{"id":111922,"date":"2019-07-12T08:47:39","date_gmt":"2019-07-12T12:47:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/digest\/?p=111922"},"modified":"2019-07-12T08:47:39","modified_gmt":"2023-09-06T00:13:34","slug":"the-keltec-cp33-reviewed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/the-keltec-cp33-reviewed\/","title":{"rendered":"The Most Innovative Gun of 2019: The KelTec CP33 Reviewed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The KelTec<\/a> CP33 was one of the most hyped products of SHOT Show 2019 and I couldn’t help but fall into the excitement. However, I was a bit skeptical about its reliability with the radical quad stack magazine design. That said, I want to kill any doubts that you may have because I found this pistol to be extremely reliable, run any standard velocity ammunition, and it was easy to load. This gun quickly became a favorite of mine to bring to the range, take out varmint shooting, and just carry around in the pickup for impromptu target practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The CP33 is sure to make any range day enjoyable with its large magazine capacity and ease to shoot.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Initial Impressions<\/strong> and Noteworthy Features<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right out of the box, this gun got my blood pumping. The CP33 arrives in a hard case for convenient storage. It comes standard with two 33 round magazines which totals up to 66 rounds of fun before needing to be loaded up again. This is handy for competitions, range day fun, and varmint shooting alike. The magazine release is on the bottom rear of the grip. The magazine does not fall out when the release is depressed but requires you to pull the magazine out by hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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With the muzzle threaded 1\/2-28 TPI, it is possible to install a variety of muzzle attachments.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This gun looks a bit different from anything that you may have seen before but it feels good in the hand nonetheless. The sight radius on this gun is a whopping 9 inches, which makes it precise and very intuitive to point for a handgun. It comes from the factory with adjustable and highly visible fiber optic sights, making it even easier to shoot. The integrated Picatinny rail adds the option of mounting a myriad of different optics if you should choose to do so. You could also add other attachments using the M-Lok slot located under the barrel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The sights on the CP33 are very easy to use and line up intuitively when the gun is raised.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The trigger is a crucial factor that can make or break a handgun or any gun at that. This trigger is far better than I would have hoped. It has no creep or takeup, overtravel is very minimum and the reset is positive and extremely short. I measured the trigger pull weight on my CP33 to average 3 pounds using my Wheeler trigger pull gauge. With how crisp this trigger is, it feels to be much less. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This gun is almost completely ambidextrous with a safety selector on both sides, magazine release at the heel of the grip and charging handle in the rear. The bolt release, however, is only on the left side of the gun. The ambidextrous thumb safety is in the perfect place to operate without shifting your grip during a course of fire but it is out of the way if you choose to not use it. As with most single action hammer fired guns, this safety only works when the gun is cocked. This pistol is very straightforward to operate, the only other user-operated function being the charging handle in the rear of the gun which is non-reciprocating and very ergonomic to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The non-reciprocating charging handle is located on the back of the gun, straddling the rear fiber optic sight. The safety can be seen in this picture as well, in the fire position.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When it came time to deep clean the CP33, all it took was the removal of one push pin and everything came apart so that I could access the components that needed to be cleaned and oiled. Once done, it was just as simple to reassemble the handgun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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At the range, I function tested a variety of ammunition which showed that the CP33 is not a picky eater.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Range Results<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first thing that I wanted to do at the range is to check what ammunition this pistol will or will not cycle properly. I am extremely happy to say that I did not run into any supersonic ammunition that would not run this handgun reliably. Now to address that caveat, *supersonic*. Because of the threaded barrel, I know that many of you will want to add a suppressor to the CP33 and shoot subsonic rounds for ultimate smiles and quiet pews. I was hoping to find that this handgun would run subsonic rounds, and it did… for the most part. All standard velocity 22LR ammunition (being around 1050 FPS) is subsonic and this ammunition ran fine. Once I started using ammo that was slower than that, I found that it would not cycle some rounds. The CCI Quiet did not cycle any rounds but was indeed quiet. Now that I have said that: I am aware of a certain, extremely popular YouTuber who released a video review of the CP33 who shows his particular handgun to run these subsonic rounds reliably. I would say this is probably going to vary from gun to gun based on this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is the bolt of the CP33 after nearly 1,000 rounds of suppressed 22LR. The carbon buildup is pretty extreme and it had begun to cause some reliability problems at this point. Pretty impressive if you ask me. A simple clean and it went back to working normally.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After shooting the CP33 so many times suppressed, it would become filthy. Even with all of the carbon and lead gumming up the gun, I found that I only needed to give it a good cleaning at around 500 rounds in order to keep it running reliably. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is the chamber of the CP33 after almost a thousand rounds through the gun, suppressed. At this point, it was just starting to become too dirty to run reliably.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Because of the unique design of the magazines, I found that loading them took care. There are a lot of incorrect ways to load bullets into these magazines but once you get the feel for pushing one bullet down, thumbing it over to the side to begin the stagger and then seating it all the way to the back of the magazine, it becomes very easy and rather quick. With a reasonably clean gun and standard velocity ammo, I did not run into any function issues with a correctly loaded magazine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The magazines of the CP33 are an accomplishment of modern engineering as far as I am concerned. This idea is so perfect and simple, it is one that makes me think, “Why didn’t I think of that!?”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Accuracy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I did not accuracy test until I had fired around 1,000 rounds through the CP33, but the results from this test are very impressive. The following pictures show the groups that were shot at 15 yards using a variety of common ammunition. I will not claim to be the best pistol shooter, so you may see better results with it in your own hands. However, I am sure that you will find my results to compare to existing reviews. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Specifications<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n