The KelTec PR-5.7
The Compact Lightweight Concealed Carry Pocket Rifle
The KelTec PR-5.7 is quite likely the lightest, most capable concealed carry gun available today.
The KelTec PR-5.7 is a shockingly different smoke pole. In a world wherein somebody’s new frame stippling or atypical hue on the same old Browning-inspired, short-recoil combat pistol is adequate to induce the vapors in the collective gun press, the PR-5.7 represents a transformative departure from convention. Where literally every other modern tactical handgun on Planet Earth feeds from a box magazine inserted into the grip, the new PR-5.7 just, well, doesn’t.
There’s a history here. Starting back in the early 1980s with the open-bolt Interdynamic AB KG9, George Kellgren’s motley mob of gun-bodging geniuses has consistently contrived weapons that were reliably outside the norm. KelTec, his Florida company, churns out what are hands-down the most innovative firearms in the industry. There are guns that fold and rimfire pistols with flush-fitting 30-round magazines. They offer compact battle rifles that eject forward and twin-magazine bullpup shotguns packing a zillion rounds onboard. And now there’s this thing …
You load the PR-5.7 from the top using these two reusable 10-round polymer stripper clips.
Details
The PR-5.7 is chambered for 5.7x28mm and ignites via an enclosed hammer for a delightfully smooth, light and consistent trigger experience. You hold it in your hand and bullets come out the scary end. However, that’s about the only thing that is normal or predictable about this gun.
The PR-5.7 sports a polymer frame and steel slide. The gun accepts a micro red dot as well as a rail-mounted light. Its action is simply mesmerizing.
The rotating barrel and slide lock via the neatest cam-driven, star-shaped lug system built into the muzzle end. I’ve been squeezing triggers for fun and money since I was six, and I’ve never encountered anything quite like this. Additionally, the gun weighs less than 14 oz. empty.
Let that sink in. The PR-5.7 weighs about the same as two standard adult hamsters. That’s about a third the weight of a standard M1911. This thing makes a Walther PPK seem obese by comparison. Compared to more conventional carry pistols, the PR-5.7 feels like it might just float away. However, all that pales in comparison with how you load it.
The PR-5.7 feeds from an integral, non-removable 20-round magazine that charges from the top via stripper clips. Think M1 Garand or Kar 98k. The gun comes with two reusable 10-round strippers and a little thumb pusher thing to accelerate the process. Because the magazine is built into the frame, there is no magazine release or mag body. That’s one of the reasons that this thing is so anorexic. The end result is a low-cost, high-velocity, minimalist concealed carry gun for the masses. The PR-5.7 will absolutely ruin you to heavy, bulky carry guns. It feels positively weightless by comparison.
To disassemble the PR57, you simply press the trigger forward and
remove the slide. This is one radically innovative combat pistol.
There are lots of different loads available for the 5.7x28mm these days.
Old And New
To fully comprehend how different this gun is compared to more modern fare, we need to roll the wayback meter to the late 19th century. Fidel, Friedrich and Josef Federle worked at Waffenfabrik Mauser in Oberndorf, Germany, crafting the first prototype of what would eventually become the C96 Mauser. C96 stood for Construktion. I have no idea the significance of that term. This groundbreaking pistol fired 7.63x25mm ammunition via an integral 10-round magazine that fed from the top. For its time, the C96 was unnaturally sleek, fast and powerful.
Chinese warlords called the gun the “Box Cannon.” The Irish christened the weapon “Peter the Painter.” Everyone else on the planet referred to it as the “Broomhandle” after its distinctive round grip.
There were scads of variations in at least seven different chamberings. Charging the Broomhandle from the top via strippers was markedly faster than the reloading protocols of other competing designs. Some 1.1 million copies were produced both legally and not. Now the PR-5.7 brings that same Broomhandle magic into the Information Age.
The PR-5.7 is quite compact when compared to its competition.
How freaking cool is this? The PR-5.7 locks via this star-shaped system at the muzzle.
