Preview – Kriss Vector – All Business

Editor’s Forward:

While the KRISS Vector didn’t change the world of subguns, it did demonstrate a decidedly different approach to recoil management. Anyone can copy someone else’s design, but it takes a bit of balls and no small amount of risk to actually do something new — which is why it graced the cover of RECOIL Issue 3.

When things go bump in the night, you instinctively reach for your handgun or shotgun. Some might even go for an AR-15. These are all solid firearms, and while there have been some technological advancements made to them over the years, there really haven’t been any revolutionary changes to their mechanical operation. 

It’s the 21st century: We now have mobile phones that act like computers and can stream Blake Griffin’s latest highlight-reel dunks from ESPN, cars that go for miles without using any gas, and little blue pills that can keep men … well, you know … We also now have the KRISS Vector, a 21st-century firearm that may change what you reach for when you need to defend your home.

KRISS Vector SBR (Short Barrel Rifle)

• Caliber: .45 ACP
• Barrel Length: 5.5 inches
• Minimum Overall Length As Featured: 16 inches, stock folded
• Maximum Overall Length As Featured: 25.25 inches, stock extended
• Magazine Capacity:
  • 13 Round, Glock 21 Magazine
  • 30 Round, Glock 21 Magazine (With optional KRISS MagEx 25+ Magazine Extension)
• Weight Unloaded: 6 pounds, 3 ounces
• Weight Unloaded As Featured: 7 pounds
• MSRP: $1,995
• Price As Featured: $2,958

Featured Accessories:

• EOTech XPS2-0 Holographic Sight ($519)
• KRISS Surefire E1B Backup Light Kit ($299)
• KRISS MagEx 25+ Glock 21 Extension Kit ($35)
• TangoDown Stubby Vertical Grip ($64)
• Magpul RSA ($30)
• Vickers Tactical Extended Glock 
• Magazine Release ($16)

KRISS Vector SDP (Special Duty Pistol)

• Caliber: .45 ACP
• Length As Featured: 18 inches
• Magazine Capacity:
  • 13-round, Glock 21 Magazine
  • 30-round, Glock 21 Magazine (With optional KRISS MagEx 25+ Magazine Extension)
• Weight Unloaded: 5 pounds, 12 ounces
• MSRP: $1,895

THE FUTURE IS NOW

Gazing at its exterior, the Vector looks like a weapon out of a futuristic sci-fi movie. Some love its stark departure from traditional gun styling, while others just can’t seem to get past it. But it’s what’s inside that counts, and that’s what sets the Vector apart from any other firearm on the market today. The firing mechanism inside is called the KRISS Super V System (KSVS). Instead of moving the bolt directly rearward toward the shooter like most self-loading action guns, the KSVS sends the bolt at a downward angle away from the shooter after each round is fired. The concept is designed to reduce felt recoil and muzzle rise for more accurate and faster follow-up shots. 

The Vector is available commercially in three configurations: The Vector CRB (Carbine) has a 16-inch barrel and a folding stock. The Vector SDP (Special Duty Pistol) has a 5.5-inch barrel and a permanently attached, stockless, rear-sling mount. The Vector SBR (Short Barrel Rifle) combines the 5.5-inch barrel of the pistol with the folding stock from the carbine (all National Firearms Act requirements apply to this version). Outside of those differences, all variants of the Vector are the same. 

They’re chambered in .45 ACP and have identical polymer bodies with metal inserts for the firing mechanism to ride on. They also incorporate a full-length, metal, Picatinny top rail and a short accessory rail on the frame below the barrel. The SBR and SDP barrels come factory threaded with thread protectors. KRISS-marked folding front and rear sights made by Midwest Industries come standard on all versions.

The Vector uses factory Glock 21 magazines, which are plentiful and relatively inexpensive. There is no need to seek out proprietary magazines. We like that. KRISS also offers a 17-round magazine extension kit that converts the G21 magazine so you can have up to 30 rounds of .45 ACP plus one in the chamber at the ready. We like that a lot. If you happen to own a G21, having a Vector gives you the ability to simply carry one set of magazines that can run in your primary and secondary. 

Surprising for a firearm newly designed this century, the only ambidextrous control on the Vector is the safety switch. The plastic switch is long and can be engaged from either side, but it doesn’t have any texturing, making it somewhat slick. We found that when flipping the safety selector from Safe to Fire, we needed to break our grip in order to gain the leverage to get the switch to the Fire mode.

The reach of the switch is a bit too long for shooters with a small to medium hand size. Perhaps a shooter with long thumbs wouldn’t have this problem. The charging handle, bolt-catch paddle, and magazine release are located on the left side of the gun, and cannot be swapped to the right-hand side. The charging handle folds forward against the frame, keeping it at a nice, low profile. The charging handle is easy to grab and unfold, but racking it requires a very firm pull. For right-handers, the placement of the bolt-catch paddle makes locking the bolt to the rear a one-handed affair. Simply pull the charging handle back, and drop the side of your index finger to depress the paddle. Unfortunately for lefties, they must abandon fire control to manipulate the bolt, which can be awkward. 

