I had the opportunity to play with a new P3 last nite. A friend bought it and got scared when it failed to go into battery the first time. He brought it in to me to F&B. He had bought Corbon DPX & no practice rounds. Also he did not fire it after it hung up. First I tried to chamber a round of the Corbon with a full pull & release. Yep, it hung on the ramp but a light push of the thumb & it went right in. Same song second verse with WWB JHP. I then disassembled it for cleaning. Very dry but not dirty. I checked the rails & the groove for the rails in the slide. They looked very smooth so I didn't mess with them. I polished the slide/hammer interface bar. I also polished the ramp & chamber. I smoothed the guide rod with 600 grit as well as the assembly pin. I then ceaned the whole gun. I then greased the rails, interface bar, assembly pin, top inside of the slide where it rides over the chamber & a touch at the guide rod hole. The rest of it got hosed out with RemOil. This time with Corbon & a full pull & release it snicked right into battery. I then intentionally hung the round on the feed ramp. Just touching the back of the slide without applying pressure caused it to pop right into battery. Repeated with the FMJ with the same results. I also sanded the inside of the trigger guard & knocked the sharp point off the trigger. I think it's ready for him to put a couple of hundred rounds thru it now. My general impressions are as follows; S/N JHExx, blue & black, very nice finish on the slide. Good deep blueing, very good machining. All the contact surfaces were smooth and no chatter marks. The guide rod hole has a nice thick lip so I doubt this puppy will peen. Machining on the barrel was up to the standard of the slide. Top notch AND it even has good rifleing. Fit & finish on the plastic parts was also very nice. All in all it is a very nice piece of work. I do believe that KT has put a little extra care into the P3s since I got MY HVZxx.
Good Job RAT! Just a little bit of loving and he now has a "purrrrfect pistol." I am especially glad to hear about the thick guide rod area! -Scott
I can't believe you let an oppurtunity like that slip by. You should have confirmed his fears and then offered to help out by offering a crisp $100 bill for that POS Amazing.
Jim - I glanced over this the first time I read it. This sounds like the kind of guy who plans on shooting one mag, putting it in a pocket (or worse yet a drawyer) and then 'feeling' protected. Can you take this opportunity to share with him the importance of practice, proficiency and a few hundred rounds down range at first and then at least somewhat regular practice? -Scott
This is a good friend so I could not take advantage of him. As far as breakin goes I'll make sure it's shot at least 200 times, well cleaned and examined before he starts carrying it. His main problem is that he has a mental block on cleaning guns. As his other guns are an AK, a SKS, an XD and other such forgiving weapons he has got by so far. The biggest training issue will be getting him to actually clean the P3. If the dang thing had a slide lock I'd just get him trained to hose it out with CLP & run boresnake thru it. Oh well, I'll figure something out. :-/ He does get regular proctice as he lives on 35 acres in the middle of nowhere. He has been carrying the XD 40 and recently picked up a hammerless Tarus five shot .38 revolver. I've actually been discouraging him on the P3 due to the recent issues with the slides & peening. I REALLY did not want him getting one that would have to take a trip to Florida.