The only external switch is a slide lock used solely for loading.
Practical Tactical
Feeding the new PR-5.7 is indeed reliably different. Lock the slide to the rear and then seat a loaded 10-round stripper in the top. Push the top of the round stack, and the cartridges snap readily in place. You then remove the empty stripper and save it for later. Repeat this process to top the gun off with a full 20 rounds. There’s no way to do that really fast. However, now you have a tiny, lightweight, concealed carry pistol with a full 20 rounds on tap.
The FBI claims that most close-quarters gunfights are resolved within three to five rounds. There is a somewhat antiquated “Rule of Threes” that is yet still bantered about in enlightened gun nerd circles. That refers to three shots in three seconds at three yards. With the PR57, you could do that half a dozen times and still have two shots to spare.
Some serious gunmen might poo-poo the diminutive 5.7x28mm round as a fight stopper. However, Army psychiatrist-cum-professional psychopath Major Nidal Hasan used a 5.7x28mm pistol to murder 13 of his fellow soldiers in cold blood back in 2009 at Fort Hood, Texas. I suspect anyone who might doubt the effectiveness of this zippy little lightweight round has never been shot with 20 of them. Fiocchi 40-grain polymer-tipped bullets break 1,700 fps at the muzzle.
Lightweight, compact and radically different, the KelTec PR-5.7 redefines the concealed carry pistol.
George Kellgren’s company, KelTec, has a long and illustrious history of producing incredibly innovative firearms.
Um, yeah. Twelve meters off a simple rest. The PR-5.7 shoots like a laser.
Trigger Time
Oh my. The PR-5.7 runs like an ape after an apple. Recoil is not real, and the hammer-fired trigger is positively diaphanous. It takes no serious talent to keep all 20 rounds on a juice can lid at typical CQB (close quarters battle) ranges.
Break-in took about a box of ammo, then it ran like a sewing machine. Double taps quickly became triple taps. The PR-5.7 shot like a laser and felt like a souped-up rimfire. Water-filled Coke cans explode like hand grenades downrange.
It’s weird not having any switches to manage. The little lever on the left is a slide lock to aid in loading, but that’s it. Just charge the gun in advance and then don’t sweat the details. This is the classic point-and-click interface. Draw the weapon, orient it toward something you dislike, and squeeze. Repeat as necessary.
The fastest magazine change is the one you don’t have to make. In a world where concealed carry guns might pack 15 or more rounds onboard, the PR-5.7 eclipses all of them in a trim package that weighs about nothing. Despite its prodigious capacity, the diminutive caliber and unconventional design synergistically conspire to keep things svelte, trim, lightweight and packable.
I found the PR-5.7 to be unnaturally straight-shooting. It’s also simply great fun. If somebody gifted you with a tractor load of 5.7 ammo and a PR-5.7, you’d likely linger on the range until you starved to death.
You wouldn’t want to be recharging your PR-5.7 under fire, but it’s
still not terribly hard. If you can’t solve your problems with 20 rounds
of on-tap 5.7x28mm ammunition, perhaps you should find yourself
some new problems.
This beast of a 5.7x28mm cartridge from Elite Ammunition fires
a needle-pointed penetrator made from hardened copper. It looks
and acts like a miniature sabot penetrator from an Abrams tank.
Ruminations
In the last 125 years, tech has veritably exploded. A revolution in engineering, materials science and microelectronics has transformed modern life. However, across all of that technological advancement, handguns still remained about the same. Frame materials evolved and capacities grew predictably larger, but the concept didn’t much budge. And then the PR-5.7 happened.
The new KelTec PR-5.7 takes a time-proven 19th-century concept and redefines it beautifully for the Information Age. I am smitten with mine. I’m also completely comfortable using the PR-5.7 as my standard defensive handgun. The KelTec PR-5.7 is yesterday’s high-tech security tool transformed for tomorrow. The MSRP is only $399.
For more info: KelTecWeapons.com
