Description
The Kel-Tec PR57 is the strangest and possibly the smartest 5.7x28mm pistol on the market. It holds twenty rounds in a fixed internal magazine loaded from the top with stripper clips, and the whole gun weighs about fourteen ounces. 
Twenty Rounds Without a Magazine Well
Every other high-capacity pistol dedicates the grip to a magazine, which is what makes grips thick. Kel-Tec deleted the detachable magazine entirely and stacked twenty rounds of 5.7x28mm inside the frame, loaded through the top of the slide with stripper clips. The result is a Kel-Tec PR57 that carries twenty rounds in a package about the size and weight of a single stack nine.
Stripper Clip Loading
Two stripper clips ship in the box, and each holds a full load. You lock the slide back, seat the clip, sweep the rounds down and go. It is slower than swapping a magazine, so this is not a competition gun. For concealed carry, where reloads are rare and weight is constant, the trade is a sensible one. Spare clips are inexpensive and stack flat in a pocket.
Rotating Barrel Lock and Soft Recoil
The action uses a rotating barrel locking system rather than a tilting barrel. Combined with the modest recoil impulse of 5.7x28mm, the Kel-Tec PR57 is genuinely soft shooting despite weighing next to nothing. Muzzle rise is minimal, which is exactly what you want from a defensive pistol firing a fast, light projectile.
Optic Ready From the Box
The rear of the slide is drilled and tapped, and an optic plate comes in the box rather than as a separate purchase. Fixed iron sights are fitted as standard, with a screw-mounted front post. Adding a micro red dot costs nothing extra beyond the optic itself.
OD Green Finish and Ambidextrous Safety
This configuration wears an OD Green frame, grip and slide with serrations for a positive grip. The manual safety is ambidextrous, and field stripping requires nothing more than pushing the trigger forward. At fourteen ounces the Kel-Tec PR57 disappears on a belt, which is the entire point of the design.
Why 5.7x28mm
The cartridge drives a light bullet very fast, producing flat trajectory, low recoil and excellent capacity for the space it occupies. Defensive loads from Speer, Federal and Fiocchi are widely available now, and the round has moved well past its early scarcity.
Specifications
- Manufacturer: Kel-Tec
- Model: PR57, OD Green
- Type: Semi-automatic, hammer fired
- Caliber: 5.7x28mm
- Capacity: 20+1, fixed internal magazine
- Feeding: Top loading via stripper clips
- Barrel: 4 in., black steel, rotating barrel lock
- Weight: Approximately 14 oz.
- Slide: OD Green, serrated, optic ready
- Frame: OD Green polymer with textured grip
- Sights: Fixed, screw-mounted front post
- Safety: Ambidextrous manual safety
- Included: Two stripper clips, optic mounting plate
- Manufacturer Part Number: PR57GRN
- UPC: 640832010237
Who Should Buy It
This is a concealed carry pistol for someone who values capacity and weight over reload speed. Twenty rounds at fourteen ounces is a combination nothing else on the market offers.
The Kel-Tec PR57 is slow to reload compared with any magazine-fed pistol, and the long hammer-cocking trigger pull takes practice. Holster selection is thinner than it is for a Glock, and 5.7x28mm costs more per round than 9mm.
Shooters who want fast magazine changes or the cheapest possible practice ammunition should look at a conventional 9mm in our catalog instead. Every firearm we list ships to your chosen FFL and is transferred in accordance with federal and state law.
Feeding and loading the top-loader
5.7x28mm is a standardized cartridge, with pressure and dimensional limits published by SAAMI. It is a small, fast round that behaves more like a rifle cartridge scaled down than a pistol cartridge, and out of the Kel-Tec PR57 it produces very little recoil for the energy on paper.
Loading matters more here than on any other pistol in the catalogue. The internal magazine fills from the top through stripper clips, which is fast once you have done it a dozen times and awkward the first three. Buy spares: a ten-pack of PR57 stripper clips costs very little and turns a range session into shooting rather than fumbling.
For defensive use, Speer Gold Dot 40 gr GDHP in 5.7x28mm is the load built for this job rather than for rifle-length barrels. Run a box through the Kel-Tec PR57 before you trust it, as with any carry gun.
Where it sits in the Kel-Tec 5.7 range
If a conventional detachable magazine suits you better, the PR-5.7 Compact is the same caliber in a more familiar layout. At the other extreme, the KP50 with a 9.6-inch barrel and fifty rounds takes the idea as far as it goes.
The OD Green frame on this version is molded color rather than a sprayed coating, so a scuff will not reveal black polymer underneath. That is a small thing that matters on a gun people actually carry.
Browse our full firearms catalog for more pistols, rifles and shotguns, and check factory specifications for the Kel-Tec PR57 at Kel-Tec before you order. Our team can help with ammunition, spare stripper clips, optics or transfer paperwork.
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