Got a Kel Tec CP33 on order

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TTv2

TTv2

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Been waiting since SHOT 2019 to buy one and finally got one for under $380, they're normally $425-450 and have been at that price since they were released a year ago.

I've wanted a very high capacity .22 pistol for years and everything about the CP33 I liked. Good barrel length, full top rail for mounting optics, and the long overhang on the rear... some don't like that, but I do because instead of having the rear of the bolt protrude from the back of the gun and be exposed, they cover it up so that means you get a longer sight radius and more rail, but most importantly a space that you can mount a brace to.

I'm really interested to see how it does with popular ammo like CCI Standard and Velocitor. I'm also interested to see how it does with Winchester Hyper Speed, that's Winchester's version of Velocitor, but costs significantly less.

Accuracy isn't the most critical thing I'm looking for, it's reliability with relatively high capacity in a .22 pistol. For many years they were stuck with 10 rd Fudd mags, but now they're starting to come in 15 and 17 rd mags.

So, keep you eyes out for a CP33 review!
 
I'll upload scans of my targets sometime later this week, but the the groups were all impressive to me, especially considering that this is a high capacity pistol and it was done with ammunition that I've found is troublesome in other guns. Also, apart from issues with Winchester ammo, it ran almost perfectly reliable, which for a .22 pistol out of box is amazing.

First off the ammo I shot was CCI Standard, Velocitor, Stinger, Quiet (didn't cycle 100%, but it did some of the time), Winchester bulk, Winchester Super X Hyper Speed, Aguila SSS, and Arsmcor. The bulk Winchester shot the worst, both on paper and in reliable function, but what surprised me is the Hyper Speed and Aguila SSS shot as good as or better than CCI Standard, which is unbelievable. The SSS had maybe 1 hiccup that was mag related, the Hyper Speed had a couple, but this was the first day of shooting, so I need more time to tell if it wasn't solely on the gun being so new.

If the Winchester Hyper Speed stuff continues to shoot well and function reliably, that's great because it's near half the price of CCI Velocitor, yet pretty much equal in velocity with a 40gr bullet. The Aguila SSS, I'm not sure if it's much better than Velocitor or Hyper Speed, but I'm gonna have to try it out at longer range and see if it holds its accuracy better given it's subsonic and a 60 grain bullet. If it does, it'll turn the CP33 into a little sniper pistol.

As for the gun, it's not much different than the PMR30, in fact, it uses the same profile the PMR30 magazines use, just a different interior and something I didn't know beforehand was the front of the magazine, given it was built around a .22 Mag round, is solid and acts as a feed ramp, so what that means is it's got the heel magazine reliability, but the feed ramp is integral to the magazine itself, which I feel it what is contributing to the reliability.

That said, loading the magazines is a chore and having the front of the magazine being a solid piece of plastic doesn't make it fun. Somebody has to come up with a tool to make it faster to load the mags.

The gun looks huge, but it's light as a feather. The grip is long, much like a Tokarev or 5.7 pistol because it's built off a .22 Mag grip frame. It's not something I can't get use to, but what I hate, and I'm sure this is typical of all newer Kel Tec designs, is the grip itself is slick and has no traction. The old style Kel Tec grip texturing was fine and I've never felt the need to put grip tape on a gun before, but this thing needs some bad.

The trigger is really good, I can't think it being any lighter would be an improvement and I don't feel the need to replace the actual trigger itself with an aluminum one, so this is the first plastic Kel Tec trigger I've felt that's any good.

That's about all I can think of for now. I pulled a budget reflex sight off a 9mm AR I built because it wasn't holding zero on that, so since the CP33 has a rail to mount optics to, I'm gonna see if that optic will hold zero on this.
 
Great to hear that you had no issues, and excellent price you paid. Where did you get it? I watched a you-tube on a very early release gun that had minor issues charging the 1st round. Looks like Kel-Tek has fixed that. How many mags come with it, they are spendy? The more I see and read about it, the closer it's getting to make it to "THE List".
TTv2 said:
I'll upload scans of my targets sometime later this week, but the the groups were all impressive to me, especially considering that this is a high capacity pistol and it was done with ammunition that I've found is troublesome in other guns. Also, apart from issues with Winchester ammo, it ran almost perfectly reliable, which for a .22 pistol out of box is amazing.

