kahr p380 not chambering hollow points help

[dieselpower65]

I picked up my kahr p380 it shoots fmj bullets perfectly fine. it will not chamber a hollow point from the magazine at all. what to do?

[Short Bus]

IMO I would use FMJ's for penetration in a 380 anyway. If you must have hollow points, have you tried different types?

[JustinN]

Give us a little more info. When you say it won't feed do you mean at all or just when you try to put the first round in? If you put a FMJ as the top round, followed by a HP, does it fail to feed? Which hollow points have you tried in it?

[josp]

CorBon powerball hollowpoints are capped with a polymer ball. Feed slicker than stuff through a goose, and run 1070 fps from my P380.

[muggsy]

After the break-in period I went to Remington Golden Saber. No feeding problems what-so-ever. During the break-in I ran PMC FMJ and those ran well too.

[Flincher]

IMO I would use FMJ's for penetration in a 380 anyway. If you must have hollow points, have you tried different types?


Agree. All I shoot in my P380 is 95 grain FMJ. Flawless feeding, total reliability, and in .380 you want penetration in SD mode like you'll get from FMJ.:)

[muggsy]

Agree. All I shoot in my P380 is 95 grain FMJ. Flawless feeding, total reliability, and in .380 you want penetration in SD mode like you'll get from FMJ.:)

You are better off using FMJ during the winter months to penetrate heavy clothing, but hollow points in summer will create a bigger wound channel and won't over penetrate.

[BucketBack]

Or use Hornady Critical Defense FTX bullet, they feed well, half open up when shot thru a heavy jacket, the other half don't and act like a FMJ

Best of both worlds.

[JFootin]

Or use Hornady Critical Defense FTX bullet, they feed well, half open up when shot thru a heavy jacket, the other half don't and act like a FMJ

Best of both worlds.

I have a Taurus 738 TCP 380, and Hornady Critical Defense rounds are the only rounds that I have had 100% feeding success with. I have crippled, partially paralyzed hands and wrists, so the stout recoil tends to overcome my grip. It's limp wristing that I cannot seem to overcome. So even FMJs want to jam against the almost vertical feed ramp. I just tap the back of the slide to finish chambering the round when that happens. I have tried 2 or 3 different brands of FMJs, and I am going to continue to experiment with other brands and put more rounds thru it. I'm sure it will improve and I will improve at holding it firmly over time. But the 100% success with the Hornady Critical Defense gives me confidence enough to carry the pistol.

[Tank]

I had no issues with hps feeding but did with WWB flat nose. A while back there were some very good pics on the site that showed an engineering change had been done to the P380 mags and on new mags the feed lips were shorter and chamfered back more making the contact area shorter than the 3 mags I had.

I reworked my mags to be like the new ones in the pics and all ammo feeds better.

One thing that might tell if this is your issue is see if the hps feed when they are loaded at the bottom of the mag, like just load the first 2 rounds hps and the rest round nose. See if the hps feed under the lower spring pressure. The longer lip contact seamed to be less of an issue for me when the mag spring pressuer was lower.

I hope you can follow what I'm trying to say here, if not ask and I'll try again. My guess is if your mags are over a year old they may be the old e/c.

[dieselpower65]

I have not tried putting a hollow point in before a fmj. all i have shot out of it so far is fmj. i have only tried racking a hollow point at home. I also shot it again the other day and it was jamming a little bit. And for some reason the mag would come out after the first shot.

[wyntrout]

Less than a full, PROPER rack will give you problems in that tight little gun. I have two.

As Kahr suggests, lock the slide back, then insert full magazine, hold the pistol firmly and release the slide lock. You CAN "limp wrist" a chamber attempt like this and fail to chamber a round!

A slingshot rack is the most powerful one short of actual firing, BUT it must be done correctly using a firm grip with the gun hand and an over-the-slide grip with the weak hand, racking and pushing with the gun hand simultaneously and releasing cleanly as the slide reaches the rear and is PULLED from your hand.

