Last week KelTec raised eyebrows by announcing a new 5.7×28 pistol that loads via stripper clips. The new PR57 has since come in for lots of ridicule for its magazine-less design. So despite frigid temperatures and gale-force winds, we were anxious to get to SHOT Show’s range day and get a closer look at one.
That’s right, the PR57 has a 20-round fixed internal magazine.
That means you can load it with a couple of 10-round stripper clips.
You can also load it one round at a time. It’s the loading method that provoked all sorts of ridicule and righteous indignation among those in the gunosphere since KelTec announced it. None of those keyboard commandos, however, had shot the thing.
The PR57 has a long-ish, but incredibly smooth trigger pull. Its rotating barrel design minimizes recoil despite the pistol’s ultra-light weight (13.9 ounces). Its slim silhouette and small-ish form factor will make it very easy to conceal.
All of the criticism that’s been hurled at the gun was, as you’d expect, due to its allegedly antiquated loading method. But come on…how many of you actually carry an extra magazine every day? The PR57 gives you 20+1 rounds of high velocity 5.7 ammo in a surprisingly fun to shoot package that’s very light and ideal for EDC. And there’s nothing stopping you from dropping a clip or two in your pocket just in case.
I’ve only put a few rounds through the gun at the range, so a full review is still needed. Clearing a malf might be adventure as there’s nothing to tap in a tap-rack-bang failure drill situation. That said, the PR57 is a hell of a lot of fun to shoot. It has a fantastic trigger, easy to EDC, and gives you more rounds on board than anything you’re carrying now. So no, I don’t feel bad about liking it. And if you shoot one, I’d guess you’ll come away liking it, too.
Curious to know what the procedures would be to clear “malfs” (type 1, 2, and especially 3). But regarding the argument in favor of carrying it as an EDC sans an extra mag due to its design, I’d imagine if more than 21 rds are needed, it’s already a bad situation…
all defense situations are a bad situation.
defense situations are not always the ‘cut-n-dried’ scenarios people imagine they will always be.
I learned that the hard way, and came within 3 rounds left of both my wife and I being killed. I thought like most that I would never use more than one 15 round magazine and then only maybe a few rounds from that. But a few days before the incident I had decided to carry three 15 round mags instead of the two I did carry, and I carried two (one in gun and one on belt) then because it was recommended I do by a police officer due to the, at the time, a few incidents that had happened where police were out gunned simply by the bad guys having more ammo than police in the area normally carry individually but thankfully none of them were injured or killed. So this officer recommended I carry at least two magazines (or more if I could) so I did two magazines (one in gun and one on belt).
But, an incident happened in the area a few weeks later after that recommendation and I moved to three 15 round magazines not knowing that only a few days later I would need them. Some of the six shot revolver guys in our local gun-community chided me a little about the three magazines…”Awwww, ya gonna go to war?” they snarked…”Ya will never fire more than a couple of rounds, there was this study….” they said without realizing the ‘study’ was bogus and faked… “Look son, all I need is six shots and I’ll never need any more than that.” said one that a couple of weeks later had to fire all six shots and when it went ‘click’ and no time to reload with the proximity of the other two bad guys not hit who moved in and stabbed him (he lived, barely).
I had already had some defense incidents in my life by this time and had not fired very many rounds, certainly not a whole magazine and in a couple I didn’t fire any as brandishing did the trick and they ran off. But after those in the back of my mind there was always that ‘after action review’ thing that went on, the ‘lessons learned’ thing, the ‘what if’… and among that was ‘what if I did need more ammo?’
So it came to pass that the day of the incident, to save my wife from two very bad guys one armed with a gun and the other a knife, the incident that taught me a hard lesson; I happen to have had three 15 round magazines (one in gun and two on belt). I’ve related the incident before …. but by the time this very fluid and unexpected incident was over, even after putting several .40 S&W rounds in each of the bad guys the one with the gun was still firing at me as I advanced to rescue my wife, I had gone through all three magazines and had 3 rounds left and the last bad guy still had several fully loaded magazines left when he finally went down.
It was the ‘taught and learned skills’ I had gotten from the retired navy seal who taught the ‘tactical defense’ class at the local range that came into play, something I thought I would never use but might be good to know and the course was free so why not – that got me moving and able to advance those 30’ish yards under fire and put rounds in the bad guys when they showed parts of their self from behind their cover and keep them away from my wife who was trapped by this time between them but still unable to flee with them being able to reach her easily. I was, I admit, scared the whole way but my wife needed to be rescued from what was going to be certain death for her and I could not fail her even if it meant me being killed in the process. But even with those skills, without the ammo I would have failed and my wife and I would have been killed that day. It was only the ammo I fired that kept them from reaching her.
911 had been called by a bystander but it would be several minutes before the sheriff deputies arrived, there was no ‘just call 911’ or ‘run away’ like the anti-gun people imagine in their delusions as they try to disarm us law abiding citizens. One bad guy with the knife was already finally down after being hit several times, the second bad guy with the gun although hit several times and badly wounded was still up and firing. I finally got within a few yards of him fully exposed and fire my final rounds that put him down. After, in my third 15 round mag, the one in my gun when he finally went down, I had three rounds left. I had gone through three magazines, and had three rounds left in the third magazine. Had I not been able to advance enough to fully expose the guy and had to fire those last three rounds without him going down or even missed with all the movement that was going on my wife and I would have died that day.
