The KelTec P17 Is Weird, But The Price Is Right [Review]

I like weird guns, and I like cheap guns. When a gun checks both of those boxes, I’m all in! 

The KelTec P17 I bought does just that (let’s be honest, most KelTecs do).

So the question I aim to answer today is this: Did I get a great gun at a low price, or is this a case of getting what you pay for? 

Specs & Features 

Specs

• Caliber: .22 LR
• Action: Semi-automatic, straight blowback
• Capacity: 16+1
• Sights: Adjustable notch rear, fixed fiber optic front
• Optic Ready: No (optic-ready slides are available)
• Barrel Length: 3.8”
• Overall Length: 6.7”
• Weight: 11 oz

Features

• Comes with three 16-round magazines
• Decent ergonomics
• Ambidextrous controls
• Threaded barrel

First Impressions & Background

KelTec makes two very notable rimfire pistols that are often the star of the show: the PMR30 in .22 WMR, and the CP33 in .22 LR. Alongside those two guns, the P17 often gets lost.

The P17 is KelTec’s pistol for the budget rimfire world. Compared to the PMR30 and CP33, it is simple and almost plain. 

The P17 uses a simple straight blowback design, but with the KelTec quirkiness we know and love. It’s fairly compact, thin, and lightweight. The slide is especially lightweight, which translates to less moving mass and minimal recoil. 

The P17 isn’t competing with the Ruger MK series, but rather guns like the Heritage Manufacturing Rough Rider and the Taurus TX-22.

For the features you get, the P17 is cheap. About $170 gets you a suppressor-ready gun with three 16-round magazines.

Compared to other cheap rimfire pistols in its class, the P17 is by far the smallest and lightest. It’s big enough to fill your hand and give you extra capacity, but it’s considerably thinner and smaller than the Ruger MK series, the TX-22, and other guns on the market.  

Ergonomics

The P17 is very KelTec.

We have bolts holding it together, lots of polymer, and gator grip texture. The gun fills the hand and allows for a nice full grip on the gun.

Grip

If you look at the rear of the grip, it’s quite thin. It feels a bit like holding a board rather than a gun. It’s not terrible, but it’s noticeable.

The slide can only be manipulated from the rear, but the grip texture is more than sufficient. It’s a very light slide that moves easily. New shooters and shooters with weak hands can work the slide without a problem.

The P17 frame has an accessory rail, which seemed silly to me at first glance. It’s super short and would only mount a small weapon light or laser. However, when I considered some of this pistol’s more practical purposes, a small light began to make sense.  

Controls

The P17’s ambidextrous controls are very nice. The safety sits on the frame and swipes downward and upward with ease. It’s large, easy to use, and well-placed. 

The hipster in me likes the P17’s paddle-style magazine release in the trigger guard — it reminds me of the Walther WMP. If you want a button, well, that’s too bad.

The slide lock/release is a mixed bag. As a means to lock the slide open, it works well. As a means to drop the slide, it’s a pain. It’s small and hard to reach, and when I drop the slide, it hits my thumb, which can prevent it from fully closing. 

Magazines

Another interesting feature of such a cheap gun is the magazine capacity. The P17 comes with three 16-round magazines – pretty impressive given the bargain-basement price. With one in the pipe, you get a total of 17 rounds in the gun.

The magazines were a bit of a challenge at first. Loading the first 14 rounds was easy, but loading the last two is tricky. They were so tight that I often stopped at 14 rounds to save myself from a thumb ache. This got better after a short break-in period. A few hundred rounds later, I could load the mags to 16 rounds easily enough.  

Sights

The P17 comes with a high-visibility fiber optic front sight and an adjustable rear sight. 

The barrel is threaded, although you’ll need an adapter to mount a suppressor. But remember, these aren’t suppressor-height sights, and the factory slide isn’t cut for a red dot.

You can convert the P17 to an optic-ready gun, but it’s expensive. You’ll have to buy a new slide from KelTec with a Crimson Trace red dot already installed. It’s nearly the cost of the gun and, according to KelTec, it only works with the Crimson Trace dot. 

Blowback-operated guns can be very weight-sensitive, and the Crimson Trace optic is one of the lighter dots, so that’s likely why the KelTec pairs the slide with this specific red dot.

Range Testing the KelTec P17

In general, the gun worked reasonably well with Winchester and Remington Golden Bullet loads.

Both resulted in a few failures to fire, which I expect from inexpensive rimfire ammo. The gun also had a handful of failures to eject and double feeds with these loads.

With the super cheap, normal velocity ammo types, we’d run into an issue at least once or twice per mag. 

Federal Automatch is made specifically for semi-automatic handguns, and the P17 ate it up. I had a couple of failures to eject, but nowhere near as many as with the other loads.

These rounds occasionally had an odd effect on the slide. It reciprocated, ejected the round, and stayed open for a half-second before closing. It’s odd, but the gun still functioned.

The Aguila Super Extra performed almost without a problem. That’s the load the P17 seemed to like the most. We had just seven failures to eject in the 200 rounds of Aguila Super Extra. 

Is the P17 reliable by modern standards? I can’t say it is. Guns like the TX-22 and Sig Sauer P322 have been way more reliable in my experience. To be fair, those are also more expensive handguns.

One consistent issue was that my P17 shot high…very high. I adjusted the sights to their maximum level, and it still wasn’t enough to fully correct the sight issue. 

Everyone had to aim at the bottom of the target to make good hits. I’m not sure what else I could do to fix the sights. I might end up getting that red dot slide. 

With the low hold, the gun is surprisingly accurate—more accurate than it has any right to be. On paper, with Aguila Super Extra, we printed sub-2-inch groups at 15 yards in an offhand position. 

The trigger is light and a little mushy, but it is still impressive for a cheap gun, especially a KelTec. They aren’t known for having great triggers. 