Video:

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

If the magazine is dropping... make sure it's securely retained in the magazine well and try to keep your hand/fingers off the slide lock lever and the magazine release. I put my weak or supporting hand thumb over the other one to keep it out of the way of the buttons!

http://www.kahrtalk.com//picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=658

Wynn:)

[jocko]

I have not tried putting a hollow point in before a fmj. all i have shot out of it so far is fmj. i have only tried racking a hollow point at home. I also shot it again the other day and it was jamming a little bit. And for some reason the mag would come out after the first shot.

insert thqat magazine look on ther right side and see if that magazine release button is flush with the grip. IT MUST BE. If it sticks out a tad , then it is not engaging the magazine well enough. Now if it is flat, withthe grip , now try to just pull the magazine out of the gun. If u cannot, then the magazine falling loose has to be the shooter grip releasing that magaxine button..

[Tank]

I have not tried putting a hollow point in before a fmj. all i have shot out of it so far is fmj. i have only tried racking a hollow point at home. I also shot it again the other day and it was jamming a little bit. And for some reason the mag would come out after the first shot.
Try chambering a hp but only load 2 or 3 in the mag. See if it will work with reduced mag spring pressure on the round. That will tell us the same thing, if it's the mag feed lips.

[wyntrout]

Way too many suggestions past the BASICS with too little info on his procedure!

We have no idea what he's doing and can't just throw every idea in the world at one time his way! Mixing ammo types in the magazine isn't helpful... need to see what he's doing... starting with the basics in chambering a round!

Wynn:rolleyes:

[Tank]

Way too many suggestions past the BASICS with too little info on his procedure!

We have no idea what he's doing and can't just throw every idea in the world at one time his way! Mixing ammo types in the magazine isn't helpful... need to see what he's doing... starting with the basics in chambering a round!

Wynn:rolleyes:
If the P380 feeds round points but not flat points the flat points (or hp in this case) are flat nosing against the feed ramp. This may be fixed by reducing the spring pressure on the flat nose bullet (fewer bullets in the mag). The lighter spring pressure allows the bullet being chambered to compress the bullets and mag spring and make the bend.

Shortening the length on the feed lips on the mag permently fixes the problem. In fact, this was such a common problem that Kahr has changed the mag design to fix this problem on the P380. This is documented in a thread on this site.

I didn't think this suggestion was so far out there that it could not be what is happening, since it happened to me.

I see no harm in following your advice and making sure the user is holding the gun as he presses the the slide release, but if that was the issue wouldn't it also effect the round points in the same way? Perhaps lipwristing could be affecting only one bullet design, but I'm betting on the well known issue the P380s have with flat nose and hp ammo.

I'm willing to let the person who posted read through all the idea's and decide what they think sounds like the issue is and follow that advise.

[wyntrout]

Most of the jams I've seen are from the "dives" of bullets that were too far forward in the magazine. I had Ranger T not work and bought GDs for my wife's P380, then later the "T"'s worked fine.

If the top round... whether it started out not fully to the rear, or was pulled forward by friction from the preceding rounds... is forward a bit, the "stripper" striking the rear makes the cartridge nose over and to the right a bit hitting the right side of the feed ramp, where it USUALLY will "stick", jamming the pistol. The feed lips can be tweaked a tiny bit to the left on both sides at the front and possibly help stop this tendency.
I replaced a broken follower in a 9mm mag and every round would nose over and hang on the right side of the feed ramp. I took pliers and tried to minutely bend the lips in front to the left. The pliers slipped off and I didn't think I had done any good, but the rounds started chambering without the jams. I don't know that this will help in every case, though.

When the gun is new and tight as heck, there can be a lot of problems. Proper lubrication and breaking it in can get rid of most, but you still have to hold the pistol firmly... even when chambering a round, you can lose some the force or momentum needed if the whole gun can move and absorb some of the energy needed for proper chambering.

Before you start modifying feed lips and springs or anything else, you need to establish that you're using the proper procedures to begin with, then work on one problem at a time. Some problems are to be expected before the pistol is broken in... not always, but that's why a break-in period of 200 rounds is suggested... and why you should make sure your pistol works and with the chosen ammo before depending on it for self defense, but you need to lubricate the pistol and use a proper grip and chambering procedure... something that works!

Wynn:)

[Flincher]

A little tip I learned on this forum that helps feeding any type semi-auto cartridge, is to hone the sharp edges of the mag. lips so they perfectly smooth (nearly all mags, of any caliber or brand come with sharp unfinished edges.

