Tiny CCW guns: reliability?

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I read the AR article the other day and just had to roll my eyes. I have a friend that carries a P3AT all the time and he's never had a malfunction as far as I know. Personally, I carry an LCP. I have about 220 rounds through it so far with no issues. I've mainly shot Blazer (aluminum casings), Remington UMC, WWB, and Powerball. I usually wear business dress and the CrossBreed Mini Tuck is my preferred way to carry it. It literally disappears and is very comfortable to wear all day. I have bigger carry guns but this one has proven to be reliable and I can hide it so easily. Like they say, it's better than a pointy stick. To me, the AR article just proved again that you have to take things with a grain of salt.
 
Who here has put, say, 200+ rounds through a P32, P3AT, LCP, or similar gun?
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I gave my daughter a KelTec P32 that we've put several hundred rounds through. I carry a P3AT that has over 500 rounds run through it. Never a hiccup from either one.
 
Who here has put, say, 200+ rounds through a P32, P3AT, LCP, or similar gun?
Click to expand...
I owned two P3ATs and a P32. I made many attempts, but to put 200 rounds through any of them would be an all day affair. None of them would complete a mag without a mis-feed (okay, the P32 wasn't quite that bad, but it had other issues as well). The 2nd gen P3AT would often not go two rounds without a misfeed. This in spite of "Fluff & Buff", fresh springs, several different mags (at least one brand new), multiple brands of FMJ ammo. JHP were even worse, if such a thing were possible. All are long gone, with full disclosure and significant financial loss.

I have put about 200 rounds through my LCP, and half of it was JHP (DPX, Golden Sabre, Gold Dot). Not a single failure...I couldn't believe it. Not to say that there isn't a round or brand out there somewhere that would cause it to choke, but the three brands I would actually carry all worked great.

All that said, the LCP sits in the safe, and my Kimber Pro CDP is on my hip as I type this. I trust the LCP to fire and function; I'm just not sure I trust the .380 cartridge to be effective. Hell, I haven't carried a 9mm more than half a dozen days in the last year. :)

So there you have my .02. If I were to carry a .380, it would be the LCP. I sure like the looks of that Kahr P380 though...
 
I've got both the LCP and the PM9 set up with the Crimson Trace lasers & they are great guns. After a few hundred rounds through both, they've been flawless, with multiple types of ammo, including reloads.

Both can be a bit snappy with the recoil, but you get used to it. Both have long DA trigger pulls, especially the PM9. That takes a bit to get used to, especially at the range when you're shooting other guns too.

The LCP is about invisable as a carry gun. The sights are difficult due to being so small, but the CT takes that problem away. I also used a gun sight paint on mine to make em very visable. Of course if your life depended on it, you'd probably just be pointin & shootin at close range.
 
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I had a post recall LCP that I put around 500 rounds through before I traded it in. You must get the finger grip extension magazines. It comes with the extension floor plate now. No real failures but with some hollow point ammunition will jam the first round no matter how hard you rack the slide. You have to keep a little oil on the feed ramp.

The only ammo I trusted was the hornady critical defense. It would feed perfectly every time due to the shape of the bullet. Even if the feed ramp was dry.

I carried it every day in my front pocket. Overall I liked the gun. I didn't like the magazine release and I didn't like the sights cause there are none really. It's ok up to 7 yards but thats it.

I'm personally interested in the Diamondback 380. New company but it is basically a baby glock. Has glock style sights. No tool breakdown. Stainless steel magazine release. Same size as the lcp same weight. Gunblast liked it but he likes everything. Would like to hear other opinions if anybody has experience with it.
 
my P3AT experience was similar to orionengnr's

but I got mine to run reliably, and have kept it for limited duty.

Mine would feed erratically and shuck ammo. Much tinkering later, I sorted out the fact that my mag(s) were too tight to hook properly on the release--and, if I slammed a mag home, the magazine release notch would damage the release, further exacerbating the problem.

I shaved the bottom of the grip and cleaned up the mag floor plate--and that has basically fixed it. I've now fired about 500 rounds total through it, and the last 300 (after the debugging) have been flawless with LRNs or JHPs.

I consider mine reliable enough to carry, but I also consider it limited--it's the one I carry when I want something smaller than my M&P 340--and that's pretty rare.

Personally, I have no shooting issues with it; I can shoot well and accurately in measured rapid-fire out to 7-10 yards--and that's all I want the gun for. If I decide to carry it regularly, I'll probably add the CT Laser.

As an aside--has NO one else had trouble with mag seating and / or a shaved mag release? Last time I looked over at the KelTec forum, there were posters eagerly awaiting a guy to start making his metal mag release again....

Jim H.
 
Odd how in that pocket .380 article in AR, the $1000 gun is the only one without any malfunctions. :rolleyes:
I guess somebody had to figure out an angle on how to sell something for double/triple the price what the competitors are getting.

For a little bit larger and more weight I'd stick with a smaller 9mm. A Kahr PM9 is right inside the weight/size of those .380s. A CW9 or P9 adds a few ounces and are bigger but, not by much.
All three of these small 9mm also can carry 1 extra round. I carry a CW9 in t-shirt and beach shorts attire every day and it is not worth it in my opinion just to save a few ounces to carry anything smaller.
I don't carry the 9mm inside the pockets of my shorts but, it will fit most of them unnoticed. I carry it IWB at 2oclock and it is not visible even if you're looking for it. It has about 800 zero malfunction rounds through it so far.
There are several other small 9mm that fit into the same size/weight as the Kahrs I mentioned also. Kel-Tec PF-9, Kel-Tec P-11, and Glock G26(a little fat) are so close to these .380s it seems pointless to go such a small caliber.
Why settle for .380 when a 9mm is only a few ounces away?
 
