PM40 back from Kahr

[txpitdog]

Sent my PM40 in for the 2nd time to Kahr. Broken mag followers, failure during return to battery, slide not staying locked back after the last round, sloppy fit were among the problems I had AFTER Kahr polished the feed ramp the first time for fail to feed problems. Given the problems I'd had with it, I requested an exchange for an MK40. They did not exchange it, but instead replaced the slide and barrel. The note from the factory states that they fired 100rds with no issues.

I appreciate that they fired the 100 rounds. To me, its like they tried to check their work, instead of just replacing parts and shipping it back. I also appreciate that 7 days after shipping it to Kahr, it was back in my hands.

However, whether I'm satisfied with the service will depend entirely upon whether the gun is now reliable.

[border bandit32]

and the verdict is...........:eek:

[scrapperid]

Just kidding Pitdog, but we are anxious to know. I have a friend that got a pm40 about a month and a half ago and I haven't been able to get with them to shoot it.:( But he and his wife are impressed, all they had before is a bersa 380 that seemed to jam about every mag when I went out with them
Wayne

[wagon]

Just want to chime in to your comment on Bersa. I have a Bersa 380cc, it has been rock solid, zero jamo (touch wood) and unexpectedly accurate. Is it factory mag that your friend has? Bersa can be very picky on magazine.

Otherwise, Bersa has lifetime warranty and they can send it back for them to look/see. One of the Bersa smith is on BersaTalk.com, your friend should be able to get some help over there.


Just kidding Pitdog, but we are anxious to know. I have a friend that got a pm40 about a month and a half ago and I haven't been able to get with them to shoot it.:( But he and his wife are impressed, all they had before is a bersa 380 that seemed to jam about every mag when I went out with them
Wayne

[scrapperid]

I'll have to talk to him and see if it is, I think they only have the one even. Will recomend he try the bersatalk. He's just a kid so he probably gets around on this stuff pretty good. LOL

[Cappy]

Sent my PM40 in for the 2nd time to Kahr. Broken mag followers, failure during return to battery, slide not staying locked back after the last round, sloppy fit were among the problems I had AFTER Kahr polished the feed ramp the first time for fail to feed problems. Given the problems I'd had with it, I requested an exchange for an MK40. They did not exchange it, but instead replaced the slide and barrel. The note from the factory states that they fired 100rds with no issues.

I appreciate that they fired the 100 rounds. To me, its like they tried to check their work, instead of just replacing parts and shipping it back. I also appreciate that 7 days after shipping it to Kahr, it was back in my hands.

However, whether I'm satisfied with the service will depend entirely upon whether the gun is now reliable.

Keep us posted if you get it worked out with Kahr.

[WMD]

txpitdog,

Did it work? We are all sitting on the edge of our seats! ;-)

[txpitdog]

Okay, I was finally able to get to the range and shoot my PM40 after its return from Kahr. To recap, the pistol was experiencing fail to return to battery at the rate of 8-12 per 100. Kahr replaced the slide and barrel and test fired 100 rounds before sending it back.

I fired 200 rounds today. 100 Remington 180gr FMJ ShurShot, 50 Ultramax 165gr RNFP, and 50 Federal 155gr JHP HiShok. I experienced 4 fail to return to battery, and 3 fail to feed. All failures occurred during the 3rd, 4th, or 5th shot in the mag. I did experience 1 fail to fire, but I am not counting that one, because I noticed on a subsequent round that my finger had not completely let off the trigger and thus caused the firing pin not to engage or whatever during cycling.

Of the fail to return to battery, 2 were stovepipes and two were where the slide stopped about 1/2" short of full cycle. The two stovepipes also occurred during the Ultramax ammo (remanufactured), which was fairly low/mid powered target ammo. Perhaps they were just barely generating enough force to push the recoil spring, and those two just didn't have enough oomph. Of the failure to feed, it appeared that the rounds got hung up right after the feed ramp.

Of the 7 failures, I'll accept 2 as being from limpwristing. I noticed those.

Am I overjoyed? No. Am I pissed? No. Cautiously hopeful/optomistic I suppose. The pistol did perform noticeably better, and the entire 100 Remington rounds could technically be discounted as being during the last half of the break-in period for the new slide and barrel.

One thing that the new slide/barrel do that the old one didn't is mangle the case mouth. I had 7 rounds (3 from failures, 4 properly cycled) that just got completely mangled during ejection. Here's a picture, and the case mouth is the same for all 7:

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o190/txpitdog/IMG_0732.jpg

These 7 also have a nick in the case rim, which leads me to believe they were getting caugt in the ejector and ejector port during discharge. I'll politely call Kahr tomorrow to find out if this warrants another trip to the shop or if I should just do some minor polishing.

I think another 200 rounds will determine whether I carry this pistol for self defense. All in all, I am more pleased than I have been, but I can still make the statement that my ParaOrdnance has never failed, my S&W 1006 never failed, none of my other S&W or Ruger firearms have ever failed, so a reliable pistol is more than possible in the sub-$600 range.

[Cappy]

Txpitdog, this would be an issue for me. My PM9 is perfect, knock on wood, with how it shoots. Better than my KP45. The only gun I have had those kind of issues is my Kel-Tec, which is a cheaply made gun. I know not all guns are perfect, but I suggest you ask for more help from Kahr. Some of the other guys here might have the answer, but those results would cause me concern (imoho).

[500KV]

I have to agree with Cappy on this one.
It seems to me that your gun has some major issues.
No gun should mangle brass like that and the other problems you mention would be a major concern to me.

I'll have to say that I admire your patience.
Any gun to be carried for SD would have to be 100%, not 90%, at least for me.
Good luck getting her fixed.

[Dietrich]

I agree with Cappy. Something still ain`t right. By all means,get back in touch with Kahr.E-mail the picture of the shell casing and let them know you are still having problems.Kahr seems to be a company that is genuinely concerned with customer satisfaction and I`m sure that they would want to know.Please keep us posted.

[jocko]

txpitdog. can u email kahr this photo also?? that looks bad to me. I can undeerstand some dentsin rthe casing but yours is totally out of whack IMO. whteher you reload or not, that is not right I think most all kahrs ding the brass to some extent but nothint that a sizing die can't take care of either. Your photo is a not fixable thing for a reloader.

[ltxi]

....No gun should mangle brass like that........


without question!

[txpitdog]

Kahr has graciously sent another RMA# and has offered to pay shipping. I will report back with yet another chapter in the saga.

[Cappy]

Sounds like a step in the right direction. I will be watching to see how it works out :typing:


Kahr has graciously sent another RMA# and has offered to pay shipping. I will report back with yet another chapter in the saga.

[txpitdog]

I received my PM40 back from the factory (the 3rd time) several weeks ago and immediately took it to the range. I haven't had a chance to report back, but I have over the past few weeks put 400 rounds through the gun without a single bent case or hiccup or failure of any kind. Now that it works like it should, I can't wait to shoot it again and again.

I'd really like to get a ported 3.5" barrel for it, but I don't know if that's even possible with this gun.

Anyway, Kahr kept at it until they got it right, I'll give them that. What a pistol!