[Tank]

I picked up my kahr p380 it shoots fmj bullets perfectly fine. it will not chamber a hollow point from the magazine at all. what to do?
I guess first sentence told me the all systems work fine for the gun and operator. The second sentence identifies a problem that only occures when a specific bullet configuration is attempted to feed under the same conditions. I felt since everything ran good with fmj's that eliminated the basics. Hence, I went right to a known fix for the issue and bypassed all issues that should show up regardless of the bullet type.

It will be interesting to see where Diesel ends up and what cures this issue.

I agree with a lot of the comments about using fmj's as carry loads in the .380, I carry fmj's. Even with that I want my P380 to be able to eat all loads that are recomended by Kahr for use in the gun.

[dieselpower65]

Well i bought my kahr p380 a month ago and it was one of the factory tested pistols so they did the break in procedure. ive put about 100 round thru it so far and it seems to shoot well. The problem is that when you go to chamber a bullet it jams half way sometimes and thats with fmj bullets even if the mag has 6 bullets or less.

[wyntrout]

You still haven't said what your chambering procedure is... the recommended slide release or a "rack" of some kind.

Wynn:)

[Tank]

Diesel, are you using 6 or 7 round mags? I assumed 6 rnd, but I haven't heard much good about the 7 rnd. I don't have any 7 rnd so I can't say but have read a lot people have nothing but problems with them.

[wyntrout]

Deleted by poster.:) FUGEDDABOUTIT.

[dieselpower65]

If i do the recommended slide release its normally fine once in a while it wont work. when i rack it by just pulling back and releasing it seems to jam more often then doing the slide release. and i am using 6rd mags

[dieselpower65]

And thats with using fmj

[Tank]

I only use the slide release method. One thing to do is mark your mags with magic marker or sharpie so you can tell them apart. This will isolate the bad mag if it's just one or will show if both are having the same issue.

I make sure my top round is flush with the feed lips on the mag, pushed all the way back in the mag, and following the angle of the feed lips. Sometimes newer mags will allow the top round to follow the angle of the second round and not the angle on the feed lips. This will cause a hangup.

I found the old thread that had the good pics of the mag feed lips but the pics were gone.

[dieselpower65]

I have noticed that the bullet gets caught up on the firing pin when doing the slide release method or just pulling back and letting go

[jocko]

that is not right then, as when u pull back the slide the cocking cam now holds the striker back / That is one of the purposes of the cocking cam.I just don't how this can be true,for if it was u should have a dead trigger, for the cocking cam now is not pulling back the striker. I would give that lower frame a good spray cleaning in that cocking cam area to be sure all is well there, but IMO that is not right

also u must let up on the trigger for the gun to reset or this will also happen.

[dieselpower65]

ya i did not think that was rite and ive noticed the bullet getting stuck on the firing pin. i have cleaned it a few different times and it does not help

[jocko]

just be sure ur finger is not holding the trigger from resetting or this will happen. If u are thenI think I owuld forward that photo to Kahr attn. Jay and run it by him. I think sumpin is not right

If GB ius readng this, maybe he can chim in with a suggestion that u might want to check out also. He does know his sh!t.....

what u can do to check sumpin out, is with the slide off the gun u will see that little cocking cam at the back of the frame/grip. give it a flip back and forth and see if it return on its own. there is a little spring that is supposed to do that, that u cannot see and if that spring is broke, or out of whack, that cocking cam should kinda sit where u push it...

[dieselpower65]

just be sure ur finger is not holding the trigger from resetting or this will happen. If u are thenI think I owuld forward that photo to Kahr attn. Jay and run it by him. I think sumpin is not right

If GB ius readng this, maybe he can chim in with a suggestion that u might want to check out also. He does know his sh!t.....

what u can do to check sumpin out, is with the slide off the gun u will see that little cocking cam at the back of the frame/grip. give it a flip back and forth and see if it return on its own. there is a little spring that is supposed to do that, that u cannot see and if that spring is broke, or out of whack, that cocking cam should kinda sit where u push it...

Thanks for all the help i have called kahr and left them a message to get back to me