Finally pulled the trigger

[Delija]

For about a year (maybe longer?) I've been toying with the idea of a Kel Tec .380 so I could comfortably carry all the time. My XD9 Sub is kind of heavy and thick (I'll never give it up though - I do love that pistol), and my Llama .380, while a good size (Colt Mustang size) is relatively heavy..all steel. Also, even though it's been 100% reliable, I keep hearing from all the (self proclaimed) experts that the metal used to make them was soft, etc...in other words, I've been kind of discouraged from trusting my life to it. If I could figure out how to comfortably carry my full size 1911, maybe I would. But since I don't spend more than 10 seconds a year giving that serious consideration, it's doubtful it will ever happen.

Well today I finally bought a Kel Tec. Funny thing is I really had decided to do it a few weeks ago, but my local shop was out of stock in the .380...they just had the .32 so I waited it out. Today I went to the range, (to test fire my Ruger with it's just installed VQ sear...WOW, WOW, WOW!!!) and there was a new .380 Kel Tec.

It took the guy I trust the most about five minutes to convince me to go with the .32 - he said the .380 was just too much gun in 7 ounces. He said I'd hate shooting it. Well, I never was looking for it to be a range gun, so that didn't seem too important. But he went on about follow up shots, etc, and in the end, I just followed my experience and decided to trust him. He's the guy that talked me into an XD when I had never even heard of it. He told me to save money and NOT buy a more expensive Glock (or S&W 9mm which was my first intention).

I went with the .32....I must say, it's a handful even in the smaller caliber. But manageable. Yet certainly has more felt recoil than my .45 caliber 1911. (Weight matters).

I was extremely impressed with it's accuracy. I shot five rounds off-hand at about 15 feet and hit all in a three inch bulls-eye. Then I fired from a rest at 25 feet and had the same results.

I went through about 40 rounds of FMJ range ammo, and 10 rounds of Speer Gold Dot self defense rounds. The thing worked perfectly.

The sales guy convinced me to go with the hard chrome which was about $30 more. He said if I'm going to carry it in my pocket, a blued gun would rust right away in the Florida heat. The hard chrome was I think a good choice. Every piece of metal (except the recoil spring) is hard chromed, so it should hold up nicely.

So I'm a happy guy. A new gun will do that.

But there's more to it than just having a new gun. Anytime I can get closer to fully emulating Frenchy, who is a well known (infamous), and notorious Kel Tec owner, the better. I mean really....who wouldn't want to be as much like Frenchy as possible? I won't shave my head.....and I won't gain weight, (hopefully soon he'll be thin like me, so we'll have that in common too) but if I can just buy a gun...hey, easy enough!

Life is good!

Peace,
D.

[Oni]

Woot, happy gun purchase Delija, I'm glad your happy with your Initial purchase and nice shooting Tex!.

[one-eyed-fatman]

NO pic's ...

[tec]

pic's plez????

Been thinking about a small pocket gun also. When it gets warm I dress in a light shirt, I don't think I will enjoy carrying the 45 when I am sweating my rear off.

[Delija]

Originally Posted by tec

pic's plez????

Been thinking about a small pocket gun also. When it gets warm I dress in a light shirt, I don't think I will enjoy carrying the 45 when I am sweating my rear off.

Originally Posted by one-eyed-fatman

NO pic's ...

OK, I'll get 'em up after The Shield and Boston Legal.

I got 'em recording on DVR, so maybe I'll pause 'em and get the pics up sooner.

Peace,
D.

[jednp]

I have no clue if anyone has looked at this before, but I noticed you said if you could find a comfortable way to carry your 1911 you would. I have no experience with these, but they look like they might work. http://www.smartcarry.com

Just click on the photos link at the bottom and it shows how it's worn. Actually click through all the different links and there's other stuff about them. Just an idea, might work for some of you who want a different way to carry sometimes.

