New kahr owner, nothing but problems

[Evan]

I recently purchased a cw380 did the pre prep and have had issues with two trips to the range.
First trip falid to feeds and fail to ejects all over the place.
Second trip i had the same problems as the first trip but had two mags cycle perfectly. I dont know why the two mags cycled with out issue, they were in the middle of the trip not the end which would make more sense if the gun was breaking in.
Hopefully it gets better with time.

[JERRY]

follow the pre shooting gun-smithing tips. clean and lube per instruction manual. then shoot 200 rounds of fmj to break it in. if problems persist you got a lemon.

[Bill]

I feel your pain! I am about 100 rounds into the break-in process for my new P380 and am suffering mixed results as well. Here are a couple things to keep in mind for the next break-in range trip.

Take several different types of ammo. We are told, and I believe it is acceptable, that these guns are somewhat finicky over ammo. So keep notes on what brands/types you are firing when failures occur. I noticed that the Remington FMJ rounds were flawless in my P380 while the PMC rounds were in almost all of my failure to ejects (stove pipes).

If you have multiple mags, the P380 comes with a 6 round and an extended 7 round mag, keep note of that too. You may note, as I did that one magazine or the other has more issues. I noticed that almost all of my issues were with the 7 round magazine. I need to break that one down and make sure the spring is installed correctly and I need to polish the retaining lips.

AND finally, I think it was smart of you to note whether failures happened early or late in the range time. If you found the gun settling in, in the middle of the session but began to fail again late it could be a sign of shooter fatigue. A long shot maybe, but limp wristing of even becoming gun shy in the later rounds could be a cause.

Any of you long time Kahr guys have any other tips for the new folks?

Good luck to you and the new gun. I am confident that both you and I have made good decisions on quality weapons that we will own for a very, very long time. Be sure to post a follow up.

[Ikeo74]

I recently purchased a cw380 did the pre prep and have had issues with two trips to the range.
First trip falid to feeds and fail to ejects all over the place.
Second trip i had the same problems as the first trip but had two mags cycle perfectly. I dont know why the two mags cycled with out issue, they were in the middle of the trip not the end which would make more sense if the gun was breaking in.
Hopefully it gets better with time.
Fail to eject on a new gun is usually caused by low powered factory ammo or low powered reloads. If Failure to feed is the very first round out of the mag it is because you are not using the slide lock/release or it is an ammo shape that your gun doesn't like. (change ammo brand) If fail to load happens after you fire the first round it is caused by the mags not being broken in yet. Correct this problem by loading 1 less bullet than stated capacity of the mag until the springs limber up. Are you using factory ammo or reloads?

[Evan]

I appreciate all the help guys.
I'm currently using factory ammo. I cant remember the brand name right now( blue box, possibly started with a p. ill look when i go back to the range). The guys at the range suggested that ammo for the kahr 380s becuase it had a round tip and supposed to cycle better with the steep ramp.

As far as problems go its really strange, almost every shot fired is a fail to feed or fail to eject minus the two mags without issue.
This is my fifth pistol and ive never had a gun this finicky lol... Im 100 rounds in.

[b4uqzme]

PRVI? That could be your whole problem right there. The above advice is good. Try some different ammo. Take notes and see what works best.

[b4uqzme]

This is my fifth pistol and ive never had a gun this finicky lol... Im 100 rounds in.

Is this your first .380? The smaller the gun the pickier. I bought a steel .380 for that very reason. Shoots everything including Summit reloads. Keep shooting. You are only halfway in. It will get better. Eventually it will shoot most everything too.

[b4uqzme]

And I know that nobody wants to hear this but make sure your grip is on its A-game. .380 is pretty snappy in that small gun and will cause failures.

[ESAFO]

PRVI? That could be your whole problem right there. The above advice is good. Try some different ammo. Take notes and see what works best.

i agree the PPU is sub par ammo.

[Evan]

It is my first 380 .
Ill double check to make sure my grip is on its a-game lol.
The only other ammo they had was wwb but ill look around to find something else.
Again thanks for all the help, glad to see i joined a great forum.

[Bill]

[QUOTE=b4uqzme;287543]And I know that nobody wants to hear this but make sure your grip is on its A-game. .380 is pretty snappy in that small gun and will cause failures.[/QUOTE
Well said. I have a new Pachmayr grip for my P380's next range trip. Should help.

[Evan]

Update: i made a trip to a different range today for a different ammo selection. I have a picture of the ammo but cant figure out how to attach a photo to the message lol... Anyway, i shot federal american eagle, magtech, pmc and a mag of remington hollow points( i personally am a gold dot kind of guy but they didnt have any).

