Posted: 9/24/2007 9:10:06 AM EDT
|
I was at a shoot yesterday with some local folks and I was function testing some new stuff I had gotten but hadn't had a chance to shoot yet. (By the way, the P99 I have shoots like a freaking laser beam-I have NEVER been more accurate with a pistol) One of my other recent acquisitions was a P32. The first mag was fine and the gun was even more accurate than I though it would be. But all of a sudden, the trigger would draw the hammer back until there was no more room for the trigger to keep moving, and the gun wouldn't fire. Not realizing the headache I was about to give myself, I decided to detail strip the gun and see if anything was broken. Lesson 1-always have a schematic for a weapon that you are unfamiliar with when you completely dismantl it. Lesson 2-No matter how much you can do with a leatherman, sometimes you actually need real tools. Lesson 3-Kel-tecs are apparently assembled by tiny little people with tiny little fingers. Possibly dwarf children. Lesson 4-If you have hands that are large enough to make a G21 look small, lesson 3 becomes even more painfully apparent. Lesson 5-The top of an ice chest in 30MPH winds is NOT the place to try to work with microscopic but critical parts. Lesson 6-When you come home from a shoot with your gun in 20 pieces in a ziplock bag, expect NO sympathy from your wife-expect no help either, even though she has tiny little dainty hands that would have been tremendously usefull. Lesson 7-Once you have the schematic, a well lit work area, proper tools, and have figured out the magic series of blue language that makes mechanical things work, everything will go together like clockwork. Lesson 8-When you have the pistol completely back together, you will have forgotten to set a tiny spring into the appropriate groove, meaning that you have to repeat the process. The good news is, once all the swearing and bleeding was done, the gun now functions flawlessly. I don't know what was wrong with it, but it works now... Sheesh. |
Wasn't really a rant-more of a warning to the unsuspecting and innocent so that they don't have to endure the horrors I was subjected to.   But on the bright side, my sub-2k functioned flawlessly (couldn't make it jam) and a mag dump with an MP-5PDW makes everything better. 
|
You know, I have been considering a p32 or their .380 as a carry piece for when my permit comes in. I want something that will fit in a pocket. I have also been looking at the Bersa .380 Good to know about the tiny parts, though.
|
It's actually a pretty simple design once you see the schematic-it's a little fiddly, but really all it took was a small screwdriver, pliers, an allen wrench (as a punch and holder) and tweezers. The recoil is nothing and it's minute of soda can at 15 yards. The sights are vestigal, but it points pretty well. I really like it and now that I have it working again, I'll take it out and torture test it like I do all my carry guns-500 rounds, one session, no cleaning or cool down. If it passes that, I'll probably buy an extra one. |
|
Well, you learned the magic words that make machines work, now it's time for Standard Practice 102. 1. Detail strip in the field ONLY when lives are on the line, OR when you have a full set of spares. Just because you HEAR that spring land in the grass ten feet away doesn't mean you will actually FIND it again. 2. You aren't done yet. Even if the weapon functions flawlessly for 500 rounds, you DO NOT KNOW WHAT WENT WRONG. Find out, whatever it takes. Until you KNOW, and take positive steps to avoid or control the situation's recurrence, you are potentially trusting your life to random chance. 3. No help from your life partner, your soul mate, the woman you promised till death do us part? Cut her off. No cookies for small hands that can't be bothered. She needs to see the magnitude of her crime, understand the torn fabric she introduced to the foundation of your devoted and loving relationship, apologize, and burn some serious calories making things right again. YMMV. Next week's class: "Constructing a 0.006" hex wrench from field grass, gravel, spent brass, and the punched out rivet from your cheap, soon to be ungraded, Leatherman." |
I tracked the problem to a small spring that had slipped out of it's groove. A small adjustment to the spring to ensure it's held in place and all is good. And I have no fear of dismantling things when they need to come apart. I fly RC airplanes for the MGShooters shoots and can literally take an airplane that's had a close encounter with a pair of miniguns, coupled with a high speed impact with terra firma, find the pieces scattered among the scrub, bring it back to my table and take something that should be thrown away and restore it to complete airworthiness in about 25 minutes. The only reason the gun drove me nuts was because everything was so freaking small. My wife isn't all that mechanicaly inclined and didn't kill me when I went to the motorcycle shop to get brake pads and came home with a new bike, so I think I'll keep her.. 
|