Does this make sense, sell auto & buy revolv.

K

kymasabe

New member
I carry every day, a Kel-Tec P3AT auto, in my pocket or in one of my holsters. The gun was horribly un-reliable when new, sent back and is now better but at the range the other day, started showing it's old self and would not feed the next round reliably. I've just about had it with this gun. It's super thin and light and loaded with 6+1 rounds of .380 is fine for me, I don't feel undergunned. I just don't trust it anymore. I've looked at other autos but I'm afraid I'll always compare then to the Kel-Tec and disappointed that they're not as thin or as light. Anyway, all those little auto mouseguns have reliability problems so an thinking of going in a different direction and getting a revolver. You can't argue with the reliability of a good revolver.
I'm a fan of more-bullets/smaller caliber so am thinking of getting a S&W 432PD in .32 H&R Mag., 6 round J-frame. Small, light, fun.

I welcome ideas and comments, suggestions, other handgun recommendations. By the way, I kinda like the hammerless thing, DA only, nothing to get snagged when I pull the gun from a pocket.
 
In this example, you are going ^UP. I suggest PMing BillCA and asking about his J frames. I myself had more than one defective Kel-Tec. I solved the BUG issue with a Walther PP. I now have a S&W M38 and a 638 humpbacks in 38 Special on layaway. I will be looking for a M49 humpback to complete the family. I am leery of DAO revolvers. I appreciate the single action capability. You are getting a better quality, more durable, easily concealed and well thought of revolver.
 
you don't really expect anyone to carry a gun that is a known failure? Not going into the beat to death subject of maintaing a semi for carry thing.

You got it dead on on the revolver. You know it will work. You can get nice ones in the $200 range. As for the caliber, shoot as much gun as you can use comfortably. If the 32 is as much as you can handle, buy it. I sure would invest in High End Personal defense ammo. Don't buy some cheap metal revolver that wont handle +P ammo. Most people opt for 38 special. Practice ammo is everywhere & cheap. Lots of quailty defensive loads that will but some serious bite in a 38.

Good luck. You always need an excuse to buy your next gun.;)
 
I don't think you will be unhappy if you choose the 432. The Centennial type revolvers are great for concealed carry. I don't pocket carry often and I carry a Model 640 either in an IWB holster or in a SmartCarry holster.

I personally think that 5 rounds of .38 special with a 158 gr bullet is better than six rounds of .32mag. If I want 6 rounds I carry a Colt Detective Special which conceals about as well as the 640 but is not very good for pocket carry.

Bill
 
run, don't walk....

....and trade that dog in on a S&W J frame. I really like my 37.... it has the hammer, but I LIKE the option of SA/DA (thank you AGAIN, Sir William!!! ;) )and the hammer isn't a problem. Women's clothing is pretty tight in comparison to you guys, and it has lived in my pocket and occasionally ridden in my purse with not a hitch. LOVE IT.

I traded my well-loved Bersa .380 for part of the price of it because the Bersa spat burning gunpowder at me, and my S&W does not do that.

Can't beat a J-frame IMHO.

Springmom
 
Buy anything...

Just about anything you get will be better than that POC....

Of course you really can't trade it in because you know it's not worth anything... so just keep it too.
 
A revolver that works it better than an auto that jams.
Click to expand...
but that's not the question. Get a Glock 26 in 9x19mm (or 27 in .40 if you like). A Glock 26/27 is
- as reliable as any revolver,
- smaller as a snubbie,
- carries more than double the ammo of a snubby,
- carries more effective ammo than a .38+P snubby (9x19mm or .40).

Plus: If a revolver jams, there's nothing you can do. If a (good) auto should happen to jam (at all) there are two drills with which you can make it fire again in 2-3 seconds with practice (tap-rack-bang etc). I personally would prefer a reliable auto (eg Glock) over any revolver for defense purposes.
 
as reliable as any revolver,
Click to expand...
From my personel expirences this not true. I use a Glock 17 for IDPA matches, I have put over 5000 rounds though this gun and I have had a hand full of jams. I do not know the exact percentage but it is way less than 1%, while this is a very good performance rate, it is still a failure rate on follow up shots.

I also use a Ruger gp100 for IDPA & Bullseye matches, this gun easy has over 10,000 rounds though it. To date I have never had a round fail to fire.

The only reason a revolver will not fire is a physical problem with the gun, if this is the case than fix the gun.

An auto can fail due to a number of problems, mainly the type of ammo, dirt and sometimes just because.

If you need more than 6 rounds to resolve a situation, you are on longer in a self defense mode your in a fire fight. I prefer a 12ga shotgun with 00 buckshot in a fire fight .

All my carry guns are revolvers, because I have all the confidence in the world that if I ever have to use it, all 6 rounds will fire.

Just MHO
 
The only reason a revolver will not fire is a physical problem with the gun, if this is the case than fix the gun.
Click to expand...

Unless you have a bad primer.