Who here has put, say, 200+ rounds through a P32, P3AT, LCP, or similar gun?
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1000+ rounds through my 1st Gen Kel-Tec P32 without any failures at all.
800+ rounds through my 2nd Gen Kel-Tec P32 without any failures at all.
1500+ rounds through my 2nd Gen Kel-Tec P3AT without any failures at all.
No issues with "shaved mag release"...I do what many folks do, press the release button before inserting a new mag.

Do you want me to list all of my pocket pistols with approximate round and failure count? I have dozens and have had very few failures on any of them; .22Short, .22LR, .25acp, 32acp, .380acp, & 9x18.

BTW: The current American Rifleman piece on pocket pistols is lame.
 
I shot silhouettes that were a little smaller than man size this weekend at 10yds and had no problems hitting with my P32 as fast as I could pull the trigger. There was more than one person watching that not only was impressed that I hit the target but also wondered where the gun came from so quickly and out of the blue. I had it in my pocket. I also carry it with the clip and can have it in my hand in seconds when seconds count. Im just a normal guy with no formal training nor do I pretend to be a ninja or tacticool.
 
i have put about 150 through my LCP so far. that may not be enough for a definitive judgment, but it's been 100% to this point. i'd like to try a few more brands of ammo before i call it good, but things are looking up...

still...i carry the SP101 more often and will likely continue to do so even after i've gained complete comfort with the LCP.
 
I recommend to my students the best small carry guns are: for a revolver - a S&W 640 .357 and for autos - either a Kahr T-9 or T-40 My smallest carry gun is a 28 oz. M&P .40. No matter what you carry, first take it to a custom smith and get a trigger job, radius cartridge ports, feed-ramp polishing, etc.
 
Tiny? You mention under 8 oz.
The LCP is 9.4 oz. and I think that's without a magazine.
The Seecamp 380 is 11.3 oz.

I don't know of a pocket gun under 8 oz.
 
I also shoot the heck out of my P32 (Gen 1, much more than 1000 rounds, no failures since the fluff and buff years ago). It weighs 6.6 oz with mag but empty.

It serves as backup to my PF9, which has never shown a need for either fluffing or buffing. It's been 100% since shot one.
 
To all you guys with jamming Kel-tecs ...

What did KT do when you sent your guns back? Did you even send it in for repair work?

I only ask because I had to send a 32 back to them and it came back within a week and was utterly reliable afterward. It didn't bother me since I've had to do the same with S&W and Ruger in numerous instances. But for some reason, some of you guys seem to hold Kel-Tec to a much higher standard.
 
LOL...I once had to send back a brand new Chevy Blazer. Thank God for the Lemon Laws!
 
KelTec P32. 250 rds. since new, several brands of mostly ball, about 100 JHP. Never been cleaned, oiled new and not since. No failures of any kind. Extremely light, small, slender, and inexpensive, an ideal cc pistol.
 
KelTec P32 about 9 months old. 300 rds. since new, several brands of mostly ball, about 100 JHP. Never cleaned, oiled new and not since.

No failures of any kind.

Extremely light, small, slender, and inexpensive, an ideal cc pistol (after a thorough cleaning and lube, of course!).
 
p3at is reliable. i have maybe 1500 rounds with only a few minor hicups early on. did a feedramp polish, 100% since then
 
Ditto to the P3AT.

I've put about 500 rounds through mine. Not a pleasant gun to shoot, I don't know how some of you guys have managed to put such high round counts through them. Must be masochists or something.

If I recall, the Kel-tec manual mentions a 100 round break-in. I think I experienced one stovepipe during the 1st 100 rounds. No problems in the remainder of rounds fired. I have yet to do a fluff-and-buff on the gun.

One thing I did notice that worried me initially occurred when I was seeing what kind of groups I could get with the gun at 10 yards. Talk about an exercise in futility. I noticed that if I slowly took up half of the trigger pull, enough to cock the hammer, and then let off the trigger because my sight picture went to crap, when I finished the trigger pull the gun would not fire and I would see light primer strikes on the chambered round. Ammunition was a mixture of Hornady and Speer defensive rounds, and WWB, so I don't think this is a primer hardness issue.

Doesn't really worry me because I won't be letting off the trigger in a defensive situation, but I still feel as though this is a design flaw.
 
Not sure if this is the kind of pistol you had in mind, but I own 2 Beretta model 950s (the "Jetfire) in .25 ACP (well one belongs to my wife)

Both have been 100% reliable, with both FMJ loads and the 2 of the 3 types of JHPs I've tried (Hornady XTP and Speer Gold Dot).

Only problems I've had have been with Fiocchi brand JHPs. Oddly enough, I think that they use Hornady bullets?

I've also tried reloads (yes I am crazy enough to try loading for .25ACP) with both 50gr FMJ and 35gr hollow points, both with bullseye powerd. No problems.

I carry about 35% of the time with the Jetfire (for those times when my Makarov is too much trouble), and do trust it with my life.

My wife rarely carries, and when she does it's with the Jetfire about 50% of the time . The rest of the time she takes her .38 Taurus. I can't speak for her but I believe that she has full confidence in both guns...
 
Grayowl said:
I recommend to my students the best small carry guns are: for a revolver - a S&W 640 .357 and for autos - either a Kahr T-9 or T-40 My smallest carry gun is a 28 oz. M&P .40. No matter what you carry, first take it to a custom smith and get a trigger job, radius cartridge ports, feed-ramp polishing, etc.
Click to expand...

If I did not trust the gun enough that I thought I had to "improve" it, I would not buy it. To each his own.

The feed ramp gets polished during the 75-150 round break in using FMJ. If it gives you a warm fuzzy to do all that then OK. If I don't like the trigger on a firearm I will not purchase it.
 
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