written by Cody S. Alderson
Note from John Sykes: This is the same weapon that is my primary carry pistol. I use it with an RSS laser. I also have a Keltec P3AT .380, with an Armalaser as a backup. I think this review is bang on (pardon the pun).
The Pre-Ramble I'm a concealed carry permit holder. I have a permit issued by a government entity that permits me to carry a firearm concealed. The permit doesn't make me a cop. Even if I was a cop, the permit wouldn't have anything to do with my charter or sanction as an officer of the law. It doesn't make me a secret double-naught spy. It isn't a letter of marque for me to be a vigilante, and seek out justice from those who do evil. As a matter of fact, it isn't a license to do anything other than carry a firearm concealed. It isn't a charter or a sanction. It's just a permit. Other than not being prosecuted for carrying a concealed weapon, the permit is not going to help out one bit if I'm ever involved in a situation where I use my weapon for self-defense.
The District Attorney won't be able to prosecute me for carrying a concealed weapon if I should ever have to use my weapon because I have that permit. Unless, of course, I'm carrying in an area not covered by my permit. He or she will still be able rake me over the coals for just about anything else if I ever have to shoot someone to stop them from maiming or killing me. My permit runs out of gas, so-to-speak, after it covers me for the simple act of carrying a concealed firearm. All of the rest is covered under other laws.
Okay, so now we have that out of the way. Let's talk a bit about a gun. The choices are almost endless. Even a mediocre gun store has a dizzying array of choices for the person wanting to exercise their new "permission" to carry a concealed firearm. Yes, there is a big can of worms in that last sentence. I thought that it is a right, and the Supreme Court said it is a right. But obviously not everyone considers it to be a right. Regardless of where we are politically, to carry a concealed firearm requires a firearm. Hopefully you are financially, legally, and physically able to carry two. A primary and a secondary firearm.
Does it make me an unbalanced citizen to want to carry a gun? Does it make me even more unbalanced to want to carry two? Yes it does. It makes me unbalanced all the way to the point of where I start to really lean to the political right. Yes, that was a play on words. I know that not every liberal is a gun grabber. At least not at the constituent level.
Not doing a play on the word unbalanced this time, I want it to be clear that it is FACT that citizens of these United States of America who possess permits to carry concealed firearms are actually more balanced than many other demographic groups. They are more law abiding, more patriotic, much less likely to commit ANY crime of violence, much better equipped to save a fellow unarmed human being from those who do commit crimes of violence, and they are prettier too. Okay, scratch that last one for me. I know I'm ugly.
There is some hope on the political horizon though. It seems that some of the liberal Democrats are actually secret Republicans. Tom Daschle and Timothy Geithner don't seem to like to pay taxes either. Of course they go about it in a different way than most of us do, but they make their point loud and clear. We look for honest deductions and vote for politicians that promise less taxes. They just don't pay until they get caught. I can hear their actions screaming to me that they want everyone else to pay for their liberal pork-n-beans except them.
But I'm with ya' Tom and Tim. I don't want to pay anymore taxes either! I want to keep what I earn, and I want to decide how I want to distribute it, and to whom. Of course though, I don't have the fortitude that you guys have to just not pay. If I don't write a check for my taxes, it is because I'm broke--not because I'm trying to skip out on the government. Maybe you guys could make payment arrangements or something next time?
The ReviewSorry... Let's get back on task here. What was I talking about? Oh yeah, having a gun to carry since we have that new "permit" to carry now. Let me tell you about a fine secondary weapon. Yeah, I know the NRA wants us all to just call them guns, but they are weapons. I don't write to the general public. I write to those who are members, or want to be members, of The United States Concealed Carry Association. You folks know that guns are weapons, and know that understanding the word gives a little more respect to safety considerations.
The Kel-Tec PF-9 is a fine secondary weapon, or back up gun if you prefer. In many life situations of concealed carry permit holders, it may serve very well as a primary weapon too. I've got my PF-9 on me right now as I am writing this article. It works very well for me, being carried in a DeSantis Nemesis Pocket Holster. It fits in the front pocket of all my pants (I'm from the Pittsburgh region. We don't call them slacks or trousers). Being a big guy actually helps the little PF-9 to disappear in my pocket.
