Thanks to a number of factors, the “black rifle” world has simply exploded in the last decade. Where a single manufacturer once dominated the world of the AR, today the consumer has dozens of companies large and small producing rifles and carbines based on the original AR15 platform. DPMS Firearms is one of the nation’s top manufacturers of rifles, carbines and accessories.

Recently I was able to visit with Dustin Emholtz of DPMS during a weekend-long industry outing. Emholtz had brought out numerous DPMS firearms for us to test and evaluate. The model that drew the most attention from the crowd was the customized “Kitty-Kat” carbine.

I don’t know who said that big things often come in small packages, but this little carbine packs plenty of big boy features. Specifically, this gun is listed as the DPMS Model “RFA2-KIT,” but it is more fondly known as the Kitty-Kat. The particular firearm featured here is an upgraded or “tricked out” version of that model.