Recoil isn’t a problem. The gun burps a little, and anyone can shoot it rapidly and safely. It’s fun to fire 16 rounds of .22 LR as fast as possible. 

Who Is It For? 

Like any .22 LR pistol, the P17 has several potential uses. It can be used for plinking and target practice, a realm any .22 LR would excel in. It’s great for teaching new shooters how to handle a firearm; again, it also excels in that space. 

I know one of KelTec’s staff shoots Steel Challenge with a customized P17, which is a valid role for this gun. Steel Challenge is one of the few modern shooting sports for rimfire handgun shooters. 

I see this gun as a kit gun, which isn’t a term we hear often these days.

Kit guns are a weird old niche firearm genre designed to be handy little working guns. Hunters and trappers might carry one. Fishermen might shove one in a tackle box. Hikers would be smart to carry one, and so would loggers and practically anyone who needed a small, light, and, cheap sidearm. 

Kit guns are handy for dispatching predators and pests, and — in a pinch — for self-defense purposes.

The P17 occupies the spirit of the kit gun. It’s small, light, cheap, and packs a small caliber. At $170, I don’t mind it getting beat up in a truck, tackle box, or backpack. As a kit gun, the rail makes sense, and adding a pistol light makes it easy to use in low light because hunters and anglers are often active in low-light scenarios.

By the Numbers

Accuracy: 3/5

The P17 would easily be a four out of five if it didn’t shoot so high. Even the adjustable sights couldn’t correct the disparity between the point of aim and point of impact. The gun does shoot consistently, just not where you’re aiming.

Reliability: 2/5

I feel like two out of five is fairly generous. It gets that two because it runs fairly well with high-velocity ammo. Fairly well, but far from perfect. 

Customization: 3/5

The P17 has some minor customization options. You can add a red dot slide and optic, a light or laser, and a muzzle device. Someone could even make a trigger upgrade, but that’s about it.

Ergonomics: 4/5

Ergonomically, the P17 is sound. It’s got great controls and a decent grip. My only complaint is the slide lock/release. 

Value: 5/5

This is the real selling point. The P17 is cheap enough to throw in a tackle box or hiking pack and forget about it until you need it.

Overall: 4/5

Money talks. The P17 is nothing fancy, and it has its shortcomings. But it’s still a handy tool that won’t put a dent in your budget.

KelTec P17 Upgrades & Accessories

Want to improve your P17? There isn’t an abundance of factory or aftermarket support, but there’s some. Here’s what I recommend.

The adjustable sights on my P17 can’t move enough to compensate for how high the gun shoots. I imagine an optic would be a massive improvement. For nearly the cost of the gun, you can get the optic-ready slide with a Crimson Trace red dot.

It’s simple to install and gives the P17 a necessary upgrade. You can also buy the Crimson Trace-equipped P17 from the start.

If this is going to be a kit gun, a light might be handy. The short rail and dust cover don’t leave much room, but the TLR-7 SUB fits. 

It’s one of the best options for compact weapons. It gives you 500 lumens of light, which is more than enough for practical .22 LR purposes. You get ambidextrous controls and a tough body that’s resistant to water from a reliable brand. 

I’ve never heard of Outlaw Holsters, but they make an inexpensive OWB holster for the P17. It works with an optic but not a light. 

The polymer design has belt loops for easy carry. It fits somewhat tightly to the body, so it could be concealed if necessary. While it’s no Safariland or Phlster, it’s an affordable holster for an affordable gun with some modern panache.

How We Tested the KelTec P17

I bought this gun after finding it on sale for less than $170. To put it through its paces, I shot several hundred rounds on both paper and steel targets. I also used it as a training tool for some new shooters I’m helping.

I shot the gun a lot, aided by what I call my child army – a mix of my kids and their friends who want to learn to shoot. They all helped the gun chew through a few hundred rounds. I was often just the guy who loaded mags and reminded everyone to put their ear and eye pro on.

To test reliability, I fed the P17 a buffet of .22 LR ammo, including Winchester White Box, Remington Golden Bullet, Federal Automatch, and some Aguila Super Extra.

Meet the Experts

Heading up this article is Pew Pew Tactical author Travis Pike. Travis spent a lifetime shooting and hunting before joining the United States Marine Corps, where he spent five years as an infantryman. Travis is also an NRA-certified instructor and concealed carry instructor in the state of Florida.

Editing this article is Scott Murdock. Scott is a Marine Corps veteran who competed and qualified as a rifle and pistol expert while in service. In addition to shooting, Scott has written for a variety of publications, testing, researching, and evaluating guns and gear. He brings that knowledge and skillset to this article, editing and fact-checking for accuracy.

Editor-in-Chief Jacki Billings runs our experienced team of reviewers. She is a National Rifle Association Basic Pistol Instructor as well as a member of the Society of Professional Journalists, ACES: Society for Editing, and the Professional Outdoor Media Association. Jacki has a bachelor’s degree in journalism and has worked as a media professional for close to 20 years, specializing in gun media for almost 10 years. With 2,000+ articles to her name, she uses her professional journalism and editing experience to set testing protocols and editorial standards for Pew Pew Tactical.

Final Verdict on the KelTec P17

If you asked me on the street, “Should I buy a P17?” – it depends. What do you want it for? Fun? The tackle box? 

Then I’d say yes. 

If you want a gun for serious defense, competition, or similar uses, then it’s a no from me. The reliability issue is my main concern, but the point of aim/point of impact issue is also noteworthy. 

If you’re like me and you just like guns, you’ll excuse the P17, but if you want a true performer, then there are better options.

What’s your favorite rimfire pistol? Let us know in the comments. Want to see more of our favorite plinkers? Check out our guide to the Best .22 LR Handguns!