Hello. The side of the lower polymer section on the L side bulges from the wire clip that holds the slide retainer pin. Is there a trick to getting it in position where there is no bulge ?
I think I can help. This happened to me and I nearly panicked, thought I had ruined my gun. I had field stripped my gun for the first time to clean and lube prior to first shoot, and realized that the grip was bowed out on both sides of the assembly pin. I drove the plastic pins out of the grip that hold the frame to the grip, removed the grip from the frame, and noticed that the assembly pin retaining spring had jumped out of its groove. Snapped the spring back in, reinstalled the frame into the grip and all is well. To prevent this in the future, squeeze the grip next to the pin during removal, making sure the grip does not bow out. Hope this helps Dave
Another thing that helps greatly is when you have the frame removed from the grip, heat the grip area up around the assembly pin hole and squeeze/hold it as it cools down. This will deform the edges of the grip inward somewhat and provide extra pressure against the left side of the frame to keep that assembly pin spring in place.
Well thanks Guys! Dave, the good news is that I removed the pins, and was able to see where that clip goes, and put it back in place. No more bulge. You were correct. The bad news is that a couple of parts feel out and I don't know where to put them. I'm going to start a new thread to get help with that.
the same thing happened to my womans p3at.... i too freaked out cuz it was my fault since i was the one to first take it apart.... after some squinting i saw it was the spring and used a dental pick to pull it back up...now squeeze the grip while i pull the pin, hasn't done it since...sorry about your luck with stuff falling out... i lost an ejector on mine and never noticed it at the range til i came home and clean it. so on a good note. they work even missing parts... and it lightens them up even more! still best to have all the important parts there.... the important parts being anything that came in it new...
LOL at the new "lighter" model !! The sad part is that I had the clip come out of position 2 years ago when I broke the gun down. That time, I got lucky and was able to slide it back into place. A fine member here told me to be sure to hold that side w/ my fingers before I removed the pin and that worked on subsequent breakdowns. Then time went by, I bought a Bushmaster AR15 and a Glock G26, and the poor little P3AT went to the back burner and got no attention except for slipping it into my pocket every time I went anywhere other than work. Then I decided to clean my handguns the other night. With the passing of time, I forgot about holding my fingers over the clip. And no amount of maneuvering with a tiny screwdriver could get it into place. One thing is for sure. I won't forget next time ..........
A Cautionary Tale If anyone yanks the assembly pin out w/o holding the grip in place (per owner's manual), and ends up bowing out the grip so that it stays that way, an easy fix is to remove the grip and heat that area with a blow dryer. Then squeeze those top sides of the grip in while the polymer cools. That will give a nice snug fit against 284 - assembly pin spring, which is also the slide stop spring in the P32. However... DO NOT shoot heat up the mag well as that can warp the grip and make it impossible for the mag catch to stay locked into the mag. Don't ask me how I know this. :-?
