Background
As far as gun operating systems go, the Kriss Vector is still a relative baby in the world of firearm designs. The original patent was filed in 2003 by Gamma KDG Systems SA with the listed inventors Jan Henrik Jebsen and Renaud Kerbrat. This was finally granted in 2007 as U.S. patent number 7,201,094 B2.
The patent made 50 unique claims across 19 sketches that detailed a firearm designed to solve one of the most vexing issues for any machine gun: recoil control. This was accomplished by what was then an experimental operating system that used an articulating bolt and recoil assembly that reciprocated backwards and down into a tracked channel in front of the trigger guard.
The new gun was coined the Kriss, after the wavy, asymmetrical blade developed centuries ago in Southeast Asia as a fighting dagger. Production of the Kriss Vector firearms began in 2009 with an original focus on submachine guns destined for law enforcement, military, and anti-terrorism organizations.
Kriss USA, previously Transformational Defense Industries, became the owner and manufacturer of the Vector firearms. These grew to include consumer-friendly semi-auto pistol and rifle variants with the current common calibers including .22 LR, 9mm, .40 S&W, .45 ACP, and 10mm.
Specs & Features
Kriss’ Super V Recoil Mitigation System is the beating heart of the Vector CRB. It cleverly redirects the recoil energy that would normally force any firearm directly back into the shooter. This is done via an articulated bolt head connected to an inertia block.
Upon firing, the force of the recoil drives the bolt and inertia block backward and down into a channel in front of the trigger guard. This effectively breaks the inertia's direction of travel, which would normally be directly backward, and drives it in an opposite direction of the barrel’s axis. It’s essentially a blowback shield that protects the shooter from recoil.
This recoil system combines with a very low bore access that rests in line with the trigger and the top of a shooter’s hand. That creates a firearm that uses its own recoil to fight both muzzle climb and the felt recoil experienced by the shooter.
Kriss also decked the Vector CRB out with a bunch of user-friendly features. There’s 14.75 inches of Picatinny rail up top for optics and an additional 3.25 inches at the bottom front for lights, lasers, and forward grips.
The non-reciprocating charging handle folds into the gun when not in use, and the ambidextrous safeties on the CRB Gen 2 have a 45-degree throw to keep them from interfering with your shooting hand. There’s an AR-like bolt release/lock on the left side of the gun, and the magazine release is conveniently located at the front of the frame in line with where your thumb would be when changing mags.
The Gen 2 models come with Kriss-branded polymer adjustable backup iron sights. As a rifle, the gun is required to have a barrel that is at least 16 inches long, and Kriss covered this with a mock suppressor that doubles as a heat shield. Kriss kept the gun modular by incorporating an AR-style buffer tube at the rear to accommodate various collapsible stocks.
Here’s a quick look at the basic specs for this Kriss Vector CRB Gen 2:
- Weight: 8 pounds
- Length (Extended): 38.25 inches
- Length (Collapsed): 35.25 inches
- Barrel Length: 16 inches
- Height: 6.31 inches
- Width: 2.26 inches
- Max LOP: 15.31 inches
- Min LOP: 12.38 inches
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Trigger Pull: 6.25 inches
The trigger has a total travel of 0.35 inches. The first 0.2 inches are a light springy take-up. That is followed by a wall that has a smooth – rather than mushy – 0.15 inches of travel to the break. The positive and audible reset is a mere 0.15 inches, making it easy to run the CRB as fast as you can pull the trigger.
Takedown is simple with the removal of three retaining pins that connect the upper to the lower. A fourth pin holds the articulated bolt and inertia block in place. These slide out from the bottom of the lower receiver for easy field stripping and cleaning.
This CRB came equipped with a reversible side sling swivel and a quick-detach mount on the collapsible stock. There’s also a storage compartment built into the pistol grip. Finally, and very significantly, this gun was designed to run on Glock-style magazines, which is a brilliant decision for high-volume shooters.
Range Testing
I would have preferred to test the Kriss Vector design with its more classic .45 ACP chambering, but that just wasn’t in the cards. Regardless, I can attest to the low felt recoil achieved by the Super V Recoil Mitigation System even in the lighter 9mm chambering. It’s a very pleasant gun to shoot, and the low bore access leaves the gun with barely any muzzle climb.
The gun is rather bulky, and it’s 8-pound weight is notable for a pistol-caliber carbine. That weight is nearly all in front of the pistol grip, which makes this carbine and its awkwardly long barrel/mock suppressor unwieldy with just one hand.
However, that all changes once you get your support hand on the gun. This puts the bulk of the weight between your support and shooting hand, making the gun incredibly easy to maneuver and downright pleasing to shoot fast.
Alas, my last range trip to gather targets ended with a windstorm that made accurate target testing impossible. With that said, I now have several months of testing across 600 rounds of various brands of 9mm ammunition. Hitting a 5-inch circle at 50 yards is hardly a daunting challenge from a standing shooting position.
Extreme sub-MOA precision always eluded me on my range trips, even when shooting from a sandbag. That’s a level of precision I would all but expect from an AR-15 platform, but I guess you get what you get with pistol caliber carbines.
As for reliability, I had zero issues over the course of my testing with both brass and steel-cased ammo. That included 150 rounds of each of the following: Range Dynamics 115-grain FMJ, Remington Range 115-grain FMJ, Federal 115-grain FMJ, and steel-cased Winchester USA Forged 115-grain FMJ.
I thoroughly enjoyed the gun on the range. My biggest complaint is more of an angry commentary on ATF regulations for short-barreled rifles, because this gun just begs to have a short barrel. The mock 16-inch suppressor/heat shield over the barrel looks … fine … but the gun would be infinitely more attractive with a shorter barrel.
Pros & Cons
Here’s my short list for the pros and cons of the Kriss Vector CRB Gen 2:
Pros:
- Very low recoil
- Extremely innovative design
- Easy to clean and maintain
- Very reliable
- Relatively accurate at intermediate ranges
- Plenty of Pic rail space
- Non-reciprocating, folding charging handle
- Ambi 45-degree safety
- Nice trigger
- Adjustable stock with AR-style buffer tube
- Uses Glock mags
- Great balance and feel
Cons:
- Awkwardly long barrel with mock suppressor
- Relatively pricey for a 9mm carbine
- Heavier and bulkier than many 9mm carbines
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I would have preferred the folding-stock model
Final Thoughts
The Kriss Vector line of CRB rifles are more than mechanically interesting guns. These babies can shoot fast and flat. That’s what you get when you combine cutting edge recoil control designed for submachine guns with a pistol-caliber carbine.
Available in various pistol and rifle configurations and color schemes, there’s bound to be a futuristic-looking Kriss Vector that catches your eye. If it’s inside your price range, they make for fantastic tactical shooters and plinkers even in the long-barrel CRB variants.
