Range Report

I picked up two new guns this week. A Beretta Cougar mini 8045 and Kel-Tech 3AT. Beretta’s are my favorite of all firearms and I really wanted a .45. We will start with the good news. The 8045 functioned flawlessly, as would be expected for a Beretta. Loaded up the first magazine with some round ball el cheapo S&B and bam… right in the 10 ring at 10 yards. Pretty much went though 50 rounds of round ball with the same result and then 20 rounds of 230 gr federal hydra-shoks. Simply put, it is an awesome and fun shooting firearm. The nice thing two about a Mini Cougar is that it comes with both a mini-magazine and a full size mag. With the full size magazine, it becomes a full size gun. The only down side is that the small mag only holds 6 rounds and the full size holds 8. One would think they would find a way to squeeze 10 rounds in there, but I guess I’m use to 9mm’s.

Now for the bad news. The Kel-Tec 3AT. First off, I’ve always been skeptical about this gun. I mean just look at the name 3AT instead of .380. The name is just plain lame. I had stopped at a store for ammo on the way to the range and all they had for range ammo was S&B. Now I’ve never shot S&B, and the guy said it is a little hotter than others because is loaded to NATO specs (huh… a NATO .380???). Ok… so I pick up a box of 50 rounds and a box of 20 rounds of Corbon 90 gr JHP. I made it though about 12 rounds of the S&B and 13 rounds of the Corbon and had had about 5 Failures to Eject (both types of ammo) and then what happens? I pull the trigger and nothing happens. Hmmm. Well I figure, I must have miscounted to rounds, so I pull the slide back and a freaking round pops out. I remove the magazine, refill it and shove it back in and rack the slide. Pull the trigger and nothing. The trigger does not feel right, so I remove the magazine and rack the slide to get the round out of the chamber. No primer marks on the round. I pull the trigger and watched the hammer. The hammer goes all of the way back, but does not drop. The hammer is not dropping. I tried several times and the hammer would not drop. I can pull the trigger and hold it and then thumb the hammer back a little and it drops. I guess the trigger is out of adjustment. I’ve never seen this happen on a handgun, but between the FTE’s and the hammer not dropping, it is going back.

I really liked the idea of a light weight .380, but man, this one needs a lot of work. It feels like a cheap piece of plastic too.