Background Info: I've had my P3AT for almost a year now. I have only about 150 rounds through it. I have done the F&B. Problem: The past couple of times that I have cleaned my P3AT I have had trouble getting the first round to chamber. It's like the slide will not go far enough back to grab it or the magazine is sitting too low. But neither seems to be correct as I can pull the slide back as far as it will go and it still will not chamber the round. The magazine is seated as it ejects when I push the release. I have managed occasionally to get the first round chambered only to have it not eject properly (gets hung up leaving the slide open pushing against the round). Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I have resorted to carrying my much larger pistol now until I can get this problem solved.
The slide not going all the way back would be more likely the recoil springs are not seated in the slide, interleaving, or kinked. I turn outer CCW after installed to ensure it seats You can just put the slide on the frame and verify that it does go all the way back w/o springs. If it doesn't look for dings on the frame that will need to be scraped down the magazine to low would be the mag catch worn. when inserting a magazine, the catch needs to be held till it is in place, when removing, the magazine needs to be pushed up before pushing the catch. With out the slide on, you can see how high the mag is seated. the top back of the mag should touch the curve in the ejector, ie about 0.060" down from frame rails
The slide not going all the way back would be more likely the recoil springs are not seated in the slide, interleaving, or kinked. I turn outer CCW after installed to ensure it seats You can just put the slide on the frame and verify that it does go all the way back w/o springs. If it doesn't look for dings on the frame that will need to be scraped down the magazine to low would be the mag catch worn. when inserting a magazine, the catch needs to be held till it is in place, when removing, the magazine needs to be pushed up before pushing the catch. With out the slide on, you can see how high the mag is seated. the top back of the mag should touch the curve in the ejector, ie about 0.060" down from frame rails [/quote] Good information here. Thanks. I will definitely look into this. RE: Magazine catch. You're saying that I need to always push the catch in before inserting the magazine with any gun? I never do that.
AND push the mag up, before pushing the catch to remove a mag. As for any and all guns, I can't say [/quote] KelTec having a plastic mag catch causes us to push it in when inserting the mag. Metal to plastic contact causes the mag catch to wear, you reduce the wear by pushing in the mag catch. This has really been a problem for KelTec with the PF9, that's why they came out with a new metal mag catch for it. Rick
I went home and played around with the gun last night. I found that if I took the springs out and pulled the slide back it would go far enough back for the round. However, when I put the springs back this was not the case. Common sense tells me that it would be a spring issue. I took it apart again and looked over the springs and they look just fine. After taking it apart and putting it back together again several times it did get to where it would accept the round, but then I had ejection problems. I tightened the ejector up or at least tried to (it wasn't really loose). But I still have the ejecting problem. Maybe I'll just call KelTec and have them fix it. I am really not a 'handy man'.
strange...especially since the pistol fired 150 rounds hand ejection is an iffy thing also, it requires a very quick pull back all the way so if something is preventing the slide from going all the way back smoothly, it will not hand eject. since something is binding up, I would not shoot it any more till that is corrected...so a trip to FLA seems needed
Thanks for confirming that. I don't plan on using it until it's fixed and I feel comfortable with it. What's the process like for me to send it back to KelTec?
Some have driven over and waited in the lobby Here is a recent discussion about shipping http://www.ktog.org/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1215449934
When you reassemble, is it possible the head of the recoil rod is not going agaisnt the face on the frame. If it is being stopped by the little groove that is dug into the frame by the head, the spring will go solid and prevent the slide frome going back all the way. when assembled on the frame with pin in, the end of the rod should not stick out but a very small amout past the position with just the barrel in the slide. If it does stick out more, rack back partial and wiggle the rod to let it go all the way to the face of the frame. then the groove in the frame will need to be scraped so there is no proud metal
If you can take a picture or two of the spring and slide assembly and post it, it would make it easier to diagnose. The old saying a picture is worth a thousand words applies.
