PM40 barrel plateing issue

[tcb]

I'm noticing a bit of what looks like small flakes? or pits in the chrome of the barrel of my new PM40. I've got 200 rounds threw it with only a couple of malfunctions. Is this going to be a problem? They are tiny and the accuracy was good on it so far, but I'd rather it not be there. I showed it to my gunsmith and he said he could see them and what looked like tool marks. I've read about problems with the plateing in their barrels and hear that they're good about swaping them out. Will I need to send the whole pistol back or just the barrel? Do they need to re-fit it or are they interchangeable? Is there some one there at Kahr that deals with this? Direct #? Thanks.

[jocko]

be very sure it is flaking, flaking doesnt look like pits. give the barrel one hell of a cleaning to be sure it is not some type of build up. If it is flaking kahr will replace the barrel. Just the barrel needs to go back and you need to call kahr in advacne and ask for IAN and explain.

Iwsee little likke pits in my PM9 barrel, definiltley not flaking and it hasn't effected accuracy either. I or no one can tell you wha tto do here as we aren't looking down ur barrel either. Jsut be darn sure of what it is before you waste ur time and money sending the barrel in and getting the same barrel back. It is nickel plate dinside and out, so I would not think it would be pits. flaking has occured in some barrels . I think if it wa smine, I wuld put to memory where those pitts are and shoot it another couple hundred rounds. If itis flaking, it will spread, if all stays the same, then IMO leave well enough alone. the malfunctions are not from the issues you are stating either.

try giving that barrel one hell of a scrubbing with a good brass bore brush and some good barrel cleaner. It just might cleanitself out to..

[tcb]

Yea, I scrubbed the heck out of it the other day with a brass brush and some bore shine and the were not going away. It almost looks like the pits are under the plateing? Like my gunsmith said "It looks like tool marks." I'll call them on Monday and see what they have to say. Does this Ian have a direct # or just call the main line?

[Bawanna]

:)tcb, just call the main # and ask for Ian, they will transfer you. Your gun is new so ask for them to pay shipping both ways. Ian will probably offer to anyway. I have dealt with Kahr's customer service they WILL get your problem fixed. The turnaround will be fast also.

I know it is frustrating , but hang in there. All will be right soon.

ALSO , WELCOME TO THE FORUM ! :D

P.S. if you are a LEO, or a forum member , make sure to tell them, I think they try to prioritize for us a bit.

I don't know about forum member but if you are LEO you got right to the top of the pile. Ryoung is absolutely correct,(darn I think this is the second time) Kahr will take care of it for you. When I had to replace a barrel on a MK9 (our own fault) I offered to buy they said it was a warranty item.. I advised I'd send in the bad barrel and they could send the new. When they heard LEO they said don't worry about the bad barrel, new barrel will go out today. Not to say they don't take care of civilians though either, they take care of all Kahr owners. If anyone gets expedited being a forum member let us all know, that would be a nice thing for all of us as well.

[tcb]

Good to know, I just graduated the academy maybe I'll get some love.

[deadhead1971]

TCB--I assume you saw this http://kahrtalk.com/kahr-tech/232-about-plating-coming-off-feed-ramp-chamber-pm9.html

[tcb]

Yea, thats what mine looked like...I have a SN# JA4XX4, Is this a recent one?

[Redfish]

Hi. New member with same issue. PM 40 with barely 250 rounds. Noticed half of plate in chamber gone before I hit 200. Dealer said not chome. Polished SS. He's been generous with his time and info and I've learned a few things from him. Time to return the favor. Please bear with me and my, as yet, small knowledge base. Chrome on the inside of a gun barrel???? As I remember, it didn't stay on car bumbers all that well. Can I really expect it to stay put here? Will return barrel.
Don

[jocko]

chrome and nickel plating are two different processes. Your barrelis nickel plated inside and out and kahr has been doing this since day one. You jsut got a bad barrel , kahr will replace it, just call and ask for IAN and explain, you can send just the barrel back to them.. Yes it will stay there perfectly if the barrel is prepeed correctly. evidently kahr had some vendor issues. hopefully it is solved, Never a good thing when it happens to you, we know that to.

[Bawanna]

Hi. New member with same issue. PM 40 with barely 250 rounds. Noticed half of plate in chamber gone before I hit 200. Dealer said not chome. Polished SS. He's been generous with his time and info and I've learned a few things from him. Time to return the favor. Please bear with me and my, as yet, small knowledge base. Chrome on the inside of a gun barrel???? As I remember, it didn't stay on car bumbers all that well. Can I really expect it to stay put here? Will return barrel.
Don

It is indeed plated, I'm sure a slightly modified process different than the chrome bumper. Just like most AR barrels, beretta's etc. It is not polished stainless steel. It actually sticks and stays just fine with the exception of a few such as yours that apparently were in a bad batch. Kahr will replace it without question and you'll be good as new. It would indeed be a returned favor to enlighten your dealer. They have an awful lot to keep track of and lots of information stored in their heads, impossible to have all the answers although most do pretty well.

[deadhead1971]

peat and repeat...

It's amazing that new folks trickle in and find out they have this flaking problem. This was first reported to be in PM9s and has now been in other models.

