Tag Archives: new keltec

New: KelTec KP50 and MP50 5.7 Platform with 100 Rounds of 5.7 On-Gun

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The company debuted the P50 pistol in 2021, which uses flat 5.7mm FN P90 pattern magazines in a top-loading format via a hinged receiver. Offered first in a pistol, then in a P50 carbine kit with a 16-inch barrel and a foldable stock, it performed well in our tests.

Updating the concept, KelTec has flipped the loading to a faster and drop-free format and ditched the pistol-style trigger on the P50 for a more AR-ish SU16 trigger group on the new KP50. Other features on the gun include a B5 Systems AR-pattern grip, a rear accessory mount, a top Pic rail, a rear non-reciprocating charging handle, and an optional “jungle mag” setup with dual 50-round magazines, allowing rapid switch-out following a drop and 180-degree rotation.

The KP50, seen in its SBR variant. (Photos: KelTec)

KelTec will be offering the KP50 in four flavors: an $899 MSRP’d pistol, a $1,099 pistol with a side-folding pistol stabilizing brace, a $1,349 Defender braced pistol with a Vortex Crossfire green dot optic and Magpul MBUS backup sights, and a $1,099 factory SBR that transfers on a $0 ATF Form 4.

There is also the price-available MP50, a select-fire variant (come on Hughes Amendment repeal) with a cyclic rate of fire of 850 rounds per minute until the mag holds out.

KelTec K50
The $899 pistol variant of the KP50. It is lightweight at 3.2 pounds loaded (4.3 with 50 rounds of 5.7x28mm loaded) while being 18.27 inches long overall with its 9.6-inch barrel. 
KelTec K50
The $1,099 braced KP50 pistol ups the unloaded weight to 4 pounds, and with the brace unfolded, extends the overall length to 28.3 inches. KelTec will also offer this gun in a Defender package with a Vortex Crossfire green dot optic and Magpul MBUS backup sights for $250 more. Note the 50+50 “jungle mag”
KelTec 50 SMG
The more tricked-out folding-stocked MP50 SBR machine gun, which is pitched to Mil/LE sales due to its giggle switch. Contact your Congressman, Senator, and President on scrapping the Hughes Amendment if you disagree with that post-86 restriction. 

The concept of the KP50/MP50 isn’t entirely new. The autists at Pennsylvania-based Stuff and Things have been marketing its $239 bottom-feeding ST50 FCG kit for the P50 for about a year, which uses AR trigger groups and allows users to swap P-90 pattern 5.7 mags via an AK/EVO 3-style mag release.

The ST50 FCG kit

Still, kudos to KelTec for keeping folks guessing. The MP50, in particular, sounds invigorating.

When is the last time that you saw a new top-fed pistol?

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One of the biggest engineering problems of early semi-automatic “self-loading” handguns was the magazine and how to load it rapidly.

While the detachable box magazine today is a staple, in the 1890s it was commonly only seen in rifles such as the Lee-Metford. Hugo Borchardt’s C93 was one of the first commercial detachable magazine-fed pistols and, while Georg Luger picked up Borchardt’s design for his own Parabellum pistol series a few years later, another take on semi-auto pistol loading and reloading was the Feederle brothers’ wildly popular Mauser C96 which used a 10-round internal magazine fed through the top of the action via a stripper clip, much like the Mauser bolt-action rifles of the age.

With Luger’s and Browning’s turn-of-the-century designs taking over the market after 1900, the way forward was clear and the C96 eventually faded into history.

Well, KelTec announced Wednesday it is blending tradition with innovation in its newest carry pistol, the top-fed internal magazine PR57.

The KelTec PR57 is fed via 10-round stripper clips or one round at a time in a pinch. The internal magazine holds 20 rounds. The company argues the minimalistic approach reduces room for error while deleting the detachable magazine trims parts and streamlines the design.

Chambered in 5.7 NATO, the “R” in the PR57 comes from its use of a rotary barrel design. Ditching a detachable box magazine in favor of a clip-fed top-loading design similar to the old C96 Broomhandle Mauser and KelTec founder George Kellgren’s circa 1988 Grendel P10, the company says the PR57 is the lightest pistol in its caliber on the market, with the full-sized handgun hitting the scales at just 13.86 ounces, unloaded.

More in my column at Guns.com.

For those who have invested in 5.7, KelTec has Just the Thing

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Confirming rumors and leaks, KelTec on Tuesday announced the new P50, a 50-round 5.7x28mm pistol, is inbound for 2021.

Using horizontally-oriented FN P90 mags secured under a top cover, the 3.2-pound large-format pistol runs 15 inches overall with a threaded 9.6-inch barrel. The gun is distinctive, with a look that recalls the futuristic polymer guns of the 1980s. 

Expect this thing to be in every sci-fi feature for the next 30 years…

More in my column at Guns.com.

Someone May Have a Viable 50-round 5.7 Pistol

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Following up on a resurgence in popularity for 5.7-caliber platforms with Ruger announcing the 57 pistol and Diamondback releasing the DBX large-format handgun, coupled with the new normal of parity in street prices between 5.7×28 and 9mm Luger ammo, and it looks like FN’s once very niche caliber is gaining new popularity.

Of course, FN launched the round in the early 1990s as PDW fodder for a subgun (the P90) and companion pistol (the FiveSeven). On the consumer market, the 50-shot P90 was unobtainium unless you went with a semi-auto-only carbine format (the PS90) while the pistol has sold modestly over the past couple of decades.

Now, it looks like someone has finally figured a way to give the public a gun built around the innovative FN P90 mag, but in a handgun size.

oof

More in my column over at Guns.com.