Cw380 first time at range and some problems

[shrekfingers]

Took my new cw 380 to range Sunday and put 200 rounds through her. Used two types of ammo Magtech 95 gr. fmj and Browning Court 95 gr. fmj. It was not the outing I was hoping for. The gun failed to go into battery at least 3 rounds of every mag. I would have to hit the slide with the palm of my hand to get it forward into full battery.

I only had maybe three failure to feed but had to remove the mag to be able to cycle the slide to clear it. Definitely was not a limp wristing problem, I paid real good attention for that as well as my grip and trigger pull. Also with the grip I use there is no way the thumb is near the slide release while firing.

The slide kept failing to lock back on one mag in particular but after about 20 mags run through they both started to not lock back on last round fired , now both wont lock back when I use empty mags and cycle the slide. I have noticed at the side lock lever does not engage the mag tab very well and sometimes bypasses the mag tab causing failure to lock open on empty mag. I bought an extra Kahr mag at time of gun purchase and the construction of both is different. I have pics and as soon as I figure how to post them I will, says I cant post attachments, guess cause I am a newbie with low post count?

Out of the ammo, it seemed to like the Magtech the best but still hiccuped with it. A friend, also an owner of a cw 380 swears its in the ammo. He claims it is not powerful enough to cycle the slide, he says that's why it wont go into battery, but I have had it do it when releasing the slide on the first round. Ill try some different ammo and maybe let him shoot it to see if the problems duplicate.

*Edit* see if this works https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/kxz4OvD1IbD_GKUWUzPTkNMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=d irectlink


I was surprised how well I was able to shoot with it, groups were satisfactory even with my larger hands and my fat Shrek fingers.


So as a newbie, not ready to call it a bust yet, waiting to hear comments and suggestions on getting it to hum along like it should.

[SlowBurn]

My cw380 and p380 both HATE Browning court. Couldn't get through a mag. Gave it away.

Never had any problems with Magtech though.

[captainkirk05]

The follower missing the slide lock is concerning, but as far as the mags not locking the slide back in general , welcome to the club. The oem springs are trash. Been through 2 sets via warranty exchange and same story for all of them. Do yourself a favor and get the Mag Guts kit, I got mine for that very reason and now no problems, plus one extra round.

As far as not returning to battery, if the ammo is too weak your main problem will tend to be frequent stovepipes and fte's. If you don't see that going on it's likely something else.

Sent from my SM-N910T3 using Tapatalk

[shrekfingers]

Thanks, will keep working with it. I now have another development. While cleaning from the range, I found this and not sure if it suppose to be there. It is on the slide in the half moon area where the slide lock pin goes in. It appears under magnification that is is a burr from casting or milling, what ever they do. Just want to make sure its not suppose to be a tab or something. Any guesses? Should I file it or send it back?

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/LlZPMRehfajNm3fAu2WBaeoUhAY6j2-Bfwmid-VJjEI?feat=directlink

[shrekfingers]

Thanks, my Bodyguard seemed to love it, no problems with it. So I'll shove them down range with it till they are gone. Ill keep pluggn along until I fine the right ammo for her.

[SlowBurn]

Thanks, will keep working with it. I now have another development. While cleaning from the range, I found this and not sure if it suppose to be there. It is on the slide in the half moon area where the slide lock pin goes in. It appears under magnification that is is a burr from casting or milling, what ever they do. Just want to make sure its not suppose to be a tab or something. Any guesses? Should I file it or send it back?

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/LlZPMRehfajNm3fAu2WBaeoUhAY6j2-Bfwmid-VJjEI?feat=directlink

Definitely not supposed to be there. I'd send it back, but I don't tinker.

[SlowBurn]

Thanks, my Bodyguard seemed to love it, no problems with it. So I'll shove them down range with it till they are gone. Ill keep pluggn along until I fine the right ammo for her.

