R9 reliability vs P3AT

[geekster]

I discovered the R9 when searching for an alternative to my P3AT which still has FTEs after being factory serviced. It worries me that my P3AT may not be dependable if I ever actually need it, so I'm considering the R9.

However, in this forum, I do see some reports of FTEs with R9s.

Have there been any reliability issues with GD 115 or 124 gr ammo, which seems to be a preferred load from what I've read here.

Questions to those who had a P3ATs and now have an R9: How would you say the reliability compares?

[R9SCarry]

Welcome!

My P3-AT has never inspired great confidence ..... tho it is somewhat fussy re ammo.  I think most small guns are.  I do not feel trust for it tho as I do for the R9.

As for R9 .. yes, FTE's can occur and do ... but again ammo choice seems the main deal to get right.

For me so far ... 124 or 115 GD's are all I will trust ... and NO failures with those at all.

[HLG]

My P3AT had it's trigger axis break on round 45. After that it would not shoot at all. After getting it back from Keltec after the trigger axis was repaired, it had feeding problems. I let a local gunsmith do a fluff & buff on it and he replaced a spring(He said that he was a Keltec armorer and had performed this service on many of the P3ATs used by the local police). The performance was better, but never perfect. And you always wonder if or when the trigger axis will break again. On the other hand my R9s has been 100% with all three types of ammo I have put through it( 115 gr Gold Dot, 115 gr Winchester white box practice ammo, and Winchester 115 gr JHP ammo.) and nothing has broken yet.

[BillinPittsburgh]

Hi HLG,

When you say "fluff & buff", do you mean the same thing advocated on the KTOG forum?  I've had a gunsmith employed by Kel-Tec tell me that they see a lot of guns returned for repair that were fine until someone took them out of the dimensional tolerance limits by performing this procedure.  If your gun doesn't work, best to send it back to Kel-Tec and let them fix it.

Hi Geekster,

I've been very happy with my Kel-Tec P-32, but it took heavier recoil and magazine springs to prevent jams on the first shot when the gun is loaded 7+1, and moving the muzzle about 0.010" to the left (removing material from one end of the hole in the slide supporting the barrel and welding material to the other side) to make it shoot where it points.  It is in the safe most of the time now that I have a North American Arms Guardian .380, and there are several people on this forum who have switched from NAA guns to Rohrbaughs.

[Mr_Jody_Hudson]

In speaking with Eric today, I think that I have sometimes relaxed my grip at times and caused a FTE or FTF and then when being CERTAIN to have a very strong grip... found no problems at all.

For some people, in my experience, the grip is not as critcal as it is for me.  I am using a grip exerciser daily to make certain of a CRUSH grip on my Rohrbaugh and my many other small and powerful pistols.  

To give an idea, on my cheap bathroom scale, I can squeeze 180 lb. with my right hand and 155 with my left.  When I was a farm boy, I could always squeeze a bit more than my weight, several times in a row and hold that ammount for quite a while...  Since I weigh 230 lb. now, I have begun a squeeze campaign to get up to 230 and hold it there for at least 30 seconds... with either hand but first my right.

I use a two hand crush grip and for me that is what I find it takes to get the failures totally corrected in my tiny and powerful pistols.

I have a .357 Sig in Keltec, the K-P3AT, several tiny pistols in 9x18 which shoot the Wolf 120 gr. at 1100-1250, Walther TPH with QuikShoks, etc.  I love small powerful pistols!  Rohrbaugh is the smallest and most powerful and thus the most critcal of "slackened grip syndrome" for me.

Slack grip is not a problem on the same pistols for my son and he does not grip them nearly as tightly as I do... I have a theory that there are other factors involved, such as; muscle-skeletal features, exact grip and hold, and the way the pistol and body work together.  My son and I shoot a lot of the same guns and they shoot differently for each of us, with no other explanation...

Try a Crush-Grip, two handed grip and see if that cures it.

I seldom if ever have a problem with my P3ATs, nor does my son.

I hope some of this experience and speculation helps.

[R9SCarry]

Valid observations Jody .... I think in fact the bottom line is - an individual's grip must CONTROL the gun ..... and yes, this can vary according to hand morphology as well as tightness of hold.

If that control is there then irrespective of actual grip poundage, the pup will perform .. and, I'd add, that the grip also has to function to keep the gun recoil along the arm's long axis .. for longest time possible.

IMO - it is when muzzle flip breaks to early, that energy is dissipated away - prejudicing the full slide operation.  Just my theory anways!

As they say - YMMV!

[DDGator]

I had a P-3AT -- one of the first 40 released to the public.  I put about 300 rounds through it over time with no prolbems ever.

I have 200 rounds through my R-9 with no problems whatsoever.

So -- in my experience -- both are equally reliable!