[Bear Claw]

Well, never thought it could happen to me, but I took off the slide to clean it, and heard a rattle. Yup, the hammer spring broke, right down at the bottom loop. I've heard of this happening many times before on here, seems to be a weak spot in the design and should be addressed. Never had a spring broken with my Glocks, Rugers or even Taurus models.

The faith in my everyday carry P32 has been broken, just like this spring. Contacted KelTec through a Service Ticket.

 

[lklawson]

Springs wear out. Replace it and it'll be fine.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

 

[Bear Claw]

Well, the spring may be fine after it's replaced, not so sure that I will be, though. That could have been the moment I was relying on this weapon to save my life.

 

[RAT76]

You need a bug for your bug.

Replacing the hammer spring at the same time recoil springs are replaced would be a good idea.

Out of curiosity have you had that spring out a number of times? It undergoes quite a stretch during installation IIRC.

 

[lklawson]

Well, the spring may be fine after it's replaced, not so sure that I will be, though. That could have been the moment I was relying on this weapon to save my life.

I don't get this line of thinking. Everything wears out and breaks. 1911 and Glock springs wear out and they become unreliable until the springs are replaced. That doesn't mean you can't trust them after they're replaced. Your car will break at some point. It doesn't mean that the car is unreliable after it's fixed. Fix it. The gun will be fine.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

 

[Bear Claw]

You need a bug for your bug.

Replacing the hammer spring at the same time recoil springs are replaced would be a good idea.

Out of curiosity have you had that spring out a number of times? It undergoes quite a stretch during installation IIRC.

Only once before, and the gun has less than 50 rounds through it.

I don't get this line of thinking. Everything wears out and breaks. 1911 and Glock springs wear out and they become unreliable until the springs are replaced. That doesn't mean you can't trust them after they're replaced. Your car will break at some point. It doesn't mean that the car is unreliable after it's fixed. Fix it. The gun will be fine.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

My car breaks down, I can just pull off the road and then get it fixed. My gun breaks down, I can get killed right then and there. Simple enough to understand. That might have been the moment I needed it most, to save my life, and that spring might have broken on the next trigger pull in a self-defense situation. I'm dead right there. Hey KelTec, use better quality parts, rather than a cheap spring that breaks by itself just sitting there.

 

[TxCajun]

Google "broken hammer spring" and count the number of brands/models that get a hit... glocks, revolvers, 1911s, shotguns, ARs, anything and everything. KT uses good quality silicone springs but anything mechanical can fail. It's pretty easy to (gently) replace.

 

[darkwriter77]

Google "broken hammer spring" and count the number of brands/models that get a hit... glocks, revolvers, 1911s, shotguns, ARs, anything and everything. KT uses good quality silicone springs but anything mechanical can fail. It's pretty easy to (gently) replace.

Not sure I've ever seen a hammer-fired Glock, so I'm not sure how they would have a broken hammer spring.

The P32 is a tiny gun with tiny parts. Things ain't exactly built to be beefy. Given, the P32 is generally a VERY reliable little shooter, but again, those tiny parts can be a tad fragile, especially if you fully disassemble it (beyond regular field-stripping for cleaning) and move those springs at all beyond their normal range of motion for which they're designed to move while in normal service. Not blaming you for the spring's failure, of course, just saying these things CAN happen when stuff gets uninstalled and reinstalled, and/or springs can eventually break simply from wearing out.

As mentioned above ... replace the spring, and maybe plop in a new recoil spring, shoot it enough to verify function, and you'll be fine. Maybe buy a couple extra of each for the long-term, since I have a sneaking suspicion Kel-Tec will at some point (probably soon) end production of the P32 and, with it, spare parts for them.

 

[TxCajun]

Well yea, it would be the trigger spring on a glock that breaks.

Point being, springs break.

 

[Phil7]

As mentioned above ... replace the spring, and maybe plop in a new recoil spring, shoot it enough to verify function, and you'll be fine. Maybe buy a couple extra of each for the long-term, since I have a sneaking suspicion Kel-Tec will at some point (probably soon) end production of the P32 and, with it, spare parts for them.

Why do you think that? Seems like a gun that could withstand several rounds of government anti-gun regulation, seeing as it has a modest caliber and a 10 or less capacity. Obviously a defensive firearm-not a gun that the neighborhood psycho is going to choose to light up the shopping mall. If they were producing them today (which they don't seem to be doing) they would be selling very well, I believe.

