[firestar]

I finally gave up on my Kel-Tec P-32.

After having to send my new gun back to the factory for a FTE problem and breaking and repairing the trigger axis, this gun STILL didn't work!:banghead: It will fire the first shot and then act like the trigger axis is broken but it really isn't. I don't know what is going on with it and I really don't care anymore because that gun simply wasn't reliable or well made enough to keep around.

I traded my hard crome P-32 that I spent $291 for a used Beretta 21 .22lr. I told the dealer that the Kel-Tec had many issues but he seemed to think he could fix it.:rolleyes: Anyway, I got this nice Beretta 21 in an even swap. They were asking $185 for it and the cash price for my P-32 was only $150 so I think I came out fine. I was surprised that they were going to give me $150 for a used Kel-Tec.:what:

I only got to shoot one mag through the Beretta but it shot where I aimed it and had no jams in 8 rounds. Its a good start but I want to put a couple hundred rounds through it before I carry it with confidence. Until then, I will carry it without confidence.:D I may go shooting on Sunday so I won't have to wait too long.

My friend has one of these little Berettas and I have been trying to get him to sell or trade it to me for about a year. His is very reliable lately. He had some jams when he first got it but none in the past several hundred rounds, I think that means it is broken in and just need to work out the bugs.

The one I got looks like it was carried alot but not shot very much. It has some blue missing from the high spots and a little surface rust that will come off with a little oil. The trigger is better than the one my friend has and I think I am going to be happy with it as a mouse gun. It is a BIG step down in power from the .32acp. The .32 is no joke, it will do some damage and it is much more powerful than a .22lr. The bullets can only hurt people if they leave the gun though.:D The Kel-Tec P-32 wasn't very good in this dept.:D

[Bainx]

I don't blame you for trading. It took two trips back to KelTec, several hundred rounds of trial ammo, numerous trips to the range, fluff and buff out the butt, and prayer to get mine going. In short, I wish I could have started with something [anything] that ran corretctly out of the box.
Admittedly, I have a very low serial number P32.

[gbelleh]

I've been lucky with my P-32. I hate it when guns don't work out of the box. I hope your Beretta works out well. I'm sure you'll keep us posted! :D

[22luvr]

both my P32 and mod 21 were very reliable from the start.

Compared to the P32, the Beretta was a bit heavier, thicker and the sights were difficult for my feeble eyes to get used to. I really liked the tip-up barrel and single action trigger. Once you get used to handling it, you can really empty a magazine quickly into a small area! Keep it nice and clean and let it cool down; mine only jammed when it got hot after repeated range firing.

Sounds like you got a pretty good deal; keep us posted.

[firestar]

I have shot my friend's Beretta 21 a lot so I hope it is as good as the one he has.

It is thicker and heavier than the P-32 but it is still pocket sized. I have not had much luck with tiny semi-autos so I hope this Beretta breaks that trend. I have owned half a dozen pocket guns and none have been reliable.

I was just noticing that the Beretta 21 dosen't have an extractor, does this help in the reliability or not? It seems like the extractor causes a lot of the problems in tiny semi auto pistols so maybe just leaving it out might help reliability.:confused:

I was just glad I was able to unload that POS Kel-Tec! I couldn't sell it to a private party knowing what a POS it was. Never again!:banghead: You would think I would have learned my lesson after several times being burned by cheaply made guns. Kel-Tec clearly has a ways to go to improve their products. I predict that they will fold in a few years if they can't get their products to work. I can never again recomend the Kel-Tec P-32 for anybody for any reason. With all the problems I have had with my P-32, it is going on my all time LEMON list.:D

[Bren]

I had a berreta Bobcat 22 but mainy as a fun gun and not carry. It seemed to like either round nose or pointed better than the other but I can't remember because my High Standard liked the other kind.

One time I was shooting CCI Stingers and the slide of the 21A flew over my head. :uhoh: but I just put it back on and kept on shooting.

