Kel-Tec PF-9 - How Has Yours Been?

[fender1974]

I just picked up a PF9 this past Sunday after reading so many favorable reviews and watching videos. I just discovered the KTOG Forum today and after reading so many posts this evening (http://www.thektog.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=95) I worry that I may have made a mistake. My intended goal was to carry this as a CCW but now worry about reliability and about having to limit how many rounds I run through it at the range. I figured that after the 200 round break-in period, I'd run a box or two through it per month just to stay familiar with my CCW and to insure reliability. Should I worry? Should I be concerned with how many rounds I run through this gun? I know some will say that it's not fun to shoot and not to worry, but I still try to run 50 rounds a month through my LCP and don't mind the recoil. I'm just wondering if I should think about getting rid of the gun while it's still new and look for something else? Any words of wisdom or past experience with the PF-9 would be greatly appreciated.

[HKGuns]

I have a close friend who owns one and it has run 100% since he's owned it.

He hasn't shot it a lot yet, but so far so good. I've shot it and based on my experience, shooting 9mm NATO, I'd be far more concerned about the little thing jumping out of your hand when you shoot it.

He got a little offended when I didn't want to shoot it again at the range. The recoil and muzzle flip of those puppies is absolutely horrendous and convinced me I never want to own one. (I've shot a lot of different pistols in my life, so it isn't like I'm inexperienced.)

Hopefully the owners will forgive me for repeating this in a couple of threads, but it was really "that" surprisingly bad to me.

[loose_holster_dan]

i absolutely hate mine. the trigger is painful. not painfully heavy. actually painful. it pinches me all the time. the muzzle flip is terrible. that being said, it's good for what it is - a back up gun. i would never use it as my main carry piece.

if you decide to keep it. look into this upgrade. just put it on mine. haven't had a chance to get it to the range, since a frame pin broke under thumb pressure when i was putting the gun back together after installing the trigger. the trigger feels like a huge improvement tho.

[Lurky BoDean]

There site, which is currently "infected", states in the FAQ that their guns can last for 6,000+ rounds.

I wouldn't run to many +p rounds in it. If you bought it new, send in the warranty card, and now, you have a lifetime warranty.

[JKP]

I've had mine 3 years and after break in has been fine. Nice for CC, not fun for a range gun. after 1 magazine of Corbon 115 gr, I went back to standard loads. The optional trigger shoe makes it more plesant to shoot.

[shooter_john]

Mine has 600+/- rounds through it without any problems other than several FTF's the very first day. Those seemed to have been magazine related and I have not been about to recreate the problems since leaving the mag loaded for 3-4 days and then shooting again. Mine shoots best with 124 grain +P's. With all of that said, I want a Walther PPS.

[loose_holster_dan]

well i wasn't going to bring up the pps, since i beat that topic to death, but since john already did, they are going cheap right now at jetguns! take a look at my signature to let you know how i feel about the pps.

http://www.jetguns.com/walther-pps-9...k-p-25416.html

[TunnelRat]

Watching people shoot it gives me the willies. Maybe I've seen a lot of inexperienced shooters, but the muzzle flip beats anything I own by far, even my polymer framed guns in 40 s&w. To me there's light, and then there's too light for caliber. I personally wouldn't own one, but it is popular.

[woody wood]

bought mine about 2 years ago-no problems with about 500 rounds through it!
i did run some +p rounds through it in the begining.not sure if that had any effect on it?

[rvehock]

Had mine for about a year, not at all fun to shoot for sure. Had problems with certain 9mm ammo also. Got rid of it and found a nice slightly used Kahr CW9, what a great pistol. Only slightly bigger than the PF-9 but has a great trigger, recoil is mangeable/not painful, and has not had a single FTF/FTE with any of the 9mm ammo (FMJ/JHP) that I have fed it. I still have a Kel-Tec P-32 that I love and it has been 100% reliable, I still carry it when I cannot carry the CW9.

[shooter_john]

I don't find the PF9 to be unpleasant to shoot at all, but I certainly read about plenty of people who don't like it. When I shot my buddies PPS, I found it to shoot far better than any baby Glock I've ever come across. The PPS shoots like a "regular sized" gun. (and I will stop bringing up the PPS now.)

