BAD JAM

Bamavol

I have had my Kel-tec P-11 jam and I could not clear it at the range. At first look it looked fine, but would not fire. Then I noticed the slide stopped just short of full battery. The round would not fully seat nor would the slide retract. I had to push the slide back by inserting a wood dowel in the barell and pushing with force. What caused this and how can it be prevented? The gun was clean.

fordsix

bad over sized ammo??

nmyers

I don't think we have enough information yet to diagnose the problem.

What ammo were you using? Reloads, or factory new?

Is the gun new, new to you, or used? Is this the first time you fired it? Did you clean & oil it before firing, & grease the slide rails?

After you disassemble, what happens when you drop a fresh round into the chamber? Does it drop right in?

Neal

rufe-snow

When I was still carrying my P 11 as my CCW, it malfunctioned twice over the years. Once the slide stop/hold open broke, second time the hammer axis pin broke. This was over a period of of approximately 7 years when I was carrying it daily, and doing a lot of practice shooting with heavy handloads. Both time KelTec sent me replacement parts quickly after I called up their customer service.

EDIT #1, P 11's are easy guns to work on. In both the above instances I replaced the parts that broke, after KelTec sent me the new ones. If you don't want to go the DIA route, call KelTec customer service. Since your pistol is fairly new, let them fix it on their dime.

There is a very extensive KelTec owners group site on the net. It has specific instructions for disassembling and repair of the P 11. Check it out before taking your pistol into a local gunsmith.

dcs shooters

quote:Originally posted by nmyers
I don't think we have enough information yet to diagnose the problem.

What ammo were you using? Reloads, or factory new?

Is the gun new, new to you, or used? Is this the first time you fired it? Did you clean & oil it before firing, & grease the slide rails?

After you disassemble, what happens when you drop a fresh round into the chamber? Does it drop right in?

Neal

My bet would be reloads that did not size down to the rim. I had some brass that did this and jammed my EAA Witness Sport with a match chamber and a Barsto barreled HP. The sized brass looked like a 9mm belted magnum.

perry shooter

sounds like reloads that were originally shot in a GLOCK.

62fuelie

Some 9mm brass is thicker at the case mouth and, when loaded with a full diameter bullet may have made the case mouth too large to fully seat in the chamber, the 9mm case has a slight taper so it may stick just short of full seating if the mouth is oversize.

gruntled

I had that happen with a P-38 a long time ago. I had to take it to a gun shop to get the bullet out. Never did find out why it happened but I did sell the gun soon after.

machine gun moran

Some guns have a short ball-seat, that is, the rifling leads are very close to the chamber. These require ammunition in which the bullets start a fairly rapid taper at close to the case mouth. CZ75's have that characteristic, and although mine works well with every kind of ball that I have tried, handloads that I have tried which have any significant amount of the cylindrical portion of the bullet projecting from the case, will hang up just short of fully chambering. I've found that the same handloads run fine in P1's, WW2 P38's, and 9mm 1911's.

Bamavol

The gun is fairly new. I do not shot it often. The ammo was factory.
Could a gunsmith fix the problem?

v35

Yes he could cut the chamber leade far enough forward to permit all the bullet styles you intend to shoot, chamber.
If you handload, remove the barrel and test loaded rounds in it. They should fall out under their own weight.