COMPACT GRIP

The KRISS Vector is very compact. If you spend a lot of time behind an AR-15 with a longer rail and an extended-support hand grip, handling the Vector is going to take some getting used to. One of our testers who has longer arms felt cramped when using a magwell grip, while others who weren’t blessed with such long appendages didn’t have an issue. But all of our test shooters preferred using a vertical foregrip for their support hand instead of the magwell grip. The downside was added distance from the magazines release. 

We brought the Vector SDP and SBR out to the firing range to try out the KSVS’s unique action, and see just how flat-shooting and soft the recoil really is. The pistol was left stock, while the SBR was equipped with an EOTech XPS 2-0 holographic sight, a TangoDown stubby vertical grip, and a Magpul Rail Sling Attachment (RSA). Also installed was a KRISS Vector-specific light kit that places a SureFire E1B Backup LED flashlight directly above the barrel, and a tape switch for activation mounted to the frame with Velcro. The setup is low profile and integrates nicely, but the flashlight does extend past the barrel, so the lens tends to quickly become coated with carbon. 

The SBR also has the optional KRISS Vector QD socket sling mount installed, but that was quickly discarded for right-handed shooters. The QD socket installs to the top of the pivot pin for the folding stock. Because the QD socket is on the right side of the gun, this method of slinging the rifle was replaced; for right-handers, the Vector would not want to lay flat against their bodies. If you took both hands off of the Vector to adjust your kit or draw your secondary, it would want to rotate and almost flip the rifle upside down. Using the Magpul RSA on the rear of the Picatinny top rail, and moving the rear back up iron sight forward, provided a more usable sling-attachment point for righties.

SPEED AND ACCURACY

The first shooting evaluation for the Vector was a Balance of Speed and Accuracy (BSA) test. From 7 yards and within 3 seconds, we wanted to see how many rounds we could deposit into the 8-inch, center of mass circle on an International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA) silhouette target. Using the Vector SDP with irons sights, we were able to put an average of 10 rounds center of mass; deploying the SBR with the EOTech XPS 2-0, we consistently were able to deliver 15 combat-effective hits. For ammunition, we used Winchester .45 ACP 230-grain FMJ, so that’s 3,450 grains of lead from the SBR we were able to lay into the target in just 3 seconds. That’s a serious amount of lead at speed and with accuracy.

The plastic trigger was very smooth with a crisp break and a short reset that aided us in shooting groupings at speed, but the real surprise was how minimal the muzzle rise and recoil was. The Vector shot rapid-repeat shots so flat it almost seemed like the XPS2-0 reticle didn’t move on the SBR. 

There was no sharp recoil force hitting your shoulder either, but you do feel the unique recoil impulse from the KSVS action moving downward as the rifle cycles. We were split on the feel of the KSVS cycling; some of the shooters weren’t bothered by it, but others found the sensation awkward. Perhaps more time behind this new type of operating system would change their minds. The pistol was almost equally as effortless to shoot rapidly, but without the two additional contact points of the stock, a little more muscle was needed to keep it on target. 

The Winchester .45 ACP 230-grain FMJ has a factory rated muzzle velocity of 835 feet per second (fps); we wanted to feed the Vector something fiercer to really see how the muzzle rise and recoil would behave, so we decided to try out Hornady’s 45 Auto+P 230-grain XTP with its factory rated muzzle velocity of 950 fps. 

If you’ve ever fired .45 +P ammunition through a 1911, you know just how difficult it is to control the muzzle flip and recoil when going for fast follow-up shots. Let’s just say it’s definitely fierce compared to regular ball. The Vector SDP and SBR blasted the Hornady +P ammo like nobody’s business. The muzzle rise and felt recoil were slightly greater than with the Winchester FMJ, but nowhere near as dramatic as shooting the .45 +P in a 1911. 

With our static shooting done, we decided to get dynamic with the Vector. We set up a course of fire that featured multiple cardboard-silhouette targets, some with hostage no-shoots covering everything but the head. All of the targets required three shots. We also set up multiple barricades 2.5 feet apart to represent doorways for us to pass through, just like you might have to do if your home-defense strategy requires having to reach your kid’s bedroom. 

With the Vector’s short, 5.5-inch barrel that only extends 2.5 inches from the gun’s frame, traversing the mock doorways was incredibly easier than it would have been with a shotgun or full-length carbine. Armed with the knowledge of how fast and accurate the Vector could shoot from our static testing, we were extremely confident of delivering multiple hits on the cardboard cutouts. 

The SDP and SBR didn’t disappoint. We were able to punch paper rapidly thanks again to the KSVS’s ability to keep the Vector flat-shooting and with very little recoil. Transitioning from target to target was also very quick due to the overall light weight and well-balanced chassis of both models. 

The KRISS Vector with its Super V System worked as promised: Felt recoil was minimal and shooting was incredibly flat for a firearm chambered in .45 ACP. Even though there are many things we do like about it, especially its futuristic looks, there are ergonomic issues that we would like to see improved. We do wish KRISS kept left-handed shooters in mind when designing the Vector; ambidextrous controls for the bolt and magazine release would probably have put this gun into our Top Five list. 

We also wish KRISS spent more time designing and field testing some of its factory accessories. Despite these complaints, when it comes to actual shooting, the Vector was pretty amazing. Being able to fire so accurately at speed from close range and taming the beastly .45 +P ACP round is one hell of a feat. If you’re thinking about a new go-to gun for defending your home, the KRISS Vector is definitely one to consider.