CW380 advice

[zredwire]

Ok so I have a CW380 that I purchased a while back that runs great. I love it, but so does my wife. So recently I gave her my CW380 and purchased a new one for me to carry. This new one has been a pill so far. I don't remember having this much trouble breaking in my first one. Anyway when I got the new CW380 I cleaned it good and lubed it. I then followed the sticky on breaking it in (racking slide, locking it back for a day, etc.). The first time I took it to the range I shot 100 rounds through it and had about 35 failures. All the failures were failure to return to battery. If I hit the back of the slide it would then go into battery and be able to fire. I had no other type of malfunctions. Then I took it home and cleaned and lubed it. Went back to the range and fired 150 rounds through it and had 21 failures. All the same failure to return to battery. I proceeded to take it home and clean and lube again. I went back to the range last night and fired 120 rounds through it and had 7 failures. Once again all failures to return to battery. My question is do you guys think I should continue on this course or should I go ahead and send it back to Kahr. I have now fired 370 shots through it and it is not near reliable yet. For me a very minimum for me to trust the firearm would be 1 failure in 500 shots. I would be much happier with 1 failure in 1000 shots. Anyway what are your thoughts?
Oh yea I am shooting several different types of ammo. Mostly PMC but the way the numbers appear, it does not seem to be ammo related.

[KahrArmed]

Sounds like the problem I was having zredwire. http://www.kahrtalk.com/showthread.php?26579-CW380-Range-Day

Check out the thread, might answer some questions. What are the letters in your SN? I would be interested to see if mine are the same. If so, I will call Kahr and let them know I am not the only one experiencing the same issue.

[KahrArmed]

By the way, you'll see my progression through the issue, and my decision to send it back to Kahr. I have been pretty thorough in my attempt to figure the problem out and I relate Kahr's response to my questions about the problem.

[SlowBurn]

Might be the recoil springs. I suspect when the cw380s finally came out there was so much pent up demand that someone slipped up and springs were mixed up in the inventory somewhere and some cw380s were sent out with the wrong recoil springs. Around that time I ordered replacement springs for my p380 and the set really didn't work although it looked right. So I sent the whole rig in, they changed the recoil springs (again) everything was good. Since you have 2 of these little guys, you probably need to keep an extra set of recoil springs around anyway. They need to be replaced periodically. So if that's not the problem it wouldn't be a waste of money, just a delay in getting it fixed.

So what I'm saying is 1) don't waste any more ammo at this point and 2) if you want to try something yourself before sending it back, you could order a set of replacement recoil springs, see if that helps, and if not 3) just email this jay guy and get him to authorize a postage paid return to the factory.

Or, just skip step 2.

[DavidR]

Mine had the same problem. Sent it back to Kahr and it came back better but far from acceptable. They re-worked the extractor, polished the feed ramp and replaced the recoil springs.

Problem was worse with hollow points or flat nosed ammo than FMJ although it never ever had a problem with Hornady Critical Defense.

I'm convinced that Kahr's 380 is hit or miss. If you get one that's miss you should just move on.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[timboy]

Send it back,search my posts,mine did the same thing.

[jocko]

Ok so I have a CW380 that I purchased a while back that runs great. I love it, but so does my wife. So recently I gave her my CW380 and purchased a new one for me to carry. This new one has been a pill so far. I don't remember having this much trouble breaking in my first one. Anyway when I got the new CW380 I cleaned it good and lubed it. I then followed the sticky on breaking it in (racking slide, locking it back for a day, etc.). The first time I took it to the range I shot 100 rounds through it and had about 35 failures. All the failures were failure to return to battery. If I hit the back of the slide it would then go into battery and be able to fire. I had no other type of malfunctions. Then I took it home and cleaned and lubed it. Went back to the range and fired 150 rounds through it and had 21 failures. All the same failure to return to battery. I proceeded to take it home and clean and lube again. I went back to the range last night and fired 120 rounds through it and had 7 failures. Once again all failures to return to battery. My question is do you guys think I should continue on this course or should I go ahead and send it back to Kahr. I have now fired 370 shots through it and it is not near reliable yet. For me a very minimum for me to trust the firearm would be 1 failure in 500 shots. I would be much happier with 1 failure in 1000 shots. Anyway what are your thoughts?
Oh yea I am shooting several different types of ammo. Mostly PMC but the way the numbers appear, it does not seem to be ammo related.

I have a question for you, can ur wife rack that acw380 OK and unload it OK, or clear a jam etc. Just asking, as very few women can hendle those little guns properly, Not uch to hold on to and recoils springs are stiff also. If she can do all3 Ok, then kudos to her..

