First Impressions
I first met KelTec’s new R50 at SHOT Show in 2022, but the carbine wasn’t quite ready for hands-on testing back then. While it’s basically just a rifle version of KelTec’s P50 pistol, not many in the gun community were overly surprised by the arrival of the new folding carbine. The original P50 that came out in early 2021 had some telltale signs that a carbine variant was on the way.
Related: Space-Age Executive Protection – KelTec P50 Review
The most obvious clue – well, why wouldn’t you turn the awkward P50 pistol into a much less awkward carbine? It would make the gun far more shootable, accurate, and utilitarian. Also, it didn’t hurt that the gun clearly had slots already molded into the frame for a future folding stock.
But finally getting a chance to hold the R50 really made me appreciate the work KelTec put in to create this lightweight, compact, fully ambidextrous carbine. The gun is so light it feels almost ridiculous that it’s a real firearm, much less that it can host 50 rounds of 5.7x28mm NATO. Despite its strange appearance, I was pleased the gun still felt nimble and balanced in my hands whether the stock was folded or extended.
I had some early concerns. The lightweight design didn’t immediately strike me as robust when compared to more classic 5.7mm PDWs like the FN P90 or even newer AR-style pistols like the DBX57.
Specs & Features
The most notable feature of the KelTec R50 is the hinge that allows it to hold one of FN’s P90 stick/rotary magazines between the upper and lower. FN originally designed that magazine to sit on the top of its P90 platform and feed downward, but KelTec cleverly realized it could flip that around and have it feed upward instead.
Loading the gun isn’t particularly hard, but it lacks very distinct guides or grooves to ensure it is perfectly aligned before you close the top cover. There’s a cutout in front of the bolt that matches the magazine’s raised notch, but I noticed this tends to shift when you close the top latch with the magazine already inserted.
The easy fix is to simply hold the mag and upper together while locking the gun closed again. It wasn’t an issue for normal shooting, but speed reloads would certainly require more care than simply jamming a mag into a traditional magazine well.
There’s also a release lever at the back of the lower receiver that locks and unlocks the upper for loading. The manual is very specific that this must be fully locked back into place before firing, or damage/injury may occur.
Don’t let the retro yet spacey looks fool you. The operating system inside the R50 is actually a simple, straight blowback design that uses dual recoil springs and guide rods. Fieldstripping the gun is a cinch, and the internals pop out as just the charging handle and bolt group. That’s as far as you need to go for most maintenance, and no tools are needed.
Other than major steel features like the barrel, bolt group, and parts of the internal fire control system, the gun is mostly polymer and aluminum. Even the AR-style charging handle has a polymer grip portion with metal arms connecting it to the bolt. I will ding the design a tad here, because those arms are thin and flexible, so I wouldn’t want to be very aggressive with them in the loading process for fear of damaging the gun.
Here are some of the general specs for the R50:
Length (Extended Stock): 30.5 inches
Length (Folded): 21.5 inches
Barrel Length: 16.25 inches
Barrel Width: 0.54 inches
Weight (Unloaded): 4.21 pounds
Weight (Loaded): 5.24 pounds with 50 40-grain bullets
Height: 7.75 inches
Width: 2.02 inches
Twist: 1:7
Threading: 1/2x28 TPI
Trigger Pull: 3.41 pounds
The trigger isn’t refined, but it is light and easy to run fast. It has just 0.17 inches to the reset. It’s positive but not aggressively strong. The trigger pull has a short and light take-up with some spring resistance. The wall is easy to find, but breaking it comes with some creep that makes it a tad clunky. As a personal defense-type PDW, that doesn’t really bother me at all.
KelTec clearly built this gun to run with a red dot. There’s 9 inches of Pic rail up top that terminates near the ejection port at the rear. You could fit a magnifying optic on that rail, but it would likely hang over the ejection port. I have seen it set up this way by KelTec at some display booth. I still think red dots are preferred, given the size of the gun and location of the ejection port, which would likely spit brass into an extended optic occasionally.