I was shooting some reloads with some older primers I had lying around. I hadn't loaded for about a year and a half and had about 200 large pistol primers left over from the last loading session that had been sitting in the garage in an uncontrolled environment.

Out of this batch, I only had one primer that went bad (maybe came from the factory bad?), but it gave me a FTF. I held the barrel downrange for about 10 seconds, opened the cylinder, re-set the cartridge by manually "rewinding" the cylinder, shot again in DA mode, still FTF. I waited, opened and re-set the cartridge one more time and shot in SA mode and got a "bang!".

Shot another 50 rounds DA and nothing weird at all. Just an old, bad primer. Maybe the anvil wasn't seated correctly in the primer. Who knows. The redhawk here didn't have any spring replacements or anything. That was the first FTF in maybe 1000 rounds thru it.

Bad ammo happens. Granted, another trigger squeeze would give me the next round anyways...as opposed to cycling the slide.
 
True, bad ammo can happen but this is an ammo failure not the result of a malfunctioning gun.

Maybe I should have said:
"The only reason a revolver will not cycle is a physical problem with the gun."

A revolver will cycle and fire every round barring an ammo failure, the same can not be said for an auto.
 
S&w 432

I like mine. It's a hoot to shoot with Federal 85gr JHP ammo since the recoil is almost nil, especially when compared to an Airweight .38 Special.

SW432PDhand.jpg


You can also shoot .32 S&W Long out of it if desired but there is little cost savings by doing so. Just be sure to run a brush through the chambers every 18 rounds or so to remove the soft leading at the chamber mouths.

There's not a lot of information about how the .32 H&R Mag does in self-defense situations. I compare it to the .380 as a marginal caliber. Mostly I think of it as a way to cover my exit from a bad situation.

If you're on a budget, I'd suggest something in .38 special since there are more brands of ammo and you get more power out of them. Either the hammerless 64x "Centennial" series or the shrouded "Bodyguard" styles are good choices. Here's my 649 .357 magnum Bodyguard.

M649Fobus02.jpg


If recoil is an issue, however, the 432 is an excellent choice. The quality of fit & finish on my specimen is excellent.
 
Remember, small autos tend to have reliability problems when you carry inside clothing from things like lint.

In that case just about any five shooter wheelie is going to be an improvement.
Rotate, lock up and fire is simpler than fire, unlock, extract, eject, reload, locu into battery any day of the week.
 
I believe the Glock 26/27 are thicker than a airweight such as the S&W 442 and hence is a little harder to conceal. I like Glocks, but for a pocket gun I prefer the 442/642. Go with a high quality lightweight wheelie.
 
You never say what you are using for ammo, my Kel-tec P3AT has never had a misfire of any type but I shoot mostly WWB. I know there are some hollow points out there the gun doesn't like, I think one I have seen the most complaints on is the Corbon:confused: :)
 
Well Russ,
My Kel-Tec only lasted 3 days and 80 rounds before it had to go back to Kel-Tec for a new slide. I was shooting FMJ at the time because no way, no h ow would it feed JHP. Kel-Tec asked what I wanted to fire thru the thing and I told them Hydro-Shoks. They claim to have "tuned" the gun to specifically that round and interestingly, Hydro-Shoks are the rounds I have least problems with. But at $15 for a box of 20 or 25 or whatever they come in now, it gets expensive quick at the range. So, I use the ammo sold at the range which is usually Remington, Independant, and PMC. I've tried Winchester and Federal,all FMJ also Speer Gold-Dots JHP. Nothing feeds right, have to tap it in sometimes. other times the spent case isn't all the way out as the next one is going in, everything gets jammed up. I'm done, this gun has been nothing but misery. This is my first and last Kel-Tec.
 
Last edited:
Last Friday while waiting to pick up our range membership cards, my wife and I ran into a gentleman trading in a Kel-Tec for a Taurus .38 snubbie. He wanted reliability in his BUG and the Kel-Tec didn't give hime the warm fuzzies. His primary is a SIG P226.

I also carry a revolver and used to carry a semi-auto (Kahr PM9). The Kahr was great to carry, but it had enough "quirks" and I'd read too many horror stories in the Kahr forum over at www.glocktalk.com to keep it around. I used it to knock the price down on a S&W Model 21 Thunder Ranch.
 
Kel-tec

While in a gun shop yesterday, I asked about the Kel-tec .380 as another possibility for pocket carry. He told me 1 out of 6 they sell are defective out of the box. He went on to say Kel-tec has a terrific service center, and when they come back they are fixed for good. He also would like to get one. For $250.00 I just might try it. If it malfunctions, I'll send it in for repairs.
 
Kel-tec

While in a gun shop yesterday, I asked about the Kel-tec .380 as another possibility for pocket carry. He told me 1 out of 6 they sell are defective out of the box. He went on to say Kel-tec has a terrific service center, and when they come back they are fixed for good. He also would like to get one. For $250.00 I just might try it. If it malfunctions, I'll send it in for repairs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top