P3AT Junk as Compared to LCP & BG 380?

The p3at I had was dead reliable. I wouldn't buy the Little Copy Pistol just on principle.

You really owe it to yourself to check out the P238, it's got awesome tritium night sights that are useable, unlike the P3AT/LCP. And the single action trigger is great too. It's the most controllable of all the compact .380's, the recoil is about as mild as it gets.

P11, P3AT and P32 all work fine and as each displayed the beginnings of trouble they went to FL. each came back fixed, often more accurate and with an extra mag for my troubles. my daughter borrowed many from me when she left home. so i have the 32 and the p11.

id not recommend K-T's to someone who has only 1 gun cause they may need service and 2 is 1, 1 is none. also they are very light and one should be above beginner to have the best chance of operating one of them ahh...pleasurably.

I think you will be happy with your LCP, like the Kel-Tec it is a go anywhere gun. Now you owe it to yourself to dress it up with some nice pocket leather.
http://hedleyholsters.com. The holsters marked for the P-3AT should fit the LCP, you can E_Mail and ask.

...the Ruger is a copy of the Kel-Tec and is still in the de-bugging phase...

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No, the LCP "de-bugging phase" ended in late 2008 with the introduction of the 371-xxxx serial numbers.

Didn't vote b/c my only experience with kel-tec was with a p-11, 14 years ago. It worked well, though i found 9x19 recoil a bit objectionable in something that light. I have no experience with the smith... my only "experience" with the ruger was looking at my brother-in-law's ... after he bounced - BOUNCED - two 90-gr hollowpoints off a caged hog's skull (made a heck of a mess of the scalp, and resulted in a very angry, slightly dizzy pig. had to finish him off with a .357. note: i don't fully condone his attempt to 'field test' his new .380 on a pig.)
I have to agree, though, with the idea that if you could carry a small .380, you could probably manage the 9mm. i know kel-tec makes a single-stack 9mm now- if you're comfortable with the KT, i'd recommend the 9.

usefulness of compact pistols

I've never shot a LCP, but know they copy the Kel-Tec P3AT in most ways. I own a chrome P3AT and PF9.
I'd consider them extremely utilitarian, as accurate as can be expected, and more dependable than can be expected, for the price! Neither or much fun to shoot, all that power in such a light weight, but manageable. I shoot my CZ 75 Shadow when I want accuracy.
Both P3AT and PF9 perform better with brass-cased ammo, and +P are just as mean on my hand as on accuracy, follow-up, flash, and noise. A steel slide runs on an aluminum subframe, and no doubt, will eventually show wear on the aluminum, but, after about 1,000 rounds in each, I have not seen significant wear. I've settled down to about a 50 round box in each, per month, and a magazine of expensive self-defense designer loads. That is my balance of familiarity, fun, money, cleaning, and the extra stress I feel I want to take to keep serious grip on a little snapper that just won't show you the pleasure of a weighted pistol with size and a good long sight plane.
I have always agreed with the idea of carrying something is better than a canon back at the ranch. To me, 380 is about a small as I can get with fair power. Smaller than that, and you still have all the responsibilities and liabilities of firearms, but effectiveness drops off even more.

Oh, I just remembered the vote, and topic so involved. I also own a BodyGuard 380.
I love the grip, sighting and accuracy of the pistol. The laser is clumsy and not intuitive, but I can put a bullet right where it aims. I've sent the pistol back to S&W when the slide froze (I suspect the laser backed up, into the slide). The pistol came back in less than 3 weeks fixed, just fine. There was no explanation as to what happened, or what they did to fix it, but they did.
The BG380 is a bit larger than the P3AT, but more controllable, more accurate, and a bit more reliable with a wider variety of loads, it can strike a primer repeatedly, without working the slide. My wife feels the slide is easier to pull back and release than the Kel-Tec P3AT or PF9.
But, outright freezing up and stopping all functions? Actually, the BG380 hasn't been the best.
I probably carry the BG380 more, because it functions so smoothly and accurately for me. I think that when it comes down to a dangerous situation, my draw, and accuracy will be quite important, things that aren't as intuitive, for me, with the smaller, maybe more dependable P3AT.

S&W BG380 for me. Fits my hand the best of all the pocket pistols out there.

I see slightly different roles for the P3AT/LCP vs the BG 380. The chamber walls of the first two are extremely thin. Both weapons will exhibit smileys when the bottom of the feed ramp will smack the top round in the magazine which will deform the top round or worse set it back into the casing. I would NOT fire the hotter 380 offerings in these guns but they are super tiny and would be perfect as a bug to a larger gun. The BG 380 is a little larger, not much though, does not exhibit smileys, and the chamber at its thinnest point is about 3 times thicker than the others at its thinnest. If your 380 is carried by itself I think the BG has a serious advantage by its ability to carry and safely shoot the hotter ammo from places like Buffalo Bore. It also has much better sights and is really an accurate weapon. I've owned both the LCP, a BG380, and a Keltec P32. All are pretty capable guns for what they were designed for.

