KelTec P11 extended mag.

[Jim NE]

Went to the range with several handguns to trial run or trouble shoot, and I'm generally very pleased with the results.

On my P11's stock magazine I put the extension shoe that allowed me to grip the gun better. That, along with a hogue handall jr. grip DEFINITELY allowed me to shoot the gun more accurately.

I was disappointed , however, in the 15 round used S&W 3900 [correction - 5900 series] series magazine (for my P11.) This aftermarket magaszine generally gets good reviews IF you use an original S&W brand mag (which I did.) I put a KelTec grip extension (designed for this mag upgrade) and a 2nd Hogue handall jr. on the extension. It made the gun feel GREAT in my hands, and I shot alot more accurately, but the gun constantly jammed (and my P11 has never jammed on me before.)

Went back to the stock mag, and it worked perfect, so I'm darn near positive it's the mag. The loading rounds were hitting low just below the feed ramp and getting caught. The strange thing is when I racked live rounds by hand a couple weeks ago, they all chambered with no feeding problems. There were no failure-to-eject problems during shooting.

I'd hate to write the aftermarket Smith mag off so soon. Anybody had similar problems? Recommended solutions? Thought I'd ask before I start bending things with pliers. (Not that I'm opposed to that.)

 

[ugaarguy]

I'd try a Mec-Gar or S&W branded 5900 series mag in your P11. Mec-Gar is the OEM supplier for most S&W magazines.

 

[Jim NE]

Sorry, ugaarguy, I misspoke. It WAS a 5900 series magazine.

 

[F-111 John]

You said it was a used 5900 magazine. Any possibility that the feed lips are damaged, or perhaps the magazine spring is getting weak?

 

[Jim NE]

You said it was a used 5900 magazine. Any possibility that the feed lips are damaged, or perhaps the magazine spring is getting weak?

Yes, John, that is a possibility, but I don't have a new example to compare it to. I got the mag used from Numrich. Spring doesn't seem overly strong or weak. Sll the sheet metal on the mag seems straight and unbent and no dings. It was really pretty dirty when I got it, so I took it apart and cleaned it.

As I said, I racked the slide by hand and got all the rounds to feed with no problem. I'm almost wondering - since the longer mag and it's cover (the mag extension from KelTec) act as a grip extension, is the recoil while shooting causing me to torque the mag just enough to cause it to not feed properly? That might explain why it feeds OK when racking the slide.

On the other hand, other people haven't had a problem with this alteration (at least w/orig. S&W brand mags) and my SR9C has the same sort of extended mag. I don't know. I suppose buying a new replacement spring for the mag wouldn't be too expensive and a good place to start.

 

[gpr]

i have tried several brands in my p11, to no avail....mg is the only ones that functioned......every brand seems to work in my s&w sub 2000, mg, s&w, even 50 round national.....gary

 

[Mike J]

I bought one of the 5906 magazines for my P-11 a couple of years ago. I experienced the same thing you did. It cycled fine by hand & jammed when shooting. To be honest I didn't follow up on it but the folks at www.ktog.org told me if I were to order a + power magazine spring from Wolff it would work.

 

[elano]

This is an easy fix. Get the +10% wolf magazine springs. I bought 3 5906 mags and all 3 jammed my p11. I replaced the springs with the extra strong wolfs and now all 3 function 100% and with all ammo Ive tried, even cast lead. If you want it to work, buy the wolf spring.

 

[Jim NE]

This is an easy fix. Get the +10% wolf magazine springs. I bought 3 5906 mags and all 3 jammed my p11. I replaced the springs with the extra strong wolfs and now all 3 function 100% and with all ammo Ive tried, even cast lead. If you want it to work, buy the wolf spring.

AWESOME!! This is exactly the type of info I was looking for! THANKS Elano, Mike J and everyone else!

 

[Jim NE]

UPDATE:

Hi, just wanted to give a followup on my P11 mag situation. Elano was absolutely right. I ordered the 10 percent + Wolff mag spring for the S&W 5900 series 15 round mag and it seems to work flawlessly in my Keltec.

Mag wouldn't even work occasionally with the stock spring, but now it's great, at least for the 80 rounds I shot yesterday. Not one jam, ftf, fte, whatever. SO don't give up hope if this mag hasn't worked for you. I believe the cost of the spring was about 7 or 8 bucks, plus shipping, but beware - Wolff is currently a little slow on sending orders out.

Thanks again Elano.

 

[F-111 John]

Thanks for the follow-up. It will help someone in the future who searches THR for this issue.

 

[Well Now]

This news comes too late. I was having the same problem so I sold it to a guy who had a S&W 5900 series gun and he hasn't had a problem with it.

 

[Jim NE]

This news comes too late.

As I said, Wolff is slow sending things out. I ordered the spring the day after elano gave me the heads up. THe guy at Wolff said they were about a week behind on shipping. I got the spring 10 or 12 days after I ordered it, then went to the range a few days later (yesterday.) Too bad you got rid of the mag, but Numrich has them.

I'm keeping the stock spring, because even though I don't see getting rid of my mag for the KT, who knows, I might get a 5906 some day. I don't doubt that the stock mag spring works fine in a S&W gun. Makes me wonder how a 10+ spring would work in a S&W gun though.

The one drawback to the spring is that it's a bit harder to get the mag to click into position when there are 15 rounds in it. A good palm whack does the trick, though.

The added capacity is almost secondary to me - I now can shoot the gun accurately because of the longer mag and grip. The shoe on the standard mag makes it useable, too.