[b4uqzme]

I have a question for you, can ur wife rack that acw380 OK and unload it OK, or clear a jam etc. Just asking, as very few women can hendle those little guns properly, Not uch to hold on to and recoils springs are stiff also. If she can do all3 Ok, then kudos to her..

+1. Mrs b4 cannot seem to handle ANY semi-auto. That's how I lost my beloved SP101. :o

Best of luck with the pistol OP. Persistence should pay off...

[jocko]

+1. Mrs b4 cannot seem to handle ANY semi-auto. That's how I lost my beloved SP101. :o

Best of luck with the pistol OP. Persistence should pay off...

hate to say it but about the onlyt semi's y wife can handle withg ease is the glock line. she could do the G19 blindfolded it was just that easy, My new G43 is slittle sitffier but it is getting better and she can handle the rackng and unloading of it. She just hates my kahrs, from my K9 to my famous PMJ9. So I am gonna magna port my new G43 and then I have a set of Dawson Fiber optics coming in tgemail for it and then her and I are gonna shoot it like we stole it. Hopefully she will grow to like it. Handgn shooting is not one of her desires, so I tread lightly. If she ever stops ridng her Harley wit me, then, well, SHE'S outta here, Bike stays though. Just sayin

A man gotta do what a mans gotta do..

[berettabone]

+1. Mrs b4 cannot seem to handle ANY semi-auto. That's how I lost my beloved SP101. :o

Best of luck with the pistol OP. Persistence should pay off...

I know how it is...................the wife also has difficulties with slides and magazines, actually, anything mechanical....................................she also got an SP101:)

[zredwire]

Thanks guys. I think I will send it back to Kahr and let them figure out the problem.

[KahrArmed]

Hey zredwire, what are the letters in the SN?

[skiflydive]

Thanks guys. I think I will send it back to Kahr and let them figure out the problem.

Before you do, try swapping the recoil spring assembly from your wife's gun. See if that changes anything.

[zredwire]

Before you do, try swapping the recoil spring assembly from your wife's gun. See if that changes anything.
I actually had a spare set of recoil springs I had ordered for my other gun about a month ago (I actually keep a spare recoil spring for all my guns, not just Kahr). I put them into the troubled CW380 last night (boy was that tough - the small spring was much longer than the one the gun came with) and took it to the range. At first I thought problem solved. I went through four magazines without a hiccup. But then things started to change. After firing 100 shots I had 7 failures. All the failures, once again, were with the gun not returning to battery. Sometimes it was so close you could not even tell it was out of battery by looking at it, but most of the time there was a noticeable gap and a slight tap on the back of the slide would put it into battery and then the gun would fire.

KahrArmed - I will check the serial number when I get home this afternoon.

[zredwire]

Ok I got my CW380 back from Kahr yesterday (took about 10 days). The Technical worksheet says: "Reworked Extractor Port, New Extractor, Extractor Rear Pin and Recoil Springs - Lubed and Test Fired (31 rounds), OK".
I won't get a chance to test it until Wednesday night, but will report back then.

[Black Train]

Ok I got my CW380 back from Kahr yesterday (took about 10 days). The Technical worksheet says: "Reworked Extractor Port, New Extractor, Extractor Rear Pin and Recoil Springs - Lubed and Test Fired (31 rounds), OK".
I won't get a chance to test it until Wednesday night, but will report back then.

That is about the same repairs they made to my CW 380. It has been flawless feeding 4 different kinds of ammo since it's return. I did have to tighten the slide lock spring screw a little. I took the CW 380 out back this morning and fired another 13 rounds through it, just to be sure. One thing that may give some problems with your pistol is the number of rounds being fired each session. When my pistol was new, the failure to return to battery problem developed after an extended range session > 100 rounds. It acted like the extractor was dirty and not allowing the rim of the round to slide under the extractor fully. I will only fire @ 50 rounds before cleaning mine from this point forward.

Good luck on Wednesday.

[zredwire]

Well I was able to break away for a bit and took my CW38 to the range to give it a try. WOW. The difference is amazing. I put 120 rounds through it (100 FMJ Ball and 20 Self Def. rounds) and it only had two failures. Normally two failures in 120 is not good but both of these failures were a failure to lock back the slide on the last round. The gun never failed to chamber a round and fire. I am okay carrying a gun that has a problem locking back the slide on occasion as long as it goes bang when I pull the trigger and then loads the next round correctly. Both of the failures were with the same magazine (I used 3 different magazines during the test). So it may just be the magazine. Anyway I am very happy. Kahr customer service did good. Also, I did nothing to the gun when I got it back from Kahr. I took it out of the box and went straight to the range and began firing. Now I will clean and lube it and take it back on Wednesday (my normal range day). If it can fire another 120 without a hiccup I will feel comfortable carrying it.

[Black Train]

I am glad to hear, you had good results with the pistol.