The name Kidon may not mean much to those of us outside of Israel. However, in Hebrew Kidon means bayonet or tip of the spear, and more than that Kidon is a department of the Mossad. Specifically, Kidon is the branch of the Mossad in charge of executions of opponents. It’s one helluva name for IMI Defense’s pistol to carbine conversion kit. I love these pistol to carbine conversion style kits, and this particular one is quite impressive. I love the Micro Roni, the KPOS G2, and KPOS Scout, but the Kidon is genuinely different.
The Kidon is not bound to one weapon. These kits are designed around one handgun. The Kidon can be used with multiple guns with different adapters and some small adjustments to the base unit. I like my Glocks and pistol to carbine kits are widely available for them, but what about my CZ P09, my Glock, or even my 1911? Well, the Kidon can handle all of them. Swap the adapter out, make some quick adjustments and you are good to go.
What Exactly is the Kidon?
Before we dive too deep into the review, let’s take a look at what the Kidon system is. Of course its a pistol to carbine conversion kit. It’s not a proper conversion because unless you go the NFA route, you cannot equip the gun with a stock. Instead, you can attach a pistol stabilizing brace as I have. This allows you to support the weapon for comfortable shooting.
The Kidon is made mostly of polymer and features some metal reinforcements where necessary. You get an excellent long rail for adding an optic as well as two side rails for attaching accessories like flashlights.
The system comes complete with a set of folding sights, as well as an angled foregrip, and you can swap the charging to left or right-handed use.
The foregrip is very well made and very comfortable in hand. It’s angled, so it’s kosher to be on a pistol according to the ATF. This model is the IMI Defense FSG1 Front Support Grip.
The sights are also quite fantastic. They can be used in two different ways. When stood up they work as traditional iron sights. They are very AR like, but require no tools to make adjustments. The rear sight has a large and beautiful peep sight hole.
When the sights are folded, they can be used as rapid iron sights. The rear sight has two small nubs, and the front sight has a small numb, and together they function like open handgun sights.
The complete kit comes with a nice carrying case, as well as a sling, and the tools needed to make adjustments to fit different guns.
Gun Compatibility
Just to get this out of the way the Kidon is compatible with tons of guns. You just need the correct aftermarket adapter. The adapters are numbered K1 through K13. Here is the list of compatible adapters and guns.
K1: Glock 17/19/20/22/23/25/29/30/31/32/36/38 (Gen 4 & Gen 5 Compatible as well), with rails, Honor guard HG9SCLSMST / HG9SCLS
K2: CZ 75 With rails, 2075 Rami
K3: CZ 75 Duty, P-07, P-09, P-09 .22 LR,SP-01 Shadow 1 , Shadow 2, 75 01 Omega
K4: Jericho Steel Frame with Picatinny rail, Fits all lengths
K4S: Jericho Steel Frame without Picatinny rail (adapter provided), Fits all lengths
K5: Jericho Polymer frame – Fits all lengths, also fits Sig Sauer P320 X Five (front sight must be removed)
K6: Sig Sauer P226, P226 MK25, P226 Nitron, 227, 229, SP2022
K7: Sig Sauer P250, P320 (all lengths), 220 fits also Grand Power ST 380 | Q1 | XCALIBUR | K100 MK12 | P1 MK12 | P11 | K22 X-TRIM MK12 | K22 MK12 | Q100, Tanfoglio Force Police
K8: H&K P-2000 FS
K9: Beretta 92-A1, 96-A1, M9-A1
K10: Beretta PX-4, APX
K11: S&W M&P, M&P Pro 5” also fits Canik MC28 SA | MC 28 SAC | MC 28 .40SA | MC 28 SAS Glock 21/34/35/37/41
K12: Springfield XD / HS2000
K13: FN FNP9, FNX Fit 1911 (disables the rear safety)
Putting it Together
My first complaint is the lack of solid instructions. IMI Defense could undoubtedly update their instructions. I spent quite some time trying to figure the system out, and I finally reached out to their customer service. They gave me some advice, and I was rocking and rolling shortly after.
