KelTec P15 Review: 'Lightest' 15+1 Carry Gun

Coming from one of America’s most daring firearms innovators, KelTec’s polymer-framed P15 pistol offers what the company calls “the lightest, thinnest double-stack 9mm handgun on the market.”

The Cocoa, Florida-based KelTec has never shied away from pushing the boundaries of gun designs, and the P15 is no exception. This gun has a lot of unique qualities, from a small grip safety that can be turned on and off by the user to a weight that comes in at less than the already dwarfish SIG Sauer P365 but with a Glock 19-like barrel length.

Clearly designed for concealed carry and self-defense with pre-installed night sights at a budget-friendly price, KelTec sent me one of these featherweight fighters to test out for a few months. Here’s what I found at the end my testing.

Table of Contents

Video Review Update
First Impressions
Specs & Features
Range Testing
Pros & Cons
Final Thoughts

Video Review

Update: I’ve put several hundred more rounds through this KelTec P-15 since writing this article. After what is now more than 800 rounds, I can still say this gun hasn’t skipped a beat. The P-15's extremely lightweight design and slender profile gives it some unique shooting characteristics.

Here’s an updated video for my thoughts on all the testing we’ve done with KelTec’s concealable P-15 over several range trips throughout the last year.

First Impressions

Featherweight is an apt description for the KelTec P15. I’ve carried a P365 extensively over the last several years. I like that gun, but it has a relatively short sight radius. Still, the capacity in its double-stack magazine for a gun that size was revolutionary when it came out in 2018.

KelTec P15 Pistol — The weight of this gun is beyond light for what it offers in capacity and features. (Photo: Paul Peterson/Guns.com)

When I first picked up the P15, I was instantly struck by the almost air-like quality to how it felt in my hand. The weight was just crazy light for a gun that almost looks like it has a profile size similar to a Glock 19 with its 15-round magazine.

The next thing I noticed was the tritium night sights with a fiber-optic front. For the price of this gun, I didn’t expect to see that kind of upgrade that gun makers like Glock and Smith & Wesson routinely skip on more expensive semi-autos.

Here you can see what the unloaded KelTec P15 on the left weighs in comparison to the popular SIG P365. You’ll also note the P15 offers a longer barrel with a similar grip length despite its lighter weight. (Photo: Paul Peterson/Guns.com)

Overall, the gun was just very wieldy in my hand. I had some worries the weight would be a pain on the range since lighter guns often prove to be snappy and unpleasant to shoot. But only live-fire testing would answer that question.

Specs & Features

While the compact size and light weight of this double-stack 9mm are probably its most notable attributes, KelTec has some very interesting things going on inside the gun as well. That includes a unique set of safety features that can be turned on and off depending on a user’s preferences.

KelTec P15 Pistol Parts — Parts are your typical semi-auto affair with a tilting, locking-breach barrel system and dual captured recoil springs. This gun also comes with a backstrap to widen the grip. Disassembly isn’t as slick as guns like your Glock 19s and SIG P365s. To get the sear safety to release the slide, I sometimes had to give the trigger a bit of wiggling. Don’t go cranking on the slide if it doesn’t immediately slip free. Just a dab of patience will do it and remember you have to pull the trigger to release the slide. (Photo: Paul Peterson/Guns.com)

There’s a small, unobtrusive grip safety on the backstrap that disengages the trigger until a shooter puts the web of their hand onto the grip and depresses the safety. It’s a nice feature for anyone who has fears about accidental discharges due to an inadvertently depressed trigger. Personally, I don’t normally like these safeties, but the P15’s grip safety is so unobtrusive as to be unnoticeable during shooting.

An additional magazine safety disengages the trigger until a magazine is inserted into the mag well. That’s another feature that some folks like and others absolutely despise. So, KelTec added a small switch that allows you to turn both of these safeties on and off as desired. Here’s the three options this switch provides:

Now, here’s a quick rundown of the basic specs for this trim, striker-fired 9mm pistol that is the lightest double-stack handgun I’ve ever shot:

Weight: 13.9 ounces without magazine (16.3 ounces with unloaded mag)
Length: 6.6 inches
Barrel Length: 4 inches
Sight Radius: 5.2 inches
Width: 1.05 inches around raised grip texturing
Slide Width: 0.875 inches
Height: 4.45 inches (flush 12-round mag), 5 inches (extended 15-round mag)
Trigger: 4.4 pounds
Capacity: 12+1 or 15+1

This gun is not only lighter than a standard SIG P365, but I feel it offers a generally better stock trigger and sights as well. The break has some lightweight yet lengthy mush to get through, but the wall is clear and easy to find for staging your shots.

