Kel Tec P-11 Part 1
While some of you were off having fun in Louisville at the blog bash and NRA convention, others had to cancel plans and actually work for a living. But all is not lost as I’ve been hard at work collecting firearms.
Like this cute little Kel Tec 9mm - thanks to the fine Guns At Cost folks (who really were a pleasure to do business with).
Here’s the details from Kel Tec’s web page
The P-11 is a semi-automatic, locked breech pistol, chambered for the 9 mm Luger cartridge.
The firing mechanism is double action only. The magazine has a 10 or 9 round capacity. The Kel- Tec P-11 is the smallest and lightest 9 mm ever made. Thanks to its locking dynamics and superior ergonometry, perceived recoil and practical accuracy are comparable to much larger guns. The P-11 is especially suited for plainclothes police officers or as a secondary weapon for military personnel. From the very beginning of the design and development, computers have been used exclusively. All machined components are also made on modern high speed computerized equipment. Equally advanced quality control equipment and test procedures ensure a firearm with uncompromising quality in materials and workmanship
Here’s the package as it arrived. At first, I didn’t care for the plastic case, but the ingenuity of its locking system has really grown on me. It works very well.
Its slightly larger than I expected. My father in law has the 380, which is a mouse gun. The P-11, in 9mm, is clearly bigger - bigger then my hand even - but still fits nicely in my hand and is invisible in the the pocket of my khakis or jeans. It should do well as a summer carry piece.
While otherwise a fine piece of engineering, for $220 your clearly not getting the quality and care that goes into the Colt Custom shop (though I understand the customer service might be better). That said, its not even Glock quality. The plastic, I am sure, is sufficient, but comes off as appearing a bit cheap, and rough around the edges. A lot needs to be done with the gun, including sanding the seams down (though I suspect that the natural wear patterns from daily use will take care of much of that) as well as the fluff and buff recommended by the Kel Tec Users Group. The other complaint is that the magazines are incredibly difficult to remove when empty. Luckily, the kel tec users group has addressed that with a simple solution too!
Here’s a close up.
The one thing I really like about this handy little pistol, more so than on any other mouse or subcompact I’ve carried, is that the sights are great. Sure, nite-sights would be handy, but frankly I’m happy with just the well defined, easy to focus low maintenance sights on the Kel Tec.
You can also see more of that seam that needs sanding here.
I haven’t had a chance to get it to the range yet, but will post that report hopefully this weekend (along with the long awaited Bag Day Gun Report). In the meantime, based upon just my outward initial review of the Kel Tec P11 - I’m giving it a thumbs up. It certainly is a sturdy, well made (U.S. Made) gun at a dirt cheap price. The few flaws are easily addressed, and the extra work necessary to get this into daily and shooting condition is minor compared to the cost savings between this 9mm and all its competitors on the market.
This last picture’s for the bigots
12 comments »
Copy link for RSS feed for comments on this post or for TrackBack URI
Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Looking forward to an update on this one. I’m kicking this idea around myself. Just brought home a CZ 75, my first wondernine, just to have a platform for testing handloads. Was the PF9 ever a consideration, and if so, what influenced your decision?
Comment by Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner — May 20, 2008 @ 6:58 pm
Roland
I did consider the PF9 but a couple of things won me over about the P11.
First, I like that it holds 10 rounds. Capacity is great, especially for a little gun.
Second, the PF9 is a new design while the P11 is basically a beefier version of the tried and true Kel Tec design.
Also, there have been some quality control/reliability problems with the PF9 that, while Kel Tec has addressed, I’m just more comfortable with an older established design (see above).
But I did consider, long and hard, the PF9
With any luck, ill have a range report this weekend (though I may also take the dog out to practice over live birds which would push said range report off a bit).
Comment by countertop — May 20, 2008 @ 8:03 pm
I’m thinking about buying one, but the gap between the “frame” and the slide, visible in the pic above, kinda puts me off. Anyone have any thoughts on how bad that might be? I’m thinking it’s a lint trap, but I’m hoping I’m wrong.
Comment by phil-z — May 21, 2008 @ 2:17 pm
The space in the back is for a hammer. I suspect it’ll trap lint, but then so does my Colt 1991A1.
Once I get it to the range (hopefully this weekend) I’ll be able to post some more detailed range info.
Comment by Countertop — May 21, 2008 @ 3:45 pm
I haven’t had any lint issues with mine. I pocket carry in a Galco holster and use a Fobus paddle when it rides on my belt. I’d strongly recommend buying at least one spare mag. Put the grip extender floorplate on one, and leave the other plain. The grip extender’s great, but just big enough to cause me problems with drawing from a front pants pocket, so I use a plain mag for that purpose. When riding my belt, the grip extender’s in place. Since I always carry both mags, it’s easy to swap ‘em when I swap holsters.
It looks kinda silly, but I’d also recommend the KTOG eraser tip overtravel stop on the trigger.
Comment by CaptainAttila — May 21, 2008 @ 8:42 pm
Not the one in the back, the one just above the trigger, on the side. You can see bunny fur through it in the pic. The example I was looking at in the local gun shop was big enough to fit a dime, The weapon is very popular, and I haven’t read anything bad about it. I have the .32 kel-tec and I like it a lot and it works great. That gap though, that bothers me, and I’d like to hear more about it before I buy one for myself. I look forward to reading your range report.
Comment by Phil-z — May 21, 2008 @ 9:45 pm
I love my Kel Tec .380 I bought the double stack 9mm, and wished I had gone with the single stack… oh well, anyone want to trade?
Comment by Spank That Donkey — May 23, 2008 @ 4:01 pm
Is that actually a gap, or just some weird reflection? It can’t be seen in the close-up or the back lit photo in front of the window. It does look like bunny fur though.
Comment by Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner — May 24, 2008 @ 3:09 pm
Thats the reflection from my flash. There isn’t a gap there - or at least not a gap big enough to see through to the bunny hair on the other side. Its no more nor less than the gap on any other gun.
Comment by Countertop — May 24, 2008 @ 10:11 pm
I’ve had my P-11 for a couple of months. FWIW, I was originally very down on Kel-Tecs. The little ones (P32 and P3AT) felt like toys to me. On a whim, I broke down and bought the P32. It’s been flawless out of the box after several hundred rounds and has become my “always” gun.
My satisfaction with the P32 led me to buy the P11. For the first 200 rounds, everything was fine. Then I started to experience occasional failures to fire. At first I thought it was a hard primer issue and switched cartridges. However, the problem steadily became worse until finally it was happening half the time. I sent the pistol back to Kel Tec and after about 2 months (which was considerably longer than I thought it would be), it was returned with a whole lot of internal parts replaced. Since then it has functioned flawlessly for 350 rounds. I’m going to put another 200 through it before I’m comfortable relying on it as my daily CCW, but I’m optimistic at this point.
I own Springfield Armory, Glock, Smith & Wesson, and Ruger pistols and revolvers but like this pistol for CCW because of it’s size and caliber although it’s external appearance is a bit rough. I’ll be interested in hearing of your experience with this pistol.
Comment by Frank Brady — June 19, 2008 @ 7:51 pm
I will HOPEFULLY finally get a review up this weekend.
Comment by countertop — June 20, 2008 @ 1:36 am
Update here
Comment by Countertop — August 23, 2008 @ 5:01 pm