You may notice I didn't even mention the laser on the BG. Mine quit working and I didn't really use it anyhow. It was a nice gimmick but I would rather have a front night sight than a laser anyhow.

Kel Tec

My keltec had to go back to them, took about 3 weeks and came back wtih a new barrel and or slide (according to the work order) and now works great.

If you ever have an issue, Kel-Tec's customer service is fantastic. They go above and beyond, IMO.

I've had the misfortune of using the customer service of all three companies. Honestly they all did a great job. I would consider it very close in that department but KelTec is probably still tops. They are very good to deal with.

Had occasion to personally take my P3AT to KT......nothing wrong with it, just wanted a chromium slide........Dropped it off at about 9 AM, drove home & my PX rang about noon with a message that my gun was ready for pickup.

Not only did they replace the slide, it had a new barrel and all internals. They had to break the trigger to disassemble it as I had an epoxied shoe attached......they apologized for that and gave me a new one.

Now, that gun was a beater & gift from an old friend and while it worked well, it just looked like the devil.....I certainly got far more than what that slide cost.........all of 70 bucks..........!

I've had occasion to use several makers CS over five plus decades and I can honestly state that I have never experienced better treatment!

Smith and Wesson BG380 for me. Carried every single day, inside and outside the house. Usually in the FR jeans pocket, but sometimes carried in my front chest pocket of my winter coveralls -- I snowmobile this way all winter.

Probably has about 1000 rounds through it. It IS visible in jeans,but looks like a wallet or a phone. It is NOT very visible in cargo shorts with loosh-ish pockets.

I did not like the LCP -- it bit my hand and hurt my trigger finger. The BG is much more comfortable to shoot. I LIKE the external safety -- this was a deciding factor for me because of where, how, and around whom I carry. Of course I keep it in a trigger guard-covering holster.

I did like the Kahr, and sometimes wish I would've bought one, but the reliability reports scared me off.

As for my BG, it shoots VERY well, is comfortable for ~ 100 rounds range sessions, and hits well. My laser quit working, and never was very accurate -- it moved after about 20 rounds. I think my holster probably turned it on and the batteries ran out. I think it is a gimmick, and was a negative factor for me, but the positive of the safety and the comfort won the day.

I do have a tiny problem with a pin slipping out a little near the backstrap after about 150 rounds. A few taps with a light hammer fixes it.

Overall, I would recommend it.

Some people bad mouth the safety on the BG. I like having the option. Some would argue that it can "accidentally" engage which would disable the weapon. (Isn't it designed to disable the weapon?) I would say if you can "accidentally" engage the safety of a BG you are probably not safe to carry a weapon at all. Its a pretty positive safety. Besides, somehow people have figured out how to use the safety on a 1911 all these years, I think I can figure out the safety on my BG. I'm no smarter than the average guy so I would say others can do it too.

I have shot a KT against a Ruger twice now. Different guns both times.

In both occasions, the (nubs that serve as) sights were much more accurate on the KT and the KT was overall a more accurate gun. I mean two out of three in the same hole at 7 yards freehand, which for me, using a tiny gun, is impressive.

On one of the Rugers, I had to line up the top of the rear sight with the front of the ejection port and then center the front sight against that. That's not an exaggeration, that's actually just how bad it really was.

They felt the same in the hand, triggers were comparable, didn't seem to give one and advantage over the other while shooting.

The fit and finish was nicer on both Rugers. The pinky extension on the Ruger mags included rather than paying $12 extra for it was nice, but it was priced $25 higher than the KT anyway.

KT customer service is reputed to be excellent. I don't know much about Ruger's CS history so I don't know the comparison.

I would buy the KT over the Ruger.

I have no real experience with the BG380. BUT, I don't want 3 controls on the same side of a gun that small, personally. Nor do I want the laser, and so I don't want to pay for the laser, which I have to.

jon_in_wv said:

Some people bad mouth the safety on the BG. I like having the option. Some would argue that it can "accidentally" engage which would disable the weapon. (Isn't it designed to disable the weapon?) I would say if you can "accidentally" engage the safety of a BG you are probably not safe to carry a weapon at all. Its a pretty positive safety. Besides, somehow people have figured out how to use the safety on a 1911 all these years, I think I can figure out the safety on my BG. I'm no smarter than the average guy so I would say others can do it too.

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I will agree with you about the BG380 safety. That is one stout safety. At first I was a bit put off by the fact that it had an external safety, but there is almost 0% chance it will get flipped on accidentally.

The long trigger pull is the BG380's safety, IMHO.

BTW, S&W has modified the laser light. Supposedly, this modification will fix the problem with the laser breaking. Mine has the modified laser light. We'll see.

I"ll send mine back eventually. It is kind of fun to shoot groups at 15-25 yards with that little gun. Its a lot harder without the laser.

I didn't vote since I haven't shot mine enough yet. I own a BG 380, the trigger really sucks (long, gritty and heavier than it needs to be), my P32 is much better. I tried a Ruger LCP and it's trigger was as bad as the BG 380.

I voted for the S&W only because the other two I have handled and find them lacking, to put it nicely. If you don't like the S&W just come up with a fourth option.