If you do carry it, make sure to change the ammo often B/C cleaner and solvents can cause 22 ammo to fail. Bren

[Drakejake]

Too bad about the P-32. I carried mine tonight. I think the Beretta Tomcat .32 would have been a better alternative for you.

Drakejake

[10-Ring]

Tell us how your Beretta works out ;) I had one years ago that was a little finicky w/ the ammo she liked. Hope yours isn't so tempermental.

[22luvr]

The Beretta Jetfire .25 auto supposedly is one of the all-time best pocket pistols ever made. It's hard to find a discouraging word about one on these forums, other than it's somewhat anemic caliber.

[9x19]

I have a Beretta 21A in .22 LR but don't ever carry it as a defensive piece.
It is merely a dedicated plinker.

All of my Kel-Tecs (5) have been sterling performers, and of the several hundred my local shop has sold, only two have ever gone back for service (a P-40 and P-11).

I can't wait for my P-3AT to come in... saw one at the last Dallas Gun Show, but the price was ridiculously inflated... I'm not in that impatient. :D

[aerod1]

I also think the the Beretta Tomcat would have been the better choice. I own one and am totally happy with it.

Jim Hall

[firestar]

The Tomcat in .32acp is a lot wider and heavier than the 21A. I wanted to keep the size and weight down. This is not going to be my main carry gun. It is the gun that I will carry when I can't carry anything else.

I am in the process of deciding on my main carry gun. I have it pretty much narrowed down to the Kahr PM9 or a light weight S&W snubbie. It has got to be less than a pound and it has to fit in my front pants pocket if needed.

[firestar]

I too have heard nothing but good things about the Jetfire in .25acp. They had one but I really don't like the idea of the .25acp. The ammo is expensice and it is even weaker than the .22lr. Also, the Jetfire is a SA only gun. I don't see carrying a tiny pocket pistol like this with a round in the chamber unless it has a DA trigger on it.

A pocket gun that requires two hands to get into action may be a big problem if you have to fend off someone while getting your gun. In a situation where I would need a pocket pistol, I could easily see having to fend off someone with one hand while I went for the gun with the other.

The gun store that I was at was pretty good for Beretta pocket guns. They had just about every model of Tomcat and Jetfire in every caliber. I Saw a nice SS .32acp Tomcat but it was new and the price was close to $300. All of the guns in the shop seemed a little higher than most other shops around here except the Beretta 21 that I ended up with. For example, they charge $250 for a Bersa where Gander MT only charges $219 for the same gun. Gander is often the most expensive gun shop in town. Also they were asking $500 for a used Kahr P-9!!!! I want one of these guns but come on! Every year these P-series Kahrs have been out, they have gone up in price by huge amounts.

[denfoote]

Just out of curiosity, why didn't you get the Tomcat???

http://www.beretta.com/home_2002.asp

[Landric]

Howdy,

I had a P-32 in the 1400 S# range. It was a total POS, never reliable, always breaking, etc. I got rid of it.

I recently bought a KT P-32 in the 105000 S# range. I wanted to give it another try. So far, this P-32 has been 100% reliable and accurate enough for me to shoot a 100% on the department qualification. I only shoot FMJ in it, and I only have about 250 rounds through it so far, but it has been 100% to date. I hope the trend continues.

I really like the Beretta 950BS Jetfire. The problem I had was that the magazine release kept getting pressed while it was in my pocket. A .25ACP is bad enough, but a one shot .25ACP? If Beretta could correct that problem, the Jetfire would be "the" pocket pistol.

[firestar]

Just out of curiosity, why didn't you get the Tomcat???

The .32 caliber Tomcat is much thicker and heavier than the .22lr version. Also the price was close to 3 times for the .32 and ammo is expensive. With the .22lr, I will practice enough to get good with it and also determine if it is reliable. If it is not reliable, at least I will have a plinker.

