Last time I was at the range with a new P-3AT I noticed some light smileys. Was only shooting JHP - Some Fiochhi, some Remington and some PMC. Got to thinking about it at the range today - somewhat concerned about increased pressure if the bullet was pushed back into the brass. Didn't have calipers with me so I laid the cartridges down on the bench with mags at the top and bottom. All appeared to have the same OAL prior to loading. I would fire a round, empty the mag and checked again. The smiley rounds appeared to have the same OAL as the balance of the rounds. I had picked up some Corbon Self Defense rounds, so tried the same process with them. There was a significant reduction in OAL on the rounds I checked. Couldn't tell if the bullet had been pushed back into the brass or had simply mushroomed slightly. Went ahead and fired the rounds with no problem but now I'm curious. :-? I'll try to take calipers next trip to see if I can determine whether or not the rounds simply mushroomed.
This can be a pretty common thing with the P3AT (mine included) Give a search a try if your interested and you'll find plenty of threads on the subject. Here is a good link about the subject if you haven't found it yet. http://www.1bad69.com/keltec/smiley.htm My P3 has caused a smiley on every type of ammo I've checked, American Eagle, DPX and BB gold dots, I didn't think to check with the Critical Defense so I'm not sure about that one. It will be getting a "rampectomy" in the near future and maybe some Wolf recoil springs. CJ