[east_stingray]

I'm anxious to hear how the Kel-Tec holds up with continued use. I had intended to get one, but heard all sorts of bad things about reliability in them on packing.org. If you have good experiences, maybe that will be enough to convince me.

[east_stingray]

Originally Posted by jednp

I have no clue if anyone has looked at this before, but I noticed you said if you could find a comfortable way to carry your 1911 you would. I have no experience with these, but they look like they might work. http://www.smartcarry.com

Just click on the photos link at the bottom and it shows how it's worn. Actually click through all the different links and there's other stuff about them. Just an idea, might work for some of you who want a different way to carry sometimes.

I was recently in St. Louis shooting with John Ross, and he pretty much FORCED a SmartCarry on me. He carried one of the S&W 500 .50 cal revolvers in it the entire time we were together. Told me he puts it on in the morning and doesn't take it off 'til bed. That gun weighs 4lbs! Anyway, he made me put one on and I put my S&W 4" barreled 686 in it. That is a HUGE gun, and the thing disappeared! The only thing you could see was the square edge of the grip up by my pocket. He told me I could get a pair of specialty grips that are rounded and it would be invisible.

Now, to give you some idea of how incredible this is, I'm 6'1" and weigh 160lbs. I have trouble concealing a sheet of typing paper on my person without printing, and I wear pretty tight clothes too! I'm sold on them, and as soon as I decide what I'll be carrying I'm going to buy a SmartCarry for it.

[Delija]

OK...I took some pics to try and give some size perspective...comparing to what are some obvious guns, and one somewhat less obvious (Llama .380).

Like the Springfields, the Kel Tecs come with a lifetime guarantee. When I was talking to the guy who sold it to me today (third gun he's sold me in the past year), he said some early Kel Tecs had some problems but have been fixed. These are "second generation" guns...He said they've sold over 400 Kel Tecs in the past three years and about 10 needed to go back for service. None recently.

Didn't the first generation HS 2000s have extractor issues? New products sometimes have growing pains I guess.

I can only hope the Kel Tec holds up. I've been lurking on the Kel Tec owner's board (KTOG) and they have some pretty fanatical proponents...almost sounds like "Glocktalk" over there. (In fact, I've seen the Kel Tecs referred to as being "miniature Glocks with better triggers".

One thing that's a "sticky" there (KTOG) is how to do a "fluff and buff" to remove all the tooling marks and burrs. (In fact there are a few versions written by different people). Very explicit instructions. Don't know when they were written, but I looked my gun over with a magnifying glass tonight when I cleaned it and didn't see ANY tool marks at all. No burrs, nothing but smooth steel outside and inside. (There's an interior aluminum frame inside the polymer lower...that too looked perfect). I figure that's a good sign.

As for the Smartcarry (and I think "Thunderwear" is similar?)....I don't know what the deal is when you need to take a leak...I think you have to drop your pants.

More importantly....I figure if I'm going to need a gun, I'm going to want to get to it as fast as possible. Sticking a hand in a pocket and coming out shooting is a whole different thing than reaching into your crotch. Some guy's threatening you with a baseball bat, and you are opening your belt and unzipping your pants? LOL...Yeah, I'd rather have a .45 in my hand. But I'd rather have a .32 in my hand than a .45 where I can't get to it. Or worse, come out with my dick in my hand....grabbed the wrong "big gun" LOL.

OK...sorry for the longwinded reply. (And I didn't even mention how absolutely incredibly GREAT the VQ sear was on my .22 Ruger at today's maiden voyage) LOL

Here's the pics:












Peace,
D.

[JHA XD40]

How comfortable do you feel with the .32 as a self defense round?

I was thinking my next gun should be some sort of long gun, but with the weather warming up I'm starting to think that some sort of pocket gun might be better. I have a hard enough trying to conceal my XD40 in winter clothes, so I want something easier to carry.

I don't really want to go lower than 9mm, but would feel OK with a .380. Just don't know how I would feel carrying a .32.

jonas