Kel Tec PF9 Experience(s)?

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GConn

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Greetings,

Anyone here have any first-hand knowledge / experience (good or bad) with one of these, please?

I understand they are a very small (''Pocket") 9mm with somewhat excessive recoil, very tight "clearance" (pinch) between trigger and guard, and not at all a range favorite -- I'm far more concerned (completely, actually) with RELIABILITY, please.

Best,
g
 
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I had one that was perfectly reliable for ~500 rounds I fired it. The trigger was pretty awful so I wasn't accurate with it, so I sent it on it's way.
 
have 2. both worked out of the box and still do many many rounds later. i mix and match ammo. buy what's on sale many different brands and types. never believed in only one ammo type and brand theory. gun needs to shoot it all or its no good, imho. nothing has jammed, ftf, fte, etc etc my 2 yet.

recoil aint bad at all unless youre recoil sensitive, which many are and pretend they arent.

it isnt that bad a shooter......not great by any means but folks tend to over exaggerate everything and/or are overly sensitive.

all that said...id pick the glock 43 or shield over one nowadays........
 
I bought my PF9 in July'07 and have carried it ever since.

The two things that I did not like about it were the grip treatment (minor) and the trigger (major).

I corrected the grip by adding a piece of bicycle innertube. For me that is better than products like the Hogue Handall Jr. because it neither adds additional width nor grabs clothing.

I "corrected" the trigger by replacing it with a Northwood.

I also took a little bit off of the underside of the triggerguard and reshaped the Pierce mag extensions so that my three fingers fit comfortably on the grip.

Here is a pic that shows those 2 mods.

PF9Mods1.jpg


Since making those mods the little pistol is a pleasure for me to shoot ... so long as I am not going to be shooting a whole lotta rounds in an outing. :)

It has always been reliable.

My PF9 has spent most of its decade with me in a Desantis Nemesis pocket holster which usually rides in the right-rear pocket of my 501s but often, during winter, in the interior breast pocket of my go-to coat (West German "snorkel parka").
 
Mine broke the trigger bar tab at 58 rounds. I replaced it and it's been reliable for 500 rounds. Not fun to shoot. I enjoy shooting the LCP, PM9, G43, and shield, but the PF-9 is a 35 round per trip pistol. Trigger guard slap or something makes it pretty unpleasant. Likely for this reason I can't hit the plates as well with it as I can with the other pistols.
 
I've carried one since April of 2010. Only malfunction I've had in maybe 7-800 rounds I can remember was when an empty case fell mouth first back into the port as another was coming out during a string of rapid fire. Yep, saw it happen.

They are rude in the hand at the range, but not unmanageable. I trained on the DA/SA revolver in LE and I'm used to these triggers far more than SA autoloader triggers.

Mine hits about 6 inches low at 15 yards with 115-grain ammo, so it's probably sighted for 124-grain stuff.

I replaced the blued slide with a hard-chromed one to stave off rust here in steamy southern Florida.

I'm glad to own it. It's as small as I'd care to go in a 9mm Luger pistol, and holds one more round than it's other small competitors.
 
I didn't have the greatest of luck with mine. Very picky about ammo, and had lots of malfunctions. Straightening the trigger helped with the pinch problem.

I tried a number of fixes (mostly from the KTOG forums), but never got mine to run reliably enough to suit me. I didn't mind shooting it even though it was a handful, but I couldn't trust it so I sent it down the road (with full disclosure).

I really wanted to like it, and probably put more effort into it than I should have. Next time I will most likely buy a P32 or PMR30......
 
I had one for a short time. I picked it up because a neighbor sold it to me for super cheap. I decedided it was not refined enough to replace my jframe and resold for what I paid.

It was reliable with the few hundred rounds I put through it EXCEPT for a handfull of over the top reloads that I had developed for carbine use. I wanted to try then just for giggles. They were just FMJ and fit the the chamber just fine, but for some reason would not feed. So maybe it doesn't like +p or +p+ type stuff?

All the standard pressure ammo that I tried without a hitch. HPs included.
 
DJW said:
had mine since '07........reliable and accurate but not fun.............easy to carry.
Click to expand...

Yes. I never had trouble with mine but it's not the most fun gun to shoot. If you train yourself with the DAO trigger, it is quite accurate. The recoil is a bit stout.
 
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Had a few early issues, Kel Tec fixed them, it's been stone reliable since, 800+ rounds. Stippled it, added the Northwood aluminum trigger, BIG improvement. Great for pocket carry which is why I bought it. Yeah, it's not my favorite range gun, the stippling and constant hand exercises make it work pretty well.
 
I bought one used from a local gun store/ pawn shop one Saturday morning. I took it home and tried to fire it ( I am out in the country ) and it had a severe light strike problem. It would only fire about 50% of the time. I worked on that gun several hours cleaning and doing things that I saw on the Keltec forums about fixing light strikes. No dice. I returned it to the store about 5 minutes before they closed and got a refund.