First off the ammo I shot was CCI Standard, Velocitor, Stinger, Quiet (didn't cycle 100%, but it did some of the time), Winchester bulk, Winchester Super X Hyper Speed, Aguila SSS, and Arsmcor. The bulk Winchester shot the worst, both on paper and in reliable function, but what surprised me is the Hyper Speed and Aguila SSS shot as good as or better than CCI Standard, which is unbelievable. The SSS had maybe 1 hiccup that was mag related, the Hyper Speed had a couple, but this was the first day of shooting, so I need more time to tell if it wasn't solely on the gun being so new.

If the Winchester Hyper Speed stuff continues to shoot well and function reliably, that's great because it's near half the price of CCI Velocitor, yet pretty much equal in velocity with a 40gr bullet. The Aguila SSS, I'm not sure if it's much better than Velocitor or Hyper Speed, but I'm gonna have to try it out at longer range and see if it holds its accuracy better given it's subsonic and a 60 grain bullet. If it does, it'll turn the CP33 into a little sniper pistol.

As for the gun, it's not much different than the PMR30, in fact, it uses the same profile the PMR30 magazines use, just a different interior and something I didn't know beforehand was the front of the magazine, given it was built around a .22 Mag round, is solid and acts as a feed ramp, so what that means is it's got the heel magazine reliability, but the feed ramp is integral to the magazine itself, which I feel it what is contributing to the reliability.

That said, loading the magazines is a chore and having the front of the magazine being a solid piece of plastic doesn't make it fun. Somebody has to come up with a tool to make it faster to load the mags.

The gun looks huge, but it's light as a feather. The grip is long, much like a Tokarev or 5.7 pistol because it's built off a .22 Mag grip frame. It's not something I can't get use to, but what I hate, and I'm sure this is typical of all newer Kel Tec designs, is the grip itself is slick and has no traction. The old style Kel Tec grip texturing was fine and I've never felt the need to put grip tape on a gun before, but this thing needs some bad.

The trigger is really good, I can't think it being any lighter would be an improvement and I don't feel the need to replace the actual trigger itself with an aluminum one, so this is the first plastic Kel Tec trigger I've felt that's any good.

That's about all I can think of for now. I pulled a budget reflex sight off a 9mm AR I built because it wasn't holding zero on that, so since the CP33 has a rail to mount optics to, I'm gonna see if that optic will hold zero on this.
Click to expand...
 
TTv2 said:
Excellent. I see they're also available on Amazon. A must have I think.
Click to expand...

I agree. I am going to get one for my PMR/CMR 30 magazines. I have no experience with the CP33 magazines but if they look like the same body as the PMR/CMR magazines. My magazines have gotten easier to load over time but a loader will definitely help.
 
sparkyv said:
Great to hear that you had no issues, and excellent price you paid. Where did you get it? I watched a you-tube on a very early release gun that had minor issues charging the 1st round. Looks like Kel-Tek has fixed that. How many mags come with it, they are spendy? The more I see and read about it, the closer it's getting to make it to "THE List".
Click to expand...
Mags aren't cheap, $50, but with how many rounds they hold you won't need a bunch of them and you get two with the gun.

It wasn't issue free tho, some failures with certain ammo, but I'm going to blame the ammo and/or the gun being so new and not broken in.

Got it online after checked gun.deals every day and finally a CP33 was available for the price I wanted.
 
Since I'm not doing well playing Sonic on Genesis I figured I'd take some time and scan the targets. Outside of CCI Stinger and Winchester Hyper Speed, I'm gonna call each shot furthest away from the group a flyer as the trigger and grip on this was so new to me I was having issues with the where the break was and the stock sights, at least at the indoor range, were tough to see with the lighting in there. Also, I found that a big square black block that measures 3x3 inches isn't a good target.

As you can see, it's pretty accurate with the right ammo and Stinger, as I have consistently found, is one of the least accurate .22 LR loads I've encountered, yet is priced at premium.

What surprised me was how well Hyper Speed and SSS shot, normally that ammo doesn't do this well and SSS usually keyholes out of most of my .22 pistols. So, bottom line is this CP33 is very, very accurate, up there with Ruger Mark and S&W Victory pistols. The CP33 shoots so well that if you don't mind a grip that's on par with the length of the Ruger 57 or a Tokarev, this is better than the Ruger Mark and S&W and it's lighter to carry, plus it is apparently easy to mount a pistol brace to.

A few days after shooting these targets, I put a cheapo red dot optic that doesn't hold zero on a 9mm carbine I originally had it on. The zero didn't move once I had it set and it helped tighten up the groups even more.

BTW, these are all 10 shot groups, except the CCI SV, which is a 15 shot group.

cp33 targets.jpg
 
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