TFB Interview: Joe Easter – KelTec RDB – IPSC Rifle World Shoot

TFB’s series of interviews with top competition shooters continues. Today we’re taking a deep dive into bullpups, as we interview Joe Easter who ran a modified KelTec RDB at the IPSC Rifle World Shoot. But there’s quite more to the story, including suppressors, so let’s begin.

TFB: Congratulations on finishing 6th individually out of 130 competitors. You were the best in your team, and the U.S. National Team in Semi Auto Standard managed the silver. How does it feel?

Joe: It feels good, I was very happy with how the U.S. National Standard Team performed. All of us had a rough start for the first day or two, but we pulled out the silver in the end. Aaron Hayes, Sean Yackley, and Tom Byrum were fantastic teammates.

TFB: Please tell us about your shooting background. When and how did you begin, and how has your career developed?

Joe: I couldn’t say exactly when I first shot a gun but would say it was around 6 or so years old with my Dad and Granddad. Granddad was a United States Marine and a pretty good shot, and my Dad was in the United States Navy and also enjoyed shooting. I shot intermittently with them growing up until I got to college. There was a nice public range at the national forest near my school, and we started shooting hand-thrown clays there almost weekly using the first gun my parents gave me which was a Remington 870. I started to play with some other guns as I got jobs and had some extra money.

I worked for a few summers while I was in school at Aberdeen Proving Ground testing large caliber weapons (105mm, 120mm, 155mm) and their munitions. I bought an M1 Garand from the Civilian Marksmanship Program after the first summer there, which was the first gun I bought for myself. I messed around with some long-range competitive shooting including Highpower type shooting with the M1. I had my first encounter with practical shooting at an IDPA match at the end of college. After graduating from Virginia Tech, I worked at a local gun store in Virginia for around 6 months before moving to Florida to start working for KelTec. I found a lot more action shooting in Florida and started going out to shoot with the others on the KelTec Shooting Team, eventually joining the team.

I became particularly interested in 3-Gun, there is something very rewarding in becoming proficient with every firearm type and finding out what each one can do.

TFB: I noticed that you were on the podium with a silver in your hand at the Rifle World Shoot 2019 in Sweden. How do you think the two matches compared, and which one did you like best?

Joe: I was fortunate enough to place 2nd in the 2019 World Shoot. As far as comparing the two matches I think they were both excellent events with different flavors. The 2019 World Shoot in Sweden was held at a military training range and definitely had a more “natural terrain” type feeling.

I did enjoy that match more, as it had a lot more movement, and personally, I like natural terrain matches better anyway. The 2024 World Shoot in Finland was a bay match – granted with some fairly large bays – and most of the stages were much more compact. The stages were a good test of rifle shooting, but I do enjoy the movement of larger stages.

TFB: This is The Firearm Blog, and our readers are very interested in all kinds of guns. Can you please describe your bullpup rifle and setup in detail, and why you chose those components and furniture?

Joe: I shoot a KelTec RDB. It started life as a standard model with a 20” barrel but has changed over the years. The RDB is a short-stroke piston-driven semi-automatic rifle chambered in 5.56 NATO. It has an adjustable venting-type gas system. The ejection port is to the rear of the magazine and spent casings eject straight down.

Currently, my rifle has a custom 24” barrel to extend the sight radius for my iron sights, and the M-LOK forend and extended magwell made by KelTec. I also have the SKYE Rdb Butt-Pad sold by Haga Defense as I like the feel of the Magpul buttpad mounted to the SKYE. I use the lightened trigger spring from MCARBO which drops the trigger weight down slightly. I run the Precision Armament Hypertap as my muzzle device as it has excellent recoil reduction, no need for timing shims, and tunable venting holes to improve your recoil control.

TFB: I’ve never tried one, but the KelTec RDB trigger is said to be very good. Which trigger do you use, and how smooth did you get it?

Joe: In my opinion, the RDB has the best factory trigger for a bullpup, although I may be biased. KelTec put quite a bit of effort into giving it a clean trigger. One thing bullpups deal with is trying to redirect the trigger movement to drop a hammer that is much further back in the gun. The KelTec design improves this with some linkages that basically redirect the control and motion of the hammer forward to the trigger instead.

It is a two-stage trigger, and paired with the MCARBO reduced power trigger spring my gun has a fairly smooth 2.5lb trigger. The closest comparison I could make is that it has a similar feel to a Geissele SSA-E trigger for an AR-15, although not quite as good.

TFB: How do you tune the recoil and movement to perfection on your KelTec?