Yeah. My friend with a Glock 42 has no probs with the Browning court either. Who knows? Anyway now you've discovered that other issue, get it fixed before wasting more money on ammo. FWIW I've had zero problems with most factory round nosed fmj including Blazer Brass, Remington, Aguila. Mine don't like anything flat nosed like Winchester, and they don't like Fiocchi which bulge a little. I think that's the problem with the Browning court too. Some geniuses on the board have made little modifications and feed all those loads fine, but that's not me.

[dsk]

The follower missing the slide lock is concerning, but as far as the mags not locking the slide back in general , welcome to the club. The oem springs are trash. Been through 2 sets via warranty exchange and same story for all of them. Do yourself a favor and get the Mag Guts kit, I got mine for that very reason and now no problems, plus one extra round.

Same story here. The OEM mag springs suck as they lose tension quickly, and the followers are a lousy design too and allow rounds to dip when feeding. The MagGuts kits are expensive but they solve both problems for most people. But then you've also got the metal burrs to polish out, the weak striker that breaks easily and needs to be replaced with the beefier unit from Lakeline, and possible problems with extractor clearance. The P380/CW380 can be great guns once properly tuned, but it's a lot of work and I honestly don't recommend them to anyone who isn't good at working out bugs on their own.

[muggsy]

The OEM springs in Kahr pistols come from Wolff Gun Springs and they are among the best gun springs in the world. Just sayin'.

[kenemoore]

The Browning Court will not run in my CW380. The Karhr Chamber has tighter tolerances, and the Browning ammo is slightly larger diameter than most other ammo.

[Alfonse]

Kahrs have mostly all run fine for me. The only defect I've ever experienced was a bent slide stop spring in a new pistol. I did find my CW380 won't work with Perfecta ammo. I can't even push it into the chamber when I'm holding the barrel in my hand. Has been fine on everything else I've tried though.

[shrekfingers]

Thanks for the input, much appreciated.. I have some American Eagle coming today, two friends have cw380 and the say they have no problem with that so we will see. I did give my mags to one of them and his locked open on both of them so we can eliminate the mags as causing the failure to lock back on last round, I assume. I think we are going to try his slide lock pin in mine and see if that makes a difference, just seems mine is not long enough and bypasses the follower pin, but that is an uneducated guess..

[dsk]

The OEM springs in Kahr pistols come from Wolff Gun Springs and they are among the best gun springs in the world. Just sayin'.

All three magazines I had lost spring tension when left fully loaded for about a month and would no longer work the slide stop. When it happened to the first one I deliberately tested the other two to see what would happen, and they were all like it in the end. All of my current mags now have the MagGuts kits in them, and even after being left loaded for several months they're still strong and engage the slide stop.

[OneWheelLess]

My two mags have been loaded for a year+. Usually when I go to the range I shoot off the old tarnished carry ammo in the gun and then practice with whatever cheap brass ammo (often blazer) I have. After that, new carry ammo goes right back in. No problems with the mag springs so far.
I noticed the chamber seemed really tight when I first got the gun, some times I had to bump the slide with my palm after I'd slingshot a round in. That loosened up after maybe 150-200 rounds. Now I can slingshot or drop the slide with the release like kahr recommends.

I would suggest immediately polishing out that burr. I wonder if it could be causing the slide catch to stick? It's nice to have another gun to compare parts with, seems like you'll be able to nail down the problem fairly quick.

[Sgt128]

I ordered the MagGuts for one of my magazines and it should arrive today. I'll let you know what I think. If you want me to try a mag or two of your browning ammo just let me know. I definitely think I would give Kahr a call and send it in so they can make sure everything is fixed.

[Smouse]

I run Precision One XTP +p in my CW380's (own 2) as my carry load and use Remington UMC round nose as my "cheap" stuff at the range. Both rounds run great through my pistols. The Precision One uses Starline brass and Hornady XTP bullet. Mine still have that factory mag springs but I plan to switch them to the mag guts for the extra round. I haven't had any problems with the springs as of yet though and they are loaded all the time. From the looks of that pic you may want to send it back to have them go over it. The only "mods" I have done to mine are that I tore down both pistols completely and lightly polished/deburred any areas that needed cleaned up. I also lightly polished the chamber and lightened the extractor tension and then cleaned out everything and used tetra gun grease to lube them. I hope this helps somewhat.

http://www.precisiononeammunition.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1_2_37_42&zenid=3h3vf8224l79hk8ro4kqjfgaa2

[shrekfingers]

I ordered the MagGuts for one of my magazines and it should arrive today. I'll let you know what I think. If you want me to try a mag or two of your browning ammo just let me know. I definitely think I would give Kahr a call and send it in so they can make sure everything is fixed.

