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I picked up a nice little Kel-Tec P11 two-tone from King's Firearms. It was in surprisingly good condition cosmetically and came with one 10-round mag. But, after field-stripping it for an inspection and cleaning, I noticed the inner recoil spring (it uses a double spring recoil system) was broken into 3 pieces. Off to Kel-Tec for a replacement...and I upgraded to the metal guide rod while I was at it.
The one thing about a stock P11 is the horribly long and heavy, double-action only trigger pull. It's useable...barely. So, this time it was off to M*CARBO for a spring kit. I decided to give their aluminum trigger a shot, too.
Once I finally got all the parts I put them into the gun. The only issue I had with anything was the new trigger. It includes overtravel and return set screws. No matter what I did I couldn't get the gun to work with those set screws installed. Regardless of where I positioned the screws the trigger would not reset. The screws would either stop the forward travel during reset before the reset was complete or it would not travel far enough to the rear to fire the gun. F*** it...I just removed both of them and it worked fine.
The spring kit, on the other had, was a great improvement. It really smoothed out the trigger pull and lightened it considerably. With the stock springs the trigger pull was a bit over 8 lbs. Afterwards, it was just about 4.5 lbs. Big improvement and reliability didn't seem to suffer.
Next thing I did was order a couple of P15 15-round magazines. That makes this a reliable, 16 round, lightweight gun in a good defensive caliber.
The only small 9mm I have to compare it to is my Glock 43X. The Glock has a Holosun mounted so it's just a general comparison.
With an empty 15 round magazine the P11 weighs 1 lb 1 oz. The Glock with empty mag and the Holosun weighs 1 lb 3oz. So they're probably very close in weight. The P11 is slightly wider but most other dimensions are slightly smaller. The Kel-Tec gets it's 15 round capacity with an OEM steel magazine. Standard capacity for the Glock mag is only 10 rounds. You have to go to a Shield mag to get 15 rounds. Of course, the standard Glock trigger (I have an Apex installed on this one) is much more user friendly, even with the Kel-Tec's trigger upgrade. I've had this 43X long enough to know it's utterly reliable. Can't say that yet about the P11 but, if it's like my other Kel-Tecs, reliability won't be an issue. The Glock fit/finish is definitely a step or three above that of the Kel-Tec. There's no mechanism to mount a RDS to the Kel-Tec like there is with the Glock.
But, then there's the price difference. The P11 has been out of production for a while so we have to compare used gun prices. The P11 can sometimes be found for well under $200. The Gock, even used, is nearly twice that much.
I doubt I'll give up the 43X as my main carry gun in favor of the P11. But, it's an inexpensive option that's definitely worth a look if you're needing a small, light and reliable carry gun, with excellent capacity, and you're on a budget.
The one thing about a stock P11 is the horribly long and heavy, double-action only trigger pull. It's useable...barely. So, this time it was off to M*CARBO for a spring kit. I decided to give their aluminum trigger a shot, too.
Once I finally got all the parts I put them into the gun. The only issue I had with anything was the new trigger. It includes overtravel and return set screws. No matter what I did I couldn't get the gun to work with those set screws installed. Regardless of where I positioned the screws the trigger would not reset. The screws would either stop the forward travel during reset before the reset was complete or it would not travel far enough to the rear to fire the gun. F*** it...I just removed both of them and it worked fine.
The spring kit, on the other had, was a great improvement. It really smoothed out the trigger pull and lightened it considerably. With the stock springs the trigger pull was a bit over 8 lbs. Afterwards, it was just about 4.5 lbs. Big improvement and reliability didn't seem to suffer.
Next thing I did was order a couple of P15 15-round magazines. That makes this a reliable, 16 round, lightweight gun in a good defensive caliber.
The only small 9mm I have to compare it to is my Glock 43X. The Glock has a Holosun mounted so it's just a general comparison.
With an empty 15 round magazine the P11 weighs 1 lb 1 oz. The Glock with empty mag and the Holosun weighs 1 lb 3oz. So they're probably very close in weight. The P11 is slightly wider but most other dimensions are slightly smaller. The Kel-Tec gets it's 15 round capacity with an OEM steel magazine. Standard capacity for the Glock mag is only 10 rounds. You have to go to a Shield mag to get 15 rounds. Of course, the standard Glock trigger (I have an Apex installed on this one) is much more user friendly, even with the Kel-Tec's trigger upgrade. I've had this 43X long enough to know it's utterly reliable. Can't say that yet about the P11 but, if it's like my other Kel-Tecs, reliability won't be an issue. The Glock fit/finish is definitely a step or three above that of the Kel-Tec. There's no mechanism to mount a RDS to the Kel-Tec like there is with the Glock.
But, then there's the price difference. The P11 has been out of production for a while so we have to compare used gun prices. The P11 can sometimes be found for well under $200. The Gock, even used, is nearly twice that much.
I doubt I'll give up the 43X as my main carry gun in favor of the P11. But, it's an inexpensive option that's definitely worth a look if you're needing a small, light and reliable carry gun, with excellent capacity, and you're on a budget.
