I've been checking out the posts on this board for a while, some before i bought my P-3AT and of course after. Now that i've finally gone to the local gravel pit (Google Earth Lat., Long. 48° 3'20.03"N, 117°26'40.30"W) to give it it's first real workout i thought i'd post my thoughts and results. I shot about 120 rounds with very few problems. nothing major at all. i am impressed and very glad i bought this pistol. what i bought was a new blued P-3AT with black grip frame from a local pawn shop that has a lot of new stuff too. Random thoughts and impressions: Pinky extension- Pinky extension is a misnomer, my pinky didn't come close to coming in contact with it. that said, after shooting with and without it, i wouldn't shoot without it again. Without it the gun wanted to twist up in my hand during recoil, making subsequent shots harder to get back on target. With the extension it was held firmly in my hand and stopped the twisting on recoil. FTE- None FTF- 6 total. 5 with Cor-Bon DPX and 1 with Win. SilverTips. The SilverTip FTF was after about 100 rounds without cleaning. Also, every time I wracked the slide to load the first round i had to bump the back of the slide with the palm of my hand to get the slide into battery. Recoil- somewhat sharp, but very controllable. Where the brass went- Oh my, it went right over my head anywhere from 15 to 25 feet behind me. i'm lucky that i found 3/4 of my brass. Holster- I looked at a lot of pocket holsters online and what i found was a lot of very nice looking holsters that are supposed to break up the lines of the gun that were form fit to the shape of the gun. that made no sense to me at all, so i built my own from a scrap of leather i had laying around the house. it works great. Ammunition- American Eagle- 50 rounds, no FTE, no FTF. worked flawlessly, however when i shot them into wet paper they went right through 1 foot of paper and down to the center of the earth. ok, maybe an exageration, but i dug down 2 feet beyond the paper and didn't find them. Cor-Bon DPX- 5 FTF's, not good. The wet paper test couldn't have been better, it went in about 6-7 inches and flowered perfectly. however, with so many FTF's i can't rely on them to work when i need 'em. Federal HydraShock- No FTE, no FTF. Brass went who knows where, out of 20 rounds i found maybe 5. the wet paper test was disapointing. it went in about 10 inches and didn't bell out much at all. not belling undoubtedly was why it went in so far. Winchester SilverTip- No FTE, 1 FTF (gun was quite dirty). wet paper test was very good. it belled out very well, went in approx. 6 inches. At this time, this is my round of choice. they worked very well. Accuracy- This was acceptable at the ranges that this gun was intended to be used. all shots were kept in an approx. 6 - 8 inch group from about 10 - 12 feet. i didn't even try to see just how good of group i could get from it, i didn't see the point. Sights- I painted the rear area red and the front white. i may do the three dot system that someone posted here the other day. that seemed to be a nice way to go, we'll see. Peening- No signs of peening .......................JimJ
Welcome! That's a somewhat surprising report on the DPX, as they were supposedly designed around the P3AT.
I had this a lot. Well, not just a lot – every magazine. Anyway, I decided to try polishing the feed ramp. I broke out the ol’ Dremel, along with a cloth buffing wheel and some buffing compound, and went to town on that ramp. Didn’t take long to buff it to a mirror finish, which I figured was about as good as it was going to get. Problem solved. I never tried a complete fluff and buff, but if you do nothing else, do give that feed ramp a good going over.
I wrote all that out and forgot to mention that i had polished the feed ramp and the chamber with my dremel. most every round chambered fine except the cor-bon, don't know why.
Nice report Jim J! I too find the DPX problems odd as they have proven to be about as close to the proverbial magic bullet as you can get for many people here. The pinky extension is a love it or hate it kind of thing. Some really like the +1 extension that gives much the same benefit plus adds an extra round. That can also serve to calm another issue you were having - bumping the slide on that first round. As the weapon wears that will generally get better but not always. BUT using the +1 can allow you to still fire the same amount as you are used to but leave one in the chamber while you change mags and never have to hand rack. In my case I carry with my +1 in each weapon and like to fire 3-2-2 and then put in a new mag. -Scott
Since Jack Fuselier rates are so resonable, I sent my gun to him for a full plate job (slide, belt clip, mags, pin) and a full Fluff and Buff. After his "magic" I have never had a problem of any sort--even mix-and-matching in the same mag; DPX, Gold Dots, S&B, Glaser Blue and Silver, and Extreme Shock--in other words...light and heavy rounds in the same mag. Got an email from Jack some time ago--don't know if he is still doing the entire gun.
