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The Kel-Tec PF-9 Pistol by Ed Buffaloe
I’ve come to believe that for personal defense a double -action-only trigger is better for me than a single-action. I have a tendency to occasionally fire a round accidentally with light single-action triggers. Perhaps this could be trained out of me, but in an emergency situation the last thing I want to do would be to shoot someone accidentally--and I don’t really train as much as I should either. The PF-9 feels good in my hand, whereas the P-11 does not. That is the bottom line. It took me a while to get where I could hit reliably with the gun. You have to exercise a certain amount of trigger control to be accurate with it--pull the trigger back and hesitate slightly, steady your aim, then fire. But I recently took the gun out after a long interval of shooting other guns, and was fairly amazed that at 8 yards I was able to produce a group smaller than my fist.
To fully realize the advantages of the PF-9, you should examine the table below, which lists some concealed carry guns in my collection and allows you to compare their size, weight, and power. You will note that with the exception of the Kel- Tec P-32 and the North American Arms derringer, the PF-9 is the lightest pistol I own. All of the guns that are close to the weight of the Kel-Tec are either less powerful or carry fewer rounds or both. The Colt Mustang and Charter Arms Undercoverette are both close in weight, but the Colt shoots the .380 and only carries 6 rounds, and the Charter only carries 5 rounds, though it does shoot the reasonably powerful .32 H&R magnum. The Kel-Tec is also slimmer than both other pistols and shorter than the Charter. Bottom line, it is a much easier gun to carry than all but (what I consider) back -up guns, and is more powerful and carries more ammo than guns with similar carryability. It is a lot of gun in a very small package.
Sure, if I think the terrorists are going to attack on Monday, you can bet I’ll be carrying my Glock 27 and a few other choice weapons, but for everyday carry, I’m going to go with what is comfortable, reliable, and reasonably accurate. Generally speaking, the more powerful a gun is, the bigger it is and the more it weighs. There are definitely trade-offs to having a light, powerful gun. Weight helps to absorb recoil, so a light, powerful gun will generally have considerable felt recoil. This is definitely true of the Kel-Tec PF-9. It kicks. But not uncontrollably. I would not recommend it for most women. When I took my sister out shooting, she couldn’t pull the trigger on my Kel-Tec at all, nor could she work the slide. The gun she liked best was the Colt Mustang because it has virtually no recoil and she could work the slide. She could barely pull the double-action trigger on the Smith & Wesson Model 36. The Colt Detective Special was better, but she still preferred the Mustang.
In regard to ammo, I mostly shoot standard velocity hard ball ammunition at the range, but I carry the 115 grain Winchester Silvertip ammo. I recently tested various brands of hollow point ammunition in the gun and found that the longest bullets do not feed reliably--which is to say most hollow points-- the 147 grain Winchester
Some big guys carry their PF-9s in their pockets, but that isn’t feasible for me. I bought a Ron Graham belt holster and a spare magazine carrier, which have both worked well for me. Later, I made an inside-the-waistband holster that has become my preferred way to carry the gun. There are plenty of other options for a gun this small. I’ve carried a number of different guns over the past few years, and it seems to me that the most comfortable carry guns are both slim and have small grips. If the grip is too large, it tends to dig into my side when carried in an IWB holster. The Kel-Tec PF-9 fits both these criteria. It is close to being the perfect compromise between size and power. It’s biggest downside is its less -than-stellar trigger. If you plan to enter competition, or really get critically accurate with your shooting, you will want a different gun. But the PF-9 is still a good concealed carry option. Update: In recent years I have taken to carrying a .357 revolver instead of an auto pistol. I have a friend who owns two Kel-Tec PF-9’s, but he has stopped carrying them. He notes that when he began to put thousands of rounds through the guns he started having repeated component failures. |
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Copyright 2007-2014 by Ed Buffaloe. All rights reserved. |
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