New CW380

[S. Roche]

New first Kahr owner. Sigs have always been my choice until I needed a pocket pistol. I just purchased a new one and have followed the stickies to clean and lube the pistol prior to the first firing. It has the Burnt Brown slide due the a lack of inventory with a stainless slide. Has anyone found any issues with a BB slide concerning clearances due to the extra cerakote?

[Higgy Baby]

Good morning S. Roche-
+1 on the Sig. My #1 go to is the 228. But like you I needed a pocket gun- so I got the CT380.
I have not heard of any issues because of the BB coating. Issues do seem more common in the value series guns like feed and slide lock issues- but all appear fixable.

[Coppertop]

Picked up the Bronze Slide model and it took about 200 rounds to get it to function properly. All of which is not uncommon for the CW380 (which still amazes me), regardless of the slide finish.

The trigger pivot pin did start working its way out of the frame. It is at Kahr being serviced. Hopefully I'll get it back in a couple of weeks and have a reliable firearm that can be carried on a regular basis.

[S. Roche]

What type of malfunctions did you experience during your break-in period? What ammo did you use?

Being unfamiliar with Kahr's service, do they pay the shipping when returning a pistol under warranty for repair?


Picked up the Bronze Slide model and it took about 200 rounds to get it to function properly. All of which is not uncommon for the CW380 (which still amazes me), regardless of the slide finish.

The trigger pivot pin did start working its way out of the frame. It is at Kahr being serviced. Hopefully I'll get it back in a couple of weeks and have a reliable firearm that can be carried on a regular basis.

[Coppertop]

The two main malfunctions I experienced are the most common. Failure to feed and failure to lock the slide back. I was using everything from Critical Defense to Winchester Flat Nose FMJ. It took about seven magazines to iron out the problems then the pivot pin started acting up.

Kahr did pay for overnight shipping to get the CW380 back to them but told me it would be about a 2-3 week turn around. Not the best situation for a weapon that is only a few weeks old.

There is definitely a quality control issue with Kahr's production line. I don't know if they don't test the handguns thoroughly enough or if the QC manager takes a lot of coffee breaks. On the bright side, just about every story I've read has their custom service repairs being top notch. In about two weeks, I should find out if that is the case.

[S. Roche]

I went to the range yesterday for the break in. I followed the instructions from the sticky for cleaning and lube prior to the first firing. I started with 80 rds. of reloads for my Walther PPK/S then 20 rds. of Federal HST and finished with 40 rds. of Hornady Critical Defense. Extremely happy and surprised, no malfunctions. The gun ran perfectly. After cleaning it I will go back and run another 100 rds. today. I have to say that after reading about the issues others have experienced with this pistol I was somewhat concerned about ordering it but I now am very confident that all will be OK.

[Coppertop]

Congrats. Here's hoping the next 100 rounds are as successful.

[S. Roche]

Just finished another 160, no problems. The brass from the last 4 magazines was hitting the ground about 1' shorter than the first. The gun was dirty to say the least. Enough confidence to carry it now.

[kwh]

Thanks for the follow-up report.

[sw66hiviz]

New first Kahr owner. Sigs have always been my choice until I needed a pocket pistol. I just purchased a new one and have followed the stickies to clean and lube the pistol prior to the first firing. It has the Burnt Brown slide due the a lack of inventory with a stainless slide. Has anyone found any issues with a BB slide concerning clearances due to the extra cerakote?

I don't have the BB finish, just a regular CW380. My CW9 ran great right out of the box. I did do the pre-shooting, new-Kahr prep to my 380. Regardless, my 380 gave me fits with various sorts of problems. I was about to give up on it but then it just began to run well and has ever since. Hang in there. Shoot it a bunch before making any judgments about the gun.

[Pointblank]

I own a lot of Kahrs in various calibers. The CW380 was my first in .380 acp. I did notice a difference in the break-in period. Unlike the bigger calibers I didn't really find it productive to try and break it in during one range session. Once the little pistol gets really dirty the reliability seems to go down and fast, so you don't really know if it's choking because it's not broken in yet, or because it's just too dirty. My measure of reliability became the ability to fire 50 rounds of carry ammo without a hitch. It took a few range sessions to get to that, but now I'm good to go. By the way, I found Hornady Custom 90 grain XTP to be the most reliable round. It's a good quality round too with good test results in gel and denim.

[S. Roche]

I stopped by Cabelas and they had the Federal 99 gr. HST in stock so I picked up a couple of boxes. 20 rds. for $21.00. I went through 14 rds. without any problems. HST has been my choice of carry ammo for several years in my 9mm so I am going to use them in the 380. Thanks to everyone who replied.

[jws360]

The two main malfunctions I experienced are the most common. Failure to feed and failure to lock the slide back. I was using everything from Critical Defense to Winchester Flat Nose FMJ. It took about seven magazines to iron out the problems then the pivot pin started acting up.

Kahr did pay for overnight shipping to get the CW380 back to them but told me it would be about a 2-3 week turn around. Not the best situation for a weapon that is only a few weeks old.

There is definitely a quality control issue with Kahr's production line. I don't know if they don't test the handguns thoroughly enough or if the QC manager takes a lot of coffee breaks. On the bright side, just about every story I've read has their custom service repairs being top notch. In about two weeks, I should find out if that is the case.


Yours is, I think, the 2nd or 3rd recent post I've seen around this time noting a trigger pin walking out! Happened to mine, too about 2 weeks ago.

[Coppertop]

Yours is, I think, the 2nd or 3rd recent post I've seen around this time noting a trigger pin walking out! Happened to mine, too about 2 weeks ago.

Hard to tell by the schematic how this thing sets in place. Talking with Customer Service it sounded like the pin snapped into the left side of the frame. Could be a bad batch of frames or maybe just a slight variation on the pin size?

Whatever the reason, I just hope they can sort it out. I think since I bought it, my CW380 has spent more time with Kahr's customer services than with me.

[jws360]

Hard to tell by the schematic how this thing sets in place. Talking with Customer Service it sounded like the pin snapped into the left side of the frame. Could be a bad batch of frames or maybe just a slight variation on the pin size?

Whatever the reason, I just hope they can sort it out. I think since I bought it, my CW380 has spent more time with Kahr's customer services than with me.

As I confirmed today, there is a tiny pin or spring that retains the trigger pin in. It is NOT listed on the parts list and is not for sale per Kahr. If you look on the left side of the trigger guard area there is an upward angled very small hole which holds this.

I put another 60-70 through my new CW380 this evening. It is a picky eater. HATES anything other than Federal, Magtech or American, etc. Had some European name I can't recall off hand and every other round was a jam as was Winchester white box flat tip target. I've read these 380s need at least 200 to be broken in and from what I can see this is true. It is way pickier than a PM9 I have.