A few months ago, I wrote out a list of the things I wanted in a backup gun.
The Kel-Tec is the cheapest of the three. At ~$250 it's half the price of the other two. It's also the smallest and lightest. The Kahr K9 uses a single stack magazine, but it has a longer slide and grip, and is even wider than the double stack P11. The Glocks are just "bobbed" versions of the 19 and 23 without any real reduction in girth.
Because of the small size and relatively inexpensive price, I decided to try a Kel-Tec pistol out.
The slide and barrel are milled from 4140 steel, the frame is constructed of aluminum, and the grip (which also forms the magazine well, and trigger guard) is Dow 880 plas^H^H^Holymer. The frame is actually just a small rectangular block, pinned inside the polymer grip. This makes the gun lighter, while putting the stress on metal.
It's a simple firearm. The part count is about 40 pieces, including every little spring and screw. The only real technical innovation is the hammer. The P11 has no firing pin block. Instead, the firing pin is extremely light, as is the hammer. The hammer is shaped like a disk, with a small finger protruding off of the edge to strike the firing pin. There is not enough inertia between the tip of the hammer and the firing pin to set of the gun if dropped. The only way the gun will fire is if the hammer is rotated _completely_ back and released. (More on this later.) The rotational energy from the entire hammer is then brought to bear on the firing pin.
Disassembly is extremely easy. Everything is held together by an "assembly pin" that also engages the locking lug on the bottom of the barrel. To remove the pin, simply lock the slide back, insert the rim of a 9mm casing into the notch in the side of the assembly pin, and lever it out. The slide then slips forward off the frame. The barrel and recoil guide rod just lift out of the slide.
The trigger pull is about 9-10 pounds, and looong. Surprisingly, it's also smooth, and breaks cleanly. I would compare it to a broken- in Ruger GP100.
Needless to say, I was NOT impressed when I started getting light strikes on my first magazine of Hydra-shoks. On one round I had to crank the trigger *four times* before it finally lit. I noticed that on the light strikes the hammer was not coming back all the way before it would drop, and the trigger was breaking about half way through its travel.
I marched back off the range and told them it was completely unacceptable. The salesman and I grabbed some snap caps and dry fired the other P11s in the case. Every single one retracted the hammer fully and broke at the end of the trigger pull.
I had a lemon. !@#$.
All was not lost, however. I frequent this range (Caswell's, in Mesa, Arizona) because of their excellent customer service, and they came through again. The salesman handed me one of the other guns, told me to go try it out, and that if it worked ok, he'd swap the lemon out.
Recoil is...brisk. This puppy *BARKS*. It felt about the same as a .38 Airweight, although not as painful because of the softer, more hand filling plastic grips. The P11 uses the same dual recoil spring concept found on the Glock 26, 27, and the H&K USP. I suppose it helps.
After my right trigger finger got tired I switched to firing with my left hand only. My hands are so large that it's almost easier to shoot with one hand than two.
The 100 rounds I put through it isn't enough to get a good feel for long term reliability, but there were no jams or failures to feed of any kind, either with 124gr. Hydra-Shoks or FMJ ammo. Even the lemon at least _fed_ OK. This I actually found surprising. Guns with light frames often experience limp-wrist jams, as do guns with short slide travel. The Kel-Tec has both, but it flung the rounds out quite vigorously. (Smacked me in the head once or twice with brass bounced off the lane divider.)
I won't be sure until I put at least another 400 rounds or so through it, but it seems ok so far.
The Kel-Tec P11 has the potential to change the way people look at carrying. It's a 9mm pistol capable of digesting +P loads in the same size package as most .380 pistols. With an 11 round capacity, compromising on firepower really isn't necessary any more. I greatly prefer my G21 to the P11, but I would have no problems using the Kel- Tec as a backup, or as a primary when I don't feel like lugging a huge .45 around.
I'll continue shooting it, and report any jams or failures. Hopefully the Kel-Tec P11 will show itself to be a reliable and useful little gun. If not, I'm only out $250 and someone else might be saved the trouble.
Oh, I've named it "Brutus", after a particularly vicious lap dog I once knew.
