And a pic for all you pics or it didn't happen guys.

 

If it works I'll be surprised

 

If it works I'll be surprised

Please elaborate?

 

hmm

I've thought about getting one a few times... and read a few positive reviews... (like this one) I love it that it is made here in North Carolina...

A few things stop me: The pistol seems to be a whole heap of copying of both the Keltec P3AT and Ruger LCP designs... (although maybe the Ruger was a copy of the Keltec, who knows) Smart people everywhere also post reviews about how BAD they are. The third thing is that it is a 380... which fires ammo that is simultaneously more expensive, and much less powerful than 9mm, by quite a bit. I've also got a Diamondback 380 that is a real joy to shoot... but it just reminds me each time how much I should be moving to a 9mm... I may be getting a Beretta Px4 soon, if I can ever find the time to get to Charlotte.

BUT - EVERYONE loves a bargain - so when you've gotten your little piece to the range and burned a few boxes through it, write up a longer review.

 

Multiple reported issues with broken extractors occurring within 25-50 rounds being fired

 

If it works I'll be surprised

Guess we'll see. So far I find no reason for it not to work, the magazine feeds very well and the angle it has into the chamber is pretty straight so I don't really see any feeding jams.

The only major problem i've heard about is extractors breaking, but these posts are almost a year ago. The owners manual says not to shoot steel cased ammo because it can break an extractor. I don't like steel cased anyway, so that's not too big an issue.

They have a lifetime warranty on them now where they didn't before, so hopefully their customer service is decent.

I'll post back when I get a chance to put some ammo through it, not exactly sure when i'll get the chance but hopefully soon.

In case you guys didn't know IO, Inc, is the same group as Inter-Ordinance.

 

I believe it's lifetime or 1000 rounds.

 

I believe it's lifetime or 1000 rounds.

This!! A local dealer in the same town io is in will not buy anymore io products until io has better quality control. They have a used lnib helcat for 150ish and it's been sitting there for a month...

 

I believe it's lifetime or 1000 rounds.

According to the manual it's lifetime, says nothing about a round limit.

It looks like they have cleaned these pistols up a bit since they originally released them.

I saw pictures of earlier models and you could see the machining marks on the slide in some places and such, mine has no machining marks anywhere I can find.

I've only been able to find one or two people on various sites complain about extractors breaking. Other than that not really too much negative from people who actually bought one. All the rest was people complaining who just held it and never shot one.

It's better quality wise than a keltec, keltecs are way rougher than this gun on the polymer and slide finishing.

Time will tell, i'm happy with it so far and refuse to let other peoples opinion's who have never even owned one persuade me. I had some extra cash and felt like taking a risk on it. Worst case i'm not out too much cash. If I have problems i'll just let them know i'm driving down so they can fix it while I wait lol.

 

I hope it works for you but IO doesn't have a good track record with their guns. I live less than 5 minutes from their location and still wouldn't buy anything they build.

 

Just found the following statement made by an IO rep in late 2010. Good to see that they've changed it (maybe )

The pistol is backed by a one-year/1,000-rd. warranty.

 

Right off their website. I believe they changed the warranty recently from what I can tell. I did find where they said it was 1 year or 1000 rounds.

So far scouring the internet and many different message boards, I have found a couple which mentioned a jam here or there. I've also found several who say they have 200+ rounds through one and no problems, most of which were in the latter part of 2011. In my opinion it seems like they may have fixed the bigger problems with them since they first came out.

"I.O.INC LIMITED LIFETIME WARRANTY

This lifetime warranty covers any service, repair and /or replacement of any product manufactured by I.O.Inc. This ensures that all I.O. Inc. products are fully functional and free from manufacturing defects, according to factory standards.

The duration of this warranty covers any I.O. Inc. product for the lifetime of the product.

This warranty does not cover damage caused by failure to provide proper care and maintenance, abuse and/or misuse, improper ammunition and/or magazine, unauthorized adjustments, repairs, or modifications, normal wear, or cosmetic defects.

Failure to provide proper care and maintenance, abuse and/or misuse, improper ammunition and/or magazine, unauthorized adjustments, repairs, or modification, any replacement of factory installed component with any non-factory proved component will automatically void this warranty.

This firearm is warranted to the original retail customer for the lifetime of the product against defects in material and workmanship. All parts and labor or replacement at our option are covered. The wood stock is not covered by the one year warranty. The warranty on the wood stock is 60 days and is limited to the original retail customer and extends 60 days from the date of retail purchase and covers only manufactured and material defects.

Transportation to and from our repair facilities, government fees, damage caused by failure to perform normal maintenance, sales outside the United States, damage caused by use of high velocity, high pressure, reloaded or other nonstandard ammunition, or by any unauthorized repair, modification, misuse, abuse or alteration of the rifle is not covered by this Limited Warranty.

The warranty is only is applied to the original (first personal) owner of the firearm.

If you have any questions or would like to inquire about service, please contact:

I.O.INC.
3305 Westwood Industrial Dr.
Monroe, NC 28110
Tel.: 704-225-8843 Fax: 704-225-8362
www.ioinc.us

I.O.INC SERVICE POLICY

Prior to shipping, your firearm was thoroughly inspected and test fired in order to ensure that it meets and/or exceeds factory specifications and tolerance standards.

If you need to return your merchandice please click here "

 

I hope it works for you but IO doesn't have a good track record with their guns. I live less than 5 minutes from their location and still wouldn't buy anything they build.