My theory is that the flaking issue has been going on for a long time and nobody really knew about it or noticed it but it now has been put under the bright glaring lights of scrutiny thanks to this thread. At some point, Kahr will no longer be able to ignore this issue and continue replacing barrels and have to fix this.

[getsome]

Hi tcb, welcome to Kahrtalk and congrats on becoming a police officer, thank you for serving your community....Like everyone has said this has been an on going problem but Kahr will make it right....As jocko said, all Kahr barrels are nickle plated inside and out....There is alot of difference between chrome and nickle plating....Car bumpers are chrome plated, Jet engine turbine blades are nickle plated.....Hope you get your issue resolved quickly...let us know....

[jocko]

I don't know who is doing kahr's nickel plating either, certainly more than one vendor but I am sure they have no way of realizing if a barrel will flake until after it is in the hands of the shooter for a given number of rounds. I feel they have the issue solved but again there are still barrels out there that are gonna be flaking. I feel kahr is working very hard to get this behind them also but it is something just doesn't happen over night or over month either. Kahr will replace a bad barrel, If I had a barrel that was starting to flake I would call kahr and tell them what is going on and send the barrel to them regular mail. My bet with in a week you will have a new barrel in hand, and hopefully a good barrel to.
It is not a pandemic thing, they have been doing this for over 15 years but this past 6 months is when we started to read more about it, and the odd thing is that I am on the AR15 kahr forum alot and I can't remember one poster reporting this issue. Very strange..

[Redfish]

Thanks.

[Swat_dude]

I think it is unusual that they plate the chamber. The base for Robar NP3 is electroless nickel and they will NOT the chamber. Maybe they figured out along time ago that the heat and friction are too much for the nickel.

[jocko]

I think it is unusual that they plate the chamber. The base for Robar NP3 is electroless nickel and they will NOT the chamber. Maybe they figured out along time ago that the heat and friction are too much for the nickel.

if the process is done right and the metal is prepped right, that nickel will last, It is certainly harder, less corrosion resistant. It is not done for looks... I think IMO your trying to read into something that is not there, just because Robar doesn't do it, does not mean that it is wrong either. They have their reasons for not doing it. Considering all of our Miliatry M9 Berettas are nickel plated inside and out, give me reason to believe there was a reason for it.. I have 25,900 rounds out of my pM9 barrel andit looks like the day I bought it. I don't have a clue on this either but do you know how much heat a barrel actually gets from shooting alot??I think we would all be surprised as to the low heat temperature it lets off to. Just a SWAG here to.

Here is a nice report on barrel heat:Too Hot to HandleTo get more information on this I called Irv Stone at Bar-Sto barrels to ask about temperature levels and to find out if he thought excessive heat could ...
www.brazoscustom.com/magart


Sure doesn't show me that heat is a problem with plating. It is the problem of improper prepping of the object to be plated..

[jlottmc]

That's also why the DoD specifies chrome lined barrels. The chroming process actually has a a copper plating sandwiched in between so that the chrome will actually stick. Nickel plating is the original stainless steel. In fact before stainless steel was created, nickel plating was THE way to go. The high end guns of yore were nickeled. S&W ran nickel finishes clear through the 80's and still offer it on some of the re introductions and high end production pieces today. The use a Bright polish finish, but it's still nickel.

[jlottmc]

My guess is the acid tank hasn't been cleaned lately, or the degreaser, needs to be changed/filtered again.

[tcb]

Got an email today from Ian, My new barrel is on it's way bact to me. Hopefully this will be the end of it for me. By the way I did just graduate from the police academy (pre-service) but am not sworn yet (don't want to give anyone the wrong idea). Times are tough for the citys out here in SoCal, not many are takeing on people. I'm processing with a few Depts. but it's a long process.

[tcb]

Got my new barrel yesterday. It looks great. There are no issues so far, the plateing looks good inside the barrel, the feed ramp is nice and smooth. It was a bit tight going in the 1st few times, I had to really push it to get it to come out of the slidde when I 1st fit it in. After assembeling it I just racked it a few hundred times and it feels as smooth as can be now. I'll try and shoot it next week for function and see it the plateing is good in this oe. opefully it is becuse I'm going to send it off to magnaport and would hate to get the work done and then the plating starts to fall off. How many rounds have people shot before the plating issue arises? I'd hate to spend the money on a port job just to have the barrel go bad.

[Bawanna]

Got my new barrel yesterday. It looks great. There are no issues so far, the plateing looks good inside the barrel, the feed ramp is nice and smooth. It was a bit tight going in the 1st few times, I had to really push it to get it to come out of the slidde when I 1st fit it in. After assembeling it I just racked it a few hundred times and it feels as smooth as can be now. I'll try and shoot it next week for function and see it the plateing is good in this oe. opefully it is becuse I'm going to send it off to magnaport and would hate to get the work done and then the plating starts to fall off. How many rounds have people shot before the plating issue arises? I'd hate to spend the money on a port job just to have the barrel go bad.

My guess is you probably got a good barrel this time but I wouldn't send it off to Magna Port till you shoot it some. I don't think theres any magic number where it starts to go bad. Impossible to say.
I still gotta go test my magna ported K40. Why does it always have to be money or time? Maybe tomorrow I hope. Will keep our fingers crossed for ya.

[deadhead1971]

I noticed mine around 400 rds.