Though I am sorry that our good man Rivrdog was.
I have never been impressed with KelTec. Ever. In any way. They were a sort of non-entity to me as far as firearms manufacturers go. If somebody brought them up as a possible brand of purchase, I would say something along the lines of “I know a number of people who own KelTecs, and they seem to like them.”
Rivrdog’s experience means that from now on I will lead with his story before getting to anything even neutral about them.
I have used this method with Kimber products ever since another frequent RNS commenter, Mollbot, had a horrible experience with them. I can say that I have easily stopped a dozen (though probably more) purchases of Kimber pistols via this method, where I know that the people I spoke to bought pistols from different manufacturers.
I would also host Mollbot’s story about that experience if he were to write it up.
Yes, I know it was a bad reload that began Rivrdog’s problem. But the list of things KelTec did wrong on this was pages long. From not bothering to call or write to him to say that the damage wasn’t covered under warranty and would therefore cost him out of pocket; to the half-ass “fixed it”; to their returning of an unsafe firearm as “good to go”.
Zero out of Five Stars.
I don’t like Kel-Tec’s “let the buyer be the beta tester” approach to their products.
I speak as an early adopter of the P-11 – my serial number is in the 10k range and I had to replace the grip frame with a later production item because it was too spongy, which inhibited function.
The designs are brilliant, but let’s face it:
1. The trigger is one of the worst in the business. Awful, awful triggers. 10 lb springy double action? On a tiny gun? Terrible.
2. They are not going to last for the amount of shooting one requires to stay proficient with them. Further, the proficiency curve is very steep and aggressive. I bought a second P-11 so that I could practice with two guns (they are set up identically) so that my primary wouldn’t fall apart. I still carry it – it runs 100% – but I am seeing evidence that it no likey having several thousand rounds fired through it.
3. If Kel-Tec put $50 more quality into the design (esp. the trigger mechanism so that they had a NICE trigger), and charged $100 more, these would be fantastic carry guns and would still sell at the same pace. I laugh at Taurus guns that are within $40 of the Kel-Tec price and people see that as a selling point. Tauri are crap, too.
I wrote a fairly lengthy post for my old “What Hath I Wrought” blog years back when I finally gave up working with Kimber to try to get them to fix their damned lemon (if it was a lemon and just not an example of why they discontinued using an internal ejector, as one of Wade’s gunsmiths told me).
I will see if I can find that. I am sure I saved it. Damn, I hope I did.
When you find it, send it this way.
I have to say that this is quite unlike everything I’ve heard about Kel-Tek’s customer service. Not saying it ain’t so, just saying that every other customer service story I’ve heard about them has been glowing like the outskirts of Chernobyl.
Before I built an CA-legal AR I had a hankering for one of their rifles – but not quite enough to cross the cash-down threshold. As a .223 shooter probably fine, but not accurate enough to be a Match Rifle.
I don’t get it. He blew up a $300 compact pistol with bad ammo. Buy a new one. I would ever trust that pistol again even if it came back from the factory functioning perfectly.
I guess Kel-Tec could have done a better job – or just mailed him a coupon for $50 off the new replacement.