Hopefully it does, I was honestly a little apprehensive about buying something unknown, but I carry my XD45 mainly so I felt like taking a chance on a cheapo firearm, everything else in the house is springfield and S&W

 

Show the little Hellcat today at the range, I had a little over 150 rounds on hand, but only shot about 60 Remington UMC. It was a freakin jam'o'matic with the UMC ammo, almost all failure to extract.

The extractor was trying to pull the case out but evidently it was struggling to extractor it because the extractor claw was pulling over the rim. I also noticed the brass had more marks than usual on it.

It's obvious the chamber is a little tight or this UMC is not sized well, or it's the chamber in the gun.

Oddly enough I had some Speer 90gr gold dots on hand and ran 12 of those through it, 2 mags worth. I did not have one single jam with gold dots and the fired brass looked perfectly fine with no signs of marking from the chamber.

Not sure if it's the ammo or the chamber but if it runs good quality personal defense ammo like gold dots then i'm fine with that, it's not a range gun.

After I got home I cleaned it up and tested some UMC in the chamber and it slid in and out fine but it appears the finish inside the chamber has some small ridges from the reamer, I suspect those ridges are gripping the case and causing the extraction issue, where as nickel cases are much harder on the outside and possibly allow it to slide out easier.

I'll try and snap some pics of the UMC brass and Nickel so you can see the difference.

 

Pictures of the cases which failed to extract, actually now that I look, the case actually appears bulged somewhat, interesting. Time to break out the micrometer.

 

I've had several 9mm semiautos that were PERFECT with any and all ammo EXCEPT Remington FMJ - they became jam-o-matics ONLY with this ammo! My friend had a Glock 19C with exactly the same issue - perfect with every other ammo, jam-o-matic with Remington FMJ.

I can't explain it, except that if you stand up Remington FMJ (bullet pointed at the sky) against just about any other ammo, the Remington is shorter length overall. Don't know if this is a factor, but I won't buy Remington FMJ because of this, at least not for semiautos. I do use Remington FMJ in 38 Special when I get a good deal on it - shot some of that today!

 

I've had several 9mm semiautos that were PERFECT with any and all ammo EXCEPT Remington FMJ - they became jam-o-matics ONLY with this ammo! My friend had a Glock 19C with exactly the same issue - perfect with every other ammo, jam-o-matic with Remington FMJ.

I can't explain it, except that if you stand up Remington FMJ (bullet pointed at the sky) against just about any other ammo, the Remington is shorter length overall. Don't know if this is a factor, but I won't buy Remington FMJ because of this, at least not for semiautos. I do use Remington FMJ in 38 Special when I get a good deal on it - shot some of that today!

Crazy Carl who I shot with today mentioned it was the only ammo which jammed in one of his 1911s also.

Since it shot the Gold dots without any trouble i'm gonna chalk it up to ammo and probably order some 50rd boxes of gold dots and some magtech ammo and run it.

I'm also going to get some dies and reload my own .380 and see how it does.

So far i'm pleased with the gun and the only malfunctions appear to be ammo related, shot over 70 rounds total and no broken extractor yet.

I did verify they had a Series 1 gun and made some changes and released the series 2 which I have.

Since you mention the shorter overall length, the UMC actually almost seemed hotter than the 90 gr gold dots, it's possible these UMC rounds are pretty high in pressure for some number of reasons. They felt more potent than self defense ammo, usually it's the other way around.

 

Time to break out the micrometer.

Probably be the first time for it ..... the nickle probably didn't bulge because it won't stretch like brass.....I'd contact IO about it.....would hate to see your thread about it splitting a case and destroying the gun....

 

Keep an eye on the extractor; I've had to send 4 or 5 back for broken extractors. A couple for failure to feed, and a few that just didn't work.

I think the extractors are too hard, therefore brittle, and they're just replacing them as needed. I can't get them to send me a handful of them, though. I could turn one around in 10 minutes, but they have me send them in. Typically 2-3wk turnaround.

Byrdman

 

Sounds like IO has gotten a bit of glock in them....

So, there is a small bulge in the case, those which remember glocks with smileys should recognize this. The bulge is right where the case is unsupported above the feed ramp.

Heres a pic with a fired case, I had to orient the case correctly for it to even drop in the chamber.

Other than that the chamber mic's out to no more than .39" which seems ok to me, and it seems to be round and have no deformations that I can find.

I suspect if I tell IO they're just going to tell me to either send it in or try Magtech or Fiocchi ammo like their manual says to use.

MCKNBRD, were those pistols your sending back series 1 or 2? I wonder if they changed the barrel design to fix a feeding issue.

I'm kinda surprised to see smiley's on 380 brass, Saami spec is 21,500, that's a pretty low pressure to see bulged brass. The bulged brass may be why it had a hard time extracting too.

 

I sent an email to IO to their technical support email, so maybe somebody who knows something will read it. I told them all the mic specs and included the picture of the unsupported case area.

I'm hoping they might just send me a barrel or something, because I don't feel like dealing with the hassle of shipping a gun back to them.

It seems my theory of a rough chamber were not the case after I looked at it more closely with light, there is some machining marks but not enough to cause any issues.

Edit: so i dug through my fired brass and found 5 magtech cases, no bulge. Only the umc is bulged, interesting.

 

check the thickness of the umc brass. If it is thinner it will be easier to bulge.

 

check the thickness of the umc brass. If it is thinner it will be easier to bulge.

That seems to be a consensus is that the brass is thinner. My cheap calipers aren't accurate enough to measure that, but if I pickup some better ones i'll measure it.