Key point: This gun breaks from the mold and is doing well for it.

One of the hottest new handguns on the market, the Kel-Tec CP33 pistol has been designed as an easy-to-shoot pistol for beginner and experienced shooters alike. But does it really live up to the hype?

Kel-Tec has already manufactured unique firearms such as the Sub-2000 carbine or the KSG-55, but the CP33 pistol is something else completely.

The pistol comes equipped with a standard 33 round magazine, so your time between reloads just got a lot longer in contrast to most other kinds of pistols (and even longer if you opt for the 50 round magazine add on). The sleek design of this 10.5 inch pistol and lightweight trigger pull, which advertises at four pounds, makes this a great handgun for novice shooters.

The Kel-Tec CP33 made its debut in 2019 years after the widely popular PMR30 came on scene, and these pistols share a lot of similarities on the design giving the CP33 a familiar feel.

Kel-Tec took it up a notch with a substantial reduction in noise and at retail price of $475, they definitely delivered on what PMR30 fans had been asking for. If you want to check out this handgun in action you can see its pre-production trial run here.

The quad-stack magazine is revolutionary in its own right. With four rows of .22 LR ammunition, just watching this handgun in action alone is a thing of beauty.

It is completely transparent and each load is guided by a recoil-spring rod, which moves the stacks of ammunition into a single stream at the top. The relatively light tension on this magazine makes it easy to reload while also ensuring no deformities on the cases as they sit in their off-centered pattern.

The CP33 comes standard with a nine inch sight radius and an adjustable fiber optic sight. The rear includes two red inserts and a green front plate, but with a Picatinny-style top rail this pistol is optimized for any of your favorite add-ons. In addition, the extended threaded barrel makes the customization possibilities limitless and a strong contender for a competition pistol.

The aesthetics of this handgun don’t stop at the impressive magazine. The upper assembly extends 2.5 inches past the rear grip.

The polymer frame has a sleek look, making this pistol as fun to look at as it is to shoot on the range. One drawback is the size of the handle, which is rather small, but a couple layers of grip tape might be needed if you have hands on the larger size.

However, one of the biggest pluses for this pistol is the easy set up. You can go from shop to range and experience the great base that is the Kel-Tec CP33 instantly, which makes this an excellent handgun for beginners. In our opinion, the recoil was essentially non-existent due to the neutral balance grip and overall efficiency of this work of art.

On the range, the shooting speed was exactly what you would expect of this PMR30 upgrade despite the reset having to travel nearly the full length of the barrel.

The bolt travels just slightly past the feeding position adding to the consistency of the shot for high-speed rounds. Some users have indicated the magazine can be difficult to load, as indicated in the user manual, but this get easier over time.

When people began asking for a long range .22 Magnum pistol for superior performance over the .22 LR, Kel-Tec stepped up to deliver a truly exceptional handgun that had all the components that beginners and experts alike could enjoy. The Kel-Tec CP33’s easy set up and full rage of custom options from optics to suppressors makes this a serious contender for competition shooters and an equally fun pistol to take out for a day on the range. If the only consistent complaint about this firearm is the grip size, in our opinion, pick up a few rolls of grip tape and get over it.

Based on the above information, you can probably see why the CP33 has flown off the shelves since its debut earlier this year. Finally, the fact that the pistol sells regularly for less than $500 makes it all the more enticing to add to your gun safe this year.

This article first appeared on Gun News Daily on August 14, 2019.

Image: Imgur.