Which pocket 380?

I've always thought the original Colt Mustang is the prettiest looking pocket .380 ACP I've ever seen. They're reliable (if it's been taken care of) and I've never heard anyone say a bad thing about them either.

If you get interested you'll be buying a used one since Colt hasn't made them in years though (idiots!)

Cheers,
Chickenhawk

Lifetime warranty @ Keltec, send it in. I have a gen 1 with who knows how many hundreds of rounds (90gr Gold Dots), runs fine. They will fix it.

I believe they will fix it just fine, if you send it back.

Mine worked perfectly from the beginning.

Occasionally, you hear about a new one acting up, but they will take care of you.

Bill

Do you disassemble it, give it a good cleaning, and a light oiling after every trip to the range?

If price is no object, consider a Seecamp.

My N.A.A. .380 Guardian had 4500 rounds through it when the trigger return spring broke. It was fixed under warranty. Built like a tank, easy to field strip, uses any ammo, lots of custom options, and reliable. Can't miss.

The 2nd gen P3AT is a fine gun!

I have to second the earlier poster on the Colt Mustang. I have the pocketlite model and have put between 2k and 3k rounds through mine, it's extremely accurate and it has yet to fail. When I bought it, I replaced the plastic guide rod with a stainless one and replaced the factory dual recoil springs with a single-spring one from Wolf, and it runs like a top. It looks like my Combat Commander's little brother, heh. Same manual of arms as well, essentially.

~Rick

I carry a 2nd gen P3AT every day. I've put something north of 800 rounds through it, without a single malfunction of any type. Haven't done anything to it since I took it out of the box except keep it clean.

I'd have an R9 if I had money to burn, but a grand for a pocket gun is more than I'm willing to part with.

Had a NAA and traded it for a P-3AT.

That P3AT has well over 3000 rounds through it and is 100%. I have changed the recoil spring about 5 times.

I always thought I was carrying a brick in my pocket when I carried the NAA and I had some feeding probplems with it too.

By he way, I like the P-3AT so much that I bought a second one and when the 2nd generation came out, I purchased one of those too.

My second gen. P3AT has been totally reliable right out the box, round count is probably 400 now. From what I've read here and on ktog Kel-Tec has gotten their QA turned around. I trust my mine.

I had a first generation P3-AT and after returning it twice to the factory it still malfuntioned so I gave up on it.
What are the changes to the second generation and how can you tell it is one?
Thanks

Richard

lbmii said:

But if it is a smiley producing, trigger pin snapping, barrel pin walking out, trigger mechanism self destructing, spent shell to the forehead, jam-o-matic; then I don't want to blow $300 on it.

Click to expand...

Regarding the 2G P-3AT:

Smileys: Very minor if any, as Kel-Tec now mills a crescent-shaped area out of the ramp. It doesn't seem to make any difference in performance as it stands now, but a friend of mine is doing some experiments to verfy this.

Trigger pin snapping: I have heard of several 1G that had their pins come loose, but never one that snapped. While one coming out on a 2G is still possible, KT seems to have solved the issue.

Barrel pin walking: This was solved with a redesigned pin during 1G production. If this is still happening, it is almost certainly due to a problem with the grip being bowed out near the pin, a result of not supporting the area during removal (per the manual). It can still happen if you don't remove it properly. Are you doing this?

Trigger mechanism self destructing: Unsure what happened here, unless it refers to the trigger pin mentioned above, or not allowing the trigger to fully reset.

Spent shell to the forehead: Two things cause this. A missing ejector, limpwristing, or both. The ejector drops out if you invert the pistol with the slide off, by design. Limpwristing is just a matter of learning to keep your wrist locked during shooting, a death grip is not required.

Jam-o-matic: While I wouldn't call most/all 1Gs prone to jams, the redesigned extractor and better quality barrels have made the 2G reliable for most people.

If you have just had enough of your 1G, PM me and maybe I can make deal with you for it. If you want to take the trouble to try and get it working, sign up at The KTrange and I will be happy to help you get yours to where you feel comfortable carrying it.

If not, the NAA, Seecamp, and Rohrbaugh are the other choices among currently-produced pocket pistols .380ACP and up.

There are many differences, but the one that stands out most is the extractor.

In the picture below, the second generation pistol is the one at the top of the picture.

Notice the extractor that is held in place by an allen head screw.

The slide on the second gen is also more squared off on the top.

I have a Colt pony and mustang and both have been completely reliable. The stiff DOA trigger on the pony takes a little getting use to.

I am still partial to my AMT DAO Backup. I bought it new back in the 80's, and still carry it from time to time. Mine has worked like a champ, and feeds the Winchester Silvertips and Speer HP just fine. They are supposed to be back on the market from High Standard in Texas. Back in the day, the AMT quality control was spotty at best, but I got a good one.

Bersa! Never jams.

Isn't the Bersa a little large to be considered a pocket pistol?

My one and only .380 that I ever owned was a Colt Government model. It was a 100% reliable little pistol, and I practiced with it (at least 50 rounds) twice a week for over a year that I owned it... had bought it new. I REALLY wish that I still had it. It ate everything 100%, even aluminum Blazers.

I'd enjoy a good German Walther PPK type pistol with several good mags, I do believe.

I'm afraid that I just would flat out refuse a KelTec, even if it was given to me free... I just hear too many bad things about them, and don't want the aggravation. -FNR.

I'd enjoy a good German Walther PPK type pistol with several good mags, I do believe.

I'm afraid that I just would flat out refuse a KelTec, even if it was given to me free... I just hear too many bad things about them, and don't want the aggravation. -FNR.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately the PPK is the pocketgun that Kel-Tec, Rohrbaugh, Kahr PM series, and a few others are. Here's one more, put on gym shorts and a t-shirt and see how comfortable that heavy steel PPK or Colt GM 380 is in a neck holster after several hours. My P3AT in a Comp-Tac Centerline is THE way to go when I want to go for a jog in the neighborhood.

Next, you'd refuse a free gun? You're so closed minded that you wouldn't take it and evaluate it yourseslf? Yeah, I've heard bad things about Kel-Tecs too - mostly from people who don't own them repeating what they've heard. Yeah I'll admit that their early guns had problems, but if you take the time to read what current owners have posted both here and on ktog you'll see that the somewhere around the time Kel-Tec went to the 2nd Gen P3AT they also got their QA/QC fixed. I won't rule out the possibility of a lemon, because EVERY gun company has them, but current production Kel-Tecs are very good guns. I'll leave you with this, would you take a free Kimber or refuse it?

I just wanted to post this picture of one of my P-3ATs and my Bersa 380.

Remember that these two pistols fire the same cartridge and that the PPK is similar to the Bersa.

Though the Bersa is a reliable pistol, I have seen a lot of problems with PPKs over the years.

All the other 380 pistols mentioned are at least twice as heavy and almost twice as thick as a P-3AT.

As for not trusting a P-3AT____

My Son has 3 Kimbers and has had to send two of them back to the factory for repairs.

I have three P-3ATs and none have had to go back to the factory. So much for expensive guns and reliability!