New P3AT; Had an unusual failure issue today

The gun was bought new 8 days ago 7/22, serial JTGxx. I have shot the gun on two prior occasions with Magtech and American Eagle ball ammo switching back and forth without issue and very pleased. Total of 26 rounds the first time and 36 rounds the second time. Today was the third time shooting. I havent cleaned the gun yet(maybe a problem?), but have field stripped it twice after each previous day's shooting to simply inspect and reassemble. I planned on cleaning after today's shooting. I love this gun and was just about to fall in love with it- accurate/shootable and plenty of power for such a small package; but today's failure makes me worry -->

... Today, I fired one mag of AE ammo which fired normally and then went to the second mag of the same. The first round fired normally and ejected. The second round chambered, but when I went to pull the trigger, the trigger went all the way rearward without resistance(EDIT: except for the normal trigger spring tension). I released the trigger all the way forward again and tried again and again it went all the way rearward without engaging the hammer. I checked to see it had chambered a new round, which it had. I dropped the mag and removed the fresh round from the chamber and inspected the gun which all appeared normal. I pulled the trigger and it continued to go all the way rearward without engaging the hammer. I DID feel a very slight 'catch and then release' where it would normally engage the hammer. I did get it back working again after field stripping and working the trigger bar extension where it is visible, up and down with my finger. I just dont want this to happen again. I think the trigger bar was not coming all the way back up, but Im not 100% sure thats what it was. I think thats the only thing it could be.

I want to completely detail strip the gun and clean and look at it.
Is there a good guide for detail stripping this gun? Ive detail stripped Glocks and others before so Im OK with this, but a guide would help make sure I dont miss anything.
Has anyone else experienced this problem?
What are some things I should look out for?
Thanks!

 

Thanks for the pics and link and info. As far as the pin on the back of the trigger, the end of it is 3/16" down from where the hole starts at the top on the back of the trigger. Is that about right?

Everything seems to be working fine now. I'm hoping nothing is broke, and that its just a sticky trigger bar. Time for my first P3AT detail stripping...

 

Thanks much for your help! That pin appears to be all the way up. I'm looking over the links now and am going to detail strip it now. Theres quite a bit of grease on the visible trigger bar area and it has gotten a little dirty so that may be the issue with the grease down in there. I'll check for burs and such and make sure everything is smooth. I'll update when I'm done and have shot it more.

 

I detail stripped the gun last night. There was an excess amount of grease (IMO) and also some powder residue and lint in there. I cleaned it thoroughly and also polished/buffed the sides of the trigger bar. Everything else looked normal according to pics and what I think it should look like. The trigger bar is straight as an arrow[EDIT: No, its not. I was incorrect here. see below].

The wife and I fired 1 and a half boxes of American Eagle ball ammo and some Speer Gold Dot and Federal Hydrashock today without a hiccup except for some sore hands between the thumb and index finger lol. Dang this gun shoots good! Problem solved as far as I'm concerned. I can shoot this gun almost as gun as I can my larger Glocks!

Important note: before I did this - yesterday after I had the problem when I had the gun field stripped and pushed down on the trigger bar extension(the piece sticking up at the back right side slide rails), it would not come back up by itself. I had to work the trigger a little back and forth several times to get it to come back up. Now, with the gun field stripped, I can push down on the trigger bar extension with my fingernail and it will come back up on its own.

If I could go back now, I think if I had worked the trigger back and forth a hair through its first 10% of travel and then tried to fire, it would have probably fired normally yesterday. Not the way it should be, but it would have probably allowed the gun to fire.

I'm happy. She just needed a little tender loving care.

 

UH OH...

I detail stripped my gun again today and had another look at the trigger bar. Its NOT flat as I thought. I sent KT an email asking if the trigger bar is supposed to have this slight curve in it or not.

It is not bent in one spot, it has a nice gentle curve that runs the entire length of the trigger bar. This seems like an intentional design???

It is curved so that if installed in the gun and looking at it from the top, the trigger bar front and rear would be pressed harder against the grip while the center of the trigger bar would be pressed against the frame. (You cant see the curve with it installed in the gun, this is just to explain how its curved).

Can anyone with a new P3AT who has detail stripped their gun tell me if their trigger bar is perfectly straight or has the curve/bow in it like this? Thanks.

 

Sorry for not responding earlier, Ive been cutting grass till sunset today(I'm in NC). I sent KT an email through their contact form on their website yesterday asking if it was supposed to be that way or not, but I did not receive an email response back today. I was hoping I would get a response. I'm going to call them sometime tommorrow if I dont get an email back by noon. Like I was saying, I'm wondering whether or not it was designed that way now - if maybe they are making them that way now for some reason for reliability or whatnot other issue. I cant see how it could be bowed that neatly unless they had done it that way on purpose. My dad has a 1 1/2 month old P3 also but havent been able to go over to see if his is the same way or not yet. He's not that technically savvy and I dont want him detail stripping his gun.

My gun shot normal after the last detail strip and clean without issue but the trigger bar did not want to pop back up without a little touch on the trigger after shooting a few mag fulls of ammo.  I detail stripped it again yesterday to inspect for metal shavings/trash/powder and any other issues because I was thinking that maybe what caused it the first time. Thats when I looked at the trigger bar again more closely and noticed the bow/curve in it. Right now the gun still sits detail stripped in a ziplock bag waiting for the answer. If the bow is normal thats fine... If not I'll get it fixed.

Again, I emphasize- its shooting fine the last time out - but I just want to make sure this is not an issue that will cause the problem to crop up again.

Thanks. So yours is straight? Who is rcmodel?

I'm not sure either. I guess we will find out what this is all about here soon enough.

 

Yeah thats what I was thinking at first. Not necessarily a hammer, but trying to straighten it by hand somehow. But then I realized that maybe thats the way its supposed to be now. I'll wait for an answer from KT first.

I'm not sure what caused my issue at first, but I'm fairly certain it is from the trigger bar not coming back up as it should. Whether it be from trash, metal shavings from the manufacturing process, or from the bow in the trigger bar. I dont want to go bending on anything until I know for sure from an actual KT technician.

Again, even with the bow, it shot fine the last time after detail stripping and cleaning it good and lubing. I'm wondering if the bow isnt intentional designed for some reason like to make the spring stay in the trigger bar slot better or some other reason like that. Ill just wait for the answer.

 

Also, about this pin FYI : My gun has what appears to be epoxy on the backside of the trigger holding this pin in. I dont think that pin coming loose is going to be an issue with the epoxy or whatever holding it in.