Gadgets have always fascinated me. From a magnetic device that holds a finishing nail so you don’t bash your finger to the Ring doorbell/camera, I’m a fan of things that allow us to do our thing more efficiently.

With that admission on the record, I’ve assiduously avoided conversion kits on handguns.

Granted, a stock helps you shoot better-especially under duress, but there’s nothing that improves my shooting accuracy more than the longer rifle platform. Disagree? OK. Now go shoot your handgun as accurately at 35 yards or more as accurately as a same-caliber rifle.

Unless your name’s Koenig, Miculek or Leatham, I don’t expect my theory to be disproven.

Great shooters can get great results from any gun. I’m at best a decent shooter. I need all the help possible.

That’s why a presentation by Meta Tactical at NASGW got my attention. Meta’s team is offering a carbine conversion kit (MSRP: $599.99) to “Convert Your Pistol to a Bullpup-Style Rifle.”

There are plenty of kits promising to make it as simple as “dropping your pistol into our chassis” and, viola, you have a high-speed, low-drag Personal Defense Weapon (PDW).

Meta’s Apex kit makes the same claim, but goes a significant step further toward delivering rifle-like accuracy by adding one additional piece of kit: a 16” barrel. The Apex barrel replaces the standard length barrel in your pistol. With my Gen3 Glock pistol, I simply removed the upper, pulled out my standard barrel, and slid the 16-inch Meta barrel in its place.

Meta Tactical’s Apex kit includes one significant item that differentiates it from other kids: a 16-inch barrel.

With the new barrel in place, the rest of the process really is alarmingly simple: open up the chassis, slide in your pistol, close it up, pop in the pin to the surprisingly-smooth trigger extension, and suddenly you have a bullpup rifle.

How simple is assembly? Very. Open the rear of the bullpup chassis, insert your pistol, button it up, add sights and you’re ready to go.

Once the super-simple assembly process is complete, you have a bullpup rifle. The kit comes with both a thread protector and a muzzle device (yes, the barrel’s threaded). This bullpup has a stock with an adjustable length of pull, 35-slot aluminum Picatinny rail, ambidextrous controls and a built-in QD for a sling.

There are no sights included, but I took one look at the completed kit and realized I had the perfect optic ready-to-go: the Mepro RDS. It didn’t take up much real estate atop the rifle, has a large display window and gives a shooter the ability to quietly put accurate fire onto a target with both eyes open. The both-eyes-open ability seemed to be in perfect keeping with the idea of a bullpup rifle in 9mm. For me, 9mm says “personal defense” or target practice, not all-around rifle.

With the Mepro-RDS mounted, the Meta Apex is still thin and maneuverable.

Meta Tactical tells me they have new kits coming in .45, .40, and 10mm. One of these bullpup rifles in 10mm would change my thinking as far as being capable for harvesting game. No, I’m not saying you can’t kill animals with the .45 or 40 calibers, I’m simply admitting that I don’t have enough confidence in my shooting skills to try those kinds of shots. My goal when hunting is always the same: one-well-placed shot for a quick, humane harvest. If I can’t make that shot, I don’t take that shot.

Today, META offers their Apex kits for Glocks (various models from the G17 - G-27 are shown as “shipping now” on their website, others (G34/35 are showing as “shipping November”), P80 (shipping 940 V2 units in 9mm. .40, .45 and 10mm) , Smith & Wesson M&P (various lengths of Gen 2 models) and Palmetto State Armory’s Dagger pistols. Their website’s FAQ says “future kits” will be coming for SIG Sauer and Springfield pistols.

There are several accessory kits available, from M-LOK Picatinny Accessory Rails ($29.99) to an Apex Cheek Riser ($29.99) and a “spare magazine vertical foregrip in your selected caliber ($49.99).

If there’s a shooter on your shopping list that might enjoy “something different” in their shooting experience, the META Tactical conversion kit could be a solid option. It works- and it’s fun to shoot.

So, the ultimate question finally gets an answer: how does it shoot? Without any technical hoo-hah, my single range session produced better-than-decent groups at 35 yards with little effort whatsoever- standing. From a rest, it was more than capable of producing 2.5-inch groups at 35 yards. When shooting rapid-fire (for me), the bullpup produced very little muzzle rise, hardly moved on the target and made 2-3 shot “bursts” simple.

For me, that’s enough to change my considering it a “shooting toy” to a viable tool. There’s a significant difference.

As always, we’ll keep you posted.

— Jim Shepherd