KEL-TEC P3AT RANGE REPORT

[LMC]

I shot my new P3AT yesterday an i was very suprised with it's accuracy, i shot 3 and 4 inch groups at 15 yards and i have to say im impressed, at first i didn't get any jams until i finished the first box of remington ball ammo then i got three jams out of 100 rnds i tried some silvertips thru it and no jams. Are the jams caused by the gun being dirty or is it the ammo because i cleaned and oiled it before shooting and was working fine for the first 50 rnds. Should i polish the feed ramp and put a little grease on it or is it that the gun isn't broke in yet the manual states 50 to 100 rnds to break in but i still think its the ammo or the gun being dirty but besides that i love this little gun. Any suggestions on what to do?

Thanks

 

[Kankujoe]

Check out www.ktrange.com for info... This forum, Kel-Tec Range (run by Kel-Tec owners & enthusists), has all kinds of info about your P3AT. You will get all of your questions answered there.

 

[alamo]

These little pistols generally need to be kept clean and lubed to function reliably. Yours is brand new and still needs a bit of breaking in as well. Some can take the crud build up / loss of lube from a couple of hundred rounds and some start choking on less. It's not a plinker. I usually shoot the mag of ammo I've been carrying plus of a box 50 practice ammo at a time. Perhaps mine might jam at 75+ rounds or maybe it would go 200 or more. I wouldn't know. I do know I won't be shooting more than one mag if I need to use it.

A light coat of grease on the slide rails and hammer slide is a good idea. Polishing the feed ramp doesn't hurt if it needs it.

 

[ugaarguy]

LMC, congrats on the new P3AT. Pretty accurate for such a light & tiny little .380 eh? I would guess that since you had no failures in the first 50 rounds that your failure at the end may have been due to the gun getting dirty, because it was the same ammo. I would not grease the feed ramp, if grease sticks to a cartridge and gets into the chamber it'll take up space and could cause sticky extraction. The silvertips may have a slicker case, and will definetly have tighter tolerances than the bulk ball ammo. Polishing the feed ramp wouldnt hurt, but don't polish too much and change the angle. You may want to run another 50 or 100 rounds thru it before polishing and see how it does. The P3AT is a light tiny little .380 that really pushes the size & weight to caliber ratio. Because of that they can get a little finicky when dirty. I clean mine every 50 rounds, or at least run a few patches thru the bore and chamber between 50 rnd. boxes of ball if I'm shooting 100 rounds. Folks may complain about the P3AT not running more than 50 to 100 rounds between cleanings, but it's a deep concealment/always carry gun. If a mag or two won't get me out of trouble I need a long gun anyway. Enjoy the new piece.

 

[LMC]

Thanks for all the comments i am leaning toward the gun getting dirty that was giving me the FTE i will most likely polish the feed ramp anyway shouldn't hurt anything.

 

[eng23ine]

All you've ever wanted to know about Kel Tec is HERE