I remember thinking while working on that gun, that it reminded me of the worst piece of junk gun that I ever owned. A Grendel .380. Then I later found out that both companies were owned by the same guy. That cured me of ever wanting anything made by Keltec.
 
^^ I had the Grendel, too, the P10, with the internal magazine, when it came out. With the ammo of the day, it was very unreliable as well.

Twenty years later, I got it out and buffed it up some. Coupled with that, and some higher-quality modern ammo, and it will actually run through two mags without a failure, but it "dirts up" quickly after that. That wouldn't be a concern if I carried it for defense, though, as one mag is all you'd get; there is no "rapid reload" option.
 
Can't remember when I got mine, but it's been 100% right out the door. Think I bought it used. Don't carry it all that much cause it's older brother the P-11 has been my small carry 9MM since it came out in 1995. It's been thru about 2 - 3000 rounds and just as good today as when I bought it. As far as KelTec service, I was fortunate that my mother lived just 20 minutes away. When I brought in my P3AT with the failed frame just to show them what happened, they forced me to wait in their nice lobby while they replaced the frame at no charge.
 
MedWheeler said:
^^ I had the Grendel, too, the P10, with the internal magazine, when it came out. With the ammo of the day, it was very unreliable as well.

Twenty years later, I got it out and buffed it up some. Coupled with that, and some higher-quality modern ammo, and it will actually run through two mags without a failure, but it "dirts up" quickly after that. That wouldn't be a concern if I carried it for defense, though, as one mag is all you'd get; there is no "rapid reload" option.
Click to expand...

I had the Grendel P12, and the big problem with it was that it kept breaking hammer springs. I can't remember now how many it broke, but I remember going through two of them in under 50 rounds of ammo.
 
Had one briefly a few years back. It worked okay but never cared for the trigger or the overall feel of the gun. Traded it in on a .380.
 
I have several Kel-Tecs including a PF-9. Only about 150 rounds through it, but no malfunctions. I don't think I'm particularly recoil sensitive, but I always remember to hang on to it. It's light and thin. I won't be shooting any +P in it.
 
HexHead writes:

Worked for George Zimmerman.
Click to expand...

It did, indeed. However, one shot, from contact distance, is hardly testament to a gun's reliability. A Lorcin or Davis could have pulled that off. In fact, my understanding is that the close quarters of the scuffle even resulted in the gun malfunctioning after that one shot, likely due to the slide being kept from returning to battery.

George could very well have had hundreds of trouble-free rounds through his prior to that fateful night, though. While I'm sure it's not Kel-Tec's proudest product testimony, I'm willing to bet it did "sell" quite a few PF9s..
 
I have had mine for about 5 years. It has been reliable, but not a fun gun. Regular pressure loads I would only shoot a couple of magazine with, +P two rounds where enough. My magnum revolvers are easier to manage recoil on. I can shoot all 12 of my other handguns much more accurately. I have recently purchased a SIG P290RS to replace the PF-9. It is very accurate and I can shoot it 150 rounds a session without fatigue.
 
I have several....best bang for the buck....none are for the range...designed for what they do...protect you from the bad guy...
 
I own one, decent gun. Reliability has been excellent with standard pressure loads, but an interesting phenomenon occurred with +P Stuff; the striker would actually wipe a little bit of brass from the primer, which would lodge in the firing pin bore and cause light strikes. I thought a fluke the first time, but it happened with a degree of consistency.

Accuracy of the PF9 is quite good, if you master the undesirable combination of small grip, light gun and decently stout trigger.

All that said, I switched to the smaller, lighter, nicer shooting and better looking Diamondback DB9 a couple years ago, haven't carried the PF since.
 
Dragon breath said:
I bought one used from a local gun store/ pawn shop one Saturday morning. I took it home and tried to fire it ( I am out in the country ) and it had a severe light strike problem. It would only fire about 50% of the time. I worked on that gun several hours cleaning and doing things that I saw on the Keltec forums about fixing light strikes. No dice. I returned it to the store about 5 minutes before they closed and got a refund.

I remember thinking while working on that gun, that it reminded me of the worst piece of junk gun that I ever owned. A Grendel .380. Then I later found out that both companies were owned by the same guy. That cured me of ever wanting anything made by Keltec.
Click to expand...

I'll bet you were short stroking it and dropping the hammer from the pre-cock position rather than pulling it all the way back before letting it go. Common problem with people not familiar with DAO guns that pre-cock the hammer like the KT's. The hammer strike is robust when dropped from full cock but very iffy from the pre-cocked position. Got to stroke them like a revolver and this issue is very common on the KTOG forum. Surprised that someone didn't straighten you out on it.
 
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