Striker blocking round from chambering?

[cdr7509]

I'm having a problem with my CW380. The striker is getting stuck in the forward position and not allowing a round to chamber. Can anyone help me understand why this is happening and what possible fixes there are?

This happens intermediately with all types of ammo: CCI Blazer Brass, PMC, Magtech, and Hornady Critical Defense

I couldn't figure out how to upload images directly.

Full size images:
http://oi59.tinypic.com/1234cqq.jpg (http://oi59.tinypic.com/1234cqq.jpg)
http://oi59.tinypic.com/2s01ris.jpg</a>
(http://oi59.tinypic.com/2s01ris.jpg)http://oi57.tinypic.com/2jerz4j.jpg</a>
(http://oi57.tinypic.com/2jerz4j.jpg)http://oi59.tinypic.com/2mg121d.jpg (http://oi59.tinypic.com/2mg121d.jpg)

Edit to add: The striker channel is crystal clean. I cleaned it with non-chlorinated brake cleaner when I bought it, and again after 200 rounds. No other lube or solvents have gone near the striker channel.

[erichard]

I think this comes from the striker pin safety being depressed while the strike pin is pushed forward slightly and happens after cleaning the gun in that area sometimes. I flick the striker pin backwards before reassembling the gun to unlock that safety. The safety should be more or less level with the striker firing pin (at the back of it). To locate what I'm talking about, look at number 8 in the lube diagram:
http://www.kahrtalk.com/showthread.php?14750-Kahr-Lube-Diagram

If you take the magazine out and rack the slide, see if that corrects it without having to disassemble the gun to flick that striker pin backwards. I might be wrong on that, just trying to remember the trick. It may also include dry firing after doing that, I forget.

It's annoying because sometimes you don't realize that this is the situation, so you have to be proactively cautious and look out for this problem in order to solve it before carrying.

[Bawanna]

Racking the slide should reset it. If not just depress the drop safety button on the bottom of the slide and retract the striker.

If it continues to stick forward randomly then something is haywire, not assembled correctly or something.

I usually depress that drop safety and shake the slide after it's assembled and see if the striker rattles a bit. Lets me know if there's any junk in the striker channel. Yours is obviously clean so no worries.

[topgun1953]

The striker retracts as the slide comes forward. It isn't always left protruding like that after firing. It happens to me if I dry fire without snap caps and then decide to feed one. I'm now in the habit of looking at be breech to make sure the striker isn't protruding before releasing the slide and feeding the snap cap. If it is, I just pull it back from the rear...not stuck at all just an easy snap. Has never happened while live firing...P380. Or CW380

[CJB]

Insufficient cycling of the slide will cause that to occur

[cobrasjp]

This happens when you have dry fired on an empty chamber. Then you try to load a road without cycling the slide to reset the striker. To verify this, run the following test:
1. Unload the gun. Magazine removed.
2. Double check that the gun is unloaded.
3. Dry fire the gun on the empty chamber.
4. Open the slide just enough to peek in the chamber. The striker will be protruding from the breech face.
5. Cycle the slide all the way to the rear and then all the way forward into battery.
6. Open the slide just enough to peek in the chamber and you will see that the striker is no protruding from the breech face.

This is a common characteristic of striker-fired pistols. If you watch someone shooting an SA XD in USPSA Production category, after they are told to unload and show clear, they will unload the gun, pull the trigger on an empty chamber, and holster. The striker is now sticking out of the breech face. When they go to load for the next stage, they will cycle the slide several times (to reset the striker) before they insert the magazine and chamber a round.

To get around this, cycle the slide a few times on an empty gun before you try to load a round.