Length: 5.6 inches
Height: 4.3 inches
Width: 1 inch
Bbl. len: 3.1 inches
Weight: 14 oz. unloaded, 21 oz. loaded
Caliber: 9mm
Capacity: 10+1, accepts S&W 59 magazines for 15+1
Trigger: 10 lb. DAO capable of multiple strikes
Action: short-recoil locking into ejection port
Sights: 3 dot white
Construction: Aluminum frame pinned inside a polymer grip, steel slide. Unique hammer design provides drop safety.
Took my new P11 to the range again this weekend, along with a S&W 15 round magazine I hadn't had the chance to try out previously.
The high-cap mag protrudes about 1" from the bottom of the grip, providing a place for the little finger to rest. Kel-Tec recommends a slip on sleeve to put over the exposed part of the magazine, but I haven't had a chance to order one yet.
Within the first three rounds, I experienced the first jam I've ever had with the P11. The slide closed, but when I pulled the trigger, nothing. After waiting the requisite 30 seconds, I pulled the slide back and found the oddest malfunction I've ever seen. The top round was nose down, protruding vertically from the front of the magazine. I had this jam 3 more times in 25 rounds.
I took it to my gunsmith, who checked the mag and told me the spring was weak and buckling. After a round was fed from the mag, the next round sometimes wouldn't pop up into position. Then instead of being pushed up into the chamber, it would flip nose-down into the front of the magazine. A good cleaning and a new spring should fix it.
I switched to using the standard Mec-Gar 10 round magazine with no additional difficulties.
It's getting easier to shoot with practice. The actual force of the recoil isn't bad at all, it's the muzzle flip that's a pain. A firm grip helps to get back on target quickly, but not before the trigger guard has banged into the bottom of my trigger finger. I'm building up a callous there.
The P11 fits Heather's (my fiancee) smaller hand much better, so she doesn't have that problem. I think she's fallen in love with the little monster, since she's been taking it everywhere. For some reason she commented on how she likes the sights, They _are_ more visible than the sights on her Ruger SP101.
The trigger pull is _extremely_ smooth, with just a slight amount of stacking at the end. My gunsmith even commented on it. It could be shorter, but it's really nice for a DAO semi-auto, especially an inexpensive one with rough machining.
I hadn't realized a gun could be this convenient. The P11 is small, and thanks to its simplicity, worry free. It becomes natural to grab it on the way out the door, just as you would keys or wallet. Because it's just rough steel and plastic, I don't spend any time worry about protecting it from use and abuse. A scratch isn't going to hurt it the way it would a mirror blue finish. I _would_ be willing to pay a few extra dollars (up to $100 more) for more corrosion resistance now that I know it wouldn't be gilding a sow's ear. I hear Kel-Tec is planning on releasing a stainless version soon, and I may get Brutus (our name for him) hard-chromed if the cost isn't too high.
Besides the obvious use as a backup, it would make a great tacklebox or utility gun. It's relatively inexpensive, and thus easy to replace if it were damaged or lost. In fact, it's almost cheap enough to buy several just to keep around "in case". I wouldn't cry if I had to use it and the police confiscated it for evidence. I'd just promptly buy another.
This thing is going to KILL the S&W Sigma .380. It's almost exactly the same size, weight and price, but offers all the features of a full size gun. Why would anybody buy a zinc blowback gun with a weird mag release when you can have a steel pistol with Browning lockup, more capacity, more power, cheaper and better ammo selection, and a magazine release where God intended?
I think all pocket pistols are going to feel a similar squeeze. Even .22 and .25 autos will be threatened. When you can have 11 rounds of 9mm +P for just a little more size, there's a powerful temptation to move up. The same goes for pocket revolvers.
This is not a gun for the faint of heart. I wouldn't buy it for a beginner or "the little woman", unless your woman is like mine. (Complains that .38 special is "boring" in her compact .357 magnum and isn't really happy until she has a .44 magnum in her hand...) On the other hand, the recoil isn't so bad that you can't practice regularly with it. I enjoy it a lot because it's more economical than my usual .45acp, and still operates like a "real" gun, with all the controls in the right places.
Once you get over the recoil issue, it's a nearly perfect tool. It does what it's supposed to do with a minimum of fuss and expense, and it's convenient enough that you'll have it when you need it, even in shorts and T-shirt weather.
Now if Kramer would just make a little IWB holster for it...