Here's a quick video showing how that trigger performs:

The sights are also nice and bright in both low-light and day-time conditions thanks to the tritium front and rear dots along with the fiber-optic rod up front. Unlike most metal iron sights, the rear notch is also windage and elevation adjustable.

All controls are easy to reach without adjust my grip. (Photo: Paul Peterson/Guns.com)

The gun has a few internal quirks. The captured dual recoil springs are not held in place within the slide assembly like most semi-auto pistols. Instead, the P15 has a small anchor point inside the frame that holds the recoil spring and guide rod in place.

There’s a polymer sight insert on the rear of the slide that can also be removed. The gun is not easily red-dot ready – yet – though the metal-framed P15 model has a machined insert that can take a dot. I wouldn’t be surprised to see something similar offered for the polymer-framed P15 down the road.

Front and rear slide serrations are deep and positive. There’s also a single cut on the bottom rail if you want to attach lights or lasers. (Photo: Paul Peterson/Guns.com)

I love the grip texture. The aggressively stippled and raised scales make the gun very easy to control. (Photo: Paul Peterson/Guns.com)

KelTec also added a tactile loaded-chamber indicator with a side window, so you can very easily tell when the gun is loaded. The grip texture is a huge win in my book and much more positive and grippy than some of the KelTec’s gator-grip scales that you find on guns like the PMR30 or P17, which are both .22-caliber guns and already easy to control.

Range Testing

It took me a bit to get comfortable with the P15. The lightweight gun isn’t nearly as snappy as I expected given its weight, but it’s very slender. That took some adjusting on my part. I found I over gripped the gun initially with my larger hands. That led to left-leaning impacts on my target that were also a bit scattershot.

At first, I actually shot the gun better with the flush-fitting 12-round mag that left my pinkie dangling free. Over time, I got used to the grip. After 550 rounds, I’m comfortable enough within 30 feet that I can get reliable self-defense shot placements even when shooting at a faster pace without much effort.

Reliability has been fantastic with no malfunctions to speak of across 100 rounds of 115-grain Winchester USA Forged steel-cased FMJ, 200 rounds of budget 115-grain Range Dynamics FMJ, and 200 rounds of 115-grain Remington Range Value Pack FMJ.

These were shot over multiple range trips along with 50 rounds of SIG Elite V-Crown 124-grain hollow-point rounds. There was no cleaning done on the gun during or before the testing period.

Here’s what I got in the accuracy department at various ranges and speeds of shooting:

Overall, between the reliability and accuracy, I’d mark this gun as a solid pass for most self-defense needs. It ranks even higher for concealed carry given its thin profile and incredibly light weight. I would not consider this my next marksmanship pistol or a heavy-use tactical gun.

I’ve shot better groups with larger and heavier guns, and the weight and design with the added safety parts don’t seem intended for high-speed-low-drag Navy SEAL ninja operations. Still, the performance so far is nothing to shake a fist at and has plenty to offer for daily carry.

Pros & Cons

Here’s my short list of the pros and cons for the polymer-framed P15:

Pros:

Extremely lightweight
Reliable
Accurate
Nice adjustable night sights
Very compact
Positive grip texture and slide serrations
Selectable safety options
Budget-friendly price
Nice 12+1 and 15+1 capacity
Included backstrap for wider grip

Cons:

Thin grip takes some practice
Slightly snappy
Not personally a fan of grip/mag safeties, but they are optional here
Trigger isn’t refined but decent
Not red-dot ready ... yet

Final Thoughts

I really like the overall thought process that KelTec had when it designed the budget-friendly P15. The weight is exceptionally light, which makes the gun very easy to carry and wield while shooting. The capacity for the size coupled with a longer barrel and sight radius aid accuracy as the short grip improves concealability.

More optics options may appeal to many people, but I’m still a metal tritium night-sight guy. KelTec did a great job of putting good iron sights on this gun. The safety selector mechanism is clever. I don’t personally carry with a grip or magazine safety, but some folks like them. For my purposes, these features can be easily turned off. I’ve never noticed any issues while shooting either way.