All 150 of the target rounds cycled flawlessly with 2 minor hiccups. Toward the end of the session two mags of the magtech didnt cycle completely when i was dropped the slide on them while the other two brands did... I didnt have any fail to feed or ejects through out firing. I didnt have to tighten up my grip either i even tried firing this ammo with a looser grip to try to simulate previous issues but it ran flawlessly ... Even the hollow points after it was good and dirty . It is safe to say that i love this little gun.
My conclusion is that sub par ammo was causing all of my issues .
Thanks for all the advice! It is greatly appreciated

[JERRY]

sounds like you have a winner now.

[SaltyNC]

PRVI? That could be your whole problem right there. The above advice is good. Try some different ammo. Take notes and see what works best.

I ran a box of PRVI through my CW380 without issue, but it was extremely dirty. It looked like I had BBQ'd the front of my pistol. If you read reviews of PRVI, it does seem to have some inconsistencies in how it performs for different people. It was inexpensive, though, so that was good. Maybe I just got lucky and mine were loaded by Nikola, the head loader. ;)

I'm glad your second range trip was much better. The American Eagle work great in the CW/P 380. The have that nice round nose to break in the gun. I found a box of 100 WWB just the other day for a good price, and will try those next. They have the traditional WWB flat nose, but I hand cycled them in my broken-in CW380, and they fed perfectly even if I didn't pull the slide all the way to the rear.

Hopefully you'll continue having good luck with yours.

SaltyNC

[getsome]

Hi Evan and welcome to Kahrtalk....Glad to see your pistol is starting to break in and act right....With lots of small semi auto pistols one of the main problem areas is ammo selection....When Kimber brought out their "Solo" pistol it got a bad name for being a jam-o-matic but a lot of that problem was due to people getting new guns and using range ammo to break them in....When they used +P carry ammo the problems went away...

I know it's quite spendy to shoot 1st quality carry ammo especially .380 at the range but I am willing to bet if you try a box or two of the good +P stuff that your gun will work much better since it's still so new and the recoil spring is so stiff....In tiny precision semi auto pistols, timing is everything because things happen very fast with very little space to function in and the least little variable in recoil time or slide velocity will cause function failures...

Until your pistol is fully broken in, like 8-9 hundred rounds you can help things by racking the slide, running it fairly wet, mirror polishing the feed ramp and keeping it clean....Give a box of good +P carry ammo like Gold Dots or Winchester PDX1 a try and see if it helps.....Let us know and good luck to you!!!

[wyntrout]

It's a small gun and requires a firm grip. It also is susceptible to malfunction after about 60-70 rounds because of the crud buildup from shooting. Cleaning at least the ramp can help keep it going.

Wynn:)

[Evan]

Thanks for the advice guys. Its now cycling like a champ...

One down fall i did just notice is it now has a burr on the slide where the slide lock hits. Ive seen other pics on this forum of this happening... Im not too worry about it, it doesnt look like it will cause issues but is disapointing

[Bill]

Hey Evan. I also made it to the range today and had a good day with my new P380. I fired Lellier & Bellot and Remington UMC mostly and finished with a couple mags of Remington Golden Saber and Winchester PDX1 defense rounds. Only 2 FTFeeds in 120 rounds and feeling pretty good about things. Also, I really liked the Pachmayr sleeve I added to the grip for what it's worth....

[Evan]

Thats goos to hear bill! Glad to see things are shaping up for the both of us. Im confident using this gun for pp now. I have a limbsaver grip i use on my springfield xds that i love, grips can make a big difference. Im not sure if limbsaver makes a grip small enough to fit on the kahr though, i might look into that

[VN Vet]

It's necessary to break-in all Kahrs per Owner's Manual. Also, not all 380s will fire all HPs reliably. Break-in your 380 Pistol with ball ammo and then try your hollow point ammo. The more round the nose of the HP, the more likely it will feed reliably. Check out YouTube for videos on 380 feed in 380 Autos. Good Luck. I simply love my P380 and don't forget that FMJ ammo is great for Self Defense. It has been around a long time and it still gets the job done, when the job calls for it to be done.

[SaltyNC]

Thats goos to hear bill! Glad to see things are shaping up for the both of us. Im confident using this gun for pp now. I have a limbsaver grip i use on my springfield xds that i love, grips can make a big difference. Im not sure if limbsaver makes a grip small enough to fit on the kahr though, i might look into that

Evan,

Which XDS do you have, the 9 or 45? Do you like it?

SaltyNC

[Evan]

Evan,

Which XDS do you have, the 9 or 45? Do you like it?

