Weer'd World

On my BAG Day post Les Mentioned he picked up a new carry piece.

He sent me a nice email about “Why I was Dumb enough to buy a Keltec.” Of which I will only reference, but not publish because there is NOTHING dumb about this buy.

Yeah Kel tecs are inexpensive guns, and don’t try to hide that fact. Xavier best said it when he said “The new buyer must understand that the pistol will need to be finished by himself. Consider it a starter kit if you will. A fluff and buff really helps make it reliable out of the box. The price is low, and the design money went into research and development. Be prepared to learn a bit of gunsmithing.”

If it needs somebody to tinker with it, it can be done by an amateur who is taking good advise and is careful and patient, or by the various gunsmiths who are willing to take on small jobs and charge accordingly.

I’ll say right out of the box a few years ago I saw a Kel-Tec P11 sitting in the used racks of a local shop. Kel-Tec has some SERIOUS supply chain issues, so finding the piece you want is shamefully rare, factoring in an off-roster gun in Massachusetts, rarer still. It was tagged with a price that was higher than what new ones go for today. Until I got my PM45 I was still kicking myself for letting that gun go.

Les was looking for a small pocket auto in his price-range, and he didn’t like the feel of the ultra-thin offerings that are saturating the market these days. Further Les has a bunch of old S&W auto guns, and this baby will eat from the 9mm double-stack offerings allowing him to carry 15-round reloads.

Its a pocket gun that has almost as much firepower as a full-size duty gun. At the price he snagged it for, that is NOTHING to sneeze at, even if he pays to have a gunsmith clean it up a little.

Good snag, buddy!

So all the Cool Kids are doing it. Here’s my BAG day gun.

Its a Radom P64! Its the kinda-sorta Polish copy of the Walther PPK. The guns have a bunch of mechanical differences, most are things that elude me, but the big things I see is it has the European-Style mag release on the butt, a Loaded chamber indicator in the form of a spring-loaded piston that rides above the firing pin. Round in the chamber the piston is pushed back leaving a small bump that can be seen and felt just under the rear sight block. Also this gun is in 9×18 Makarov rather than .32 ACP or .380 ACP found in Walthers.

Also one of the most amusing thing about the gun is the trigger. It is the best lesson on what a bad trigger feels like. Its both amusingly bad and surprisingly bad.

The DA trigger pull is around 20lbs. I’ve been dry firing it, and it fatigues my beefy hands. Its also gritty, mushy, and has GOBS of overtravel.

Then you have the SA pull. Its around 4lbs. Its surprisingly light, I’m sure its gritty but the weight is so light you can’t really tell. Still there’s a bunch of mush at the front, and a ton of overtravel at the back. Its horrible, and oddly I find that a huge part of the charm.

Haven’t shot it yet, I’ll give a range report when I get a chance to hit the range.

Oh and let’s just look at how far we’ve come.

Just look at that! One is a 6+1 shot 9×18 gun that weighs 22oz empty. The other is a 5+1 .45 ACP gun that weighs 19oz. And the Kahr has a good trigger too!

The kahr is a bit wider, but otherwise the dimensions are damn near identical.

Oh for those who are safety conscious the gun has a rebounding-type hammer that is blocked by the trigger pull, and the decocking safety moves a massive steel block around the firing pin to prevent the hammer from moving the pin. So the gun is drop-safe.

With the fact that most modern ammo-makers are loading for 9×18, it isn’t a bad design for conceal carry if you’re on a budget.

Stay tuned for a range report.