Initially designed by Croatian manufacturer HS Produkt to fulfill a military contract, the Kuna has since arrived on U.S. shores through Springfield Armory as a semi-automatic, large-format handgun chambered for the 9 mm Luger cartridge. Watch our "American Rifleman Television: Rifleman Review" segment above to see the details.
"This Kuna is a 5-pound, five-ounce, large-format pistol, because this, the portion here which does fold, is an arm brace," American Rifleman's Brian Sheetz said. "So this is a handgun."
With a Picatinny rail at the rear of the receiver, the Springfield Armory Kuna has the ability to accept a range of arm braces available today, and users who take advantage of today's $0 NFA tax stamp can also register their Kuna as a short-barreled rifle and attach a shoulder stock. The pistol, as it arrives from the factory, is equipped with a proprietary, 30-round detachable magazine.
"You look at a large-format pistol like the Kuna and you say to yourself, 'You know, what's the role for something like this?'" Sheetz said. "And I would say that, you know, providing 30 rounds of 9 mm ammunition and providing the ability to either brace against the forearm or press out under tension against a single point sling, and with very capable sights, even if you're not running a red dot, I would say that, you know, obviously the Kuna fits into that category that we call the PDW or personal defense weapon."
Across the top of the gun is an uninterrupted length of Picatinny rail for optics, and the Kuna is outfitted with a set of folding backup sights. Controls are fully bilateral, and the charging handle can be easily swapped to either side. The pistol's 6-inch barrel is topped with a muzzle brake and is threaded 1/2-28 TPI to accept a range of standard muzzle attachments and suppressors.
"The design of the gun and the format of the gun lend themselves to, you know, relatively harsh use," Sheetz said. "I mean, it was a gun that was developed out of a Brazilian military contract. And now this semi-automatic, arm-brace-equipped, large-format pistol really stands as another example of how Springfield, I think, has done a good job of reading the market and looking for voids where perhaps there are not a lot of offerings."
To watch complete segments of past episodes of American Rifleman TV, go to americanrifleman.org/videos/artv. For all-new episodes of ARTV, tune in Wednesday nights to Outdoor Channel 8:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. EST.
