View Full Version : PM 40 Feeding Problems
mjeakman
04-25-2012, 07:21 PM
I have a 6 month old PM40. Lightly used. Shot fine and never jammed until I field stripped her and now it will shoot the first magazine and then when I reload the gun and pull back on the slide, it doesn't go forward. I can release the slide with the slide lock lever and it will chamber a round and I am able to fire. Then the slide locks back and you cannot pull it back to release it. Once again you can use the lever to release the slide lock and it will chamber the next round.
Very frustrating. I have had the gun apart several more times. I do not see anything wrong, but I am also not a Kahr expert.
Any help from the forum would be greatly appreciated....
TucsonMTB
04-25-2012, 07:28 PM
Sounds like either the little slide lock spring under the screw on left side of the gun either got bent upward, or the slide stop got inserted above it the last time to put the gun back together.
It happens. If bent, a little tweak with a needle nose will solve it.
The screw might also be loose. If so, tighten very gently, remembering that it is threaded into plastic. :eek:
Let us know how it goes. We are pulling for you.:)
jocko
04-25-2012, 07:30 PM
check to see if by chance u don't have the slide lock lever over that little sprnghy tip instead of under it. That lever should always be wanting to be pulled downward, not upward.
over on the kahr tech section under cw45 fixes, if u scrolldown u wll see a photo tutorial on how that little springhy should look, ur slide lock lever has a littlen ub that the springhy rest on top of, not under it.
mjeakman
04-25-2012, 07:40 PM
I'll check those suggestions out. I cannot help but think it is something that I did when I reassembled after the first field strip.
mjeakman
04-25-2012, 07:41 PM
I do notice that when I pull the slide lock lever out, the slide goes forward. Any indication there?
TucsonMTB
04-25-2012, 07:59 PM
I do notice that when I pull the slide lock lever out, the slide goes forward. Any indication there?Normal. When you reinsert, be sure to follow Kahr's recommendation to insert at 4:00 and rotate to 3:00 as you push it in.
mjeakman
04-25-2012, 08:04 PM
My slide lock spring does look messed up. I am not sure how it's supposed to look. Here is a photo...
ftp://68.178.232.55:21/Aces/images2011/Slide Lever Spring.JPG
www.aces-angels.org/images2011/Slide Lever Spring.JPG
(http://www.aces-angels.org/images2011/Slide Lever Spring.JPG)
mjeakman
04-25-2012, 08:07 PM
Tucson,
I made the mistake of using a youtube video to learn to strip. I am sure that I didn't do the 4:00 and rotate to 3:00 insertion. I know in the manual it mentions that if you do not do this, the weapon has to go back to kahr for service. I just posted a photo of my slide lever spring. Your thoughts?
mjeakman
04-25-2012, 08:25 PM
FIXED IT!! Thank you so much for the solution. Tucson and Jocko were exactly right. Took the needle nose and bent the springy thing (technical term) up and it feeds fine. Will take it to the range and make sure.
Thanks again guys. I really was getting frustrated and it looks like it is fixed.
TucsonMTB
04-25-2012, 09:28 PM
Excellent! Yeah, your spring did get pushed out of shape a bit! :eek:
Glad you have it back in shape. Looking forward to the range report.
One of the moderators, Greg (gb6491), provides this picture of a healthy spring in his sticky thread in the technical section (kahrtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1612). If yours now looks like this, rest easy and expect a good range trip. But, take along that little needle nose. http://home.mindspring.com/%7Ejustsomeguy/icon_lol.gif
http://i53.tinypic.com/4j4zsp.jpg
Planedude
04-26-2012, 07:11 AM
Is it just me or does bending the slide release spring seem to be a "right of passage" for new Kahr owners.
Anybody out there never done it or am I just a goof?
Brent
04-26-2012, 08:17 AM
Is it just me or does bending the slide release spring seem to be a "right of passage" for new Kahr owners.
Anybody out there never done it or am I just a goof?
I've never had to do it.
johnh
04-26-2012, 08:20 AM
Never had to do it on any of my Kahr pistols.
cmichael22
05-06-2012, 01:54 AM
I have had feeding problems also, but mines a little different. Mine has been kicking the shot bullet out but jams the next bullet right before going into the chamber. Any suggestions? I was going to try and polish it possibly.
jocko
05-06-2012, 06:53 AM
Is it just me or does bending the slide release spring seem to be a "right of passage" for new Kahr owners.
Anybody out there never done it or am I just a goof?
really anissue but the manual does give readers/owners somenecessary tips., If one doesw not read the manual and damages the spring then the falt lies wit the owner. In the kahr tech section under the propper prepping threqad it states to read the manual first and the reread it again. I know, most of us gun owners thing we know it allso ur not alone in that feeling.
theat little springhy to some looks realltedious but for what it actuall6 does, it is ingenious but it does require some more TLC than what other guns have. I have replced one in over 32K rounds in my 5+ year old pM9 and I think I had that gun apart over 300+ times to.
