Slide locking back??Back to Kel-Tec stuffIf the slide is locking back prematurely while firing, and can be moved back forward by removing the mag, pulling on the slide and releasing it, it is being held back by the slide stop (part 280). If it still does not go forward but is not jammed (tight and will not move at all) then try pulling back on the slide then pushing down on the slide stop and slowly releasing the slide.
for the p-11 it is easy to tell if the slide is being held back by the slide stop, here is the point holding it back: 
click to enlarge for the p-32 you have to look inside the ejection port to see the slide stop. On the left is the ejector portion, on the right is the slide stop catch part that is caught by the mag follower (both the same piece):
Both should be under spring tension downward from part 284 but should be able to be moved up with finger pressure, should move smoothly without sticking, and spring back to the down position when released. If not then I would suspect the spring (part 284) either is not in the frame grove correctly or needs to be replaced (I have spares of these in case one goes flying when taking it apart, or if one brakes, not that I have needed one yet). to see how the slide stop should move and catch the follower in an empty mag remove the slide and look at the slide stop from the top. Then slowly insert an empty mag and watch how the slide stop is pushed up by the follower.
Now you should understand how it should work, we can look at how it is locking back prematurely. In the p-11 if your assembly pin backs out a bit that will lock the slide back if that happens then look here. Also for the p-11 you have to watch your grip. Some people let their thumb push up on the slide stop which will lock it back during firing. This part kinda breaks one rule (not having any ammo of the caliber of the gun you are working on) but it is necessary because different types of rounds have different shapes and I doubt we all have snap caps in the exact same shape as the rounds that are giving us the problem, so the only way to check is to use that exact round. But in an attempt to make up for this safety compromise first remove the slide and barrel and place them in another room. Then get some of the ammo that was causing the slide to lock back. This way you sill do not have the barrel, firing pin, and live ammo in the same room. Now load the ammo into a mag and insert the mag into the mag well. Now you can see how close the nose of the rounds come to the slide stop catch. Now try moving the rounds as far forward as they will go in the mag, and moving the mag around in the mag well to see how close you can get the nose of the round to the slide stop catch. Also remember to check the full motion of the round by stripping a round with your finger by pushing forward on it like the slide would do and watch the next round go up, or just by pushing the top round down into the mag and watching it go up. In the p-11 remember that it is a staggered mag and alternating rounds will pop up differently because one is popping up from the left and the next from the right. 
here I do have a snap cap for illustration purposes click to enlarge For the P-11I would start by bending the bottom most part of the mag catch (the part in the frame) in some. By in I mean squeze it with plyers so that the bottom most part will be held slightly more away from the rounds and the mag after you modify it, but only by a little. If that still does not work, then I'd start taking just a bit of metal off of the rear-most bottom portion of it (Red arrow, it is the most likely part to hit the nose of the next round) but try not to get into the forward corner so it can still contact the follower and lock the slide back.
click to enlarge Smoothing the mag side of the slide stop may help some to, as I see the nose of every other round (remember double stack mags feed differently every other round) in mine can actually rub it slightly as they rise up out of the mag. 
click to enlarge For the P32Now that you see where the rounds may be contacting the slide stop and how an empty mag is supposed to catch it, you can take out the slide stop and sand it down enough to clear the rounds but not so much as to clear the mag follower (start with the rear most part, red arrow). I think you will see that quite a bit hits the follower. It only takes just a bit of it to hit the nose of a round on it's way up into the chamber to lock the slide back though. So take off some of the tip on the catch, cold blue the area sanded (to prevent rust) reassemble and go to the range to see if it worked. I doubt you would take off too much as to make an empty mag not hold it back, you would have to remove quite a bit of it (almost all of the catch).
click to enlarge Here you can see how close the nose of a round comes to the slide stop when feeding 
click to enlarge |
