Kel-Tec Kaput -- AGAIN!

[JohnBT]

I'm glad they don't charge $50 more for every gun. So are all the folks who haven't had any trouble with theirs.

I sent my P-32 back to have the trigger axis repaired 2 years ago and it cost me less than $25. Maybe it was 3 years - I dunno - SN is 12xxx. It was still shooting when I sent it and it's worked fine since I got it back. And life goes on.

So I'm still ahead dollar-wise (compared to paying an extra $50 up front) and so are many others. And it was no big deal to be without the gun for a few weeks. It's not like it was my only gun.

John

 

[Drakejake]

Concerning the reported problem of the slide not going all the way into battery after a shot, although it can easily be pushed into place: I had the same problem with a Megastar which hadn't been shot very much. Eventually the problem disappeared. Perhaps the slide/frame interface needed some wearing in. So keep on shooting with the .40 slide and make sure to keep your arms and wrists rigid. The .40 fired from a small, light pistol puts out a lot of recoil and this needs to be resisted to make the pistol work.

I have to consider the Kel Tecs a bit of a novelty because of their small size and weight. They are clearly prone to jams and breakage but we put up with them because they are so damn easy to carry. I have the .32 and the 9mm, both of which are working OK at present. I sent the P-11 back to the factory some time ago and they replaced the barrel and recoil spring.

Drakejake

 

[firestar]

Kel-Tec owners put up with more problems from their guns than any other group of gun owners. 1911 owners are probably second. It seems like it is not really expected that a Kel-Tec should work out of the box. You people that think Kel-Tec could charge $50 more and deliver a reliable product are strange. These guns are clearly very cheap to make, anyone that has taken them apart can see this.

There are a lot of excuses made for the lack of reliability of Kel-Tecs, if all it took was a little hand polishing and tweaking after you buy a new gun, I would be all for that. That is not the case. Kel-Tecs will break without notice. This is a problem that you can't fix with a "fluff and buff". The P-32 will break the trigger axis with an alarming regularity. The slide-stop will break, the trigger pin falls out, etc., etc.

Kel-Tecs are designed for one thing, self defense, if they are not reliable then what good are they? I used to say that I would carry my P-32 even if it had jamming and ejecting problems because it is so small and light that it is worth it to have even one round. I figuired that even if it jammed on the second shot, I had at LEAST one shot for sure. Knowing that the trigger axis will break often, makes me see that you may not even have one shot for sure out of the P-32.

When they work, they seem to work perfectly. After the 1st time I sent P-32 back to the factory, it worked great for a couple hundred rounds, then all of a sudden, the trigger axis broke.

 

[WonderNine]

Sending the P32's back to the factory twice seems to be the average. Occasionally you hear of one that hasn't been back and just as often you hear of ones that have been sent back more than twice and/or sold.

 

[Pocket Pistol]

The purpose of a gun for self defence is to go BANG when you need it.
Not to be on its way to the factory because they have a good warrenty.
Try to explain the warrenty to the BG when you really need your gun.

 

[yzguy]

Engineering wise, this is what sometimes happens when you try to adapt a successful design (P32) to another application (P11, P40).

the P-11 was the first of those three.... the P-32 came later....

have you tried different mags for the P-40? are you using P-40 mags or P-11 mags??

never mind, you have given up, please sell it, and stop complaining....

and 2 times back to the factory is not the average....

 

[Dorrin79]

after another (better, too, in terms of accuracy) range session this last saturday with the P-11, it has hit 500 rounds through it.

It has had 2 failures in that time. After I F&B'd it myself, the next two rounds nosedived into the feed ramp. After that, it fired the next 98 rounds without a flaw.

So, personally, I have no reservations about depending on my P-11 as a defensive weapon. My only complaint is that I am still much less accurate with it than with my other handguns.

 

[JohnBT]

firestar - "The P-32 will break the trigger axis with an alarming regularity."

My P-32 broke it once 2 or 3 years ago and has been fine ever since. Where did you get the idea that the P-32 will break it with regularity? Or did you mean that ALL of them will break the trigger axis? I know that's not true.

And neither is everybody sending them back to the factory twice. Come on now, you're tending to exaggerate a tad there.

And like I said, mine never failed to fire. The trigger axis failure I had resulted in the trigger pull sloooowly getting longer over a period of weeks. It eventually would have failed to fire when the trigger hit the frame, but what idiot would have let it go that long?

As for the rest of the naysayers, some of you act like you've never seen a gun with problems before. That's why you shoot them 500 or 1000 or 2000 times before you trust your life to them.

John

 

[firestar]

By saying:
"The P-32 will break the trigger axis with an alarming regularity."
I meant that a LOT of P-32 have suffered a broken trigger axis. Just because you P-32 only broke it's trigger axis once doesn't mean that it is not a big defect in the design.

I think a gun isn't reliable until you have fired several hundred rounds without a problem. The problem is, every several hundred rounds the P-32 seems to need repair.

 

[WonderNine]

Where did you get the idea that the P-32 will break it with regularity?

Well yours broke, didn't it?

 

[JohnBT]

Yup, but most of the more than 100,000 P-32s made have not broken from what I've seen on various boards over the past few years. Pretty good track record for a $199 to $275 gun.

Still don't see the big deal. Stuff happens. Fix it, live with it or trade it (reminds me of my first wife.)

I'm really glad I didn't spend $875 for a NIB Seecamp a few years ago when they were extremely scarce. The P-32 has worked out very well and it's a lot lighter.

John

 

[Handy]

For even a $200 gun, these seem kind of crummy.

The Rap pistol goes for $210. The Makarov, $170. The FEG Hi-power, $230. Kahr E9, $300.

The Keltec might be the cheapest plastic compact, but that's hardly a defense of shoddy workmanship.

A finicky car is good for cruising, not commuting. A finicky gun is fine for the range, not defending your life.

Maybe they should just sell the gun as a bag of parts - a kit gun. That way no one would assume that it's ready to go out of the box. Consumers can sand and file it as it goes together.

 

[alamo]

I spent $600 a few years ago on a Seecamp (before the P-32/Guardian were available), it was a jamomatic. To be fair, I only put 200 rounds thru it but still had the same problem. Sold it to a friend who was aware of the problems but knew someone who could fix it up. I suppose I could go on like some and continually complain about Seecamps but I've got better things to do. It is a fine pistol, that one just didn't work out for me. It happens.

I now have 2 very reliable P-32s and 2 Autauga .32s. Will be getting a Kel-Tec P-3AT as soon as I can.

 

[aerod1]

I like my Kel-Tec P-11. It has performed flawlessly for over 3 years. I do carry this gun with confidence.
Jim Hall

 

[WonderNine]

aerod1, it's hard to make a 9mm that doesn't work.

 

[RJ likeguns]

I enjoy my P-32. I will enjoy it better while wearing shorts this summer and still be able to hide the thing.

You could get 2 P-32's for the price of one Kahr. If you would happen to have a problem with one, then you'd have a spare! What would happen if the Kahr quit? Oh yeah, I guess it wouldn't since it is better, right?