K9 Slide Will Not Open

[Skybull]

Hello-
New member here. I have also been a happy owner of several Kahr pistols for several years. I have a P-40 and a MK-40-Elite 98 that I have used as my concealed handguns. Both have performed flawlessly and are great carry guns.
Last Friday I purchased a used K9. It is an early carbon steel model manufactured in August of 1996 according to Jay D'Andrea at Kahr. It is in very, very good shape and I just had to have it. I brought it home, cleaned and lubed per sticky Proper Prep of a New Kahr. Then took it to the range yesterday and shot 50 rounds of Independence (Blazer headstamp). My new to me K9 fed, shot, and ejected perfectly on every round. I used two Kahr factory 7 round magazines. The accuracy was excellent if I focused on my shooting. Has a great trigger.
The problem I have is I cannot manually open the slide on a chambered round. I have tried it with a full magazine, an empty magazine, and with no magazine. It will not release and slide back to eject the live chambered round.
So I called Kahr yesterday and talked with Ieon? He said the only way to get that round out is to shoot it. I asked what parts I should purchase to fix that problem and he said that the gun should be returned to Kahr for their service evaluation.
Ok. Probably good advise but expensive advise with shipping costs both ways. So I ask the experts here for your thoughts and advise. I researched all the threads and did not find one that addressed this specific problem.
Thank you in advance for your help and feedback!
PS- I ordered new magazine springs and a new recoil spring (20#) from Wolfe which shipped today. I always change them out on a used gun.

[Bawanna]

You just can't get the round that is in there now out or any round? I'm confused.

If it's just the one round it might just be a tad long or the bullets seated out a bit much. I'd put a dowel or an old cleaning rod down the barrel and tap in on a concrete floor or a vise or something while at the same time trying to pull the slide back.
Your basically just unsticking the bullet.

Once you get it out, try some of your loads and see if they drop down easily into the chamber without pressure. Then drop one in and push it with a thumb or finger hard as you can, then flip the barrel up and the cartridge should just fall out.

If it don't the ammo is a little long. Some Kahr chambers are on the tight side.

[Skybull]

Thanks Bawanna. I gently tried a few taps on the bullet with a wooden dowel and it did not free it up. I do not want to pound hard as it might set back the bullet into the case. And if I have to shoot it to remove it , I do not want to risk a possible high pressure situation with a set back bullet.
I do not know if it is just the current live round in the chamber that will not allow the slide to retract as I shot full magazines yesterday until they were empty and thus slide was held open after the last shot. I did not realize the problem existed until I got home and attempted to unload the gun. It fits my P40 holster and I carried it in the holster (loaded) until I got home.

[gb6491]

Hello-
New member here. I have also been a happy owner of several Kahr pistols for several years. I have a P-40 and a MK-40-Elite 98 that I have used as my concealed handguns. Both have performed flawlessly and are great carry guns.
Last Friday I purchased a used K9. It is an early carbon steel model manufactured in August of 1996 according to Jay D'Andrea at Kahr. It is in very, very good shape and I just had to have it. I brought it home, cleaned and lubed per sticky Proper Prep of a New Kahr. Then took it to the range yesterday and shot 50 rounds of Independence (Blazer headstamp). My new to me K9 fed, shot, and ejected perfectly on every round. I used two Kahr factory 7 round magazines. The accuracy was excellent if I focused on my shooting. Has a great trigger.
The problem I have is I cannot manually open the slide on a chambered round. I have tried it with a full magazine, an empty magazine, and with no magazine. It will not release and slide back to eject the live chambered round.
So I called Kahr yesterday and talked with Ieon? He said the only way to get that round out is to shoot it. I asked what parts I should purchase to fix that problem and he said that the gun should be returned to Kahr for their service evaluation.
Ok. Probably good advise but expensive advise with shipping costs both ways. So I ask the experts here for your thoughts and advise. I researched all the threads and did not find one that addressed this specific problem.
Thank you in advance for your help and feedback!
PS- I ordered new magazine springs and a new recoil spring (20#) from Wolfe which shipped today. I always change them out on a used gun.

Here's a technique demonstrated by NicTaylor00 (http://www.youtube.com/user/nictaylor00?feature=watch) that has worked for me to clear this type of issue:
jZdyPdlzEPs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZdyPdlzEPs)
Regards,
Greg

BTW, welcome to the forums:)

[ripley16]

Your basically just unsticking the bullet.

This. The bullet is stuck and all you need to do is muscle the slide back. I do not recommend putting anything down the barrel with a live round in it. It's happened to me with a P45 and Magtech ammo. Get mad at it and yank that sucker back!

[Skybull]

Well I got up this morning and drank a bunch of coffee while watching the video recommended by Greg. After several cups I was ready to "get mad at it and yank that sucker back!" So I got a good grip on the slide, got mad at my loaded jammed gun, and gave the grip a good wack per the video. It popped right back and ejected the live round. Ahhhhhhh!! Thanks Guys!!
The video alludes to this jammed condition mostly being caused by "fat reloads." This was a factory round but it is indeed fat. I don't know if it was fat prior to when I chambered it on Monday or perhaps it's dimensions changed when it was chambered. The gun was warm when it was chambered and then cooled off for an hour or two before I tried to unload it and found it stuck. It does not now fully drop into the chamber if I try to drop it in manually. It gets stuck. I also tried this with 10 separate new Winchester white box rounds and they easily slide right in and fall right out of the chamber when the pistol is inverted. But the chamber is cold now and the internal diameter may change some when it heats up. So I will clean it real good again and check for burrs in the chamber. Maybe a slight polish. Maybe it just has a tight chamber as suggested by Bawanna.
All in all a good lesson. Being a new gun to me I learned of a potential defect that affects function. Better to know that now than later! Thanks to all that have contributed to a successful solution!
Regards,
Dale

[jocko]

indeed polish the chamber, ur not doing ay damage and u certainly can help things out. A round that OAL will jame itself i n the rifling and then u have the scenario u described. What GB6491 sent in teh video is ther way to go. These guys here are very wise, more than likely some of them have walked in ur shoes even, been there done that sort of thing. More than likely u got a few bad roundsw be they new or not, it happens..

[ripley16]

Glad it all worked out for you. It's hard to believe just how tight a round can hold a slide until it happens to you. It takes a hefty pull. This happened to me twice. Once with the Kahr and once with a HK Elite. Same ammo though.

[Shadetree]

Glad it all worked out for you. It's hard to believe just how tight a round can hold a slide until it happens to you. It takes a hefty pull. This happened to me twice. Once with the Kahr and once with a HK Elite. Same ammo though.



And what kind of ammo was it? Inquiring minds want to know . . . .

[ripley16]

And what kind of ammo was it? Inquiring minds want to know . . . .

It was a hollowpoint Magtech First Defense .45acp. round. I bought 5 boxes of 20 rounds and had the same thing happen about six times in a Kahr P45 and a HK USP Elite. That ammo locked them both up tight. In the case of the HK, usually the slide never completed it's cycle. In one instance I recall it wouldn't shoot and it wouldn't allow the slide to be racked. Never had that problem again with any other ammo.

When it fit in the pistol, it was good ammo.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i186/ripley16/Gone/Elite45target.jpg (http://s72.photobucket.com/user/ripley16/media/Gone/Elite45target.jpg.html)