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View Full Version : Primer strike question, Please?



pudge
10-29-2012, 11:40 PM
I have a P45 that I bought used. This is my second P45. My first one never gave a minutes trouble. My son talked me out of it so he has it now. I bought the second one used and have had a few issues with it, primarily light primer strikes. I polished some things up well and things got better, but I also ordered a new striker and spring along with some other spare parts and springs. They arrived today and I installed the new striker with the old spring just to see what would happen. I fired about 50 rounds fairly quickly this afternoon and all went bang. The gun functioned properly with no failures at all, feeding or firing.

The firing pin doesn't protrude as far out as the one on my P380 but it apparently sticks out far enough. I have some Sellier and Bellot .45ACP that I use for practice, along with some other brands. The S&B stuff gave me the most trouble to begin with. I'm familiar with hard primers and those in the S&B ammo are obviously harder than some others, especially the Federal stuff. All but seven rounds fired today were the S&B stuff, so I feel like if the gun will fire those without problem, I'm good to go.

My question .... what does the primer strke look like on your P45. With the original striker, all primer strikes were the round dimple you'd expect, with the ones in the S&B stuff only a small dimple. A few would fire the second time tried, and some would not fire at all. They did fire in another .45. Today, all primer strikes were very similar in size and depth and each also showed a drag mark indicating that the empty case was on it's way out before the striker completely retracted out of the way. It wasn't radical, but noticeable. I had no failures to eject, although I think the empties landed in a different location than before. Hard to tell that for sure since the wind always blows here, but it was much calmer today than previously when I was having the problems.

I have no problem with the striker drag mark .. I am aware that this happens quite often with some semi autos. I do not remember what my primer strikes looked like with the first P45, so I am asking if those of you with P45s or CW45s see this drag mark out of the dimple on the primers in your fired cases. Are things in time with my pistol, or does it need some more tweaking? Thanks very much for your help.

So long ... Pudge
SENM

jocko
10-30-2012, 04:44 AM
kahrs ownerws manualo shows primer smear and it is normal. Many striker fired guns do this. Loks tome l;ike u now have ur 45 gong the rigtht waqy, I would say quit worrying about some things that you might think are not right but yet the gun is working as designed. Some mfgers primers are harder than others so quite possably primer marks on some cases willbe different than on others.

I do think I wouldnow installthe new striker spring to just CYA as thenu will know all things in the striker channel are new. U actually don't know for sure if any off the wall mods was done by the previous owner either inside that striker channel. U can print off the kahr manual off their webb site and it explains some things that you might think are odd that are perfectly normal in ur kahr.

MW surveyor
10-30-2012, 05:17 AM
^^^^what jocko said about the smears, just normble^^^^^

Charlie98
10-30-2012, 07:44 AM
I had the same problem with my used P45... just look around in the P/CW threads, there are a few on this very subject, including mine (http://kahrtalk.com/showthread.php?t=13967). I had obvious differences in primer strike as well.

Break the slide down and make sure the striker channel is clean, clean, clean... and then keep it dry - no lube. I also replaced all my springs... this brought my firing reliability back to 100% with factory ammo and about 80% with my handloads. Because I'll be carrying this pistol, that's not really acceptable, but it's progress.

pudge
10-30-2012, 10:41 AM
Thanks guys. I always appreciate second or other opinions on a subject, even if they are different from mine! I figured the primer swipe marks were OK, and actually, I was glad to see them. I knew for sure the striker was reaching out and touching the primers with authority. First time I broke down the slide, I found enough oil inside the striker channel to possibly create a hydraulic lock or restriction. Cleaned it out squeaky and polished up the striker and the old one began to funtion but still didn't leave as deep a divot in primers as I'd have liked.

Ordered the new striker and spring and am much more pleased with what I see. 10-4 on adding the new spring now, jocko. Just wanted to do one thing at a time to see what difference each might make. Now that the new striker is working, the new spring can only make sure it keeps on doin that. Now all I've got yet to do is bust enough caps to remove that left over nagging question mark in my mind. NOthing worse than a click when you want to hear a bang!!!

Thanks again for the help, guys!

So long .... Pudge
SENM