Experiencing the CW40

[Captquest]

Hi, I'm new in here. I joined because I bought a used CW40 a couple of weeks ago and want to share my experience so far with other Kahr owners. I had researched sub compact high caliber guns a while ago and really fell in love with the Kahr line. I recently saw a CW40 in my friends pawn shop that looked hardly fired. It didn't even have any significant rub marks on the barrel. I had just been reading about the common slide stop spring problem and low and behold upon inspection the spring was bent. When I pointed out that the gun was broken, I offered to buy it and fix it for a discount, got a great deal, a little more than half the price of a new one. Took it home, straightened the spring and the slide is working fine.
Went to the range with 100 rounds of FMJ and a few hollow points. Locked back the slide and inserted magazine, released using slide stop button. I had no FTF or FTE issues but, my mag would disengage every few shots and the gun would cycle on an empty chamber. I have two mags and it seemed to it more on the extended 7 round one. For the most part it performed well as long as the mag stayed in place and it seemed to get better after 90 rounds or so.
However, I did encounter one very concerning event I must talk about. At one point during firing downrange, my trigger failed. It felt like it didn't reset or failed to engage the striker cam. Back at home I started researching the Internet and came across some YouTube videos on the trigger issue. One of the videos showed how the trigger bar was "popping" out of place and coming disengaged from the striker cam. This seemed to happen only on polymer frames. The YouTuber literally pushed down on the plastic side panel and it "poped" back in place and then fired normally. I decided to remove the side panel with a #3 T-driver and take a look. All I did was clean the area well and lubed it with my favorite lube. I wonder if reinforcing (thickening) the side panel a bit would help keep the trigger bar in place?
Back at the range with another 100 rounds. the magazine drop issue persisted, but I did not experience the trigger fail after 100 rounds. Keeping my fingers crossed, but my confidence is diminished until I see many more flawless rounds go through. I talked to the fine and friendly folks at Kahr and they are sending me a new mag catch and followers. All they said about the trigger thing was if it does it again send it in.
I absolutely love this gun and am bending backwards to make it work for me. I guess some guns must be dialed in a bit. Any one else have the trigger problem and get it solved? How about the magazine, will a new catch lever fix it?
This gun requires a firm grip for everything to work right. And a determined no hesitation pull of the trigger, like a revolver. I was getting respectable groups after a little practice. I so want it to work for me.

[O'Dell]

Welcome. If you are going to experience mag issues, the extended mags are usually involved. That's why I never use extended mags in any pistol, Kahrs included. Maybe I've been lucky, but having owned seven Kahrs over six or seven years, I've never had a problem with a magazine, or anything else for that matter.

[bob98366]

Welcome from another CW40 owner (2 of them). It's a great pistol. I've not had the issues you have had, so can't comment on them from experience.

Before you shoot again, recommend you check out the New Member Area sub-forum which has a wealth of information. Start with jocko's Proper Prep of a New Kahr, johnh's Kahr Lube Diagram, and wintrout's Newcomer Welcome and Info Links.

[Captquest]

The new member area is great, been exploring it. I've already done much of the suggestions on the new Kahr prep. I'm going to get some NAPA Brakleen and clean and lube it as per the diagram. It had also occurred to me that the follower might be "bumping" the catch as it passes by the notch. I had already attempted to file away some of the corner of the follower to give it more clearance. I'll be going back to the range tomorrow, so I will see if this made any difference. I still haven't received the parts from Kahr, but I love to tinker and will keep trying to get my CW40 working.

[Captquest]

I decided to wait one more day before going to the range and luckily my new mag catch lever came in from Kahr. Sure enough I tried again with the old one first to see if the bit of filing I did made any difference. It did not, mag problem on the first shot. Then I replaced the mag catch with the range masters permission and.... wait for it...it worked fine! I must admit the new one feels better too, you have to push farther in to release the mag, so I guess the old one was damaged or worn. I thought the old one was OK, but comparing it to the new one I see the difference (my bad). I always push the button when inserting the mag now.
40 rounds of WW 165 gr FMJ and about 30 of the WW 180 JHP, all fed well. Then I put in some Federal 180 FMJ and it did not like those. I had a fail to go into battery and they would jam. I had to force the slide back pretty hard to get them out, once I slammed the slide into battery and (intentionally) fired the round. That was scary after reading about that guys' 45 blowing up. Overall, my confidence is building. I did not have any more trigger events either. I believe if I find the ideal ammo for this gun we're going to bond.

[jocko]

nice work, u trouble shooted the gun and u fixed it. I never slam magazines. Just never learnedfromthe git go years back to do that, I seen no need. Would slamming wear that mag releasebutton? Probalby wouldtake thousandsof slams to do it. My bet thebutton was out of specfrom the git go

U have a hand cannon there,so IMO keep ur range sessions short and comfortable. Take abreak between mags. Many times the shooter gets tired and doesn't realize it due to the excitement of wanting to shoot more and more. epecialy in the kahr 40's. Therecoil is alot compared to the 9s and then ones grip changes etc and then issue happen and then the gun gets blamed when maybe it cold be atired shooter. Its a defence gun, not a target rangealways gun. Break it in good, find a good defense round, testit out and then carry it 24/7.

[warbird1]

Sounds like you are making great progress. Stick with it. The CW40 is a fine firearm.

[Captquest]

Thanks guys, I appreciate your (knowledgeable) feedback and advise. You're right about that jocko, it is tiring and I ain't no youngster anymore. I guess I'm just a little anxious to see a couple of hundred rounds go thru it with out any snags. Patients is a virtue.

[Captquest]

Well, I just got back from the range again, and I must say..."say hello to my new friend". I fired a box (50) of PMG 180gr FMJ flawlessly. I fired another box (50) of WWB 165gr FMJ flawlessly. Then I loaded all three of my mags (20rounds) with Winchester PDXI 180gr defensive rounds and they performed flawlessly! I finished by loading all three mags with the Federals 180 FMJ that it did not like on my last session and had three fail to return to full battery events. I just tapped the slide with the palm of my hand and fired the round. Couldn't find any WWB JHP, I know it likes those too. I do feel much more confident with this gun now and look forward to making it my CCW. I believe it will dump a mag of PDXI if I wanted it to. Going to do the 'ol Jocko clean up and lube and load some of those.
I did have a few "fail to lockback on the last round" events, but I attribute that to maybe the slide stop spring that has been bent and I have not replaced yet. I consider that a minor malfunction. If you get to the last round in a defensive situation, you're probably in trouble anyway. And if you do get into an outright gun battle, you should change the mag before you run out hopefully.
Ok, I'd like to add, that I did rack the slide a couple of times instead of using the release as recommended by the manual and it worked fine for me.

[warbird1]

Sounding better and better.

[bob98366]

I fired a box (50) of PMG 180gr FMJ flawlessly. I fired another box (50) of WWB 165gr FMJ flawlessly. Then I loaded all three of my mags (20rounds) with Winchester PDXI 180gr defensive rounds and they performed flawlessly! I finished by loading all three mags with the Federals 180 FMJ that it did not like on my last session and had three fail to return to full battery events. I just tapped the slide with the palm of my hand and fired the round.

Glad it's coming along nicely. You fired 120 rounds before the three failures to return to full battery events. You probably should consider hand/wrist fatigue and also that fouling occurred. My CW40s like to run with a firm grip, clean (including the magazines) and well greased. If you lubed with oil, then 120 rounds without re-lubing could degrade its ability to overcome friction in a still tight pistol. YMMV, but I prefer gun grease wherever metal slides on metal. Plus grease doesn't leak out and make a mess.