If I get one or two hairs on the back of my neck standing up while out and about, I can put my hands into my pockets at any time of year and not look suspicious. If things look a little questionable while I'm walking to my vehicle in a dark parking lot, I can have a grip on the gun without anyone around me even knowing. Criminals use the element of surprise to be able to successfully maim or kill with the least amount of risk of them getting hurt. A Kel-Tec PF-9 in my pocket lets me be just a little more prepared to counter a surprise attack from a sociopath.
The Kel-Tec PF-9 is an 8 round (7 in the magazine and one in the pipe) 9mm semi-automatic handgun with a double-action only trigger. Its steel slide is available in blued, Parkerized, or hard chrome, with a polymer grip that is available in black, olive drab, or gray. It comes with one 7 round magazine that includes an extra floor plate for it that serves as an extension to the grip to make a spot for the little finger. If you don't want to use it, then use the included flat floor plate.
Extra magazines are only about twenty bucks, but Kel-Tec charges $6.65 for each grip extension floor plate for their magazines. That little hunk of plastic is not worth the price they are asking for it. It should be included with all new magazines so that the customer can choose which floor plate they wish to use. That's one thing I didn't like about Kel-Tec, but overall I have heard nothing but positive accounts of their customer service. My gun works perfectly so I haven't had to utilize their customer service.
The finger extension floor plate can be seen on the right in the photo above.
My Kel-Tec cost me a little shy of $200 brand new with the hard chrome finish on the slide back in March of 2008. The prices of the Kel-Tecs and every other gun I'm aware of have went up considerably in just one year. I called Ace Sporting Goods in Washington, PA. where I bought mine, and they are $299.88 for the hard chrome model now. It's not a bright reflective chrome. It's a matte finish that I chose mostly for its resistance to corrosion since I will be primarily carrying this weapon in my pocket. I clean it after I shoot it, and about once a month if I don't. A pocket gun picks up stuff like it is a debris magnet, even in a holster. I've been carrying it for about a year now, and it still looks brand spanking new.
Let me tell you right off the bat that I don't like the trigger. It would be unacceptable on a full size gun, but it is tolerable on a pocket gun. I do like nearly everything else about the PF-9. It hasn't failed to feed any round of 9mm Luger (Parabellum) that I put into it. Even mixing ammo in the magazine is no issue. However, there have been reports of issues with 147 grain 9mm rounds. I don't carry that bullet weight in the gun, so I don't have to worry about it. If you absolutely must use 147 grain bullets, then you might want to call Kel-Tec before buying a PF-9.
If I was to make a guess about the reported issues with 147 grain rounds, I would think that the size of the bullet causes a problem letting the gun get fully into battery when it cycles after firing a round. It may also be an issue with the bullet size making the cartridge a tad too long, causing it to not make the trip successfully from the magazine, up the feed ramp, and into the chamber. It might be getting hung up on the top of the breech end of the barrel as it is moving forward from the magazine into the chamber.
I haven't had any issues at all with 115 grain rounds. They feed perfectly into my weapon every single time. I even limp-wristed the gun several times when firing it to try and create a malfunction. I couldn't get it to fail to feed a new round. For the new shooters out there, limp-wristing an autoloader is basically having a grip on the gun that is too relaxed, and it causes the gun to not fully cycle after being fired.
When you pull the trigger on an autoloader, your hands, arms, and body are supposed to be the stationary support that allows the slide to cycle fully rearward. If the gun is held too loosely, the action won't be able to completely cycle to successfully eject the spent round. This will result most often in what is called a "stovepipe" where the spent round ends up stuck halfway out of the gun looking like, well, a stove pipe.
The Kel-Tec PF-9 has plastic sights. The rear sight is adjustable for windage using an included Allen Wrench. If you need to adjust it for elevation, it will require shims that are not included. The front sight is just a black plastic ramp sight that has two plastic posts underneath it that fit into two holes at the end of the slide. The posts are melted a bit on the underneath of the slide so that the site won't fall out. Sights are not on the plus side of features for any tiny pocket gun. Many pocket revolvers just have a rudimentary notch and blade that isn't even adjustable. This little gun is a point and shoot weapon that is perfectly suited for a LASER aiming device. We will talk about two of them in Part Two of this series.
