Kel Tec PF 9 extraction problems anyone?

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Bought a new Kel Tec PF 9 for carry purpose. Test fired it with Winchester white box 9mm fmj ammo. Fired over 100 rounds through it. I could not fire one complete magazine without having at least 1 failure to extract the fired case from the chamber. I had 3 failures to extract with one mag. Anyone else having the same problems? So much for having this as my carry gun.
 
The first thing to do is to check & make sure the round-head screw in the slide that holds the extractor spring down is tight.

It takes a 2mm allen-wrench I think.

If it is loose, dry-fire the gun and leave the hammer down to hold the firing pin in place.

Then take the screw clear out and put one small drop of BLUE Lock-Tight on it and put it back in, tight.

rc
 
Yeah, the PF-9 has....issues. A search here will reveal several threads, one of which I started. Also there is several LONG running threads over at KTOG.com. It took two trips back to Cocoa Beach (and two new slides) before they got mine running right.

Also, try it with something other than WWB. That is hands down the worst 9mm ammo available, and is widely known for choking PF-9s in particular.
 
I had extraction problems with mine.

Resolution: after messing with the extractor, emailing kel tec (they blamed ammo*), installing a new extractor, trying a big variety of ammo, etc... I got rid of it. I now carry a Ruger SR9c, which runs flawlessly, and which I shoot very well.



*Blazer Aluminum was all that I had run at the time, so it was a reasonable guess on their part. Problem was, it continued to fail to extract:
Federal
WWB
PMC
Speer Gold Dots (115 gr, 124 +P, 147)
Remington UMC
 
It is possible to limp-wrest a PF9 and cause the problem you are having.
And you won't know you are doing it if you are doing it.

If possible have an experianced shooter try it and see what happens.

rc
 
Sorry to hear. Those issues are very common with the PF9. My experience was similar to yours.

I bought a brand new one at my local LGS a couple of years ago, and upon taking it to the range for break-in I experienced the same problems you did. Too bad coz I really liked the PF9, but its reliability issues made me sell it 2 months later and bought a different pocket pistol.

Here is a pic of the fired round with the empty case still in the chamber and the next round unable to feed. This started happening right off the bat with my new PF9. My magazine also did not reliably feed the rounds when its loaded to capacity.

DSCI0428.jpg
 
I bought a used P-11 5 years ago. I sent it back to Kel Tec twice. It still stovepiped quite a bit. 3 weeks ago I finally got it going. I made a post at the hi point forum titled "odyssey of a P-11" explaining what I did to fix it.
 
One more thing, I let a LGS talk me into buying a P-3AT. I shot it for 3 weeks before it was on the way to FL. Right now I wouldn't pay over $50 for any Kel Tec NIB. I am going to take some flack over this but I feel a lot safer carrying a Jimenez than a Kel Tec. At least if a Jimenez has a timing problem you can get a new firing pin spring and fix it.
 
I believe the problem is that the extraction spring is weak or gets weak after a few rounds. Very simple and inexpensive fix, go to the KTOG.org forum and look up the double extraction spring post. This has fixed pretty much everyone's extraction problem. I hope this helps. God Bless :)
 
VBVAGUY said:
I believe the problem is that the extraction spring is weak or gets weak after a few rounds. Very simple and inexpensive fix, go to the KTOG.org forum and look up the double extraction spring post. This has fixed pretty much everyone's extraction problem. I hope this helps. God Bless :)
Click to expand...
How does the extraction spring get weak after 100 rounds? You just proved that anything is superior to a kel tec. Stay away from the kel tec forum. All you will get is 50 people saying their kel tec works flawlessly. I got banned from the kel tec forum for just telling the truth. So does anyone who disagrees on them. One guy got banned for complaining about a shotgun that literally fell apart on day one. He included photos of the shotgun.
 
Yup, there's also a forum that caters to all Saturday Night Special fans.
 
I tend to agree somewhat about the KTOG forum, although there is some good reading there about the PF9's problems. I received a similar cold shoulder there when I posted about mine.

I think the problem lies with the machining of the slide, specifically the breechface. On my original slide, the round could wiggle side to side a little, and therefor could escape the extractor (it was also not had enough and got badly peened by the barrel hood). The next one was better, but failed by cracking after about 100 rounds. Finally, the third and current slide does not allow the round to wiggle, shows no signs of cracking, and has reliably fed around 300 rounds, if memory serves.

The factory was relatively painless to deal with and paid shipping both times, but the gun was brand new. After that experience, I would never buy a used Kel-Tec, and will definitely do a LOT more research before buying another one. They have some innovative products, but their QC sucks.
 
One_Jackal said:
How does the extraction spring get weak after 100 rounds? You just proved that anything is superior to a kel tec. Stay away from the kel tec forum. All you will get is 50 people saying their kel tec works flawlessly. I got banned from the kel tec forum for just telling the truth. So does anyone who disagrees on them. One guy got banned for complaining about a shotgun that literally fell apart on day one. He included photos of the shotgun.
Click to expand...



From my what I have read and from my understanding, Keltec had a batch of extractors that were bad that went out with a bunch of guns. As with anything that is metal (Metal fatigue) and even man-made it will go bad. Even the all mighty glocks have problems. Just adding the extra extractor spring to the Keltec PF9 makes a BIG difference. It will not cost you anything much and is very simple to perform like 2 minutes of your time if that. I hope this helps. God Bless :)
 
@VBVAGUY We all you know you are only trying to help. I just got a P-3At back from the factory yesterday. I was overjoyed to see my gun back after 6 weeks. The first shot I fired FTE. I shot about 50 more rounds from weapon - 4 more FTE. I am just going to keep sending the gun back until kel tec fixes it or refunds my money. I don't think it's safe to tinker with the design of the weapon above standard industry practice, like cutting spring stock to fit. If 2 extractor springs will fix the gun that is kel tecs call.
 
I had the FTEx from the beginning, tried a new extractor and spring which Kel Tec quickly sent to me, didn't work. While working at a Daytona Beach job site, I was able to drop off the gun, picked it up on my way home. Better, but still not perfect. Did the same routine passing by, this time I had a long talk with the tech, they test fired it again, they DID have a FTEx. I picked it up the next day, ran 100 flawless rounds through it. I did at that time polish the feed ramp and the chamber making sure there were no rough spots inside and no sharp edges at the opening, the gun has shot about 700 perfect rounds through since, these include WWB, Federal, reloads, Gold Dot Short Barrel, etc. I for one have generally nothing but good to say about the Kel Tec people and the KTOG forum has worked well for me also.
 
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