P380 feed issues

[tomwalshco]

2 yrs old, maybe 300 rnds. Rounds hanging up in the feed process - sporadically. A slide yank will feed fix it. Suspect it's the recoil spring. Not enough ummph to get it in the chamber, maybe. Not really much force holding the slide fully locked up, either. They are installed correctly, promise.

Will occasionally have a light strike which makes me think slide is not closing up all the way. Have everything polished nice and shiny in there also.

Searched through all the forums and Wolff and it's looking like factory is the only source. They sell inner and outer springs separately, that's silly.

Wouldn't mind a set of Wolff +5s, but not available now. They probably make them anyway and Kahr makes a few $$ on the resale of the stock springs.

Anybody know of another place to look? Got the factory springs coming anyway. Anybody measure theirs? Mine shows about 2 3/8". Not a perfect indicator, but spring compression means something.
http://i901.photobucket.com/albums/ac215/tomwalshco/Kahr/P380recoilspring02.jpg

[jocko]

only available at kahr right now, maybe dwn the word wolffs will make um availalbe in alittle heavier strenght to.

U can buy the extra power magazine springs for ur p380 though, just order the kel tec 380 mag springs and they drop right in. They work nicely .

[muggsy]

Sounds like a recoil spring problem. If so, it's an inexpensive fix.

[tomwalshco]

New recoil springs showed up in mail today. Fast. New set has same # of coils as old, but are considerably longer. Maybe 3/4" longer on both. Old just compressed with use, I guess. Less than 300 for me. Slide pull noticeably harder. Will see how it behaves on the range.

[CJB]

I wonder....

If you could measure the spring after being installed in the gun for a little while, but before firing at the range (like right before you begin the shooting session), then again afterward after the first range visit.

I'm trying to test my idea that formed springs do their first bit of "collapse" at first use, and after that dont collapse much more.

Thats already been the case with my recent Commander spring change, but thats a statistic of "one"... not much to go on.

[tomwalshco]

Went for a quiet and warm Christmas shoot at the outdoor range. 50 deg, but no one was there, great.

No improvement, just as bad. Practically every round stuck on the feed ramp. Thinking now maybe it's an ammo issue.

Picked these up at Walmart a while ago because they were cheap at the time. Didn't realize (at the time) they have a flat nose like this. Almost like a wadcutter. Now that I think about it, my Kel-Tec 380 has choked on these a couple of times and it never misses a beat. Actually first time the KT has misbehaved since break-in time.

Anybody else have issues with this stuff before I shitcan my P380 and go another direction. Only type of 380 ammo I took today.

Pocket gun for me (when required) and once you're confidence is gone with a gun, it might never come back. Becomes a range gun forever......


http://i901.photobucket.com/albums/ac215/tomwalshco/Kahr/WWB380flat.jpg

[CJB]

Well... definitely contact Kahr with the issue, maybe its part of the frame flexing thing?

[Cokeman]

Or try other ammo.

[TominCA]

Winchestert white box is the only ammo my p380's will not shoot reliably - too bad its the wally world cheap stuff! Try some Fed red box or Rem UMC. Fiocchi will work pretty good - but sometimes the primers are a little thick (or just plain duds).

[tomwalshco]

Does not fall into the suspect production run of frames. Is almost 3 yrs old. Has been very reliable until this last run of a few weeks or so.

Have shot a lot of WWB through this dude and have never had an issue until I noticed this particular type bullet in it. Whatever VP stands for on the box.

My question is really - has anyone noticed a reliability issue since using this particular flat-nose round?

Some guys on Kel-Tec forum have had issues with it in their P3ATs.

[muggsy]

Does not fall into the suspect production run of frames. Is almost 3 yrs old. Has been very reliable until this last run of a few weeks or so.

Have shot a lot of WWB through this dude and have never had an issue until I noticed this particular type bullet in it. Whatever VP stands for on the box.

My question is really - has anyone noticed a reliability issue since using this particular flat-nose round?

Some guys on Kel-Tec forum have had issues with it in their P3ATs.

My brother experienced the same malfunction with those flat point bullets in his Bersa 380. All other FMJs fed perfectly.

[tomwalshco]

Thanks, good to hear a similar story. These little, short-barreled 380s are fussier than all my other stuff combined. Whenever I take one to the range, there's always some issue - even if it's just a sore hand at the end of the day.

Almost popped for some new mag springs but Wolff doesn't have any Kahr mag springs, so I just passed.

Might try some other ammo today, will leave the flat WWB at home. Hoping to come back happy again.

[Virg]

Have you polished your feed ramp? I have a Ruger LCP that would choke on the same flat nose bullets. I polished its feed ramp and presto! Problem solved. It has worked 100% perfectly since with the flat nose bullets.

[tomwalshco]

Ramp like a mirror - as stated in original post.

So with your LCP, as soon as the ramp gets coated with residue, the jam ups start again??

I've decided I don't like these things. Who thought running wadcutter type bullets through a semi-automatic is a good idea? Must be a cost-cutting thing, but I'm not getting it.

I'll bet if someone sent a pic of this round to Kahr Service Dept, they would say "no way should you run this round or any like it".

Problem is most places don't want you opening the boxes to look unless you sneak around the corner. And you usually end up tearing the box which really pisses them off.

More bad news - USA Ammo's last batch of 380s looks similar. Have 3-4 boxes of that, too. May be time for an ammo sale around here.

Back to PMC, Federal or S&B. $11/box at a couple of places.

[Cokeman]

I've never used it because of the reports that I have seen.

[Tank]

My P380 has trouble loading those flat nose Winchesters also. I found I was having trouble with the 1st & 2nd round out of the mag. I used these flat nose rounds up by loading 4 of them into the mags with round nose bullets as the last 2 round into the mag. or the first 2 rounds out.

What I think happened in my case was the spring is weaker after the first to rounds are out of the mag and it will allow the flat nose bullet to compress the spring and follow the ramp with the flat nose/small radius design of this bullet.

Might be worth a try for you, I didn't want to just throw the ammo away, and they worked fine when loaded like this. I will never buy the flat nose Winchesters again though.

[tomwalshco]

Ran a bunch of Federal, S&B and Blazer aluminum through it yesterday and all was well. My Kel-Tec handles the flat WWB stuff better, so I'll just suffer through it until its all gone. I'm convinced it's the bullet shape. Never had an issue before with 9mm or 45 WWB - all round nose.

This stuff must be driving the Kahr factory nuts with repair requests...