It's not uncommond for them to jam some at first. Try changing your ammo and see if it inproves any. I use Winchester White Box and I have no problems at all. I use Mag-tec hollow points and I still get a jam once in awhile. Give it about 200rds to break in. Keep it clean and oiled good. Good luck.

Lots of small autos need an initial break-in. I broke in mine with 200 rounds of WWB ball. It's since run fine with Gold Dots, which is the defense ammo I prefer in .380. No malfunctions at all. Make sure you lubricate properly and use the ball ammo for break-in. If it doesn't work perfectly with one ammo brand, try another premium JHP. They're all pretty much the same, anyway.

How does ball ammo help in break in?

Originally Posted by propellerhead

How does ball ammo help in break in?

It helps the wallet immensely!

Originally Posted by propellerhead

How does ball ammo help in break in?

Most of the time ball ammo will feed better than hollow pionts because of the shape of the bullet. It just takes a little time for some of the parts to wear in. Just give it a little time and see what happens.

I'm new to this and not really sure what ball ammo is. What is it about ball ammo that is good for breaking in? Is it shaped like a round ball instead of the conical shape of WWB?

A ture ball ammo has a round nose on it. You can get by with the conical shaped ammo because it is more rounded on the end than hollow points. Keep it cleaned and oiled at first and keep trying different round nosed bullets in it and it should come around. Let us know how it goes.

If you're new to shooting and specifically new to the Kel-Tec P3-AT, you should know that the P3-AT is EXTREMELY susceptible to "limp-wristing." It's a shooting condition in which the shooter fails to lock his/her wrist tightly enough, and/or fails to grip the firearm firmly enough.

I've put about 300 rounds through my Kel-Tec with no failures. My friend's wife put two rounds through and failed them both -- it was entirely due to her not having a strong enough grip on the pistol and a strong enough wrist lock. Get as strong grip on the gun, and lock your wrist tightly. I'll bet you'll see the majority of the failures disappear.

As for the "bumping" of the slide to get it to load, yes, it will smooth out over time. Also, make sure you're pulling the slide back very firmly and quickly; let it go with a snap. That seems to help mine load properly every time.

Good luck! You've got a good little pocket pistol there, and if you haven't yet, purchase a good pocket holster for the wee beast.

Originally Posted by propellerhead

How does ball ammo help in break in?

All mechanical devices with moving parts that come into contact with each other need to "wear in". The manufacturing process, especially modern CNC machines like Kel-Tec uses leave machine marks and possibly burrs on the parts. In the olden days, there used to be legions of trained fitters that polished and fit the parts together. Not so any more. Nowadays, at best, you get fitters who take random parts out of a bin and slap them together!! Even this process can be automated, and maybe KT uses that method.

In short, you need to break in your gun. About 200 rounds should do nicely. I would not try your carry ammo until the lat 50 rounds or so!!

Also, something you need to know. Companies USED to have QC departments that tested the product before it shipped. I don't think KT does that. They depend on the gun buying public to do that for them. That is why they have an extensive repair department and offer the guarantee that they do!!

That said, I have a P3AT that I carry nearly every day. I swap off with my P32.

The P3AT did have to go back for a complete replacement. Mine got caudght up in a batch of bad assembly pins and by the time I realized this, the frame had been damaged!! I sent it in and KT did a complete rebuild along with a new frame!! It has worked ever since!!

Their repair department is top notch!!

Excellent post, denfoote.

Learned a few things about my little friend's. One and this should help me on the rest is to read the dam manual. I sent back my P-3AT because it would not feed. I thought it might be one of the first generations with problems and they would send me a new one. While it was off at Kel-Tec I picked up one of the p-32's. I found this pocket holster for it which fits both P-3AT and P-32. I have a number of pocket holsters and this one is by far the best and when it comes to shooting it, it makes it feel like a full size pistol. It does not leave any kind of print that would say this is a gun in your pocket not even if your wearing white short and just got out of the pool.
Back to the manual, I thought the 32 and 380 were the same just different in size, not true. The manual tells you on the P-AT to be careful because the extractor will fall out. That was the problem with the one I sent back to Kel-Tec and they replaced it with no questions asked and it works great. Now I'm out 40 bucks to shipping and I feel that's my punishment for not knowing my firearm. The other thing I learned well I forgot.

Originally Posted by spacedoggy

Learned a few things about my little friend's. One and this should help me on the rest is to read the dam manual. I sent back my P-3AT because it would not feed. I thought it might be one of the first generations with problems and they would send me a new one. While it was off at Kel-Tec I picked up one of the p-32's. I found this pocket holster for it which fits both P-3AT and P-32. I have a number of pocket holsters and this one is by far the best and when it comes to shooting it, it makes it feel like a full size pistol. It does not leave any kind of print that would say this is a gun in your pocket not even if your wearing white short and just got out of the pool.
Back to the manual, I thought the 32 and 380 were the same just different in size, not true. The manual tells you on the P-AT to be careful because the extractor will fall out. That was the problem with the one I sent back to Kel-Tec and they replaced it with no questions asked and it works great. Now I'm out 40 bucks to shipping and I feel that's my punishment for not knowing my firearm. The other thing I learned well I forgot.

Not trying to piss you off about this, but I spoke with many people at the ATF and also The Justice Dept., Any holster that allows the gun to fire without first being removed from said holster is considered an NFA Weapon.
This means that to use your holster "legally" you must first fill out the same form as if you were building a gun,pay the $200.00 tax stamp and of course then wait for an approval from the BATFE.
I am not joking, I have in the past always cut a hole in my pocket holsters,just to make the whole thing a little bit faster to use, At the last gun show a guy told me he heard that you could legalize thr "hole"in the holster by paying the NFA people $5.00,I checked and this post is the result. Of course you can always choose to rely on not getting caught too.

Bill
Cave Creek Lock&Gun

That looks like the Art of the Hide "holdster".

http://www.artofthehide.com/History-...ification.html

The FTB-BATF classified the Holdster design as
non-any other weapon (or not a wallet holster)
primarily because it is "readily discernible as a
weapon" due to the exposed slide.