[popeye]

A word of warning. Beretta's with no extractors have tip up barrels. Use the feature to unload the gun. I had a 21 in .25 yrs. ago. In showing the gun to a friend, I removed the magazine, racked the the slide, and handed it to him. Since there's no extractor the chambered round remained in the barrel and I handed him a cocked, loaded pistol. THANK GOD he noticed it and said "you ARE an ???????". he was right.

[firestar]

I've had a gun with a tip up bbl before, it was called a Taurus PT-22 and it was a total POS even after TWO trips back to Torn-???.:D The PT-22 is a copy of the Beretta so I hope my Beretta will work better than the cheap copy did.

[dsk]

I once had a Beretta 950bs .25 Jetfire. The thing was a total POS, literally shooting itself loose. All the pins would back out each time I fired it, with one of the internal ones binding up the slide after a dozen or so shots. A trip back to Beretta failed to solve the problem, so I ended up basically giving it away. So as cheap and flimsy as Kel-Tecs are, don't think that high-dollar guns are always going to be better.

[Pocket Pistol]

Had a P-32, TOTAL junk,
Spent more time at Kel-Tec then here.
Got rid of it.
Now carry a NAA G380 or NAA 22 Mag, or Walther TPH, Also have a Tomcat I love.
As well as a Kahr MK9 and Sig 230.

All have been GREAT except the P-32

Never understood Kel-Tec folks.
They are fanatical about a gun that most of which need to be worked on to some degree to work, and think you are stupid if you expect one to work out of the box (save the normal break in).

I have a TPH that I had to have tweaked but that is just to have it refurbished due to age.
Heck 16 years sitting surely needs some springs. Plus if the early ones have problems it is minor and mostly related to small machining inconsistencies. ( the newer ones had problems with cast parts as Interarms was winding down)

Can not wait to get my TPH back.
What I shot of it, it was super.

Kel-Tec on the other hand seems to be hit or miss if they work mostly due to major design and manufacturing problems.

IMHO-FWIW-My0.02

[Kentucky Rifle]

If I could find an inox Beretta .22 as reliable as my Jetfire, I'd buy it.

Landric: Were you using a pocket holster? I think a good RJ Hedley front or back pocket holster would cure your mag button problem. (I prefer the back pocket model, myself. I own two.)

KR

[dsk]

My feelings on the Kel-Tec P32 still haven't changed. Why can't they spend another $50 or so per pistol on better-quality springs and alloy parts, and then charge same? A $350 P-32 is perfectly fine by me as long as it works every time. I don't think there are any real flaws with the the design of the pistol. It all seems to be cheaply-made parts that break causing all the grief.

[firestar]

Flyer wrote:
"Too bad you didn't give me a chance to look at your P-32 before you swapped it for an inferior pistol. I could've had it fixed, running 100%, and back to you within an hour."

I don't doubt that you could have got it working 100% within an hour, it is just that I would need you to come with me every time I went shooting so you could fix it every time. If I had the money, I could employ you full time just to fix my P-32. :D

What is the problem? I had a P-32 that was total junk! I don't see what is so controversial about that. I am clearly not alone, many people have had bad experiences with these guns. They are made cheaply and often don't work. I am not just making this stuff up. How come every Kel-tec owner knows the gunsmiths at Kel-Tec by their first names? Because they have to send their brand new guns in for work, thats why!

I really wanted to like my P-32 but I am not blind to the faults of these guns like you seem to be. After a new gun has to go back to the factory because it won't eject emtpy brass and then breaks parts for really no reason, I tend to cut my losses and move on.

I am almost afraid to go back into the gunstore that I traded my P-32 in because I am afraid the guy is going to be mad at me for trading such a POS.:D

[denfoote]

Hey firestar,
I found a Tomcat on the internet for $295!! Given the greater power of the 7.65mm round, I would think it would be worth it!! Just a thought!!