. Of course, this would negate the compact nature of this setup, unless one wants to carry the can unattached from the barrel.

As a close-range varmint gun for the suburban or rural home, the Scout/IGB/suppressor combo is an attractive, if not economical, setup.

The KPOS Scout sells for $269.96 from at least one distributor, ZFI-Inc, including the 10 percent discount offered to those who sign up for the store’s mailing list. The IGB barrel, available in the US from YRS, Inc., adds $339.95 to the price

Compared to the Micro Roni

Perhaps a discussion of the KPOS Scout is incomplete without a comparison to what, to my knowledge, is the first Glock-to-SBR/carbine device, the Micro Roni by CAA, also an Israeli product. The Micro Roni also has a folding stock design and a similar tactical appearance. It’s very close in size to the Scout, but about two inches longer whether folded or not and weights about two pounds more (the Roni clocks in at 3.5 pounds). Both devices have plenty of rail space. Both are ambidextrous.

However, there are some stark differences between the Scout and Micro Roni, when it comes to construction. The Micro Roni is all polymer. Its trigger guard cover serves only that function, and covers the trigger guard entirely, whereas the Scout’s foregrip doubles as a trigger guard cover and doesn’t cover the entire opening.

The Micro Roni’s foregrip does pull overtime as a spare mag holder, an aspect of its design I prefer.

Where the Micro Roni falls short of the KPOS stock is in the assembly process. It involves tiny screws and good eyesight. In comparison, Scout assembly is field-friendly.

CAA has been producing the Micro Roni for some time, and a couple of stock designs as well as accessory choices are available. Little touches like a thumb rest are add-ons that make operation a little more intuitive. A remarkable option on the Micro Roni is a light, available only from CAA, that fits inside the stock and shines from a point directly below the muzzle, eliminating dark spots. It’s a great concept, but unfortunately limited to only one model of light. Without it, the porthole for said light is sort of an odd empty space on the muzzle end—not an angle anyone should worry about looking at much!

In an accuracy test using the same platform and grain weights, but different brands of ammunition, the Micro Roni’s accuracy increased along with grain weight. The best five-shot group at 25 yards was 4.0 inches. This test used a different barrel, also by IGB. As might be expected from a stock made of less rigid material, the Micro Roni’s best group was comparable to the Scout’s poorest. Both, however, are very capable of consistent hits on a torso-size target at 25 yards—more than sufficient accuracy for most defensive encounters in the home.

The only malfunctions logged with the Micro Roni were with one brand of ammunition, L-Tech Full Stop 115 grain HP, a low-recoil load that cycles well in the test Glock as well as in other pistols I’ve run it through.

With the aforementioned discount, the Micro Roni is priced at $275, about the same as the Scout. However, as of this writing, CAA is offering a buy one, get one free deal.

Takeaway

The KPOS Scout and CAA Micro Roni both add the advantage of two more points of contact—cheek and shoulder—when firing a Glock pistol. Both have some color choices and can accommodate an assortment of rail-mounted attachments. The Scout’s aluminum armature offers durability and slightly better accuracy, but the Micro Roni provides on-board magazine storage.

While these makeshift carbines won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, they’re enjoyable to shoot and make it possible for a Glock owner to also have a pistol caliber carbine at a price point below that of many others in their class, even with the added expense of a barrel.