Joe: Recoil and movement on the RDB pretty much come down to tuning the gas and having a good muzzle device. I run a lightened bolt carrier similar to the one from our “survival” model RDB. As with any rifle with adjustable gas, you want to set it as light as you can, with the bolt carrier hitting the back of the receiver as little as possible. On the RDB you start with the gas knob a good way out, probably 15-20 clicks from closed, and start to work in until the bolt locks open on empty. When this is done, give it another click or two for reliability and it should be good to go.

I also run the Precision Armament Hypertap, which has some pre-piloted holes you can drill out to better tune your rifle. Basically, you shoot the gun with the best stance you can and see which way the muzzle moves. Slowly drill out the holes in the direction the gun moved to counteract the movement.

Past that and most importantly you need to train your stance and grip to minimize muzzle movement. There are videos from much better shooters than me that go over different ways to do this. One of the better videos I’ve seen is from JP Rifles and Max Leograndis talking about grip/stance calibration.

TFB: Let’s talk about suppressors for KelTecs. Which of your firearms are the most suitable for running suppressed and which suppressor would you recommend?

Joe: Most of our firearms actually come threaded and suppress well. The RDB is a good example, as it is piston-driven towards the front of the gun. You still get a little bit of gas drawn back by the bolt carrier motion but you don’t have anywhere near as much gas to deal with as a normal direct impingement AR-15.

Our .22LR pistols are probably the most fun thing we make to run suppressed.

Both the KelTec P17 and the KelTec CP33 paired with a nice light rimfire suppressor are a joy to plink with.

The SUB2000 suppresses nicely, I have an SBR’d one that is great to shoot suppressed.

I have to admit I’m a little out of touch with suppressors. The majority of my shooting is

unsuppressed. Mine are all SilencerCo from around 8 or 9 years ago. I have a Saker 762, an Octane 45, and a Sparrow 22. They perform great and have held up just fine, but I know there have been advances from numerous companies in silencer technology. I would like to try one of the newer flow-throughs like the Huxwrx or low back pressure cans like the Surefire RC3 on my guns but haven’t had the chance yet.

TFB: Flying with guns and ammo can be a bit of a challenge. Once airport security X-Rayed my Molot Shotgun, which created quite some attention – luckily on the positive side. Did you ever run into any funny questions due to the look

of the bullpup design?

Joe: I haven’t had too much trouble flying with guns, probably the worst occurrence was at one airport I had a spare grip for my RDB in my regular checked bags. The grip/lower on an RDB is not the serialized component, and it does not need to be declared. They called me back through security to tell me that it was a firearm and that it did need to be declared. Other than that, the only regular funny questions are from Range Officers saying “You’d better clear this, I don’t know what I’m looking at here.”

TFB: Were you able to bring a spare bullpup to the competition, and does it differ in any way from your primary setup?

Joe: I brought a duplicate rifle to the competition, it did not differ at all from my primary rifle. If you’re going to participate in this level of competition I feel you need to have as much backup as you can up to and including a duplicate rifle.

TFB: What kind of iron sights do you use?

Joe: I use a globe-style front sight of my own design and a pair of Knight’s Armament Micro 200-600 meter adjustable rears with a replaceable aperture setup I came up with.

The front sight is very similar to the Anschutz style front with the replaceable inserts. I did a good bit of research into what people used for iron sights in IPSC for the 2019 world shoot and narrowed it down to globe front aperture rear. There are a few European companies that make options for globe sights, but it is definitely not a common thing in the US. Combining the short list of options with the higher rail over bore on the RDB, I ended up having to make my own. I started by trying a dovetail-mounted Anschutz sight, but ripped that off pulling the barrel back through a barricade port at a match, so afterwards I made a one-piece mount that has held up well.

The KAC rear is about perfect, it is just the size it needs to be and doesn’t obstruct too much of your field of view. It is also capable of dialing elevation on the fly which is very handy. The only thing I added was a different size aperture to tighten up the sight picture and increase depth-of-field to bring the targets into better focus.

KelTec was able to make a small batch of these and this setup was used by the entire National Standard Team and the National Ladies Standard team who also pulled 2nd place national team and brought home the silver medal.

TFB: Do you click for each stage, or do you use a set zero and do holdovers?

Joe: I run a 300-yard zero which pretty much lets me aim square at any full-size IPSC target from 3 yards to 325 yards. Past that, I need to hold a little over or start dialing. On smaller targets I may need to lollipop/6 o’clock hold a little from 100-250 yards. For anything past 325 yards, I do start to dial, which the KAC sight is capable of doing. I regularly shoot to 500-600 yards in American 3 Gun and these sights do just fine.