Around 30 seconds after the last bad guy went down the sheriff rolls up. I could not hear anything really, I was exhausted, and I was not going to pull my wife away from the one bad guy she was kicking and stomping on and cussing at (the one with the knife, he was paralyzed by the rounds I had put in his lower back when he turned and tried to move to where my wife was trapped, badly wounded but still alive). The sheriffs deputy had to pull her off him, she would have ended up kicking him to death probably had they not done that. Today, I still can not hear certain sounds clearly as I once could before that incident. The very last thing I remember hearing clearly was when my wife was first grabbed by them and fighting to get away, she saw me coming and they had not yet at that point and she screamed at them “He’s gonna kill you sons a bitches!”, that’s when they saw me coming and that distraction enabled her to break free of their grasp and she ran but unfortunately the only way she could run was into an area that gave her cover but ended up trapping her where they could have still reached her.
So, this was a rare incident or it wasn’t a rare incident in terms of ammo. In some ways it was rare, but at the same time it wasn’t rare in today’s world for ammo as there are many incidents where people have had to use multiple magazines to stop the threat. But never ever think ‘I’ll never need more than a few rounds.” or “I’ll never need more than one magazine”. I learned my lesson that day. After that I moved to EDC six 15 round magazines, then with a change in gun after retiring that trusty Glock 22 I used that day, I now EDC six 17 round magazines. And those revolver guys who chided me for carrying three mags have moved to a semi-auto and carry three or four 15, some 17, round mags now for EDC.
All defense situations are a bad situation. Defense situations are not always the ‘cut-n-dried’ scenarios people imagine they will always be. Plan for what can be, not what others think or say.
An extra magazine already loaded for 20+1? I’d carry it!
20 rounds is a lot of “Stop that!”
How fast can you clear a malf? How fast to reload? I already know how to do that with a regular semiauto.
This might be very interesting as a range toy; but I don’t think I’d carry it in favor of, say, an M&P or PSA 5.7, if that was the round I was determined to carry.
No one of consequence,
20 rounds is a lot of “Stop that!”
Now that, sir or ma’am, gave me a nice chuckle this morning!
I REALLY like the idea of this new Kel-Tec PR57 semi-auto handgun A LOT.
My biggest reason for liking it: its internal magazine means that there is no removable magazine to somehow disengage itself and render the pistol useless. I carried two micro-compact semi-auto pistols almost every day last summer in a pocket holster in each of my cargo shorts’ front pockets: about once a week I would take them out at the end of the day and the magazine was no longer engaged in one or both of those pistols. Similarly, I have even had the magazine disengage in my full-size semi-auto pistol which I carry in a holster on my strong side hip (inside belt, outside waistband) on multiple occasions. Needless to say, it is a huge liability if the magazine disengages in a semi-auto pistol. That liability is NOT a possibility with this Kel-Tec pistol.
My second reason for liking this pistol: it is chambered in FN Five-seveN which is supposed to have enough muzzle velocity to penetrate Level II and Level IIA ballistic resistant vests. That could be very helpful if a criminal attacker manages to don a ballistic vest before attacking since my “everyday carry” pistol chambered in .40 S&W will NOT penetrate Level II nor Level IIA ballistic vests.
My third reason for liking this pistol: it is incredibly light-weight which makes carrying more comfortable–and yet it still has a capacity of 20 cartridges which is enough capacity for most engagements.
The only “ding” on this design is that you cannot reload it quickly. And in that regard, it is priced low enough that you could potentially afford to purchase two of them and carry two at all times–thus having a capacity of 40 rounds before needing to reload AND having a backup gun.
“I carried two micro-compact semi-auto pistols almost every day last summer in a pocket holster in each of my cargo shorts’ front pockets: about once a week I would take them out at the end of the day and the magazine was no longer engaged in one or both of those pistols. Similarly, I have even had the magazine disengage in my full-size semi-auto pistol which I carry in a holster on my strong side hip (inside belt, outside waistband) on multiple occasions.”
How do you do that? I mean, I’ve been carrying every day now for 28 years and never once have I had a magazine “disengage” unless I specifically and intentionally did it and I don’t know of any one else its happened to either. So how does this happen for you for both your micro-compact pocket and for a full sized in holster on your “strong side hip (inside belt, outside waistband)”?
it has happened to me as well a few times. leaning against the bar too hard i suspect. this can take an ambi safety off as well. don’t lean against the bar.
it has always been in the 4oclock iwb though, never the front pocket horsehide.
.40 cal Booger,
I wish I knew how/why the magazines were disengaging.
The only thing that I can think of is that my holsters are super thick nylon fabric which could, in theory, enable a very hard object to depress that thick nylon fabric enough to push the magazine release button.
It happened far more often to the pistol that I carried in my left front pocket–which exposes the magazine release button to exterior objects pressing in toward my body. The pistol in my right front pocket positions the magazine release button against my body which should not possibly be able to depress the release button, although it did seem to happen at least once or twice.
For reference I did not carry anything else in my pockets that could have pressed against the magazine release buttons within my pocket holsters.
I am at a loss to explain it.