Decided to pop a few through the Kel-Tec P3AT last night, as I haven't shot it in a while. It did not go bang with W-W SXTs or R-P FMJs, which is all I had on hand.



I don't carry this handgun that much, as my usual carry is a DAO S&W 637, but in summer weather I do slip it in the pocket of my shorts sometimes in a Desantis pocket holster. Up until now, it has never given me a problem. Glad I found out this way, but it was rather disheartening to hear that pitiful little "click".

Perhaps a Ruger version is in my future.....

Yep. Kel-tec says it all�..

Perhaps regular shooting practice with your carry gun should be in your future.

I won't say it wasn't partly my fault for shooting the thing every now and again. Still, it's not like the gun has had a really hard life or anything. Mostly, it has sat in a dresser drawer. I realized last night that it had been a while since I'd fired it and I'm glad I checked it out. My other handguns do get more of a regular workout and are of higher quality. Yes, I should have been shooting it more frequently, but it is also a case of "you get what you pay for".

Have you checked to make sure no pocket lint or other crud got in the action. If the gun is clean, that is a scary scenario for a gun you might depend on in a life or death situation.

I've had five of the .32s and never had so much as a failure to feed with any one of them. Sold them all to friends who are still carrying them.

Bob

If I'm wrong in my assumptions, please disregard this post but the "Ruger version" (I assume you mean the LCP) is light years ahead of the Kel-Tec. The two pistols may resemble each other from a distance but the quality and design of construction is immediate when the two brands are handled side-by-side.

I've witnessed more than one Kel-Tec .32/.380 suffer a breakage (not to be confused with a stoppage/malfunction) during qualification and training events. None of the guns in question had been shot extensively, so the failures were not related to wear and tear.

In contrast, the LCP seems to be a fairly sturdy little platform; my Brother and I have fired about 3,000 rounds through three different LCP's without a single cycle failure, much less a breakage.

I have no axe to grind with the Kel-Tec brand but I wouldn't rely on one of their .32/.380 pistols if I had any choice in the matter.

Good wake up call here. I will go buy some FMJ 380 ammo and test fire mine right away. All it gets for maintenence is an occasional wipe down and some squirts of oil in places of moveing contact.

Never had it bobble with any ammo, but guns like this should be test fired regularly.

I do not shoot mine very much because I have terrible, painful gout in my joints relating to my Kideny failure and the triggergurad on my P3AT comes back and hits my already swollen index finger joint pretty hard and it HURTS, not just a little. But, time to squirt it with some oil again and go give it some sort of workout.

Thanks for the heads up and warning. AND a good reminder

We have several Kel Tec products and like them a lot. P3AT, PF-9, and SU-16. But all guns, including even a Les Baer or Nighthawk or Ed Brown 1911's etc. need to be regularly cleaned and checked for function AND for sure practiced with by thier owners. Off to the range real soon for me with all of my defensive guns.

Those look like light FP strikes on the primers.................likely a gummed up FP spring & FP channel. It doesn't take much to reduce the force to what you are seeing.

Take it apart & clean it thoroughly including the spring & use a pipe cleaner to clean the FP channel from end to end.

Lightly oil after cleaning.

If that doesn't fix it, then you could have a bad (soft) FP spring.

MM

My personal policy is to shoot the gun with the ammo, dust, lint, etc. as carried since the last time it was loaded, without doing any type of special maintenance, manipulation or cleaning before firing. It gives me a more valid test of what the gun can tolerate in terms of daily wear and tear, increases my knowledge base of the gun, and increases my confidence in its reliability.

I hear you. I'll check it out and see what kind of lint/crud buildup there is, clean it, and try it again. Even so, I don't want to stake my life on a pocket gun that is prone to light strikes if a bit of pocket lint finds its way into the gun.

I agree with your approach - that is what I do as well. Especially with 1911s IMO, it is the only way to detect a weak mag spring (hangup chambering 2nd round).

Then get a J-frame hammerless or a Ruger LCR.

I'm wearing a hammerless J-frame right now. The little .380 pistols are easier to conceal for pocket carry though. If I was a bigger guy, I suppose I'd have bigger pockets and could get away with a revolver in more of my clothing.

Depends entirely on clothing. I'm 6'1, about 200. I've been pocket carrying a .44Special 3" revolver for a week at work and no one has noticed at all.

The pocket pistols, when the print, print like a gun. The revolvers, especially the J-frame and LCR, when they print simply look like a bulky set of keys and/or wallet in your pocket.

The downside to Kel-Tec's (IOW them not working) have been pretty well documented here. I have nothing against a cheap gun, but it has to work. I have owned them, I don't now.

I would hate to think a Kel-Tec was all i could afford to carry for self defense.

A pocket holster will help as well.

I carry an airweight to social functions. Even with the non baggy, "why did you buy me these" slacks my wife dresses me in, and the little guy doesn't warrant any concern.

Ok....but what about the revolver

I put a sock in my pocket so folks think I'm packing.

