KelTec PR-57: The Ultimate Top-Loading Pistol for Everyday Carry

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The concealed-carry pistol market is vast, but the recipe for most popular carry pistols doesn’t differ all that much. Polymer frame? Check. Striker-fired? Yep. Chambered in 9mm or .380 with a double-digit capacity? It should be. Sure, there are variations within the market, but most are minor.

KelTec has a way of defying traditional gunmaking mores—keeping the firearms industry on its toes and making gun writers happy. Case in point: the new KelTec PR-5.7, a lightweight, compact concealed-carry pistol that breaks all the rules and, in the process, creates a whole new gun that’s affordable, fun to shoot and surprisingly practical.

At first glance the PR-5.7, which is manufactured at KelTec’s new facility in Rock Springs, Wyoming, looks slightly different than your average carry gun. For starters, the slide is cylindrical like a Ruger Mark IV. But things get even weirder when you study the pistol closely. There are eight small cutouts at the front of the muzzle, surrounding the barrel.

What’s with the weird geometry? Well, the KelTec is chambered in 5.7x28 and employs a rotary barrel design. That’s because a high-pressure cartridge like the 5.7 doesn’t play well with the traditional pistol operating system, which was designed around the 9mm and similar cartridges. The rotary barrel design allows pressure to drop before cycling occurs. But it’s not unique to KelTec’s PR-5.7. The Smith & Wesson M&P 5.7 also uses a rotating barrel.

The Setup

KelTec’s setup is unique, though. Following ignition, the slide and barrel move back in unison a short distance before a camming system rotates the barrel counterclockwise via a boss-and-trunnion system. This disengages the eight forward barrel lugs and allows the slide to continue rearward for cycling. Tandem recoil springs situated just below the four-inch barrel manage the movement.

It’s a clever design that works reliably when properly executed, and most importantly it’s safe. But the system offers another important advantage: It’s lighter than the traditional operating system in locked-breech, recoil-operated pistols. The PR-5.7 weighs just 14 ounces unloaded. That’s roughly the same as my .380 pocket pistol and 10 ounces lighter than other 5.7 pistols.

The PR-5.7 is considerably smaller than other 5.7x28 pistols, too—the Ruger and Smith & Wesson versions, for example. Those measure 8.5 inches long or longer, while the KelTec is just 7.2 inches. At its widest point the KelTec measures right at an inch—0.1 inch slimmer than the Smith & Wesson and 0.2 inch less than the Ruger.

The cylindrical receiver is machined from a 4140 steel rod, and grooves cut fore and aft on the cylinder take the place of traditional slide cuts and work just as well. There’s a cutout in the side of the slide to accommodate the external extractor.

Design and Features

KelTec includes an optic plate on the Shield RMSc footprint that mounts to the top of the slide in case you’d like to add an optic. Many shooters will opt to do that because the iron sights with three white rectangles are pretty basic. However, I do like the low-profile design of the open sights; they stay out of the way and don’t snag on clothing or gear.

The rotating barrel design is clever, but the real surprise occurs when you begin looking for the magazine release button. There isn’t one. The KelTec uses a 20-round internal magazine that is loaded by—if you’re ready for this—10-round stripper clips. It’s not only unusual, it also saves weight by eliminating a detachable magazine.

The PR-5.7 has a capacity of 20+1 total—if you finagle a round into the chamber and fill the internal magazine—and some shooters have reported being able to stuff in 21 rounds without loading the chamber. You can also top-load the pistol if you forget or lose the clips. Stacking bottleneck cartridges through the receiver felt more like loading a Remington 700 BDL rifle than a semiauto pistol.

It took some time to figure out how best to operate the included pair of 10-round clips. After stuffing the clips full, hold the plunger up and maneuver the base of the clip through the receiver opening until the bottom round rests on top of the internal magazine follower. Then press down with one firm, continuous push, and the rounds seem to magically orient themselves in a double-stack fashion.

Clever System, But Slower

There’s a great deal of ratcheting and fumbling the first few times you execute this maneuver, but you’ll quickly learn to run clips into the magazine smoothly. It’s less fatiguing on the hands than loading traditional magazines, and you can also show up the know-it-all on the range who chides you for using the word “clip.”

While it’s a clever system, it’s not as fast as swapping out a detachable magazine. Then again, with 21 rounds on tap, unless you’re in an extended firefight you likely won’t have to reload in a hurry anyway. However, you do have to manually cycle the action to dump any live rounds remaining in the internal magazine. You can do this fairly fast, but it’s much less efficient than simply dropping an external mag.

The bottom of the grip is removable in case you need to repair or replace the magazine’s internal spring. There’s also a window cutout on either side of the grip bottom that indicates when the magazine has reached its full 20-round capacity.

The grip measures just 0.9 inch wide and is made from polymer. The squared-off “gator grip” texture that has become a KelTec trademark is the antithesis of the wraparound micro-texturing seen on many pistols today. While it might look cheap, it works, and I like it.

