One of many massive joys of the .22LR cartridge is free rein to be slightly foolish. Gun designers could be as sensible or as foolish as they need with the cartridge. A small, comparatively low-pressure cartridge that’s low-cost and broadly out there offers producers extra room to be slightly completely different, slightly foolish, and nobody is aware of foolish fairly in addition to KelTec. KelTec has a whole lot of foolish rimfires, and my favourite is the CP33.
The KelTec CP33 is a semi-automatic, magazine-fed, blowback-operated .22LR. At first, it appears like each different .22LR in the marketplace, however it’s completely different at first look. The CP33 seems to be prefer it stepped out of some sci-fi schlock film. The sci-fi look attracts you in. It’s a enormous pistol, bigger than a 1911. The gun packs a 5.5-inch threaded barrel with an general size of 10.6 inches.
The gun is big, however nonetheless solely weighs 1.5 kilos. The scale makes it considerably misleading, and also you count on extra weight, so it takes you abruptly. The CP33 doesn’t have a standard shifting slide. The bolt strikes forwards and backwards, however the whole lot else stays stationary. An ambidextrous charging deal with sits on the rear of the gun to cost and clear the weapon.
Commercial — Proceed Studying Beneath
Throughout the highest, we now have a rail that goes from entrance to rear with loads of room for the whole lot your coronary heart wishes. Since there isn’t any slide shifting forwards and backwards, you aren’t restricted to small crimson dots. Hell, you’ll be able to toss an extended eye aid scope on this factor for those who need. There’s sufficient room for a light-weight of some type, particularly for those who use an offset mount to keep away from interrupting your view by way of the optic.
To enhance the fastened, lengthy slide, you may have a handguard-looking factor that wraps across the backside of the barrel. The handguard-looking factor seems to be M-LOK appropriate, however it isn’t. That could be a mistake for my part. The body is polymer, and like a whole lot of KelTec merchandise, it’s bolted collectively. It really works, particularly with a .22LR.
Commercial — Proceed Studying Beneath
The CP33 has an ambidextrous security that sits behind the grip. The journal launch is a heel design. The grip feels huge, like holding a 2×4, and that’s due to the journal.
Placing the 33 in CP33
What does the 33 stand for in CP33? It’s a tease to the gun’s capability. The flush becoming journal holds 33 rounds of .22LR. KelTec achieves this by way of using quad-stack magazines. Yep, quad stack. The ammo is held in 4 separate rows and retains the gun fed.
That’s in all probability essentially the most outstanding magic behind this gun. The quad-stack journal is actually a method to do issues a bit in another way. It makes certain your .22LR handgun isn’t just wallowing within the ten-round territory. The magazines are product of a transparent polymer that will get soiled quick.
Commercial — Proceed Studying Beneath
Admittedly, they really feel a bit low-cost, however they haven’t given me issues. The value of the magazines is round $50, so they don’t seem to be low-cost to purchase by any means. With that mentioned, whereas they haven’t given me issues, it’s sensible to be sure you load them accurately, or they are going to.
We can’t thumb our rounds in with reckless abandon. It’s a must to be cautious of the rimlock on this design. Simply learn the guide; I can’t copy and paste it right here, however it can inform you the correct method to stay problem-free with a .22LR in a quad-stack journal. Simply bear in mind that if the journal feels tremendous tight the primary few instances you load it, that’s regular.
Commercial — Proceed Studying Beneath
Unleashing Lead
With most fashionable semi-auto rifles, we now have accepted that 30 rounds is the usual, however that isn’t essentially what you count on from a handgun. The CP33 jogs my memory of how Accomplice John Mosby described the Henry rifle: “that damned Yankee rifle that may be loaded on Sunday and fired all week”.
That’s how I really feel concerning the CP33. It simply appears to maintain firing and firing and firing. It’s amusing to do a magazine dump and have it really feel prefer it takes perpetually to perform. The CP33 has dug by way of tons and plenty of magazines with nothing greater than the standard failure to ignite we see with rimfire weapons.
Commercial — Proceed Studying Beneath
My go-to ammo for semi-auto .22LR is Federal Automatch, and the CP33 can shoot it up with out criticism. KelTec advises you to make use of at the very least a 40-grain spherical for reliability. Outdoors of Automatch, it additionally runs properly with Blazer and Aguila Tremendous Further. I’ve not run right into a load that it doesn’t run properly with, however I’m additionally solely stocked with these three.
Commercial — Proceed Studying Beneath
As you’d count on, there isn’t any actual recoil. It’s a massive gun, and it appears like taking pictures a BB gun at most. This once more makes it fairly enjoyable to shoot. With a crimson dot, you’ve got a helluva Metal Problem pistol. Sadly, the big grip means it isn’t going to work with a whole lot of smaller fingers.
Taking pictures Straight
The gun shoots pretty straight. The iron sights are adjustable and have excessive visibility. An optic is sweet, however not wanted. The CP33 places little .22LR drugs the place I would like them at 10, 15, 25, and even 50 yards. After all, at 50 yards, I’m taking pictures an IPSC metal goal, so it’s pretty massive, however for iron sights, it may be robust to hit.
The set off is meh; it’s a little longer, and a bit like urgent in opposition to a plastic spring, however it works. It isn’t going to detract from accuracy, and it isn’t overly heavy. The security is simple to maneuver, and the large draw back is the grip. I don’t choose heel journal releases, however on a gun like this, it hardly issues.
Commercial — Proceed Studying Beneath
The CP33 is a loopy wanting, inventive, and fun-to-shoot gun, and it doesn’t break the financial institution. That’s robust to beat.
