Kel-tec P40 Nickel Plated Slide Deal: Results

[MechAg94]

Heh.  I had the same problem with an early K9 I purchased from Irwin.  It was dead reliable for him and equally reliable for me pre-purchase (200+ rounds) and post purchase (300+), then it suddenly developed a habit of jamming the nose of the bullet against the feed ramp regardless of load used.  After several trips to Kahr (and replacement of many parts and polishing of many others), they replaced the gun.  I sold the gun unsold and went back to revolvers.  My 37-2 isn't a powerhouse, but it's reliable and accurate.

Chris

IMO, you shouldn't use the P9 as your example of semi-auto pistols to justify using revolvers.  :)  I understand if that is what you are comfortable with though.

My P9 is fairly reliable IF I keep it very clean and well lubed.  If I shoot a few rounds without cleaning, I can't count on it being reliable the next time I pick it up.  Usually it has trouble feed out of the mag.  With a nice clean feed ramp, it seems to work fine.  I was always concerned I would carry it and sweat on it and then it wouldn't want to work when I needed it.  
On the other hand, I could easily put a magazine full of bullets into 6" at 25 yards with that little pistol which is fairly good for me.  It is accurate.

My primary carry guns now are a CZ 75 P01 and a Sig P229 .40.  I don't have a holster for my XD45 yet.  No problems at all with those three pistols.

[mtnbkr]

Don't get me wrong, I *love* revolvers.  The K9 was the last in a long string of semiautos.  I felt like Goldilocks (this one's too big, this one's too small, this one is too finicky, etc).  It was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.  I haven't regretted the 37-2 that replaced it ever.

My K9 problem wasn't related to cleanliness.  I keep my guns pretty clean and would clean my semiautos after every range trip.  The gun just didn't want to work.  Why it was reliable before and after I bought it, only to be come a paperweight later on, I'll never know.

Chris

[French G.]

French G.:

Wow, sounds dramatic. 

Since I got my P40 back from the factory years ago, it has been a drama-free weapon.  It currently has the factory recoil spring set and my replacement of that is in the nature of my rehab of the weapon, not because I have noticed a decrease in reliability.  I don't worry that either it or the mag springs will spontaneously give out.

I agree with the reliability and "sit there" potential of snubbies.  But, sometimes a snubby is not the optimal answer.  For instance, I prefer little semi-autos for ankle carry, as they spread the pressure against my inner ankle out over a larger area.  A snubby concentrates the pressure along the line described by the diameter of the cylinder.

Wasn't all that dramatic. My Mk40 went pretty much everywhere I did for two years attached to my ankle. Kinda hefty for that task. It was pretty reliable. My P3AT was very reliable, except I discovered you can not float down the river for a mile or so in your life preserver while whitewater rafting and carrying your gun and then expect your ammo to work. The spare mag ammo actually all fired when I shot it a week later, the mag in the gun had 4 misfires, most likely because the spare dried out a lot faster. Fun test. The K40 on the other hand was a joke. Unlike my MK40, the only reliable rounds it ever fired were the 50 I shot after it came back from the factory and before I sold it. Then consider that I bought the K40 NIB from a guy who got it as a warranty replacement to a PM9 that refused to work after several factory trips. That's why I'm down on Kahr.

Small autos in general seem to be like owning a British sports car. Charming when they work, not so when they don't, so I drove mine and sold it while it was running.

The downside of the boring reliability of a snubby: I shot the crap out of my 642 when it was new. Now, one round in the last 2 years, that to put down an animal someone else ran over. Maybe I need to get my .38 reloading going and go practice...