SaltyNC

I have the 45 and i love it. Its my edc. I found my self having issues concealing it confidently a handful of times and that why i bought the kahr which inlike just as much

[SaltyNC]

I'm really thinking hard about an XDS 45. Before I stumbled onto the Kahr 380, I had originally planned to get a Shield 9mm, but availability was scarce, and I couldn't find one. Then, the XDS 9 came on the scene, and I have an XD and like how it shoots, so I was hot for an XDS 9. But then the recall happened. So, I got tired of waiting and ended up with a little Kahr .380, an entirely new experience for me. I really like the Kahr CW380. Well, then I was thinking I might want a PM9 DLC with night sights, but it is pricey, and I hear some that have bought the P380 or CW380 say that since getting a .380, they find they rarely carry the PM9/CM9. Well, dagnabit. Now, we've done come full circle. So, if the P380/CW380 is great for carrying just about anytime, then when I can carry bigger, I might as well carry a .45, and that brings me back to the XDS 45. So, I'm glad to hear you like yours, and I might just copy your carry routine.

Here's a question I'm curious about. One of the pluses for going with a PM9 would be a more powerful round in a very similar handgun. Same look, same feel, same trigger, same magazine design. You get it. Operationally, they are nearly identical. I don't have to think about which gun I'm carrying. The XDS 45 is going to be similar, but a little different. The biggest for me is the trigger. If I try to shoot the Kahr the same as the XDS, I'm going to let that trigger out half-way and expect it to reset, but it isn't going to reset half-way. I'm going to need to let it out fully. And if I do that with the XDS 45 and shoot it Kahr style, I'm not going to shoot as accurately as I otherwise might. So, do you find it difficult to go back and forth between the two triggers?

Thanks for any input you can provide.

SaltyNC

[Evan]

I'm really thinking hard about an XDS 45. Before I stumbled onto the Kahr 380, I had originally planned to get a Shield 9mm, but availability was scarce, and I couldn't find one. Then, the XDS 9 came on the scene, and I have an XD and like how it shoots, so I was hot for an XDS 9. But then the recall happened. So, I got tired of waiting and ended up with a little Kahr .380, an entirely new experience for me. I really like the Kahr CW380. Well, then I was thinking I might want a PM9 DLC with night sights, but it is pricey, and I hear some that have bought the P380 or CW380 say that since getting a .380, they find they rarely carry the PM9/CM9. Well, dagnabit. Now, we've done come full circle. So, if the P380/CW380 is great for carrying just about anytime, then when I can carry bigger, I might as well carry a .45, and that brings me back to the XDS 45. So, I'm glad to hear you like yours, and I might just copy your carry routine.

Here's a question I'm curious about. One of the pluses for going with a PM9 would be a more powerful round in a very similar handgun. Same look, same feel, same trigger, same magazine design. You get it. Operationally, they are nearly identical. I don't have to think about which gun I'm carrying. The XDS 45 is going to be similar, but a little different. The biggest for me is the trigger. If I try to shoot the Kahr the same as the XDS, I'm going to let that trigger out half-way and expect it to reset, but it isn't going to reset half-way. I'm going to need to let it out fully. And if I do that with the XDS 45 and shoot it Kahr style, I'm not going to shoot as accurately as I otherwise might. So, do you find it difficult to go back and forth between the two triggers?

Thanks for any input you can provide.

SaltyNC

The triggers are completely different yes. If you have an xd, the xds trigger is very similar. According to hickok45 the trigger on the 9mm xds is nicer than the 45. I love my 45 and carry it confidently but after years of reading forums and everyones point of views i would be just as confident with a 9mm for faster more accurate follow up shots.

Let me just say that i literally bought my kahr just over a week ago so i dont have enough experience switching between the two triggers to give you and accurate description of switching between the two. From my experience carrying (im sure there are members on here with far more carrying experience then me) as long as you practice with which ever gun your going to carry you will be fine. If youre talking about switching guns without shooting them to get used to them again there could be an issue. For me personally i can switch back to a gun that im familiar with without issue. Basically im saying once youre used to a gun switching between the two of them shouldnt be an issue but considering we carry to save our life its a good idea to shoot the gun before you carry it to become familiar with it agian.

Im still not completely used to the kahr trigger. I like it and shoot it well in a controlled environment. I am having issues(mind you i just bought this gun) drawing and rapid firing. It seems like the long trigger will take some getting used to for double taps. Time will tell.

[Evan]

Another thing to take into consideration is how often do you olan on switching between the two. I could see myself hanging up thevxds in the hot summer months and back to carrying it in the fall winter spring...