[lee n. field]

I just discovered the KTOG Forum today and after reading so many posts this evening (http://www.thektog.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=95) I worry that I may have made a mistake. ...Any words of wisdom or past experience with the PF-9 would be greatly appreciated.

Mine has been OK, with the exception of intermittent light strike misfires.

Currently I have it on consignment with a local dealer. I suspect it will not sell at the price I have it at. If not, I will retrieve it and tinker. If it does sell, I intend (this week, who knows what I'll want next week?) to upgrade to an LC9.

I have found the blued version rusts easily. I do not find it uncomfortable to shoot. Trigger pull is on par with a DA snub nose revolver. It's reasonably accurate, especially for its size and intended niche.

All that said, I would not want this to be my only gun.

[Itsjustjoe]

I've had my pf9 for a few months, put around 500 rounds through it, and the only problems I ever had with it were when I was getting used to shooting it. It has significantly more recoil than any other handgun I've shot, so I limp-wristed it on more occasions than I care to admit. After getting used to it, I haven't had any issues. I don't LIKE to shoot it, but when I do I can be pretty accurate with it, and I don't worry about it jamming. I went to the range last night with a couple of buddies (they both ONLY own Glocks) - neither of them could shoot it well at all, and both of them had several malfunctions each - but I would immediately pick it up, load the same ammo, and be able to fire a couple magazines with no issues; so I blame them for the malfunctions since they didn't happen to me. That being said, the gun is flawed - it really shouldn't be that hard to operate without having issues; it's unreasonably intolerant of imperfect technique. That is one of the many reasons these are so cheap.

If I were you, I would keep it and put a few hundred rounds through it before I decided whether or not to sell it. At least where I am from, used guns on Armslist are listed for just as much (and sometimes more) than they sell for brand new at gun shops.

[wild cat mccane]

I didn't like mine at all.

But personal opinions aside, other than the blueing being the worst, I can compare it to other guns I had at the same time.

A taurus 650 357 "hurt more" and was slower to follow up. But next to a P99 AS 9mm, a P3AT, a taurus mil pro .40, glock 30... the PF-9 had the most snap to it and less pleasant to shoot. Easily defined as the hardest autoloader to shoot, on the user.

Well doh, right? Think about that though when you read people say it isn't that bad.

I am on P3AT number 3. I can justify the download to .380 because *I* am much faster with it. This despite it being smaller.

[S_Constitutionist]

I absolutely love mine. No, its not a range gun, but it puts rounds on a man size target out to 15 yards as fast as I can squeeze them off.

I live in the very hot southwest and noticed myself leaving the bigger IWB guns at home. The PF9 is effortless to pocket carry and for that reason alone, its worth the cost of learning to shoot it. I put a CT laser on it as I consider it more of an up close and personal, point shooting defensive weapon but in actuality the sights work just fine.

Mine has around 1500 rounds through it with the only malfs being two failures to lock the slide on empty (only when the gun had 100+ rounds through it between cleanings). The KT really pushed the limits of what was possible in 9mm when it was designed, so I understand its need for cleanliness. With the newest parts (mine was recent production) I think they are fantastic carry guns.

I considered myself somewhat of a "gun snob" and was leery about KT, but they have made me a believer. 100% American made "working man's" guns with good CS to back it up (so i've heard).

[KLRANGL]

Mine has been great since I bought it (year ago). Had one fail to feed last range trip, but no issues other than that.

Sure it hurts when you shoot it, but it's a good pain. Geez...

[Mercenary]

Mine was very reliable but after each 50 round range session, I was ready to be done. I ended up selling my PF-9 to fund the purchase for my M&P 9mm. I do miss the concealability of the PF-9 though, especially now since Kel-Tec has the +1 grip extension available for it.

[Justice06RR]

I've owned one for about 2months before I sold it.

I bought it brand new at the LGS for $280, and sold it to a local buyer for $300 - so I got lucky on that.

Mine jammed from the start. The single mag it came with did not feed the 6th round properly (follower issue). I always inspect all my mags when i purchase a firearm and make sure there are no hang-ups with the magazines.

