kel tec p3at range report

[Blarelli]

I finally picked up my new p3at yesterday. Blue frame, hard chrome finish. I had decided on the hard chrome because I have heard from multiple sources that they have a better chance of not being a dud. When I got home, I pulled it apart, wiped it down with a few dry patches, and oiled the barrel, guide rod, and the rails. I was happy with what I saw as far as the hard chrome goes. Compared to some of the blued models I have seen there were hardly any machining marks of any kind. The sights as we all know are almost non-existent, but will do for close range.
I got out of class about an hour early today, so I headed to the range with a couple of boxes of Speer Lawman 95 grain TMJ. They loaded very well, and I put 100 rounds through it with no malfunction. I tried some targets at 20 feet to start off with, and I was keeping 5 rounds in 5 seconds in a very loose 6 inch group. Slow fire brought the group down to 3 inches. Through the whole range session, I was pulling my shots pretty bad to the right, but the vertical was right on. Now for the humbling part. I put the target out at 25 yards, fired 20 shots, and I knocked the corner off of the paper with one shot, and that was it.
Due to what I had heard before, I expected it to be a very sharp and unpleasant recoil, but that was not the case. It was easy to handle, and bring back down on target for a quick second shot.
Taking price, quality, accuracy, and reliability into account I will give it an 8/10. I guess I'll have to start thinking about what I want for my next purchase now. Those NAA .32 guardians sure are good looking, and a bud of mine lives across the street from the owner. Maybe we could work something out.

 

[MCgunner]

Put the thing on sand bags at 25 and shoot it for groups. Find out what the GUN is capable of, then practice, practice, practice off hand until you can control it with no flinch and proper trigger control. I still haven't picked one up, yet, but I plan to.

 

[brett30030]

Keep in mind these are not range guns, and will start to malfunction when they start to get dirt much faster than about any other pistol. I carry mine about 99% of the time and never with another mag. So to me so long at it is clean and goes bang for about 50 rounds on the range, it is good for the 7 i carry daily. Others will disagree, but that is how i see it. I need it to protect me in an emergency, close courters encounter, not a fire fight with the mujahideen.

 

[HisSoldier]

Mine fails to extract now about two out of six rounds.

 

[sig226]

You must enjoy recoil, I find mine pretty unpleasant to shoot. It's controllable and worthless past about ten yards, but that's not what it's for.

I want to get the hard chrome model, but the blue one I already have functions perfectly and I don't want to worry about reliability testing a new one.

Cheap? Yup.
Overly simple? Yup.
In my pocket constantly? Yup.

 

[Newton]

First one I had was a terrible Gen1 gun, the second one is a perfect Gen2.

This gun has some great punch for a tiny pocket pistol. I confess to carrying it everywhere loaded with 7 rounds of Corbons 80gr DPX.

If it weren't for the P-3AT I doubt I would carry at all.

 

[shooter1]

I have two of the Gen l P3ATs, one hard chrome, and the other blued. After some early startup problems with one, both are relaible. I qualified the hard chromed one as a BUG before I retired. Shot a 470/500 with it. The first 6 shots were at 15yds, and the remainder at the 7 and 2 yd line. I bought a PF9 thinking I'd go to that as a BUG, but more often than not it's still the P3AT!
str1

 

[tinygnat219]

McGunner,

Put the thing on sand bags at 25 and shoot it for groups.

We are talking about the same Kel-Tec P3AT here right? I don't see a need for this kind of practice, I can see it with any other gun that's not the smallest pocket .380 with no sights. If it works for you, great, but I don't go beyond 10 yards with mine as I see it as a waste of time and ammo.

Find out what the GUN is capable of, then practice, practice, practice off hand until you can control it with no flinch and proper trigger control.

I like this advice though, good solid practical practical advice! The trigger and trigger reset takes some getting used to.

 

[Storm]

If you are pulling to the right put more fingetip onto the trigger, well onto the pad of your finger all the way towards the first joint. It's different for everyone but it works for me with stiffer DA triggers.