The

Kel-Tec Kel-Tec CNC Industries Inc., commonly referred to as Kel-Tec, is an American developer and manufacturer of firearms. Founded by George Kellgren in 1991 and based in Cocoa, Florida, the company has manufactured firearms since 1995, starting with ...

PF-9 is a

9 mm 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

caliber,

recoil operated Recoil operation is an operating mechanism used to implement locked breech, autoloading firearms. Recoil operated firearms use the energy of recoil to cycle the action, as opposed to gas operation or blowback operation using the pressure of the p ...

, locked breech,

double action only A trigger is a mechanism that actuates the function of a ranged weapon such as a firearm, airgun, crossbow, or speargun. The word may also be used to describe a switch that initiates the operation of other non-shooting devices such as a trap, ...

semi-automatic pistol A semi-automatic pistol is a type of repeating single-chamber handgun ( pistol) that automatically cycles its action to insert the subsequent cartridge into the chamber (self-loading), but requires manual actuation of the trigger to actuall ...

based on (and sharing many parts with) Kel-Tec's earlier P-11 and P-3AT models. Kel-Tec claims the PF-9 is the flattest and lightest 9 mm pistol ever mass-produced. It was designed as a concealment and backup weapon for law enforcement and for civilian

concealed carry Concealed carry, or carrying a concealed weapon (CCW), is the practice of carrying a weapon (usually a sidearm such as a handgun), either in proximity to or on one's person or in public places in a manner that hides or conceals the weapon's pre ...

. Kel-Tec first announced the PF-9 on February 9, 2006, and the new pistol was released into the market in the fall of 2006. The PF9 was discontinued following the introduction of the P15.

Design details

The PF-9 is manufactured in

Cocoa, Florida Cocoa is a city in Brevard County, Florida, Brevard County, Florida. The population was 19,041 at the 2020 United States Census. It is part of the Palm Bay, Florida, Palm Bay–Melbourne, Florida, Melbourne–Titusville, Florida, Titusvil ...

, by Kel-Tec CNC Industries. Featuring extensive use of

computer numerical control Numerical control (also computer numerical control, and commonly called CNC) is the automated control of machining tools (such as drills, lathes, mills, grinders, routers and 3D printers) by means of a computer. A CNC machine processes a pie ...

(CNC) manufacturing techniques, its six main components consist of the barrel, slide, frame, grip, trigger group, and magazine. The barrel is manufactured of SAE/ AISI

4140 steel 41xx steel is a family of SAE steel grades, as specified by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). Alloying elements include chromium and molybdenum, and as a result these materials are often informally referred to as chromoly steel (common ...

hardened to 48

RHC The acronym RHC may refer to: * Relativistic heat conduction * The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada * Radio Havana Cuba * Recueil des Historiens des Croisades, a major collection of medieval primary source documents about the Crusade ...

, and the slide is constructed of the same steel. The trigger group consists of a solid machined 7075-T56 aluminum billet. A transfer bar system connects the

hammer A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nails into wood, to shape metal (as w ...

and

trigger Trigger may refer to: Notable animals and people ;Mononym * Trigger (horse), owned by cowboy star Roy Rogers ;Nickname * Trigger Alpert (1916–2013), American jazz bassist * "Trigger Mike" Coppola (1900–1966), American gangster ;Surname * Bru ...

. A firing pin block safety is incorporated which prevents accidental discharge if the pistol is dropped. The long double-action-only trigger pull provides an additional safety feature. The pistol includes a slide hold-open feature which locks the slide in its rearmost position after the last round is fired. The frame is made of

DuPont DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...

ST-8018

polymer A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + ''-mer'', "part") is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic a ...

and holds the steel, 7-round, single-column magazine.PF-9 Owner's manual, Kel-Tec CNC Industries The sights consist of a fixed front blade and a windage-adjustable notched rear sight. Three white dots highlight the sights for optimum visibility in low-light conditions, and this gun includes an accessory rail for mounting

lights Light is an electromagnetic radiation, part of which stimulates the sense of vision. Light or Lights may also refer to: Illumination * Light bulb * Traffic light Arts and entertainment Music * Lights (musician) (born 1987), Canadian singer-son ...

and

lasers A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fir ...

. The PF-9 uses many parts originally designed for Kel-Tec's P-11 and P-3AT models, and is a compromise between those pistols. From the P-11, the PF-9 uses a slightly modified barrel, trigger, ejector, and front sight. The P-3AT parts used in the PF-9 include the extractor and various springs. The grip is available in a variety of colors, while the slide is available in blued,

Parkerized Phosphate conversion coating is a chemical treatment applied to steel parts that creates a thin adhering layer of iron, zinc, or manganese phosphates, to achieve corrosion resistance, lubrication, or as a foundation for subsequent coatings or pai ...

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

( Cerakote), and hard chromed finishes. The PF-9 is shipped with an extended magazine floorplate, an Allen wrench for adjusting the rear sight, and an owner's manual.

References

External links

PF-9 page on Kel-Tec CNC Industries web siteKel-Tec CNC Industries web siteKel-Tec Owners Group (KTOG)
{{Kel-Tec 9mm Parabellum semi-automatic pistols Semi-automatic pistols of the United States