The PF-9 is a locked breech pistol that is based on Kel-Tec's P-11 and P3-AT designs. Kel-Tec says, "It is the lightest and flattest 9 mm ever made." I don't know if that is true or not. I don't have all of the measurements of other guns in its class. I can tell you that it is the smallest 9mm that I have ever seen. I've got small hands, and this little gun is reaching the point of where I wouldn't want it to be any smaller.
I do hope that all of the readers realize that these little autoloaders and their revolver cousins are considered to be guns for expert shooters. That doesn't mean that one has to be a competition shooter to be able to handle one. The word "expert" in this case means someone who has a level of experience and familiarity with firearms to be able to adapt their grip to the smaller gun, be able to handle the increased felt recoil, and also be able to handle the lousy sighting radius that any short gun offers.
For someone who has never shot a small pistol or revolver before, I would say a weekend and a couple of hundred rounds would get that shooter very close to being an expert on whatever new gun they are wanting to carry. The shooter would just need to pay close attention to learning how to adapt to the idiosyncrasies of a smaller gun without developing any bad habits. Then that shooter would have to regularly practice to keep any level of learned proficiency.
As for the felt recoil, it isn't an issue for me. I used various ammunition brands from the cheap hardball rounds to my carry rounds, which are Hornady's 115 grain HP/XTP. I didn't have any serious issues with recoil. The issue I had with recoil is that I had to remember that I was using a smaller gun. I couldn't grip it as lightly as my heavier Smith & Wesson 9mm.
The little grip of the PF-9 would shift in my hand ever so slightly after firing several rounds in rapid succession. It was a combination of how the trigger of the PF-9 works for me, and how I was gripping the gun. Don't get me wrong, the felt recoil of the PF-9 was not perceptibly different to me on a conscious level than the recoil of my heavier 9mm. It's not one of those guns that barks in your hand and then bites you. I'm saying that you will have to learn to adjust the way you grip this gun, and how you press the trigger if you are used to a mid-size or full-size 9mm.
Another thought on ammunition. Kel-Tec states that, "the PF-9 will accept +P ammunition, however, not with continuous use." So there shouldn't be any worries about shooting enough rounds of a +P rated carry ammo to be certain it works flawlessly in the gun. However, the steady diet of ammunition one regularly feeds the PF-9 during practice sessions should not be +P rated ammo.
It comes down to this. The thing goes bang every time I pull the trigger, as long as there is a round in the chamber. I just don't particularly enjoy shooting a small gun even though I have small hands for such a big guy, and I don't like long trigger pulls on any gun. That being said, I still really, really like my PF-9. And here's why:
It weighs 12.7 ounces unloaded, without a magazine. It doesn't weigh down my pocket even fully loaded since it comes in at just about a pound when it is fully charged with self-defense ammunition. The magazine release is where I like it to be on any autoloader that I own. It is on the left side of the grip just behind the trigger guard. The PF-9 is 5.85 inches long and 4.3 inches high. A thing about it in the "really like" category is that it is .88 inches thick! Another really like, is that it has a 3.1 inch barrel. I have a Smith & Wesson model 669 9mm that is much bigger, holds only five more rounds than my PF-9, and only has a 3 ½ inch barrel.
Now as for mounting stuff on the PF-9, it does have a Picatinny rail that meets the standards of MIL-STD-1913, but there is only one notch that locks in the forward position. It holds the Crimson Trace LaserGrip, and the ArmaLaser just fine. My PF-9 with either LASER is a small package that can be very easily concealed. On Kel-Tec's website they show a PF-9 with a big X2 on it. Why someone would want one of those on a pocket gun I don't know. I thought that the idea of these pocket guns was to have them fit nicely in a pocket, holster purse, or maybe one of those garter type holsters that fit mid-thigh under a skirt. I don't have the legs for that kind of carry, but maybe you do.
There aren't any external safeties on the PF-9. It has a double-action only trigger that seems to vary in trigger weight amongst reviewers from about five and a half pounds to almost eight. Here's what I have to say about the trigger. It is long and heavy and takes some getting used to. That long and heavy trigger pull would be unacceptable for a bigger carry gun, but great for a gun that I'm carrying in my pocket. Still, that doesn't get me to like the trigger. I like that it isn't anywhere close to being a hair-trigger, but I'm not a fan of it.