Off the bat, the PF9 mag would not feed the 6th round reliable, even when you are stripping rounds off the magazine manually. So I knew that this would cause a FTF in the pistol.

The trigger was long, and double taps were difficult because you have to let the trigger reset all the way out. I would sometimes accidentally depress the mag release, but this is a common issue with pistols of this size.

The upside to the PF9 is that it is lightweight and very slim (at the cost of heavy recoil). The LC9 and 709Slim i've shot does not have nearly as much recoil as the PF9, and this was a factor for me. Another plus side is that Keltec's CS is top notch from what I've heard and they will take care of any issues you have.

[ahanson0812]

I own one, and have had nothing but great luck with it. It's my EDC. Love it!

[khegglie]

Mine is a EDC, it hurts to stage the trigger. I find that if you shoot it like you really need to RIGHT NOW the recoil and snap are managable and the accuracy goes up for double taps. YMMV

[Nakanokalronin]

I had one long ago that was flawless from round one. My recent version experienced zero failures to feed fire or eject. What it did experience was peeing on the slide on the hood from the barrel smacking it from improper specs. It also was dropping mags from an out of spec grip. I wasn't hitting the mag release as I eventually ground it down flush with the frame and had my thumb high enough in the air while firing to hitch a ride. It happened with 4 different mags and 2 different mag catches.

Eventually KT sent me a free grip in the mail, but the peening got worse. After reading several recent FTF issues with new PF-9s on various forums, I was afraid if I sent my slide and barrel in for replacement, I would be rolling the dice. In fact, it seems there are quite a few people out there that need to send in their new KT firearm in for warranty repair right out of the box or request new parts to replace faulty versions in the gun.

My only KT now is a Billfold Brown P3AT that is as perfect as my original was. Hopefully it stays that way. I personally think KT QC is dropping a bit and the small spontaneous production runs on certain firearms isn't helping either.

KT has great customer service but it's unfortunate that many know this from first hand experience. I've never had to call any other company for issues as much as KT.

[jborushko]

not fun to shoot but works just fine.

replaced the plastic for a metal guide rod
stippled the grip up a bit,
crimson trace laser
belt clip

Originally Posted by Nakanokalronin

peening

have a picture?

[Nakanokalronin]

Don't have the pictures anymore but you can see others with the same problem here with pictures.

http://www.thektog.org/forum/showthread.php?t=246100

Here is another thread about it. Look at my post (#19) where I mention the random serial numbers.
http://www.thektog.org/forum/showthread.php?t=245623

My posts are there as well as people responding to the pictures I did post. Seems KT heat treated the slide on them incorrectly. Some call it a bad batch but after seeing the serial numbers of the infected slides on a few forums, it seems more random then anything. It seems that after the peening gets bad enough, some experience lock up of the slide. Since KT pistols are basically made for carry and self defense, it's not very comforting for these pistols to be having issues at low rounds counts like mine at 200rds or some as low as 25rds. If you go through that forum, you'll see people with cracked PF9 slides which is another act of poor heat treating.

It's fine if a company has issues and either catches it before being sent out or recalls it for an upgrade of some sort. KT knows of the many issues with their products but they seem to let way to many fall into consumers hands while refusing to correct it at the source, the manufacturing process.

I've owned over 80 firearms in my life with only 3 of them (PT1911, DB380 and second PF9) being a total failure. I've learned to dump a lemon, move on and buy something else instead of trying to fix a known issue that involves poor QC.

The hardcore KT owners are very forgiving of KT issues but for those that don't like to roll the dice on a brand of firearms, we move on to something with a better reputation. I've owned 6 different KT products and it seems the company has slacked off in being consistent with product quality and producing firearms in any quantity (RFB,KSG and Sub2000 for example) to satisfy demand.

[coop2564]

Mine has been very relieable...but these are not target guns. a 9mm in 13oz gun is a lot to handle. If only shot occasually and used for cc its at its best. But dont think you will enjoy shooting lots of rounds thru it, its just not made for that. Get a larger gun for targets.

[therealrasta]

Does not feel like it about to fly out of my hand when I shoot it. Less recoil then most snub revolvers. Not really made for large hands, but fits me perfectly. Check this comparison out on the ruger LC9 vs PF9.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiXbG...feature=relmfu