Kel-Tec P3AT

I’m going to go out on a really thin limb here, but I think the Kel-Tec P3AT was a significant contributor to the surge in people buying guns over the past decade. Sure, you have Obama, and the political threat on gun ownership, but the P3AT spawned Ruger’s LCP and then the .380 Auto ammo shortage happened and by then the snowball was rolling.

There have been a few variants since its introduction. Mine has the pivoting extractor while newer ones have the spring steel extractor. One thing all the variants have in common though is a locked breech, which is uncommon on smallish caliber guns such as .380. Usually they’re what’s called blowback operated meaning the slide is big and heavy and its sheer mass is what keeps the action closed when the cartridge goes off. Backward pressure “blows back” the slide, opening the action. Sometimes small blowback guns don’t even have an extractor because the cartridge case blows back with the slide.

The P3AT, in contrast, is a locked breech design. The rectangular block around the chamber locks up against the top of the ejection port so the action can’t open until the pressure drops. At the bottom of the rectangular block is a little kidney-shaped cut out that rides down the take-down pin and as it does, pulls the locking block out of the ejection port unlocking the gun.

Standard capacity for the P3AT is six rounds, so with it you really aren’t any better armed than if you had a .38 Special snub-nose revolver. But it is a heck of a lot thinner and lighter so it conceals easier, plus you’re more likely to slip the P3AT into your pocket every time you go out than you are a bulging revolver.

Scott Mayer

www.tacticaltshirts.com

www.john1911.com

“Shooting Guns & Having Fun”

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Scott Mayer

Writer at John1911

Mayer began his outdoor industry career in 1993 on the NRA Technical Staff where he became American Rifleman magazine first Shooting Editor. Mayer left NRA and entered the business end of publishing in 2003 as Advertising Account Executive for Safari Club International SAFARI Magazine and Safari Times newspaper. In 2006, Mayer was named Publisher of Shooting Times magazine where he was also tasked with launching and leading Personal Defense TV, the first television show of its kind.

In 2008, Mayer returned to the editorial side of publishing, this time in the digital field, as Editorial Director for Guns & Ammo, Shooting Times, Handguns and Rifleshooter online magazines. After a brief stint in 2011 as the Digital Media Director for an ABC TV affiliate, Mayer returned to the outdoors industry and Safari Club International where he is currently Assistant Publisher and Multi-Media Communications Editor.

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