The Grendel P12: The Proto Pocket .380 ACP

Everyone knows KelTec, but not everyone knows about Grendel. Grendel was the company owned by George Kellgren before he founded KelTec and after he worked with Intratec. KelTec’s lineup of firearms is well known for its creativity, but a lot of the basic ideas behind these guns started with the Grendel lineup. The PMR30 can trace its lineage to the Grendel P30. The CMR3030 can be traced back to the Grendel R31. The KSG was first envisioned as the GSG-41. Oh, and guns like the P3AT and the KelTec P11 can trace their origin to the Grendel P10 and P12.

The difference between the Grendel P10 and P12 are notable. Both are double action only .380 ACP pistols that both use a direct blowback action. They were early pioneers of using polymer frames. Not the first, but they weren’t shy. The guns are chunky subcompact pistols. The big difference came from the magazine. The P10 used a fixed magazine that was loaded through the top with AR-15 stripper clips.

Fixed magazines were too outdated, and America didn’t buy them. The P12 was the upgrade. It was basically the same gun, but this one had a removable polymer magazine. According to the internet, there are a wide variety of magazine capacities, including 9-, 10-, 11-, and 12-round options. I recently acquired a Grendel P12 for a pittance, and it’s an interesting pistol.

Inside the Grendel P12

It’s important to contextualize the Grendel P12. Grendel released the gun in 1991, and Glock released the first widely accepted polymer pistol in 1982. There was less than a decade between the release of the two guns. The gun-buying public still called polymer frame guns Tupperware and plastic, so introducing a polymer frame pistol was a little risky. George Kellgren’s creativity was often forward-thinking.

Kellgren used Zytel for the gun’s frame. Zytel is a high-strength, impact-resistant polymer material used for almost everything, including guns, knives, and even car parts. Grendel also used Zytel to make the magazines, and they were not metal-reinforced.

When you hear KelTec and .380 ACP, you likely picture a pocket-sized gun, much like the P3AT. That’s not the case with the P12. This is one chunky gun. It’s thicker than a Snickers bar and bigger than a Glock 26. Mine came with a 10-round magazine, but the gun still feels way thicker than necessary. This chunky beast certainly fills the hand and is a testament to the guns of the era. Look at the LCP Max; it holds more ammo and is a whole lot thinner than the P12.

The Grendel P12 in Living Color

Unlike any other on the market, the P12 series uses a heel-mounted magazine release. The P12 magazine release is a lever set fairly deep into the magazine well. It’s sleek and easy to use, but it’s not fast enough. You won’t be executing any speed reloads. The slide locks to the rear when the last round is fired, and the release lever is massive and easy to engage.

The trigger is a double-action design. The sights are milled into the slide and are fairly small but usable. The gun features no other external controls. Disassembly is a huge hassle. Plenty of posts on the internet lament taking the weapon apart and not being able to figure out how to get it back together. That’s enough of a warning to me.

Other than that, the weapon is fairly plain. It’s all black and fell out of the ugly tree, hitting every branch on the way down.

To The Range

Oh boy, I thought the trigger on this gun would never break. It takes a long double-action to the extreme. I tried to slowly pull the trigger to gauge the length, and it took so long that I actually missed dinner. It just keeps pulling. It’s also very strategic. The first stage is very heavy and takes significant force to even move past. Once we get past it, you still need a lot of force to pull the trigger. It’s not gritty, but I can’t say it’s smooth, either. The best way to describe the trigger is, well, awful.

The gun sights are easy to use as long as the light is bright, the range is well-lit, and your target contrasts with the all-black iron sights. The sights are super small, and while I don’t have a holster for the gun, I practiced trying some basic ready-up drills with the gun. Finding the sights quickly isn’t going to happen. I can manage a stress sight picture with the small front sight, but not much more than that.

If I took my time with the sights and trigger, I could hit a 10-inch gong at 15 yards fairly consistently. I do believe that grip is more important for accuracy than a good trigger, but with a trigger this heavy, it is tough to have a consistent grip. I wouldn’t try to shoot this gun beyond 15 yards. Long-range accuracy is not its strong suit if you have to shoot defensively.

Riding the Lightning

I expected a bit more recoil from a blowback .380. I was pleasantly surprised by the gun’s lack of recoil. It still has a little oomph to it, but not as much as you’d expect. The Grendel P12’s thick grip likely helps dissipate recoil quite a bit and makes the weapon a little softer shooting than you expect. If the trigger pull wasn’t so long, I feel like I could fire this thing surprisingly fast.

Between the blowback recoil and long trigger pull, it’s tough to shoot the gun accurately and quickly. Will it stay within an A-zone at seven yards? Sure, but you won’t print tight groups. I can shoot the more powerful and slightly smaller Sig Sauer P365 with greater ease than the Grendel P12.

What surprised me more than anything was the reliability of the gun. I fired 150 rounds of Fioochi 95 grain through the gun, and it all went bang. It was problem-free. That’s not a lot of ammo, but I wasn’t going to torture test a gun that’s not been on the market for 30 years.

A Classic?

It’s a classic, but only by the definition of it being 25 years old. This thing isn’t desirable and certainly not a collectible. It’s a curiosity and a piece of concealed carry history. It’s certainly a part of KelTec’s history. It makes you realize how far we’ve come with concealed carry pistols and how appreciative we should be to live in the age of the P365.

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