AGHHH!! Kel Tec P32 woes

R

Redlg155

New member
After much consideration I decided to take a chance on the Kel Tec P32 and purchased one today at the Gunshow. I took it out to the range after a good cleaning and lube and fired 5 magazines full though it before I found out I couldn't insert a fresh magazine. I pulled the mag out and out came the mag realease! Needless to say I was very unhappy. Somehow the mag release spring had worked its way up out of place before finally stopping at the top of the frame. The slide kept it from completely coming out. It also prevented me from inserting another magazine until the mag spring was completely removed from the weapon.

Anyway, I decided to see if I could still fire the weapon and found out that I could if I used my pinkie under the magazine to hold it in place. The weapon functioned fine and I fired approx 6 more mags this way before calling it quits for the day.

Anyway...anyone know how to get this spring back in so I can get the weapon up and running again?..This part is more like a leaf spring than a conventional coil spring.

Any help would be appreciated.

Good Shooting
RED
 
p32

my p32 is in florida now having a spring on the assembly pin installed.your best bet is to call 321-631-0068 an tell the young lady your problem.you can mail the lower part of your pistol to them and they will repair it .it is guaranteed for life.turnaround is jus a few days.here is ther address kel-tec cnc inc.service department 1485 cox road cocoa, fl. 32926. i hope this helps.
 
Thanks for the addy!

I checked out the Kel Teg.org site and they had good disassembly instructions posted for the weapon. As I guessed, I had to punch the pins and seperate the frame from the trigger mechanism/locking block to get the mag spring back in.

Due to the way the spring is held in place by the locking block, I have no idea how in the world it could have ever come out that way. It looks to be almost impossible. My only guess is that the weapon was assembled incorrectly and it got by QC. Go figure.

Anyway..I got her up and running again! Yeahh!! And just to make sure I put another two mags full of ammo through her. Now for the fluff and buff....

Good Shooting
RED
 
A neat little idea of a gun. I had two happy days: the day I bought it and the day I sold it with misery and waisted money inbetween.
It is a jam-o-matic. The only quality part is the Meggar mag. It will break your heart wanting it to work, break your wallet trying to make it reliable and finally just break.
Many, many problems; failure to eject the biggest. Zero quality control, they say a prayer and throw it in a shipping container.
 
Don't forget proper lubrication after F&B. Lightly grease the slide rails and hammer/slide interface per the "lubrication guide" at the P-32 link at http://www.goldenloki.com
This can help prevent failures to extract along with a firm grip which is recommended for any lightweight pistol.
I've got 2 P-32s, both are very reliable, great little guns.
 
Robert-
I could not agree more. You are the mirror image of my case. I have sent mine back twice for extraction problems and both times, it came back a bomb. They said they test fired it but, that can not be the case because it failed during the first magazine of ammo. I did the fluff and buff, tried all different ammo, etc. etc.
"...they say prayer and throw it in a shipping container", sure sounds like you hit the nail on the head. I have one thing to say to those who have run a few hundred rounds thru their P32 with little problem....don't hold your breath, it's [problems] coming.

This has got to the be biggest let down firearm I have ever owned! Tell me, was the person that you sold yours to concerned with reliability or just want it as a plinking peice?
Just curious. I am trying to figure a way to sell this jammin POS without guilt.
 
I traded mine off for a 20 ga winchester 1300 just in time for doves this year. Best move I ever made!

As far as I can tell it's a love 'em or hate 'em kind of thing.

And I didn't love mine...
 
RBK,

I am not proud to say I gave it to a gun shop to sell on consignment. It sold in two days. What the heck they sold it to me, so I just borrowed someone else's problem and returned it. . :p
 
I don't dispute that some of you folks have had problems with the P32, but I have two, and friends have two more, and ours all work fine. I've fired both of mine quite a bit, and one of my friends had fired his a lot, and, after initial break-in, they are all reliable. We did get the hard chrome upgrades on ours - maybe that helps somehow. Or maybe we were just lucky. Or you were just unlucky. I do hate to think that "luck" plays a larger part with these guns than with others, but that may be the case.
On the other hand, there sure seem to be a lot of people who like the P32. The fact that Kel-tec stands behind their products and will fix or replace problem guns makes me willing to risk getting a lemon. And the fact that no other .32 is even close to being as light and thin as the P32. I wouldn't trade either of mine for any other gun (unless, of course, I could replace it right away).

Doug
 
I have a KelTec P32 and have had no problems, but then I really don't shoot it that much. The most reliable mouse gun I have ever found is hands down the Beretta 950 Jetfire. Love that little guy but the .25 - oh well. But it is a blast to shoot and never fails.
 
I'm willing to admit that luck plays a big part in it.

However, both I and my father in law purchased a P-32 when they first came out, Never a malfunction and they have always chambered and fired anything we could stuff in the mags. I didn't even know what the term "rim lock" meant, until I read it here. Luck of the draw, I guess.

KR
 
Well, sorry to hear that you had bad luck, but i can speak for three of them down here that we have all been quite pleased with. I would estimate that roughly 1000 rnds total have been fired through the 3 with no parts failures or any repairs other than a basic cleaning and lube. None of these even had the fluff and buff done to them.

Mine is the most finicky of the bunch and does not like hot ammo, but give it regular US spec 71 grn FMJ or 60 grn PMC JHPS and it will shoot until i get bored. I do not consider this a problem because virtually every automatic that i have ever own had it's own feeding preferences.

Really nice little guns IMHO, sorry that you got a bad one.
 
Sorry to hear about your initial glitch, but glad you got it figured out. I have one of the first 150 made. It went back to the factory once for extraction problems, but it has been reliable ever since. Mostly shoot Fiocchi JHPs and Winchester Silvertips.
 
Envy is what I feel when I read the success stories about the P32. I think it was one of the most inovative and fun guns I ever owned and would love to have one that I could stake my life on . I took the money and bought a used Colt Mustang- now that is a great pocket pistol!
 
I have owned a P-32 for over two years and mine has been 100% as have the seven that my friends have bought. I love mine and and I'm going to buy another one for my wife when if find another hardchromed slide model. In fact I have mine in my back pocket right now. I don't leave home with out it. It sounds like you got a lemon, send it back again and get it fixed.

7th
 
My Colt Mustang experience

The slide stop ate up the slide. Twice. This was a new gun, in blue steel.

Colt actually refunded my purchase price for the gun. I am not kidding.

However, I own two Govt. .380's from Colt that I am 100% happy with.

I sent my p32 to Kel Tec as a unit for the hard chrome. When it came back it worked 100% but shot to the left of point of aim. They fixed that for me in 6 days and I count this gun to be as reliable if not more so than my Colt .380s and equally accurate.

Regards.
 
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