There are three primary areas you need to understand to fit your pistol correctly. The first is the rear plate. The Kidon breaks into two pieces a back and front section. The rear part is where the different adapter plates are fitted. Its a quick screw and reattachment of a plate that takes just a few minutes to swap out. You can also adjust the tension here to ensure the rear of the weapon is fitted correctly.
There are two adjustments you may need to make sure to fit your gun to the Kidon system correctly. The first is the flash suppressor, loosen the Allen screws and extend the flash suppressor forward as need be to fit the weapon.
Next, look to the charging handle. It can be extended and retracted as necessary. Do so until your gun fits.
Different guns need different adjustments so be patient and make sure the gun fits the system. I adjusted the system to my CZ P09, my RIA 22 TCM double stack 1911, and my Glock 17. This wide variety of guns all required me to make small adjustments here and there to ensure proper fit and reliable function.
On the Range
I enjoy these kits because I often upgrade and customize my handguns. The Glock wears a Suarez trigger, as well as a Suarez NPE firing pin. The trigger pull is smooth and fantastic. The CZ P09 rocks a Cajun custom internals and has a buttery smooth trigger. I can toss a handgun into a kit like this and keep those upgrades and controls I’m used to.
On the range, my favorite gun to run in the Kidon was the CZ P09. I’m biased though because it is one of my favorite handguns anyway. I like the DA/SA action to it. Running it in the Kidon was an absolute blast.
I was entirely accurate with it out to 50 yards and has issues rining my good steel popper. With man-sized targets, I could place shots in the chest, head, and pelvic area with tedious regularity. Groups were one ragged hole as I spent mag after mag of 9mm at the 10, 15, 20, and 25 yards lines.
The same goes for the Glock and RIA 22 TCM. Accuracy and effective range were multiplied significantly. I can make 50-yard shots with a handgun sure, but I can’t do it as fast and accurately as I have been doing with the Kidon. It goes from a challenge built on focus and fundamentals to something as simple as sight picture and press.
Contol is another thing the Kidon gives you over a standard pistol. You can easily control the weapon when it comes to rapid fire, much more so than a pistol. The addition of a stabilizing brace and an overall more massive package make this a sweet and easy to control system.
Ergos
Most of the ergos will be your gun’s already inherent ergonomics. I will say the placement of the side rails is perfect for a pistol light like the TLR-1 series. It’s straightforward to reach via thumb. The forward angled grip is very comfortable, and I may order a few for some other guns I have. The side charging handle is also well placed, and so far of the kits, I’ve used this is my favorite charging handle.
Reliability
Anything universal that requires fitting is going to take a little practice to ensure reliable function. Making the right adjustments is necessary to ensure the system will be reliable if you are swapping guns. I had to make a ton of tweaks between the Glock and Rock Island Armory 22 TCM.
Of the three guns I ran the only issues I ran into was with the 22 TCM and it’s ambi safeties. It should be noted that the Kidon is compatible with 1911s, but this particular 1911 is far from ordinary. It’s a double stack gun with ambi safeties. If I didn’t pull the gun in tight as I fired the slide would strike the rear plate. Also due to the bulk and ambi safeties, the RIA was tough to get in there.
The Glock 17 and CZ P09 ran flawlessly. The Kidon features a considerable ejection port the is an entirely open top design. This allows a variety of guns with a variety of ejection patterns to function without issue.
I could reach the controls on all three guns with ease and eject magazines, decock the CZ, and use the manual safety of the RIA 1911. Controls aren’t compromised in any way.
Parting Shots
The Kidon is an exciting piece of kit. It’s use of AR stocks and tubes make it easy to adapt to a non-NFA configuration as well as add accessories like folding stock adapters. The kit is well built and easy to use. The instruction manual certainly needs to be more in depth, but IMI was quick to respond to inquiries.
A kit like this could be used for a wide variety of purposes. You could take a Glock 80 lower from polymer 80, mill it out and finish the build into a unique and off the books PCC. Or you could turn a wide variety of handguns in PCC platforms, or just huge pistols, easy to stabilize guns.
The Kidon’s cost is exceeded by its value in my eyes. The ability to convert so many different guns into a more effective platform is worth it to me. Finding one of these kits for a Glock is simple, but finding one for a CZ, and a Glock, and a 1911, and a SIG P226, and, well, you get the point. It might not be for everyone, but it’s for me.
