P380 Issue

[billkny]

Hello all, I'm helping a friend who just bought a new P380. We've shot a couple of hundred flawless rounds. The problem occurs when you try to clear a live round from the gun, the ejector seems to be to far forward and tries to kick the round out before the bullet has cleared the chamber, after jerking hard 3-4 times it will finally unload the round. Field stripped the gun and indeed the ejector doesn't sit all the way back against the frame, there is about a .020" gap which would be about what we need to get the live round out of the chamber. I searched the forum and didn't get any hits, has anyone heard of a problem like this?
Thanks, Bill

[jocko]

not lot of room in those little fokkers to extract a live round. As u found o7ut it can be done but it takes some fast slide action to do it. . It is whatit is, basically IMO made to eject brass casing and not the entire round easy .

I don't consider it a problem either,just something that the owner and this smallass gun need to work on as a team. That ejector is drilled and it can only go in one way. It doesnot have to sit back against the frame.. I can't see any way the ejector can be out of spec either.

More practriceis needed, he should get some snap caps towork with to insteadof a live round, the results should be the same to.

[wyntrout]

Timing is everything in these compact pistols. You can't possibly duplicate the actual firing and ejection process by hand, but it is a very violent and dynamic process that results in the case being ejected out of the port provided... before the next round pops into the same space.

I guess that the ejector could be minutely out of tolerance... too long or sitting too forward, but shortening the leading edge of the ejector could give you even more problems by allowing the FIRED case to be in the chamber longer and maybe bounce off of the rear of the port or even the extractor or breechface, resulting in more problems like stovepipes.

I would try to eject the unfired round by pointing the ejection port downward and violently racking the slide to the rear. When I was testing functionality of my P40, I had a glove on my left hand which was enveloping the slide with my thumb to the rear while I violently racked the slide to the rear while pushing the pistol forward in the same manner with my right hand. This still doesn't replicate the fact that the case is being propelled to the rear by the discharge.

Wynn:)

[Kilibreaux]

Actually, most autopistols are sized to clear an empty case during normal ejection, with secondary attention to manually clearing a live round, so it's not uncommon at all for certain pistols with tight clearances to have a problem with certain length loaded cartridges. Round nose ammo tends to reach the maximum OAL and can be just long enough to snag the front of the ejection port....obviously hollowpoints tend to have a shorter OAL.
The reason the ejector seems to sit too far forward is because it too is primarily working to eject fired cartridges. Depending on a host of variables, a gunsmith might play around with shaving length from the ejector to alter "timing" for someone who intends to use only max OAL ball ammo, but of course this will also alter the "timing" of spent case ejection and must be done carefully.

[Cole125]

I"ll add that I have not had a problem ejecting a live round out of my P380, just hold the gun sideways and rack the slide back slowly and it pops right out.

[billkny]

Thanks for all of the advice, tempted to just shoot it and see what happens. Talked to Kahr tech and he is going to shipping us an ejector. Searched for advice on replacing the ejector, anyone ever done this? How many little springs are going to fly out? Would hate to have to send it back in a ziplock.

[wyntrout]

You could probably find a video on YouTube. I bought a DVD that showed how to take apart and put back together a Kahr. That's all it did... kind of amateurish... and then found all kinds of videos for free online. Just Google what you want to see.

Wynn:)