Similarly, the built-in iron sights are adjustable and appreciated, but they are very low. You really need to squish your chipmunk cheeks onto the stock to use them. That’s no real loss in my book, because red dots seem like this gun’s proper pairing anyway. You’ll see that in the shooting section below.
The ambi safety flares out into two angled shelves for your thumb. While that makes it ambi and easy to reach with your thumb, the opposite side can get blocked by your knuckle if you use a high grip.
To close out the specs, the R50 offers a textured ambidextrous thumb safety and KelTec’s signature “gator grip” pattern that, while not overly positive, gets the job done just fine for a carbine like this. Thirty-four large holes dot the barrel shroud on the upper receiver to allow for plenty of air to cool the rather thin barrel.
Shooting & Reliability
I ran 500 rounds of mostly 40-grain Hornady V-Max sporting rounds through the R50 for my testing. I had no malfunctions during my offhand shooting, but it became clear the carbine wasn’t meant for a life of precision shooting off a bench rest.
Strings of rapid fire were easy, and the addition of a stock and red dot made it fast to acquire targets. The low recoil allowed for a consistent sight picture for quick follow-up shots inside of moderate distances.
I did my shooting with a 2-MOA Holosun HS403C solar red dot. The pairing turned general plinking and offhand shooting into nearly effortless fun. But even considering the 2-MOA accuracy of the dot, it didn’t seem like the thin-barreled design of the R50 was meant for pinpoint precision at ranges much beyond 50 yards.
Off a rest at 50 yards, it was easy enough to put a full magazine into a group that was 2 or 3 inches, but I’ve seen tighter groups with your standard mil-spec AR at the same range and beyond with this this dot. Since KelTec pitches this gun as a compact and discreet personal defense firearm, it tracks that it was intended to use inside 100 yards in dynamic shooting situations anyway.
Shooting off a rest also seems to have forced a few malfunctions with the softer polymer tips on the sporting ammo. The gun likes the freedom to flex a bit while shooting, and it ran flawlessly when I did that during my offhand testing for rapid and slow fire.
The 5.7mm round offers a lot of flat-shooting power with minimal recoil. Even using sporting ammo with a polymer tip, the bullet created devastating backface deformation on some old surplus military Kevlar armor at 25 yards.
My concerns about the lightweight design of the gun didn’t lead to any issues during normal shooting. Still, I wouldn’t want to expose it to excessive physical abuse or dirty field conditions. That seems like a recipe for serious issues given the thin barrel, large open holes in the upper directly above the exposed bolt group, and the thin frame structure.
The stock is easy to use, lightweight, and functional, but it’s also fairly easy to knock it out of position with a decent whack. My final verdict on durability is that it’s not what I would call a go-to-war gun fit for jungles, muddy trenches, or deserts. On the other hand, the R50 does pack a lot of potent ammo into a small package that is easy to carry, store, and deploy in a pinch.
Pros & Cons
Here’s my short list of the pros and cons:
Pros:
- Reliable and fast shooting
- 50-round FN P90 magazines
- Fully ambidextrous, including folding stock
- Compact and very lightweight
- 5.7x28mm NATO chambering
- Very low recoil
- Threaded barrel
- Top and bottom Pic rail with rear QD sling mount
- Accurate at close to moderate ranges
- Optics and accessories ready
- Affordable for a folding 5.7mm carbine
- Very unique design
- Nimble in the hand
- Light and fast trigger
- Easy to maintain, disassemble, and clean
Cons:
- Awkward to reload
- Ambi thumb safety can bump your hand with a high grip
- Some cycling issues but only when shooting off a rest
- Not a great precision shooter past 50 yards
- Not built for excessive physical abuse
-
Thin arms on the charging handle
Final Thoughts
I think it’s becoming increasingly clear that the firearms world is finally committing to the 5.7x28mm NATO round that first emerged in the 1990s. Of all the new designs that are popping up, KelTec’s R50 carbine is certainly a contender for the most interesting.
From my experiences, it offers reliability and capacity in a very lightweight package. This odd duck is not built like a tank, but it brings a lot of wins to the table as an easy-to-shoot, packable, carriable personal defense gun or range companion.
