I ordered my new P3AT in late October of last year . It arrived at my dealer this January. Fortunately my dealer ordered two so I got to take my pick. I chose the one with the smoothest operating slide. There was a noticeable difference between the two pistols.
The first problem occurred while field striping the pistol for the "fluff and buff." The slide was almost impossible to remove from the frame. Thanks to having faithfully read the two Kel Tec websites for several months, I remembered a post that said to push down hard on the barrel hood through the ejection port while pulling forward with GREAT
strength.
By applying the afore mentioned great strength I managed to remove the slide. I quickly located the cause of the problem The ejector was too tall and was gouging the frame. A little work with the needle files, wet/dry sandpaper, and a very fine Arkansas oil stone fixed this problem.
After the fluff and buff I fired two rounds and checked for "smilies" and frame wear. Sure enough there was a smilie looking back at me. I decided to continue firing and fix that problem later.
One more round and the trigger ceased functioning. The only resistance to the trigger pull was the trigger spring. The hammer was full forward. I field stripped the pistol for a detailed inspection and found the hammer block spring was not engaged in the hammer block. The spring had a funny twist to it which set the spring up to come out
of the hammer block. I removed the parts and straightened the spring. I also performed a rampectomy while I had things apart. I then fired 90 more rounds of S&B without one single problem.
I used every grip combination I could think of, one handed, both hands, weak hand, "limp wrist" (very limp, as loose as I could hold it without loosing control of the weapon). I tried every thing except some of the more creative "Holly wood" style shooting positions. It shot great with absolutely no malfunctions.
There is very little wear inside the action. A couple of minor bright spots where the barrel contacted the inside of the frame and a very small amount of front slide rail contact. Nothing significant.
No assembly pin problem yet, but I will grove and slot the assembly pin as soon as I get a spare one from the factory. Also of course I will order a new hammer block and spring along with numerous other spare parts and three new magazines.
Keep shooting,
The first problem occurred while field striping the pistol for the "fluff and buff." The slide was almost impossible to remove from the frame. Thanks to having faithfully read the two Kel Tec websites for several months, I remembered a post that said to push down hard on the barrel hood through the ejection port while pulling forward with GREAT
strength.
By applying the afore mentioned great strength I managed to remove the slide. I quickly located the cause of the problem The ejector was too tall and was gouging the frame. A little work with the needle files, wet/dry sandpaper, and a very fine Arkansas oil stone fixed this problem.
After the fluff and buff I fired two rounds and checked for "smilies" and frame wear. Sure enough there was a smilie looking back at me. I decided to continue firing and fix that problem later.
One more round and the trigger ceased functioning. The only resistance to the trigger pull was the trigger spring. The hammer was full forward. I field stripped the pistol for a detailed inspection and found the hammer block spring was not engaged in the hammer block. The spring had a funny twist to it which set the spring up to come out
of the hammer block. I removed the parts and straightened the spring. I also performed a rampectomy while I had things apart. I then fired 90 more rounds of S&B without one single problem.
I used every grip combination I could think of, one handed, both hands, weak hand, "limp wrist" (very limp, as loose as I could hold it without loosing control of the weapon). I tried every thing except some of the more creative "Holly wood" style shooting positions. It shot great with absolutely no malfunctions.
There is very little wear inside the action. A couple of minor bright spots where the barrel contacted the inside of the frame and a very small amount of front slide rail contact. Nothing significant.
No assembly pin problem yet, but I will grove and slot the assembly pin as soon as I get a spare one from the factory. Also of course I will order a new hammer block and spring along with numerous other spare parts and three new magazines.
Keep shooting,