Removing any consideration of having a long and heavy trigger pull that is okay on a pocket gun, I don't like the trigger when it comes time to shoot the PF-9 for practice on the range. I know that the trigger is good for being a point and shoot weapon that would be used in a situation where I'm fighting for my life up close with someone trying to kill me. This gun isn't made to shoot someone who is trying to kill me through their eyeball at fifty yards. It is made for conversational distance encounters, and the trigger reflects that design.
When I first started shooting my PF-9 at the range, I had to stop myself from indexing the trigger to the point of where it was just about to break. That is a big NO-NO for combat shooting. If there ever comes a time when there is a legal reason for a concealed carry permit holder to hold a weapon on a criminal, the finger should be off of the trigger until if and when it is time to shoot.
Practicing with the PF-9 as one would with a target pistol is bad. It is natural to want to index that long trigger pull to get better groups on paper when the shot breaks. This is bad for those who carry. If IT happens, it's going to happen fast. You will know that your life is in danger. The gun will come out, be pointed at whoever is trying to maim or kill you, and you will not be thinking front sight, press. You'll be lucky to get a yank and bang.
Most of us aren't trained to the point of being cool under fire. Many of us concealed carry permit holders have never been under fire. Most of us will never be shot at. That's a good thing. If it happens, you and I will default to a response that is less than how we optimally perform under training scenarios and in practice sessions at the range.
Practicing with a gun that you plan on carrying to save your life should be different than how you would practice with a target pistol where you are trying to get the smallest groups possible on paper. When practicing with your carry weapon, you should point at the target you intend to shoot, with your finger off of the trigger. When you decide to shoot, it should be just press, bang. No indexing!
If you teach yourself to index your shots, it is as bad as cocking the hammer on a revolver in sudden self-defense situation. If you index your shots at the range, you will index under stress, and someone may accidentally get killed. That's what I don't like about long and heavy trigger pulls on any gun. At the range when I'm just shooting at paper I might want to start to index my shots instead of going the route of following the front sight, press method. If you can understand that and accept that the PF-9's trigger will take some practice, then you will probably like the gun. If not, then the trigger will be a problem for you.
Rather than showing you some photos of how the PF-9 shoots, I thought I'd put a link back to a video supplemental of another product that I reviewed. The BulletBlocker backpack was reviewed on September 19, 2008, and has a video where I am using my Kel-Tec PF-9 to shoot the backpack. If you look at the section of the video of where I tear open the pack after shooting it to show where the rounds hit, you can see that my shot placement is exactly how I called it out in the video. The gun is quite accurate for its size and price point. Click
HERE to see that video. Adding a LASER to it makes it even easier to put a round into a small target area. We'll see that next week.
Below is a photo of the PF-9 field stripped. As you can see, it has a double recoil spring. One spring fits inside the other, and they both go over the plastic guide rod. You can also see that the magazines have witness holes to show how many rounds are in them.
Here are a couple of photos of the simple takedown process. The rim of a spent 9mm case fits perfectly into the takedown pin making it easy to get out.
It shoots every time there is a round in the chamber and I press the trigger. It costs less than an S&W pocket revolver. It is an autoloader. It is a 9mm, and not a .380. It can handle +P ammo, just not a steady diet of it. It is a point and shoot gun like a pocket revolver is. There aren't any external knobs, levers, or buttons to play with to make it ready to go. It has a long and heavy trigger pull that helps in the safety department, much like what one gets in a double-action only pocket revolver, but the trigger isn't as smooth as some revolvers. It fits in my pants pocket. It has a couple of LASERS made for it. It has a 3.1 inch barrel versus the smaller barrels of some pocket revolvers. Yes, the sights are plastic, but you really won't be using them if this gun has to be put into combat use. It is less than an inch thick and still holds 8 rounds of 9mm ammo! Pocket revolvers have that thick cylinder with a capacity of fewer rounds. Carrying spare ammo is bulkier in a speed loader for a pocket revolver. Extra magazines for a PF-9 are slim and compact, and hold 8 rounds each. It has a lot going for it, and I would like to own a couple more of them.
If you want an autoloader instead of a revolver for a pocket gun, then try the PF-9. You can read more about Kel-Tec's products at
www.kel-tec-cnc.com.
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I would like to hear from you. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions about the Gear Reviews email me at cody@uscca.us.
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