Mr880
03-27-2010, 07:41 AM
This is my first Kahr although I have a number of other guns for carry. I picked the P380 due to many factors - size, weight, feel and quality of the parts. I’ve read a lot of posts in different forums on this gun and I’d like to give some insight back on how to avoid some problems and fix others, at least those I’ve encountered on my gun. Let me say that I think the Kahr’s are great guns but wish the factory spent a little more time in final fitting which is all that is needed to make these 100% reliable. Any gun should be smooth functioning under all conditions if its intended for self defense - you should be able to rack the slide by hand to chamber and so on, as well as it should not be sensitive to how you hold it to be reliable.
First of all it helps if you are a reloader or know one and make up a dummy round or two (no primer or powder) for function testing. I used an 88gr JHP. Tested the gun as it came out of the box and it wouldn’t chamber a round reliably - got stuck at a 45 degree angle going into the chamber most of the time. You could also feel the slide roughness just pulling it back. I know - 200 rounds to break it in but there are better ways to get started and then at the end of those 200 rounds you will have a better gun and feel more confident in it.
Took the slide off and disassembled it completely (striker and all) and cleaned all oil out.
1. Took a honing stone and removed the rough edges on the frame metal guide rails
2. Worked the bare slide on the frame rails to see where the high spots were binding on the slide and relieved them so there was no more binding.
3. Inserted the slide stop in the frame and put in a magazine with a factory round - it was hitting the slide stop forcing the bullet to tip down in the magazine, not good so relieved the stop until it no longer hit, being careful not to take off too much so the magazine would still push the stop up.
4. On the bare slide - removed a burr around the front inside recess where the recoil spring sits, very slightly rounded the inside edge of the slide where it mates with the barrel locking lug, ran the stone over the bottom of the slide edge where the trigger bar rides to polish it out.
Put the gun all back together and the slide ran smooth, the roughness was gone. Inserted the dummy round to check functioning. Using the slide stop to chamber the round I could see it was not a smooth motion although it did chamber, racking the slide by hand the round jammed. Not good. Barrel ramp and chamber were smooth as silk right from the factory - no need to touch that. A little bit of looking showed the round was stuck on the bottom edge of the extractor on one side and the side wall of the slide on the other. Taking the slide off and trying the round by hand showed there were sharp edges on both. That tells me its biting into the brass preventing a smooth motion. Took the stone again and slightly relieved the sharp edge on the extractor (where the round first enters it) and rounded out the edge on the side of the slide (where it first makes contact). A few go arounds with this and I was able to chamber the dummy round by hand racking the slide - every time. Much better.
Off to the range. Left the gun dry, no oil. Parts are not going to mate with each other if they are slick as a whistle. Plus a self defense gun should be able to function dry - if it can’t then it needs fixing. I had some factory Blazer AL cased 95gr FMJ and alternated between magazines when shooting. Made sure to chamber from a full magazine by hand racking the slide as well as using the slide stop. Also switched between firing right handed and left handed, something everyone should be able to do by the way. First box of fifty went without any problems. Next 20 rounds or so the same. Then the gun went click and didn’t fire - I ejected the round and it was a light primer strike. Another magazine full went fine. Then three more light strikes after that. Put the light strikes back in the magazine and they all fired. Time to go home and have another look inside the gun - something went wrong. You are not going to shoot your way out of this and call the gun reliable.
Obviously light strikes mean the striker is not hitting the primer with full force. Looking at the parts diagram and the gun, there are a few things that can cause this. I take the slide back apart and look at the parts again. The striker block now has a burr on the edge where it mates with the striker (burr wasn’t there before). Looks like the striker is being released before the striker block is lifted fully out of the way. So the striker is dragging on it causing the light hit. Getting the timing right is a balance between the cocking cam, the striker and the striker block. My choice is to stone down the burr on the striker block and also remove some metal to provide slightly more clearance and get it polished smooth. I know this is the safety and must be done carefully and doubled checked that it still functions.
Back to the range and I’m happy to say that it went through 150 rounds (mixed factory and reloads) without any problems. I’ve cleaned it, lightly oiled the proper spots and put some dry moly on the striker parts to keep those parts slick. I’ll be going back to the range for one more session before I consider it 100%.
