Burn up Ammunition with KelTec's P17

摘要

When KelTec came out last year with the CP33™, the exceptionally accurate and ergonomic target pistol, the last thing I expected from the company was another rimfire pistol following on its heels. The P17™, the newest firearm from the innovative Florida company, fills a completely different niche. It is far more compact, shaped more conventionally and holds 16 rounds in the magazine. P17 has no provision for mounting an optic of any kind, but it does have a threaded muzzle. In keeping with the KelTec tradition, the design is the usual steel frame contained inside a plastic clamshell. A conventional blow-back hammer-fired design, it still squeezes in a couple of innovations.The slide of the pistol is a bent "L"-shaped piece of steel that covers the top of the grip-frame opening and turns into the retainer for the barrel bushing in the front. It is attached to the steel breechblock and the textured plastic cocking piece in the rear. On the sides of the barrel, where the vertical portions of the slide usually are, the grip frame continues all the way to the top of the pistol. That lightens the slide and permits very high placement for the support hand, allowing better than usual control of the weapon. The 1980s tactical grip with the support hand's index finger wrapped around the trigger guard actually works very well with this pistol.