Several months ago, I did a series of reviews on 22 Long Rifles as a possible option for self-defense, and that included the review of Kel-Tec’s P17. The Kel-Tec P17 is lightweight and compact. It’s perfect for carrying on a bike, hiking, running, and other activities where the weight of a typical concealed carry gun is going to be too heavy.
Now, these are all activities that my wife loves doing and that’s why I included her in the video to see what her thoughts were. She’d loved having a red dot on it, but the frequency of the jams was a bit of a concern. In that review, I found a third-party Optics Mount and started the review with that and the Red Dot on it. It did OK but as time went on, because we did a 2000-round torture test, we started having some issues as we got up there and counted, and it became obvious that it was causing some of the jams and more than we wanted or anticipated. So, we took off the optic and it performed, unfortunately, a lot better.
Because of your comments, I became aware that Kel-Tec had just recently released their new slide for this and it comes Optics-Ready – in fact, it has a Crimson Trace Red Dot already on it.
So, I immediately reached out to Kel-Tec and asked him if they could send me one to review. We’re back at the range with more ammo to see how the Kel-Tec P17 slide with the optic performs.
I’m Drew Case, welcome to Beyond Seclusion where I only give you my honest opinion and it is what it is! As far as I can tell, Kel-Tec is not currently selling the P17 with this slide already on the pistol. You have to get the slide separately. I really hope and would suggest that this changes in the near future as I suspect is going to be highly sought after.
At least that is what we’re here to find out:
- How well does this perform?
- Is it going to eliminate all the jam issues and make this function as flawlessly as it does without the optic?
Let’s take a quick look at the Specs and Tech before we hit the range.
Kel-Tec P17 Specs
| CALIBER | 22 LR |
| WEIGHT UNLOADED | 0.7 lbs. |
| MAGAZINE CAPACITY | 16 Rounds |
| OVERALL LENGTH | 6.7” |
| BARREL LENGTH | 3.8” |
| BARREL THREADS | 1/2-28 TPI |
| HEIGHT | 5.3” |
| WIDTH | 1.2” |
| TRIGGER PULL | 3 lbs. |
Kel-Tec P17 Slide with Red Dot Sight Tech
“We’ve partnered with Crimson Trace to bring you an optics slide for your beloved P17. This combination comes as a preinstalled slide assembly. Simply swap slides, zero your dot, and you’re ready to go.
The Crimson Trace CTS-1500 reflex sight perfectly co-witnesses with the raised front sight that comes installed on your new P17 slide assembly. Once you’ve mastered the fundamentals of sight picture & sight alignment, you’ll be able to squeeze off your most accurate shots.
Upgrade your P17. Get to the range.
Please note this slide is only compatible with the Crimson Trace CTS-1500 and CTS-1550.”
This is what arrived and it is going to be the fastest, quickest, most kiss-out-of-the-box. There we go! All we need to do is simply take off the top slide, put this on, and we are ready to rock and roll!
OK, so I just fired the first five shots. I’ve got a Green Laser here from Hollow Sun. I can’t remember the name of that offhand here, but it’s awesome and I love it. That was dialed in so all I did was simply turn that down to be spot on with that (it’s not that clear what he’s pointing to, but it seems it’s about aligning the sights). We’re using some CCI ammo, so let’s just take a quick look at what we got for the first five shots.
That’s not bad at 25 yards. I’m going to dial down here a little bit (towards the center of the target). I did just clean the barrel – we’ll see if that changes. Let’s see what we can get for groups (group shots) before we head back to the CQB range (close combat=110 yards).
A quick note on the adjustment on this Crimson Trace Red Dot: it does not have any audible or palpable clicks, so you’re going to have to go slow. I would not overadjust. Instead, do it in small increments. I just did two more five-round groups and made some adjustments. Let’s just see what we got. Trying to rest it on that I’m going to call this good. For going back and banging on steel I don’t know how much better we’ll get. I’m happy with that let’s start having some fun and really give this a test.
OK, so we’re back here at the CQB range (110 yd). I got Didi, my wife, with me. When I originally reviewed the P17, she helped me. One of the things I just said is that it’s small and lightweight. Didi loves running, biking, camping… kayaking not so much, concerned with predators on a kayak. Anyway, we wanted the Red Dot. So, I wanted to bring Didi back to help me test this out. So, let’s start blasting. Let’s see how this does, and see if this fixes some of the issues that we had with some of the jams.
So, we got to about 250 rounds. Didi was just asking me how many rounds, and she was pointing out not a single jam! Not one single jam out of 250 rounds. I have a lot of confidence that we could do another thousand rounds. This thing’s performing great. More important though, because I was talking about how lightweight and easy to carry it is.
I don’t know about you guys, but some of you might have that male ego thing going on and you might feel like you don’t want to follow that, and I’m not going to lie after watching some of those transitions she did. She was like: “Oh honey it’s your turn to shoot” and I was thinking: “Uh, yeah…”
Anyway, there you go guys, I love the Kel-Tac P17 Optic Slide, and I love the Red Dot, it totally fixed all the jam issues. This thing is a solid shooter. Kel-Tec I really hope that they start making this available so you can just get it as is.
Anyway, there you have it guys, it is what it is. You decide what you think, is it worth the coin? I’m not going to say – that’s for you to decide. Until next time, happy shooting!
Remember to educate our young people about shooting and gun safety. Whenever we’re out on the range shooting, hunting, or doing anything like that, people are watching us, and that’s what makes you and me ambassadors for the Second Amendment.
So, let’s be good ambassadors – be a safe and responsible gun owner!
