Kel-Tec wins
Speaking of Death Matches, guess who won:
I got me a KEL-TEC P-3AT. Fugger has the stats on it. I’ll tell you my impressions. This gun is tiny. It is easily smaller than my hand. With the Uncle Mike’s (no relation) pocket holster seen above, it easily fits into front or rear pants pockets with no printing. It’s polymer and seems quite durable. It’s also a breeze to take apart.
At the blogger shoot, I shot it for the first time. The gun is so small that I don’t see how it’s possible to effectively shoot it one handed. So, I didn’t try. I put three magazines worth of 102g Remington Golden Sabers through it with no problem. When I switched to the cheap plinking ammo after I was satisfied it would handle my carry load, I had one failure to feed on the second magazine and one failure to feed on the fourth magazine. After that, no problems at all. I put 50 rounds of plinking ammo through it with those two problems. I’d say it was a matter of breaking it in. After those two FTFs, it was perfectly reliable.
This gun is not pleasant to shoot. It’s a small, light pistol and that makes it bounce around quite a bit. After shooting, my index finger was a bit sore. I bought a Hogue slip-on rubber grip and put it on to absorb recoil next time I shoot. If you buy the smallest size Hogue, you still have to cut about 1/4 inch off the bottom of it to get it to fit without covering the magazine. But this isn’t a gun you get because it’s pleasant to shoot. It’s a gun you get to conceal easily.
Accuracy was about what I expected out of this tiny pistol. Best group was about 3 inches at seven yards (with the Golden Sabers) and average groups were about six inches. This pistol isn’t made to for minute of angle, it’s made for minute of ass hole. So, I can’t complain.
If you want a pleasant to shoot, accurate gun, this is not it. However, if you want a reliable pistol that’s about as big as a pack of cigarettes (and much thinner) that you can stick in your pocket, this is your gun.
Update: A couple more things:
Unfortunately, the weapon only comes with one magazine and additional magazines are $20. If they’d up the price and ship them with two, no one would complain.
Also, the trigger pull on it, while consistent, is not crisp and it’s also not a true double action. It requires cocking, similar to various striker fired handguns.
April 26th, 2006 at 2:33 am
Welcome to the light (as in VERY light) side Unc. Wwas it the weight, the cost, the thinness, or some combination thereof that pulled you over from the smith?
April 26th, 2006 at 10:47 am
“Unfortunately, the weapon only comes with one magazine and additional magazines are $20. If they’d up the price and ship them with two, no one would complain.”
Gee, speedloaders for the j-frame run ~ $7/2 (that’s what I paid for the Bianchi speed strips). 🙂
Seriously, though, nice gun. Wish I could buy one.
April 26th, 2006 at 11:05 am
Thanks for your reviews on this. My little PPK tends to get heavy at times and having a small frame (me, not the gun), even the PPK can be hard to conceal. I may end up going with a Kel-Tec very soon and relegating the PPK to duty in the British vehicles only. 🙂
April 26th, 2006 at 6:03 pm
I carried my P32 in an Uncle Mike’s just like that for a year or two.
About a year ago I picked up a “Goblin” holster from Azrael Custom Leather and I’ve been a convert ever since.
April 26th, 2006 at 8:55 pm
Great Post !!! I am still new at this track back thing… Here is my thoughts on my P-3AT and P-11 http://www.spankthatdonkey.com/spankthatdonkey2/2006/4/26/says-uncle-says-guns.html
April 26th, 2006 at 10:28 pm
I bought three extra mags on gunbroker for about 7.00 each for my p32.
YMMV
t3rrible
September 21st, 2006 at 9:42 am
[…] Got up this morning, showered, put on a polo shirt. Looked at the thermometer and realized outside it was 44 degrees. Put on a long sleeved shirt. You know what this means? No, not time for sweaters. Time to put up the Kel-Tec and break out the Glock. […]
November 14th, 2006 at 9:23 am
[…] I love my Kel-Tec. Actually, Betty, you don’t have a permit to carry a specific gun. Just a permit to carry a gun. Any handgun but a machine gun, if I recall correctly. […]
November 20th, 2006 at 5:45 pm
[…] Update: Oh, and Frank Cagle said something to the effect of The Kel-Tec is the weapon of choice for about a dozen state legislators. I have one and recommend them. That’d be some cool marketing: Four out of five legislators agree . . . […]
December 15th, 2006 at 9:47 am
[…] To Jay who has pics of his new toy. Welcome to the club. Wait, they allow those in Mass? […]
October 22nd, 2007 at 8:29 am
[…] A look at pocket pistols. My personal pocket pistol is Kel-Tec P-3At. […]