This little gun ALMOST had me for it's first 2 boxes of .380 ammunition, 50 of which were Winchester White box FMJ, the other 50 were standard pressure Hornady JHPs. Out of those 100 rounds I had 12 failures, with the other 88 not hitting any better than 6-8" groups from a bench rest at 5-10 yds. I attempted 5 shots at 15 yards, still at a bench rest, and only 2 hit the man sized outline on my target, with about a 12" spread between them. The only time it seemed to hit what I was pointing the sights at were up close and personal, 3 yds or so. Being the fair and reasonable gun owner that I am, I attributed this to the guns "break-in" period and assumed things would improve as they have with my Kahr .380/9mm pocket pistols. I was in for a shock. Please note that I am by no means a sharpshooter, but from a bench I can confidently stretch my Kahr .380 out to 30yds, if not more. 2" groups @ 10yds are commonplace for that gun. I know the price difference reflects the quality difference, but read on...
When I got home, I disassembled the gun and cleaned it with Ballistol just how I do all of my firearms. Upon doing so I noticed little nicks and chips inside the frame around the retention pin hole, along the slide rails on the frame, and also a raised ring, very small, around the firing pin hole inside the breech, similar to what you would find on a revolver that has been dry fired too many times.
...
If you are considering purchasing this gun, any of it's variants or even the PF9 or P32, I strongly recommend against it when there are so many alternatives of higher quality for only a few dollars more. With the money I got back for the P3AT, I threw in an extra 110.00 bucks and got a brand new Ruger LCP with the Crimson Trace laser. If I didn't want the laser, probably would have set me back no more than 10-20 bucks more.
The best part about this, and a testament to Ruger's customer service in comparison to Kel Tec's....when I got the LCP and put some rounds through it I called Ruger to sing it's praises and congratulate them on a firearm well made. The guy on the phone was very friendly and personable and asked me about the Kel Tec I traded for it...after the story was over he not only thanked me for purchasing the Ruger and for the compliments, but decided to send me 2 magazines in the mail free of charge to help "make my gun experience a little better." THAT is how a gun company should handle customers. Shame on you Kel Tec.
Kudos to Ruger.
(edited for length)
By
Ken G. from
Houston, Tx