K next time I see ya Ill give you some and u can try it, should let you shoot mine to see if the problems replicate for you as well. I have some federal now and waiting again for the snow to go away to range up. Monday suppose to be 60 degrees so will try to get out there then. I really don't want to involve Kahr until I have it broke in and tried different ammo, dont want to blame the gun until I've really tried other things. Let me know what you think of the MagGuts.

[Take Aim]

Hi all, new to the forum, not new to the shooting world. Not real computer savy so this may not be the place for this post. I wanted to post here because I believe I may have a answer to the problem of the slide not locking back after the last round is fired. First I resently bought two Kahr pistols, CM9 and CW380, my first Kahr pistols in my collecting of many firearms over the last 50+ years. I will not bother you with my knowledge or lack of it. So here it is, my cm9 ran as smooth as anyone could want after the prep. My cw380 ran great also except the slide woud not lock back after last round,not even1 time during the course of fireing over 350 rounds through it. A shooting buddy has cw380 so I asked if i could try his magazine in my pistol......problem solved. But I could not let it go, so I began to examine and try everything I know and read and was suggested to me, nothing would work. Finally under a large magnifier I thought I had the answer! I took a small file and very lightly ran it across the small piece of metal on the left front of the mag. follower, on the flat upper surface, just enough to slightly roughen it. BAM that was it not a problem anymore with another 150 rounds through it. Not sure how long this will keep this from happening again but I will continue to run at least 400 to 500 more rounds through it. Please feel free to comment on what I did.
Take Aim

[shrekfingers]

Well time for an update: I swapped followers in the mags, the one that did lock back didn't and the one that didn't ...did, ( did you follower that ? :) )so I contacted Kahr and they said a new follower is in the mail.


I ordered one MagGuts for the .380 to try. Wow what a difference, extra round and always locks back , fed reliably and now will be ordering another. Put another 300 rounds on top of the 200 already through her. Love the way it shoots, getting pretty accurate with it also.


I still have the failure to go full battery problem, no matter what ammo I use, even Federal and have to push it forward with my thumb so I am contemplating either the filing of the extractor or the extractor spring pin as suggested in here.


So thumbs up for MagGuts, they work as they say they will. If I can get the battery issue fixed I will be a happy Kahr owner.

[shrekfingers]

Hi all, new to the forum, not new to the shooting world. Not real computer savy so this may not be the place for this post. I wanted to post here because I believe I may have a answer to the problem of the slide not locking back after the last round is fired. First I resently bought two Kahr pistols, CM9 and CW380, my first Kahr pistols in my collecting of many firearms over the last 50+ years. I will not bother you with my knowledge or lack of it. So here it is, my cm9 ran as smooth as anyone could want after the prep. My cw380 ran great also except the slide woud not lock back after last round,not even1 time during the course of fireing over 350 rounds through it. A shooting buddy has cw380 so I asked if i could try his magazine in my pistol......problem solved. But I could not let it go, so I began to examine and try everything I know and read and was suggested to me, nothing would work. Finally under a large magnifier I thought I had the answer! I took a small file and very lightly ran it across the small piece of metal on the left front of the mag. follower, on the flat upper surface, just enough to slightly roughen it. BAM that was it not a problem anymore with another 150 rounds through it. Not sure how long this will keep this from happening again but I will continue to run at least 400 to 500 more rounds through it. Please feel free to comment on what I did.
Take Aim



Glad it worked for you.. I tried everything. Filing, sanding and it didn't help on my one follower, the slide lock just by-bassed the mag pin. Magguts so far fixed it and waiting for new follower from Kahr.