Montana Man has given you a good assessment--most likely you have a "light-strike" issue going on there.

WW primers are fairly soft, so even more likely it is so.

i usually recommend Federal primers for pocket rigs--due to their low hammer mass issues, smaller springs, etc., and ultra soft primers provide some degree of mitigation for those issues.

a tired hammer spring, or a tired firing pin spring are a couple of the potential gremlins in this situation.

(just as an aside, pocket rigs are prone to getting packed with lint, and they should be dismantled regularly, and wiped clean of debris).

i've used numerous Kel-Tecs over the years, and have a lot of experience with them--in my opinion and experience, they are not built nearly as well as the Rugers, but on the other hand, they are not the "poor quality, bottom of the barrel" rigs some would have you to believe...

bottom line--know your rig and work with it/use it often...

This is my normal MOA as well, but Buffalo Bore +P+ ammo is horribly expensive, hard to find, and REALLY HURTS my gout filled finger joints when fired! I do fire the guns I carry 'dirty asw carried' and my RIA 10mm never bobbles. P3AT has not failed to fire and function yet either, and I have made it a point to try and make it fail.

When I first boutght the little guy, I took it out to a rock quarry in 11 degree weather with a wind chill of much lower than that. Did not clean or lube it at all, jut took it out of the box, loaded it with about 6 different kinds of ammo through the morning and it ate them all up. Since that time it has fired everything else I have put through it. It fed and fired enough of the finger killin Buffalo Bore ammo that I have fiath it will go BANG when/if I need it to.

My experience with Kel Tecs is quite good. Our bedstand gun is an SU-16. Sherri's daily carry piece is a PF-9.

Never been a big KelTec Fan, but when I worked in the Wholesale Firearms Industry, I won a little KelTec P-32 that they made me with a silver slide & bright blue frame. I dubbed it my Dallas Cowboy Saturday Night Special.
Ive carried it for over 10 years, always loaded with the Corbon +P+ 32 acp ammo.
I generally shoot out my carry ammo every 6 months and clean out all the pocket lent. Fired over 300 rounds to check reliability before I ever carried it. It's been like the Energizer Bunny of 32acp's and has never failed to fire or feed once.
It's not a handgun that I would ever carry as my primary or ONLY CH gun, but gets carried a lot as a BUG when I wear my Sunday Go To Meeting clothes.

That being said, all of my buddies that bought KelTec P-3AT's all had several issues and some made multiple trips back to the factory for repair. I've never owned one in 380, but if I was buying a Micro .380, it would Definately be a Ruger LCP. I've had numerous students in my CHL Classes quailify with the little Ruger, and they seem to function flawlessly.

Would I buy Another KelTec. ? Probably not, unless I replaced my P-32 or my PMR-30. Both of those model KelTecs function flawlessly for me. Here's a pict of my little Dallas Cowboy Special.

The first Kel Tec I bought, a number of years back, failed to eject the first round I fired in it. The pistol was sent back, for what was called then a 'fluff and buff' job.
When I got the .380 back, I sold it that day, and have never trusted, or bought another from that company.

When a dead reliable (at least mine has been) Khar CW9can be had for $350 or less I cannot see why...

Weight and size are the why. I have carried the CW40 as a holster piece, but I find it and its twin CW9 much too much gun for easy "drop it into the pocket and forget about it until needed" carry. Prints through most pants pockets and even sticks out a little from the top of a back pocket. And it is much heavier so causes the pants to want to droop etc.

safariman,

You rather frequently comment on how petite your wife is, and how she carries a PF-9 (a very angular, easy-to-print, pistol) daily. If she can manage that, how is it that you can't manage to carry something a bit more robust than the P3AT due to difficulties of concealment and carry weight?

Yep

You would've had problems with a nice 1911 too. Don't blame the Kel-Tec until you're smart enough to troubleshoot one of them.

Really ???????????? And you know that how???????????

MM

There's nothing "special" about keeping a gun cleaned and lubricated well enough to insure it will function.

if you're going to bet your life on a mechanical device, it's foolish to not take good care of it

Not to bust balls, or anything, but it's my personal policy not to drop a handgun into a pocket that has dust and lint in it.

Can't do anything about the dust you pick up during the day, but if you turn your pockets inside out at bedtime and brush them with your hand, you've just performed some useful handgun maintenance.

I do keep my guns cleaned and lubricated "well enough to insure [they] will function." Dust does not interfere with functioning. Guns get dusty being carried IWB, on ankles, in pockets and even OWB. If I see a lot of dust I may blow some air over them. If I think a gun gets to the point where I need to do a full cleaning, I will do it. But, I buy guns and test them out so I know what they will do. I cannot ever recall a malfunction attributable to a previously cleaned gun that became fouled by dust. (I did have a Kel Tec that required frequent cleaning because it would begin to rust out after being carried in foul weather. That is a different story.)

tjm, I don't intentionally put a gun in a pocket that I believe to contain lint.