[jerrybob]

I just bought a brand new P-11 and it has two issues.

1. When I field strip and reassemble the weapon it is very difficult to get the barrel far enough forward to re-insert the take down pin. The only way that I can manage to get it to go the last 1/8 inch or so is to push on it fairly hard from behind through the open ejection port with a dowel of some sort.
2. The weapon cycles normally and ejects empty shell casings when fired but if I try to manually rack the slide when there is a round in the chamber, the slide sticks and will not travel rearward. If I jerk back on it hard five or six times in a row it will finally break free and slide back, ejecting the round. This occurs with the magazine in or out. When there is no round in the chamber, the slide moves freely. This problem has occurred with two types of ammunition so far. They are as follows:
Remington UMC 9 mm Luger 115 gr FMJ L9MMC
Hornaday 9 mm Luger JHP #90242

I have talked to Kel-Tec technical support and they recommended that I ship the weapon back to them, and I am doing so tomorrow. In browsing these and other forums I see that I am not the first to have these two problems, but nobody has ever posted a definitive fix that I can find.

Anybody have any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

 

[RadRacer]

The first problem is common I believe. I know I had it as well; when you slide the slide and barrel back on the frame you need to push downwards on it. Took me a few times to get it, but now mine goes on effortlessly. Maybe I got used to it, maybe it got broken in (400rds through it), or maybe a little of both.

 

[tweetr]

I have not experienced your second problem, but it sounds like a fluff&buff is in order, to include polishing the chamber.

The first problem is very common, and really is not a problem. To reinsert the takedown pin on all my P-11s I just press the barrel forward in the slide until the takedown pin snaps in. Once I press the barrel past the resistance it becomes free enough to wiggle around until the pin slides in.

 

[Sangueffusor]

How many rounds have you fired through it? Those both seem like things that would lessen or go away once the pistol is broken in.

 

[jerrybob]

I have put about 150 rounds through this pistol. The assembly issue I can live with. Not being able to easily clear the weapon is another story. I mailed it back to Kel-Tec this morning for repair.

I like the pistol, and I'm not really even upset that it has a problem when brand new. I understand that it's mass produced and things happen. However, there is one thing that's leaving a bad taste in my mouth about this situation, and that's the 8 week time projection that Kel-Tec's customer support people are giving me for its repair. I can't, for the life of me, understand why it would take that long to repair something and they haven't made any attempt to explain it to me. Their attitude smacks of "that's the way it is and if you don't like it, too bad". This is not a good way to earn repeat business or word of mouth advertising from your existing customers.

If they really keep it for 8 weeks, I doubt that I'll buy any more of their products or recommend them to others. That's just not good customer service at all.

 

[Pocketpower231]

eight weeks? try getting a new barrel put on a Taurus revolver in anything under 8 months! I've never had your second problem the first is just because you haven't had a chance to get used to taking the weapon apart, they all do that and there is a sweet spot where you stick the tip of your finger in the chamber and either push or pull the barrel until it lets the pin fall into place, once it does that then push it in until it clicks, congrats your gun is back together, as for the problem #2, you had the gun apart, did the slide look smooth and shiny on the underside? no gouges or scratches? well either way the gun is already back to the mother ship so oh well, my advise to you is to sell it and buy yourself a glock 26, because everyone knows they don't ever have one malfunction, and there customer service is great, (2 hours) from Michigan to Georgia , when they did send it back they stuffed a tech in the box "just in case". ok in all honesty , i have dealt with KT and never had anything close to what i call bad service. and yeah eight weeks is what they will say to cover there asses, in all reality mine was there and back in 2, so before you go around telling people KT sucks and blah blah blah, i would at least let them do there jobs first, then when they dont make you happy, GLOCK 26 "Cause they never screw up"lol

 

[mcnewbie]

barrel doesn't go far forward enough when re-assembling? same thing happens with mine.

so, you put it back together and let the barrel float loose inside there with the slide locked back.

then 'sling' the whole thing forward so that the barrel is pushed outwards by inertia. like, you grab the gun by the handle, push it forwards in the air and then yank back on it really quick, so that the frame gets pulled back while the barrel is still going forward. works every time.

 

[haugrdr]

^ What he said. Mine has been like that since I got it 11 years ago. Just give it a sling.

 

[jerrybob]

honesty , i have dealt with KT and never had anything close to what i call bad service. and yeah eight weeks is what they will say to cover there asses, in all reality mine was there and back in 2, so before you go around telling people KT sucks and blah blah blah, i would at least let them do there jobs first

Thanks for your response. Just to be clear, I did not say that Kel-Tec sucks, nor did I intend to imply that. I said that I was disappointed and mystified that they project an 8 week time frame for the repair of a brand new item which was defective right out of the box.

I am encouraged to hear that you got a weapon back in a much shorter time period, and hope that my experience will be similar. Should their performance exceed their projection I will, of course, post that as a follow up.

 

[MrDig]

Mine only seems to do this with snap caps, I'm uncertain why but it locks up pretty good when I use the caps to test the trigger.