U fixed ur gun, that is a real plus, u paid attention to the owners here who have maybe walking in ur footsteps. some of these photo tutorials by GB6491 are just awesome. U won't find a better forum with the knowledge these guys have
jocko
05-06-2012, 06:56 AM
I have had feeding problems also, but mines a little different. Mine has been kicking the shot bullet out but jams the next bullet right before going into the chamber. Any suggestions? I was going to try and polish it possibly.
certainly give the feed ramp and chamber a god polishing job, u ain't gonna hurt anything, if that fails to help you, then I would callkahr and ask for a new recoils spring. If u got another magaqzine try it to see if it duplicates the issue, U need to try if possable to eliminate the possables ad magazine just could be one of them also. check ur mag to see if the magazine is put together properly.. U might try different brand of ammo although kahrs are really not amo sensitive.
TucsonMTB
05-06-2012, 08:42 AM
Jocko certainly covered the bases well. However, both of my PM40's are fairly picky about ammo. Shorter rounds work better in both JHP and FMJ. Wide JHP's can be problematic.
Although I haven't tried them, several people report the rubber tip of Critical Defense sticking on their feed ramps in 9mm guns.
Like some other brands of "fotay" caliber pistols, a firm grip seems to improve feeding reliability.
Best of luck! My wife and I really enjoy both of our PM40's. :)
cmichael22
05-06-2012, 01:33 PM
Yeah thanks I have tried both mags and the issue still continues. I also have used about 4 or 5 different ammo kinds so I doubt its that, but we will see if the polishing of it helps it if not thanks for the recoil spring idea.
jocko
05-06-2012, 02:58 PM
indeed let another good shooter try the gun, who knows, ??? Just eliminate all the possabilities and shooter error certinly could be one of them, especially in the forty's. grip is everything.
Wehave seen it here before a change of recoil springs seems to solve alot of issues, when u would not think springs would have anything to do with certain issues.
At least if u do the spring change, feed ramp polishing, letting another shooter try thye gun and all fails, then a call to kahr is in order kand u can then state exactly what u have "tried" to do
cmichael22
05-08-2012, 04:38 PM
I read somewhere that pm40 have a lot of parts problems because its such a big caliber in a little handgun is that true or don't they know what their talking about?
TucsonMTB
05-08-2012, 04:51 PM
I read somewhere that pm40 have a lot of parts problems because its such a big caliber in a little handgun is that true or don't they know what their talking about?
Both of mine work great! I think I read a similar comment about jet engines. Haven't flown anywhere since . . . after all, I read it on the Internet, so it must be true! http://home.mindspring.com/%7Ejustsomeguy/icon_lol.gif
cmichael22
05-08-2012, 05:04 PM
Haha thats very true theres quite a few things on the internet that you can't trust.
cmichael22
05-20-2012, 12:11 PM
It seems that the polishing may have worked there was one feeding problem right at the start after the polishing, but now with over 150 rounds through it no more problems thus far!
jocko
05-20-2012, 12:19 PM
I read somewhere that pm40 have a lot of parts problems because its such a big caliber in a little handgun is that true or don't they know what their talking about?
not true but abolutley posityively pure bull sh!t:israel:
probably some disgruntled kel tek owner: Just sayin:israel:
TucsonMTB
05-20-2012, 02:51 PM
It seems that the polishing may have worked there was one feeding problem right at the start after the polishing, but now with over 150 rounds through it no more problems thus far!
Congratulations! Glad you stuck with it and succeeded! :D
panhead
07-01-2012, 05:36 PM
Hi All, I'm new to the forum and also have PM40 that had feeding problems since I bought it (used). I found this forum and the spring deal, took it apart, and it was bent. I bent it back as the pic shows (great pic) and it now hand cycles with no issues. I'm going to bring it to the range tomorrow to see if this indeed solved the problem, though I am pretty confident it did. I'm so glad I found this forum, this was very frustrating. I really like the feel of the gun. I'll update ya'll on if this solved the problem, but I just wanted to say "hi" and give a very hopeful "thanks" for this info, and those great pics.
jocko
07-01-2012, 05:41 PM
have u read the kahr tech sectionthe propper prepping thread to also see if my chance ur magazinefollower could be grabbing ont he mag release button at round 2/3. There is a nice explanation on that in that thread and how tocheck for it. Just eliminate all the possqable before that first shoot.
welcome aboard and let us know how the shoot goes and don't give up, these guys here are sharp. they have walked where u are walking now so they have been there dne that sort of thing..
panhead
07-01-2012, 09:35 PM
Hey Jocko, thanks for pointing me to that thread, I'll check it out. I'm hopeful I'll have everything straightened out tomorrow. From all that I have read, and all the complaints about this weapon, from what i can tell it really comes down to a couple of things, and the biggest one doesn't seem to be a manufacturing defect, but a problem caused during re-assembly (ie, the spring issue). I'm really hoping this can be a reliable CC piece. I'll post an update if I get a chance to shoot tomorrow (gonna try to sneak out around lunchtime....).
panhead
07-02-2012, 12:59 PM
I couldn't be happier! The little PM40 performed excellent! No issues whatsoever. I'm very happy I found this forum with the pics and explanation of the slide lock spring and the prepping suggestions. Now I'm off to clean it, so I'll take a look at the lubing chart I hear so much about.
Thanks again, this piece looks like it will do exactly what I want it to do.
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