T65K2 From First Taiwan Visit, 2024

In May of 2024 we visited Taiwan in order to meet some of our vendors in person and tour their factories. Some of the factories that we toured provide a lot of the parts, particularly the furniture for Taiwanese standard infantry firearms, including the T65K2 (which we understand is still in service in second-tier units), the T91 and now the T112.

Here is a picture of a T65K2 that we examined while we were in the board room of one of the factories in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Note that it takes a lot of design notes from the M16A2, but the carry handle has the unusual provision for mounting a scope on it. Also note that there is no forward assist, as the designers did not believe it was necessary for this gas-piston upper.

Finally, if you look closely at the picture you can see some other parts on the boardroom table, including a full-auto T91 lower in the white. It’s always jarring to go to other countries that have completely different gun laws. Full-auto lowers are not controlled items in Taiwan, so in several meetings we had in Taiwan, they were just haphazardly displayed, laying around the meeting rooms. 

Civilian gun ownership is almost impossible in Taiwan, it has some of the strictest gun laws in the world. My understanding of Taiwanese gun laws is that the pressure-bearing components (barrel, bolt, etc..) are the tightly-controlled items. The rules actually seemed surprisingly complicated when our vendors tried to explain them to me.