Sorry if this was a little on the long side but though it may help someone else troubleshoot or at least provide some pre-firing tips. I’m sure others will have different issues to deal with but the main point is to get to know your gun so you can have confidence in it and not explain away malfunctions as the ammo or I was tired when it just might be something else. Things happen for a reason and you need to find out what that reason is if you expect it to go bang every time. I really like the little gun but it just needs a little TLC to bring out its full potential.
Joe
First of all it helps if you are a reloader or know one and make up a dummy round or two (no primer or powder) for function testing. I used an 88gr JHP. Tested the gun as it came out of the box and it wouldn’t chamber a round reliably - got stuck at a 45 degree angle going into the chamber most of the time. You could also feel the slide roughness just pulling it back. I know - 200 rounds to break it in but there are better ways to get started and then at the end of those 200 rounds you will have a better gun and feel more confident in it.
Took the slide off and disassembled it completely (striker and all) and cleaned all oil out.
1. Took a honing stone and removed the rough edges on the frame metal guide rails
2. Worked the bare slide on the frame rails to see where the high spots were binding on the slide and relieved them so there was no more binding.
3. Inserted the slide stop in the frame and put in a magazine with a factory round - it was hitting the slide stop forcing the bullet to tip down in the magazine, not good so relieved the stop until it no longer hit, being careful not to take off too much so the magazine would still push the stop up.
4. On the bare slide - removed a burr around the front inside recess where the recoil spring sits, very slightly rounded the inside edge of the slide where it mates with the barrel locking lug, ran the stone over the bottom of the slide edge where the trigger bar rides to polish it out.
Put the gun all back together and the slide ran smooth, the roughness was gone. Inserted the dummy round to check functioning. Using the slide stop to chamber the round I could see it was not a smooth motion although it did chamber, racking the slide by hand the round jammed. Not good. Barrel ramp and chamber were smooth as silk right from the factory - no need to touch that. A little bit of looking showed the round was stuck on the bottom edge of the extractor on one side and the side wall of the slide on the other. Taking the slide off and trying the round by hand showed there were sharp edges on both. That tells me its biting into the brass preventing a smooth motion. Took the stone again and slightly relieved the sharp edge on the extractor (where the round first enters it) and rounded out the edge on the side of the slide (where it first makes contact). A few go arounds with this and I was able to chamber the dummy round by hand racking the slide - every time. Much better.
Off to the range. Left the gun dry, no oil. Parts are not going to mate with each other if they are slick as a whistle. Plus a self defense gun should be able to function dry - if it can’t then it needs fixing. I had some factory Blazer AL cased 95gr FMJ and alternated between magazines when shooting. Made sure to chamber from a full magazine by hand racking the slide as well as using the slide stop. Also switched between firing right handed and left handed, something everyone should be able to do by the way. First box of fifty went without any problems. Next 20 rounds or so the same. Then the gun went click and didn’t fire - I ejected the round and it was a light primer strike. Another magazine full went fine. Then three more light strikes after that. Put the light strikes back in the magazine and they all fired. Time to go home and have another look inside the gun - something went wrong. You are not going to shoot your way out of this and call the gun reliable.
Obviously light strikes mean the striker is not hitting the primer with full force. Looking at the parts diagram and the gun, there are a few things that can cause this. I take the slide back apart and look at the parts again. The striker block now has a burr on the edge where it mates with the striker (burr wasn’t there before). Looks like the striker is being released before the striker block is lifted fully out of the way. So the striker is dragging on it causing the light hit. Getting the timing right is a balance between the cocking cam, the striker and the striker block. My choice is to stone down the burr on the striker block and also remove some metal to provide slightly more clearance and get it polished smooth. I know this is the safety and must be done carefully and doubled checked that it still functions.
Back to the range and I’m happy to say that it went through 150 rounds (mixed factory and reloads) without any problems. I’ve cleaned it, lightly oiled the proper spots and put some dry moly on the striker parts to keep those parts slick. I’ll be going back to the range for one more session before I consider it 100%.
Sorry if this was a little on the long side but though it may help someone else troubleshoot or at least provide some pre-firing tips. I’m sure others will have different issues to deal with but the main point is to get to know your gun so you can have confidence in it and not explain away malfunctions as the ammo or I was tired when it just might be something else. Things happen for a reason and you need to find out what that reason is if you expect it to go bang every time. I really like the little gun but it just needs a little TLC to bring out its full potential.
Joe