TFB: Provided the contrast is perfect, how far out would you say you can shoot an IPSC Classic target with your KelTec and irons?

Joe: If I can see it with my eye I can probably hit it. I would say a full-size classic target is no issue out to 400 yards. That all depends on the wind and whether I’m going for alphas or just hits. If it was a full-size steel target shaped like an IPSC classic, 600 yards would be no problem if the wind wasn’t too bad.

TFB: What kind of ammunition do you use and what IPSC power factor did you achieve? Do you reload or buy in bulk?

Joe: I run 55gr FMJ for a few reasons, not the least of which is simplicity and availability. The 24” barrel sends them out pretty fast and flat, which makes holds easier. Most major IPSC matches have match ammo, and I used the GECO 55gr match ammo at the 2019 and 2024 Rifle World Shoots. Using the match ammo my average velocity was 3260fps, which works out to 179 power factor.

TFB: How did you manage on stage 1 with the longest range, 355 meters?

Joe: That stage ate my lunch a little bit. I held over the target for elevation and called 5mph of right-to-left wind. Turns out there wasn’t anything like that wind, and the shots went exactly where I aimed off to the right of the target.

TFB: It’s no secret that AR-type rifles are the most popular in these kinds of competitions, but are there any stage designs where you think a bullpup really shines?

Joe: Anything with tight movements will definitely be a little easier with the bullpup. I always get the benefit of shooting laser beams out of the 24” barrel, but my rifle is about the same length as a 16” AR. It definitely helped on a few stages at RWS24. The two best examples from RWS24 are probably stage 11 where you dropped sitting for the last shots, and stage 18 where the door triggered the swinger array.

TFB: How would you compare the reloads on the KelTec versus the AR platform? Are you able to be as quick, or even quicker?

Joe: Reloads are no problem at all. I can keep up with anyone on a reload, and probably beat most people.

TFB: How many shots per year do you shoot? Can you recommend some efficient drills for our readers?

Joe: I don’t shoot near as much as I used to but I would say I shot about 4000 rounds in the 6 months leading into the world shoot. Two-thirds of that was 223, the rest was either .22LR or 9mm through practice rifles with similar setups. I am a big believer in the fundamentals and that is the majority of what I practice. I like to mix in dry fire with live fire at the range. I do some live reps to set a baseline or check improvements, with dry reps in between to work on the improvements. I’ll either use a par time on my timer for those or fire a live shot for the last shot in the drill to get the time.

Any of the drills in Ben Stoeger’s books are solid but a short list of the key ones I would work on are:

1) Ups – Mounting the gun and getting a clean sight picture and shot off as fast as possible

2) Doubles- Practicing good stance and maximizing recoil control

3) V drill or Blake Drill – Transitioning targets as quickly as possible while keeping good hits

TFB: Shooting on the move with a long gun isn’t easy. With the bullpup, how do you do it? Is there a difference between a typical AR and a bullpup? 

Joe: Shooting on the move where possible is definitely the way to go, but you’re right in that it is not easy. There is no real difference between a typical AR and a bullpup. Long strides with a good stance and timing the shots between steps are my main things when shooting on the move.

TFB: How did you prepare for the World Shoot, and how did it help you during the competition?

Joe: I focused on the fundamentals, and on mid to long-range shooting. I mainly shot at steel from 100-300 yards to reduce reset and get the most out of my range sessions. Regularly shooting that kind of distance gives you confidence that you can hit just about anything. I did have a few misses during the match, but there weren’t any stages I came across that I was really worried about.

TFB: What were your highlights during the match?

Joe: The long courses on the short bays were my highlights, along with stage 30. On stage 15 with the two 5-plate arrays, I moved decently and didn’t fire a makeup shot. Stage 19, the L bay in the corner, had a nice amount of movement and was just my style of stage. Stage 30 was pretty straightforward with 10 long range paper split between two ports. I snagged a lot of alpha’s on that stage, while many ended up with either poor hits or mikes. This stage actually got us the silver as the other team that was in contention for silver left a good bit on the table, while the others on the US team and I came out pretty strong on it.

TFB: And your worst stage? Did you crash and burn somewhere?

