You will remember that back in May of this year, I acquired a
Kel-Tec P32:
http://www.downrange.tv/forum/index.php?topic=5842.0I had been trying to track down either a .32 or a .380 for weeks in an effort to fill a void and allow myself to be armed even in deep cover situations when I could not carry a real gun. So after much searching, I was able to get my hands on a P32 for the purchase price of
$250.
Now, this review was delayed for about four months for the simple reason that my P32 had to make a return trip to the factory. I wanted to wait before posting any public review because I felt it was only fair to give Kel-Tec an opportunity to fix things before voicing my opinions. I also knew before even making a Kel-Tec purchase that this might very well be something that I would have to deal with, and I was ok with that. Kel-Tec has kind of gained a reputation for having loose machining tolerances, and it was my impression that I would have about a 50/50 chance of getting a gun that was good to go right out of the box. I unfortunately ended up with one that would need to be sent back for a tune up
But like I said, I was ok with that.
My first trip to the range went great
. for about the first 25 rounds. Then after that it started to have problems. The gun had 2 failures to extract (stove pipe), and about 6 failures to feed (This was with various brands and types of ammo). What was interesting was that the failures to feed were not jam ups, but rather that the slide would cycle fully but would not pull the round free from the magazine. In addition, the gun had several light hammer strikes. The hammer would fully drop, but would not do so hard enough to ignite the primer and fire the round.
So I packaged up the little squirt and sent it back to Kel-Tec with a full description of what the problems were. Approximately 7 weeks later, the pistol arrived back at my front door with a description of what was done to remedy the problems
.. Kel-Tec completely replaced the slide and barrel. I basically got a completely new upper with the old serial number on it. They also polished the feed ramp and test fired the gun.
It was going to be about a week before I could get out to the range, so I played around with the gun using snap caps for a while. To my delight, there really seemed to be a marked improvement in what they sent back to me. The difference in quality was astounding
.. much like comparing a S&W wheel gun to some bargain basement knock off.
EVERYTHING about this gun now felt like it performed at a higher level then the original. The slide slammed closed like the proverbial vault door, and it also stripped rounds off the mag like
. well
. just insert any drug addicted stripper analogy that you would like! My point is that this gun now seemed to be the quality piece that I was wanting all along. Subsequent trips to the range would also confirm this. I have had no failures of any kind and I have now put enough rounds through it to know that it is dependable. The difference in quality is also noticeable when firing live ammo as well. This gun is solid!
You will remember that back in my original post, I mentioned that I also purchased a
DeSantis Nemesis for pocket carry. I am still very happy with its performance. It really does a remarkable job displacing the 10 oz of weight and really makes it feel no heavier then a cell phone in the pocket. I have also found it remarkable that it stays in the pocket EVERY SINGLE TIME I draw! I will say that continued use has made the holster flatten out more, and in certain clothes it produces more of a gun-like print (the +1 mag extension also accentuates this)
. This has been remedied by using a cut down piece of a DVD case inside my pocket and in front of the holster. This does not impede the draw in any way, and now it just looks like a squared off object in my pocket rather then a gun shaped object. (I will be testing other pocket holsters and may make a change in the future to eliminate the DVD plastic)
So whats the bottom line? I am very happy with this little pea shooter. It took a return trip to the factory to get me a dependable gun, but I knew that was a possibility going in. It carries well, and is an excellent deep cover concealed carry gun (it carries great in a suit jacket pocket). This gun will probably end up being my regular carry gun for the two months out of the year when its too hot to wear anything but a Speedo (they dont call them the dog days of summer for nothing!).