CW9 slide locks when loading

[StrangeBird1911]

My CW9 has about 900 rounds through it. When empty, I load a magazine into the pistol, making sure to slap it securely in place. I rack the slide to chamber a round and sometimes the slide locks back. I am unable to release the slide with the lever, nor can I release it by racking the slide back a little bit. I'm stuck. The only thing that works is slapping the bottom of the magazine very hard. Today I bruised the palm of my hand slapping the bottom of the mag. Finally I found a rock, hit the bottom of the mag, and the slide released. After that, the pistol shot normally.

This does not happen all the time, but maybe one out of five times I load it empty. The problem seems to be getting worse.

Any ideas?

[FireMoose]

explain "i load it empty"

while inserting and empty mag, and your gun acts like stated above. all is well.

if you want an empty mag in a closed gun....well never mind...

[jocko]

have u tried another magazine? U might hav ethe slide lock springhy out of whack. There is a threadon that on the kahr tech secion under cw45 fixes that shows what that spring should look like

[StrangeBird1911]

Sorry, that was unclear.

I am starting with an empty gun. No magazine, no round in chamber. Then I insert a fully loaded magazine.

I am getting the effect with different magazines.

Thanks for your help.

[Charlie]

Slide release spring is the probably the culprut, call Karh , you'll have another in about three days.

[StrangeBird1911]

Well, it's been quite a long adventure. After a while I contacted Kahr and their customer service department sent me a new slide lock spring. That didn't solve my problem, so I was playing around with adjusting the spring tension. In the process, I mis-assembled the gun with the slide stop pin on the wrong side of the barrel lug. Sent the gun back to the factory; they fixed that problem, tested it, and returned it.

I went to the range and had exactly the same old problem when trying to chamber a round by racking the slide. At that point the Kahr rep told me to use an alternative method: before loading the gun, lock the slide back. Then insert the magazine and use the slide release button. Now it works perfectly. Maybe that method is in the owners manual and I missed it, but it's not at all how I chamber a round in my 1911 or Glock, so it seems unnatural.

[muggsy]

Your Kahr pistol isn't a Glock or a 1911. The owners manual specifically states how to load the pistol using the slide release. When in doubt, read the manual. I can slingshot my CM9 and P380 without a problem by using the method shown in the link. You might give it a try.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjLbFOw8sow

[SmokingGun]

Rtm :-)

[newCW45guy]

The problem is not fixed. Something is wrong as the slide stop should not engage with a full magazine. No way no how.

[jocko]

check to see if the rounds in the magazine could be hitting on the inside of the slide stop lever. very easy to check out, see the prepping thread on the kahr tech section.
If it ain't the slide stop spring out of whack, or the ol thumb thing causing it, then it could be an out os spec slide stop lever causing it.

Hand racking a kahr is not like hand racking a glock. If ur gonna use one gun against anutter to prove a point then ur not trying to address the issue of "improper " hand racking..

Kahrs are hard to hand rack, no doubt about that they Are small. they have a very stout recoil assembly. Kahr so states touse the slide lock lever to ooad that first round properly. After one gets a few hundred rounds out of the gun, the gun itself gets easiertohand rack. Things are mating up better and that also goes for the shooter to. It takes 2 to make a good gun, the shooter and the gun. I had a hard time hand rackihg my PM9 and certanly my P380. now I can do both with relative ease, but If I ride that slide the slightest, it is an iffy load. I load and practice both ways. U definitely need to know the tap, rack and bang drills and that involves propper hand racking. Practice does ot make perfect but perfect practice does.

If the gun will load properly using the slide lock lever release and not properly with hand racking then it is shooter error not the gun. Keep at it and it will work out OK My kahr with over 32K out of it rack IMO 3 trimes as hard as my G19 does. I think I could hand rack my G19 with my teeth even, it seems so eas\y. I accept that as two different guns made different ways. Both work perfect if I do my part. Just sayin