Joe: Stages 1 and 7 were my worst. I mentioned stage 1 earlier, I made a bad wind call and had two mikes. Stage 7 was the “moose” stage, with an array of 4 moving targets with one no-shoot target in the middle about 100 yards away moving about 10 mph. I’ve only shot a laterally moving target over 25 yards once before and it was nowhere near that fast. That distance and movement speed meant you had to aim 16 inches away from the center to hit the target, basically one full target width from the center. I did not respect that hold enough and tried to hit the middle two targets, ending up tagging the no-shoot. In hindsight, I should have focused only on the two end targets and the final bobber.

TFB: Do you have any suggestions for beginners who would like to begin with competition rifle shooting?

Joe: Take whatever rifle you have and go shoot, or borrow a rifle and go shoot. Find a local match and give it a whirl. Talk to other people there, ask questions, and try different things. In my experience, every competitive shooter I’ve ever met is happy to help someone try out the sport for the first time. If you end up liking the sport, then you can start going down the training and gear rabbit holes as deep as you like.

TFB: The Finn Sami Hautamäki seems unbeatable in the Standard division, and will even make a mess out of most competitors in Open. Is there a way to beat him and how?

Joe: Sami is an amazing shooter. Someone who could put in the time and effort, and really focused on productive training could probably catch up to him but it would definitely be tough. There is no substitute though, and you’d need to really grind to hit the times he is capable of.

TFB: Do you have any special guns in your collection? And what’s your “Holy Grail” that you really would like in your collection?

Joe: My M1 Garand is definitely a front-runner. A few of my guns have a lot of sentimental value to me like my 870 pump given to me by my parents, or the single shot .22 and single shot .410 bore given to me by my grandfather before he passed.

TFB: If you had to pick just one, which is your favorite firearm in the KelTec lineup?

Joe: Honestly I really like our P17, the little $200 plinker .22LR pistol. They’re just so fun to shoot and so cheap you can’t beat them.

TFB: The IPSC Rimfire and PCC World Shoot is up in 2025. Are you going to be there? What’s your next big competition?

Joe: I am not planning on the Rimfire/PCC World Shoot at the moment but will give it some thought. I’m not sure what’ll be next for me but almost certainly a 3-Gun major match here in the States. The Texas 3-Gun Championship and the Rocky Mountain 3-Gun are the highlights of my year shooting-wise. Some local boys here in Florida are putting on their first 7-stage 3-Gun major in January, which I am definitely looking forward to.

TFB: There’s a huge gap between shooting IPSC Rifle in Open division, where almost anything is allowed, and Standard division where you’re bound to iron sights and no bipod. How do you think IPSC could develop this in the future?

Joe: I’ve shot the Limited/Irons divisions for a long time. Before running the iron sights I competed in the USPSA/Outlaw 3-Gun Limited division which allows iron sights, a red dot, or a 1x optic. I ran a Vortex Spitfire 1x Prismatic until I started preparing for shooting Standard division for the 2019 IPSC Rifle World Shoot. IPSC requires iron sights only, whereas most matches in the United States started allowing red dots and 1x scopes a good while back. I do enjoy the challenge of running the irons, but IPSC could definitely look at adding more divisions to their rifle ruleset.

Currently, it is “Open” where anything goes but you need all the gear to be competitive, or “Standard” which is irons only and no support past that which can be a little daunting for newer shooters. I can understand not wanting to add a lot of random divisions, but it might bring in some more people and add a little more variety.

TFB: Please tell us about your sponsors and how they help you?

Joe: KelTec has been incredibly supportive since I started working there 10 years ago. I’ve been shooting for them for almost that long, probably about 8 years. It’s great that we’ve got the shooting team, which allows us to go out and show people what the guns can do. KelTec is also very supportive of matches around the country.

Vortex Optics has been a great supporter of shooting sports as well, and the KelTec Shooting Team – with the exception of my iron sights – runs Vortex on all our firearms. They have a wide variety of scopes and optics for every level of shooter. The people at Vortex are also top notch, and we love working with them.

Magpul is also a fantastic supporter of shooting sports and the KelTec Shooting Team. Their products and backing make a real difference and their commitment to the shooting community is greatly appreciated.

For more TFB Interviews please check some of the previous ones:

TFB Interview: Raine Peltokoski – World Champion Senior – IPSC TFB Interview: Kyle Litzie – World Champion – IPSC Rifle World Shoot 2024 TFB Interview: Eirik Larsen (Team HK) – IPSC Rifle World Shoot 2024 TFB Interview: Keith Garcia – IPSC Rifle World Shoot 2024 TFB Interview: IPSC Shooter – Teemu Rintala (2016) TFB Report: IPSC Rifle World Shoot III – 2024