Kel-Tec 3AT Range Report

[Lonestar.45]

A couple of days ago I posted pics of my new Kel-Tec 3AT and promised a range report. Well, I went and put 120 rds through the new 3AT yesterday. I'm semi-pleased. At 7 yds, accuracy was good. I did have 8 ftf’s in that 120 rds though. I shot 50 rds of Winchester white box fmj, 50 rds of Remington fmj, 20 rds Winchester classic JHP, and 20 rds Winchester SXT JHP. The white box and the SXT did the best as far as no jams. The SXT was best in accuracy. My gun did not like the Remington as much as the rest, for some reason. The Win classic JHP fed fine, but accuracy sucked with those. It will take some more breaking in, to be sure, but like I said I'm semi-pleased. This little sucker does kick though. I'd rather shoot my SA Champion .45 any day!

I'm getting some mag extensions and a handall jr. grip sleeve to help with the range work.

Attached is one of the targets. This is at 7yds. The 6 head shots were the SXT's, the body shots were 44 rds of Winchester White Box.

 

[aguyindallas]

Visit www.ktog.org

Its a great Kel-Tec forum and I am certain you can find some tips to fine tune your gun. The P3AT is known to have FTE and FTF without a little touching up.

Good Luck. I carry a P32 in my pocket everyday!

 

[wally]

What kind of feed failures? Nose dive into feed ramp? or Slide not closing? or something else?

Looks like you have the "new improved" extractor, so Im curious if they improved extraction at the cost of maybe causing some hangs getting the extractor over the case. If this is what's going on, a "rap" on the back of the slide will cause the extractor to jump into the groove and allow the feed to complete. Did you have any of these?

--wally.

 

[Lonestar.45]

Nose dive into the feed ramp...the dreaded smiley. It almost always happened between rd 4 and 5 in the mag. I'd fire rd four, and the empty casing would stay in the chamber (FTE?), and rd five from the mag would be stuck on the feed ramp with the slide partially back. Make sense? I'd pop out the mag, at which point the slide would slam home, then I'd rack the slide and out came the empty brass. I wasn't too thrilled. It could be that I was "limp wristing" some, it could be that the gun is still so new and needs breaking in, it could be the ammo (it happened more with the Remington; it never happened with the WIN SXT, which were nickel cases); I don't know. I'm going to shoot another couple of hundred rds through it with different ammo and see what happens. If it persists, then back to Kel-Tec for some work.

I do think it had to do mostly with my form (this sucker recoils and I'm not all that used to shooting pistols that much to begin with) and the fact that it needs more shooting to break in, the gun is kinda tight. That said, I fired 100rds through my SA Champion .45 with nary a hiccup, as usual!

 

[wally]

Hmmm, sounds like the "new improved" extractor isn't doing much good. Sounds like what happens with my P3AT if I use any of the steel cased ammo. I have no problems with any of the brass cased ammo I've tried (including "random" cases in gun show brass I've reloaded). or CCI aluminum cased Blazer. I think the root cause is extraction failure, the case is jammed against the feed ramp because its got nowhere to go!

A classic nose dive needs to have an empty chamber and the round hung up on the feed ramp and/or front of the mag.

I used motorcycle chrome cleaner/polish on my chamber before I'd shot much brass cased ammo, it might have helped. I've got over 800 rounds of various brass cased ammo with no failures, it won't go two mags with steel cased ammo.

Maybe Kel-Tec should flute the chamber ala HK to get some help with extraction.

Only because the P3AT is unique in its size/weight/power class is it worth a little work to get running right. Kel-Tec seems to stand behind their product despite the low price. Mine was rebuilt after the assembley pin walked out during shooting and damaged the frame -- didn't hang up the gun, but not sure how many more mags it could have run before it stopped, I stopped shooting as soon as I saw the pin was half out while reloading.

--wally.

 

[Lennyjoe]

Tis bit of a handfull isnt she.

Thats what makes it fun to shoot.

BTW, how many empty shells did you bounce off your forehead.

 

[Lonestar.45]

hehe...handful indeed. I'm still nursing a sore hand. I probably over did it the first time out though. Plus I shot 100 rds through my .45 in the same session. Funny, I used to think the .45 was a handful. It doesn't hold a candle to this light little beast when it comes to recoil and muzzle flash.

I had two or three empty brass bounce off the top of my head from the Kel-Tec, but I'm pretty used to it. My Springfield GI Champion .45 will put them in my face/on my head at least twice a mag. Something to do with the high and tight ejection port and the extractor on the GI versions. It honestly doesn't bother me anymore, but I wear glasses and a baseball cap always when shooting it.

 

[PCRCCW]

Well, I shot a friends pistol a couple of weeks back. Now its my wifes gun.
I think the little gun is a great gun to shoot....much more mellow than my 9mm with Rangers in it. Very accurate also.....Its quite amazing how well the little gun does in most regards.
Heres a pic of the little IWB I made for her.....you guys who have these 380's will appreciate and understand how small this thing is........

Shoot well..........

 

[ABBOBERG]

If the P3AT is having FTE failures, it might have something to do with the extractor "letting go" of the case flange. While I do not own a P3AT (I own a P32), I am speculating that the chamber has as much clearance in it as a P32. This will allow some smaller diameter cases more wiggle room in the chamber, allowing the flange to sneak out from under the extractor. There is no point in putting flutes in the chamber since the Keltec chamber is already very sloppy, allowing a lot of leakage around the case and out the back (as witnessed by many who complain about the dark stains on their sleeves after shooting these guns). H&K used flutes in their P7 series because their gas piston was much too large and worked "too well" and would prevent the slide from opening at all if it weren't for the chamber grooves to provide some counter-force.

 

[Wilson 17&26]

Have you used a finger extension on your extra magazine? The P-3AT may be slightly slipping in your hand after firing a few rounds. It might be a cheap fix.

I prefer the NAA pictured below but the Bersa will fit without the use of nail clippers. See http://www.geocities.com/PocketGuns/P32ext.html