 

[lklawson]

My car breaks down, I can just pull off the road and then get it fixed. My gun breaks down, I can get killed right then and there. Simple enough to understand. That might have been the moment I needed it most, to save my life, and that spring might have broken on the next trigger pull in a self-defense situation. I'm dead right there. Hey KelTec, use better quality parts, rather than a cheap spring that breaks by itself just sitting there.

So let me get this straight. You want a gun that never ever could possibly break, ever?

Good luck with that.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

 

[Bear Claw]

So let me get this straight. You want a gun that never ever could possibly break, ever?

Good luck with that.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

Where did I say that?

Stop making up stuff and throwing it out there.

 

[lklawson]

Where did I say that?

Stop making up stuff and throwing it out there.

You're complaining that the broken spring on your P32 means that you can no longer trust it, even after replacing the spring. Yet every gun will eventually break, particularly springs. Because springs wear out and break on every guy, just like one wore out and broke on your P32 which you can no longer trust because the spring broke, therefore you cannot trust any gun because they're all vulnerable to wear and breakage.

 

[Bear Claw]

You're complaining that the broken spring on your P32 means that you can no longer trust it, even after replacing the spring. Yet every gun will eventually break, particularly springs. Because springs wear out and break on every guy, just like one wore out and broke on your P32 which you can no longer trust because the spring broke, therefore you cannot trust any gun because they're all vulnerable to wear and breakage.

I'm complaining that the spring broke a long time before it should have, and yes, it gives me pause about trusting the gun with my life again, as it would to any other reasonable person. The spring didn't 'wear out' with less than 100 rounds through the gun, it completely failed, and not even during use, it was just sitting there. That's completely unacceptable. Just Google 'Keltec P32 broke' and you'll see all sorts of reports about broken hammer springs on both the P32 and P3AT. The fact is KT needs to use a better quality stainlesss steel spring on these, it'll be worth the whole extra dollar added to the cost of the gun.

 

[RAT76]

You got me thinking Bear Claw. This is a small spring, both coil & wire diameter. That hook has a lot of bending going on in a tiny area. Anything off in metalurgy or process might become serious.

I know why they used this design, simplicity, size & weight. Using a compression, torsion or leaf spring would fix this weakness. Of course some or probably all of the design criteria would be affected.

I'm not too concerned with my P32. It's a 1G, low round count, less than 600ish. I figure a problem would have shown up earlier & the number of cycles is low enough to avoid metal fatigue.

I guess the old KTOG advice, "Put at least 200 trouble free rounds thru it before trusting it to carry" has it's points.

I have pretty much switched to a J-Frame in 32. It has a compression spring (failure mode, lighter spring pressure),

edit later to add. DW, just reread your #8 post. Should have quoted that with a "What he said". Oops. Memory like a steel colander.

 

[lklawson]

I'm complaining that the spring broke a long time before it should have,

Says who?

 

[Bear Claw]

Says who?

Says me, smart guy.

I had less than 100 rounds through it, as I already stated, but will repeat here AGAIN so you can understand.. NO spring should break that early. Do you understand that, or do you want to continue arguing, just for the sake of arguing, which you seem so intent on doing?

Received the spring today from KelTec, already attached to a new hammer, installed and will make a decision soon about whether or not I will continue to trust this gun to save my life.

 

[Phil7]

Says me, smart guy.

I had less than 100 rounds through it, as I already stated, but will repeat here AGAIN so you can understand.. NO spring should break that early. Do you understand that, or do you want to continue arguing, just for the sake of arguing, which you seem so intent on doing?

Received the spring today from KelTec, already attached to a new hammer, installed and will make a decision soon about whether or not I will continue to trust this gun to save my life.

Sounds like you already made your decision. Why did you need to take the spring out if it had less than 50 rounds through it (that's what you stated earlier in the thread)? I'm thinking that's where the trouble started.

 

[Bear Claw]

Sounds like you already made your decision. Why did you need to take the spring out if it had less than 50 rounds through it (that's what you stated earlier in the thread)? I'm thinking that's where the trouble started.

Yup, you're right, totally my fault for wanting to clean it.

 

[lklawson]

Says me, smart guy.

I had less than 100 rounds through it, as I already stated, but will repeat here AGAIN so you can understand.. NO spring should break that early. Do you understand that, or do you want to continue arguing, just for the sake of arguing, which you seem so intent on doing?

Received the spring today from KelTec, already attached to a new hammer, installed and will make a decision soon about whether or not I will continue to trust this gun to save my life.

As long as you feel like being insulting, you should have said, "I'll use small words for you."

Go buy a Glock or something.

buh-bye