[Dallas Jack]

I decided to get my CCW. Intended to carry a Witness compact in .40 S&W. Too big. Bought a Bersa .380, better but still doesn't conceal well. Then I found a P3AT. First impressions, small, thin, and lightweight. Fit and finish, fair. Disassembled and looked it over. Guide rod and spring look a little fragile and the bore and feedramp is on the rough side. Reassembled and hand cycled a mag full of 90 gr Hydra Shoks thru it. Rounds would hang on feed ramp. Polished feed ramp no more hang ups. Trigger pull is 8 lbs 4 ozs. I haven't had a chance to shoot it yet but I have been carrying it since June 7th. It hides just fine and that is exactly what I was looking for. Now I'm open for suggestions. I've been reading the posts and am not sure if I should begin applying the various mods now or wait until I shoot it.

BTW, this is a very good forum. Lots of info and pictures. Good group of members. Now i've got to do a bunch more reading and catch up on all the older posts.
DJ

 

[CherylT]

I’d suggest you shoot it before you carry it! And I’d say that about any gun not just the KT.
Tc, Cheryl
:wink:

 

[Dallas Jack]

The carrying is more for the testing of the concealability and comfort issue for now. If I stray far from home there is a gun with a proven track record close at hand. I will remedy the situation with the p3at at a local range this weekend. Sure hope it passes muster cause it sure carries well.
DJ

 

[gungeek]

I’d suggest you shoot it before you carry it! And I’d say that about any gun not just the KT.
Tc, Cheryl

I second that, not only to test the guns reliability, But because I feel the P-3AT springs (And alot of other guns) are a little too stiff out of the factory and need to be fired to loosen up. The first 50 rounds out of mine where a nightmare I don't think I had a single full mag without a malfuntion. After 50 - 75 rounds it cleared right up.

 

[Dallas Jack]

Got my first range time today with the p3. Put 112 rounds of 95 gr Winchester Winclean thru it with 0 malfunctions. It does get smileys. I never saw the brass eject but I found it all 5 feet behind me. None impacted my person. All rounds went into a 11" circle centered 3.5" high by 2.5" left of POA with a 6 o'clock hold. Range was 5 yards. Just for kicks I fired 6 rounds at a spot on the berm (about 27 yards) and shots were landing about 8-9" high and 6-8" left of POA. Adjusted aim and the next two shots landed on target.

There were two occasions where I was hit on the face by burning powder and one occasion that burning powder was seen exiting the ejection port.

So far I am happy with the p3at.
DJ

 

[flybob]

Fired a bunch at the range without incident. Taking courage from Clarks' experiments I fired some 115 gr xtp hp backed by a compressed load of 4 gr Unique that I've had since '94.
They had significantly more recoil but I hadn't a chronograph with me. There were no bulges in the feed ramp area.
I AM NEITHER ENDORSING OR RECOMMENDING THIS LOAD.

 

[Dallas Jack]

Mods

After reading some more of the posts here I have found 3 mods for the p3 mentioned. Two of them (feed ramp and extracter) I understand. What exactly is a F&B? As a newbie to this forum I may ask a number of dumb questions, I will continue to go over the older post to keep this to a minimum. Thanks for any help and thank you Cheryl for the reminder. Shooting the gun first was a basic I had forgotten. :shock:
DJ

 

[Flyer]

A F&B is a Fluff and Buff, basically meaning a smoothing of all internal steel parts of the pistol that create friction as they interact.
Mostly, though, it consists of polishing the chamber and ramp of your barrel to ensure positive feeding and extraction.
In most cases, I'm beginning to recommend waiting to see if you need one before you DO one. I used to automatically get out the Dremel and sandpaper. Now I just wait and see... if she works fine, I just leave her alone!
Flyer