Kel Tec P3AT Re-assembly Problem

[tedwhite]

I have field stripped my P3AT for routine cleaning several times after shooting it. Yesterday, however, when I tried to re-assemble it, the pin would go in OK but the slide would only return half-way. I took it apart several times and each time the same thing happened. The only thing out of the ordinary yesterday was that when I removed the slide the very small extractor fell out. I put it back in, and it sure seems like it only goes in one way.

Any ideas?

Ted

 

[alamo]

I'm guessing you still might have put the ejector in wrong. Try putting it in differently.

 

[Recon7]

More than you ever cared to know about kel tec at ktog.org this is their bulletin board http://www.ktog.org/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl

 

[tom234]

Sounds like the barrel was in the wrong position when the pin was re-inserted.

 

[tedwhite]

I just now tried every which way of putting in the extractor. It will only go in one way.

I have no idea how the barrel could be in the wrong position. Would the pin still go in if it were in a wrong position? If I look at the slide with barrel in place, there doesn't seem to be any other "place" for it to go.

This really has me stumped, as the gun has always gone back together without a problem.

 

[Hornett]

We need some pics.

Is it generation I or II?

 

[awpk03s]

At times when re-assembling my P32, the slide stays locked back when I slide it back on in place, and it takes a devil of fanagling to get it right....

 

[Keltyke]

tom234 tells you right. The barrel must be held in place with a finger on it through the ejector port as you pull the slide back to insert the pin.

 

[tedwhite]

Problem solved. Took it to the gunsmith at Trail Boss in Sierra Vista. When you disassemble for cleaning you push back the slide to the slimmer section (front) and use the lip of a .380 cartridge to hook behind the pin to pull it out.

He said I was assuming that, because most pistols go back together in reverse order, this was no exception. Wrong, in this case. He said you simply push the slide all the way on and then push the pin in and you're done.

What I was doing was pulling the slide back to the disassembly position and then inserting the pin, so the pin was in front of the barrel's pin lock and the barrel could not return.

He said I wasn't the first new P3AT owner to make that mistake.

Thanks all, for your help.