Anyone own a Grendel?

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MCgunner

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I have this Grendel P12 I bought some time ago. I don't think they're made anymore. The guy, name's Kelgren, that designed it went on to build the Kel Tec P11, which I also own and love for CCW carry. Anyhow, I still like this Grendel. It's fairly accurate, no match gun, but combat accurate, has an 11 round magazine, and I made a "wallet holster" for it to fit my back pocket of my jeans. It's just the handiest little thing. I carry it a lot when I don't wanna carry IWB. I repair tractors for spending money and rolling around under a tractor, IWB gets in the way. 12 rounds in a pocket has appeal, anyway.

Now, not many reports of the Grendel have been positive from what I've read. I think it all centers around the trigger which I admit isn't the most thought out thing around. It's a long DA pull which I like, but hard to get your finger in between the rear of the guard and the face of the trigger. I've figured out how to shoot it well, though. I have long, skinny fingers. A guy with short stubby fingers or just big hands would not be able to shoot this thing I don't think. It works for me, though.

I'm just interested any anyone who might have one and what they think of it. Mine has been flawless through a thousand or so range rounds with several types of ammo. I know lots of folks don't care for the caliber. It is my bottom line self defense caliber and I'd much prefer the 9 or better, but it puts up about what a .38 does in non-+P form and you have 11 rounds to back up that first shot with it. The big appeal to me is the uses I have for it where I'd not be able to carry more'n my NAA .22 otherwise. It's better than a friggin' five shot .22! :D
 
I have a Grendel P10 (fixed magazine model). It is a total POS. If you're lucky, you might get three consecutive rounds to fire without a FTF. One of these years, I'm going to take the time to sit down and make it work properly.
 
Hkmp5sd said:
I have a Grendel P10 (fixed magazine model). It is a total POS. If you're lucky, you might get three consecutive rounds to fire without a FTF. One of these years, I'm going to take the time to sit down and make it work properly.

Hmm, I've never had a failure with the P12. Wonder if I just got lucky? I never wanted the P10 when it was out. I didn't consider the box magazine and stripper clips to be a good option. Perhaps the P12 addressed more problems with this design than the magazine type?
 
Make sure that you can't fire the gun while it still is in your "wallet holster." If you can, it's an AOW.
 
Trebor said:
Make sure that you can't fire the gun while it still is in your "wallet holster." If you can, it's an AOW.

It's a long DAO. Hammer is down when in the pocket. It takes a long, deliberate DA squeeze on the trigger to fire the weapon. It's as safe as carrying a J frame in a pocket, probably safer IMHO. I like DAOs for this reason and that they fire like a good revolver. Makes the crosstraining easier between DAO and revolver. No safeties and such to worry about.

Nothing's going to pull that trigger when it's in the holster anyway. That's an advantage of holster carry in the pocket vs. just carrying the gun without holster.
 
I had a Grendel .380 with the fixed magazine. In nearly 200 rounds of factory ammo, it never fired a full magazine without a jam. Fortunately, the dealer gave me a full refund. He told me that every Grendel he sold had been returned with similar problems.

He stopped carrying that brand and would not even accept one in trade. I haven't seen one in years,

John
 
From what I've read, the main problem with the Grendel was the mainspring. It didn't use a coil spring. It didn't use a leaf spring. No, it used a clock spring. You know, the kind that you wind up. Very crazy.
 
RyanM said:
From what I've read, the main problem with the Grendel was the mainspring. It didn't use a coil spring. It didn't use a leaf spring. No, it used a clock spring. You know, the kind that you wind up. Very crazy.



You're talking about the magazine spring, right? Is it one of those constant force springs like Ram Line used to brag about? That's what I'm thinkin'. My P12 has all coil springs in it, magazines and recoil spring. Like I say, it functions 100 percent. This might have been the big change that made the thing reliable. I seem to remember some magazine articles talking about feed failures in the P10 when it came out.

The P12s magazine will disassemble by pressing a little button on the bottom of the magazine and sliding the base off it. I'd feel better about these magazines if they were metal instead of plastic, but they've held up well and I've had this thing for a long time.
 
MCgunner said:
It's a long DAO. Hammer is down when in the pocket. It takes a long, deliberate DA squeeze on the trigger to fire the weapon. It's as safe as carrying a J frame in a pocket, probably safer IMHO. I like DAOs for this reason and that they fire like a good revolver. Makes the crosstraining easier between DAO and revolver. No safeties and such to worry about.

Nothing's going to pull that trigger when it's in the holster anyway. That's an advantage of holster carry in the pocket vs. just carrying the gun without holster.

I think trebor's point was that if it can be fired while in the holster it's a restricted weapon (AOW= any other weapon) and must be registered with the ATF and a $200 tax stamp is required.
 
I carried a Grendel P-12, loaded with Winchester Silvertips, for about 9 years. I used round nose bullets for my reloads for practice--mostly 88 gr. lead and 95 gr. lead. It never malfunctioned in my hands. It did for others, because I think they limp wristed it. Last year I went back to a snub .38 loaded with 158 gr. lead hollowpoints. I like the heavy bullet. I don't like the 5-round capacity.
 
Keoni said:
I think trebor's point was that if it can be fired while in the holster it's a restricted weapon (AOW= any other weapon) and must be registered with the ATF and a $200 tax stamp is required.

Oh, that one went over my head. Can't get at the trigger while in the holster, so I guess I'm safe. If for some reason you wanted it to fire in the holster, you'd have to take all the leather away from the slide so it'd cycle and cut a hole where the trigger is.
 
You can have one that fires from the holster as long as it still looks like a gun. The AOW ones hide the fact it is a firearm.
 
You're talking about the magazine spring, right? Is it one of those constant force springs like Ram Line used to brag about? That's what I'm thinkin'.

No, the mainspring. The thingie that makes the hammer go down. Dunno if it was just the P10 or if it was both, though.
 
I have a friend who bought one in the early 90's. He loves the damn thing. It has been beat to hell, and is as ugly as can be, but it does work.

Kevin
 
I have had experience with three Grendel P10s.
One required a new hammer spring (factory warranty
no charge); one worked for years with no problems;
one very late production had a failure of the weld on
the frame (frame has two stamped plates with slide
rails welded to a machined steel block).

The one of the three was a keeper, but all were unpleasant
to shoot. I would take it out every six months, fire it
empty, clean it and reload it. After the model was no
longer in production, lack of support (parts, factory
repair) led me to switch to a .38 Spl revolver, which
turned out to be more pleasant to shoot.

Double action only semi-auto, fixed magazine, simple
inexpensive defense appliance: Grendel P10.
 
That P-30 (the 22 mag wthat held like 20 rounds) was a precoursor to the FiveseveN in a wierd way. Never seen one outside a gun show and haven't seen ANY in ages.
 
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