Frame and Trigger

The PR-5.7 has a large trigger guard. The metal double-action trigger lacks a safety blade, and because of the internal hammer-fired design there’s substantial trigger travel. The trigger is not, however, overly heavy; break weight averaged just 4.25 pounds. While long, the pull is smooth and even. Trigger reset is also longer than on most striker-fired pistols.

The lightweight polymer frame encloses a serialized internal steel chassis. There’s a bit of trigger undercut on the frame, and a sufficient beavertail that keeps your hand high up on the gun and prevents the sting of slide bite. There’s also a single-slot rail up front in case you’d like to add a light or other accessory.

KelTec touts this as one of the simplest pistols to disassemble, and the company isn’t wrong. To remove the slide, first ensure the gun is unloaded and simply move the trigger forward. Doing so releases the slide, which can then be removed. The dual recoil springs come out next—as one unit, thankfully—and then you can pull the trunnion from the base of the barrel.

Remove the barrel, and you’ve field-stripped the pistol. Reassembly is only slightly more difficult because it requires depressing the slide stop and pressing the trigger forward to lock the slide back into place, but you don’t need to be a mechanical engineer to handle this.

Testing and Results

I tested the pistol with a Burris FastFire C optic in place and found that it was much more useful than the white-dash open sights. At 25 yards from a fixed rest, the KelTec managed five-shot groups from roughly three to five inches, which is suitable for self-defense.

The KelTec’s square-gator grip is thin and doesn’t fill every nook and cranny in the hand like some modern pistols. And while that would normally mean it might not handle recoil as comfortably as other designs, the PR-5.7 produces extremely mild recoil. I was initially expecting some sort of muzzle flip and maybe a bit of pushback, but there was none. Muzzle blast, yes, but this pistol is suitable for even the most recoil-sensitive shooter.

The gun works great when transitioning from one target to the next, primarily because the minimal recoil allows you to get back on target faster. If this gun had a shorter trigger pull and reset, you could smash your personal best split times for most drills.

The PR-5.7, like virtually every other KelTec gun, is just fun to shoot. It’s different, but so are most other KelTec guns, and that’s part of their charm. While the guy next to me was popping off 9mm handloads, gathering brass for reloading, I was emptying that fully loaded magazine as fast as I could press the trigger. Now that 5.7x28 ammo is relatively affordable and widely available, you can enjoy many similar days at the range and not have to take a second mortgage on your house to do so.

Reliability

There has been some discussion that the PR-5.7 necessitates a break-in period before it’s reliable, but I did not have any issues with the ammunition I tested. The pistol performed well out of the gate, although as a media sample it may have spent some time in other hands prior to landing at my door. But the PR-5.7 had no hiccups for me, and the blue titanium finish on the slide has held up well.

The KelTec’s control layout is easy to master because the pistol effectively has just one control: the slide stop. It’s small to be sure, but the manual recommends that you retract the slide, press down on the slide stop and then release the slide, so it’s not a true slide release.

Is the PR-5.7 practical to carry? It’s certainly small enough and light enough to carry all day, so I suppose the choice depends on how comfortable you are with the gun’s design. In many cases, I think a PR-5.7 makes more sense on your hip than a six-shot .357 Magnum because of the 5.7x28’s increased capacity and milder recoil, although some shooters may question the cartridge’s defensive effectiveness.

A 40-grain bullet at 1,600 fps generates 227 ft.-lbs. of energy, which is about 10 percent more energy than a 90-grain .380 ACP. I believe that’s sufficient, and I also believe the 5.7’s mild recoil makes it easier to shoot accurately than a 9mm, .40 S&W, 10mm or .357.

Application

That makes it a viable self-defense option. I also think the pistol would work well in backcountry scenarios where large predators aren’t likely to be an issue but procuring a grouse or two for the pot becomes a high priority.

KelTec is an American brand that’s expanding its U.S. operations, and the company always brings something new, exciting and thoughtful to the table. And like so many other KelTec guns, the PR-5.7 is a great value. Suggested retail is $399, and street price will likely be less than that. That’s an outstanding value for this clever little American pistol.

Keltec PR-57 Specs

• Type: hammer-fired semiauto
• Caliber: 5.7x28
• Capacity: 20+1; two 10-round clips supplied
• Barrel: 4.0 in., 1:7 twist
• OAL/Height: 7.2/5.2 in.
• Width: slide, 0.96 in.; grip, 0.96 in.
• Weight: 14.1 oz.
• Construction: blue titanium-finished steel slide, black polymer frame
• Trigger: 4.25 lb. pull (measured)
• Sights: white dash rear, white dash front; RMSc-footprint optic plate supplied
• Safety: none
• Price: $399
• Manufacturer: KelTec, KelTecWeapons.com

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