Need Help, P380

[TimtheRef]

Took my P380 to the range in January and experienced some issues with failure to fire rounds. Striker left significant indentation, and several of the rounds fired when hit a second time. I had shown pics on this forum, and others agreed, it was probably just hard primers.

Went to the range with it again today. Similar issues, indentations but no boom. Showed rounds to the range officer who mentioned that the indentations weren't centered in the middle of the primer. Any ideas, suggestions? I put in a request from Kahr, but I am not 100% sure if I'm still within the warranty time frame. Also, had minor issues with FTRB. However, it was close enough that pulling the trigger caused the gun to still fire. (I didn't realize it wasn't all the way forward until too far into the trigger pull.) I have several thousand rounds through the pistol and have never replaced any parts, including any springs. I've not had issues that weren't fixed with tap/rack drills in over a thousand rounds. So until this, I've been more than willing to trust my life to the P380 for a long time, but need to figure out what's going on with this.

P.S. Today's outing was 50 rounds of Remington UMC, and 50 rounds of PMC, both decent rounds that have traditionally worked well for me.

[skiflydive]

My own experience suggests you check for a broken striker. Easy enough to fix. You'll see other posts for an after market striker as well.

[TimtheRef]

Define, "easy enough to fix." My skill set working with my hands/tools is shall we say, subpar. Also, my understanding was that a broken striker wouldn't succeed in launching 95% of my rounds without issue, or pass the pencil test, which I also tried. Don't know if that helps clarify. Thanks!

[Bawanna]

Several thousand round and still has return to battery issues? This concerns me a bit.

A new recoil spring assembly is probably a good start and I'm really not a big spring replacer but I'd do it in your case.

The plus to checking the broken striker is you can also inspect the striker channel for junk and crud. I'm not sure on that diagnosis if it's passing the pencil test consistently and leaving deep primer indents.

Have you ever had the top end apart? Sounds like maybe not. It's not difficult but I also understand your reservation. If it's new territory it can be scary. I've been there many times, scared that is.

What part of the world you in, maybe we have somebody local that can help?

Or there's some decent stickies that can talk you through the process.

[TimtheRef]

I'm in Northeast Ohio, the Akron area. And the FRTB isn't common, it was toward the end of my shooting today, when the pistol was fairly dirty, and honestly, probably needed a bit of lube. Replacing these springs wouldn't be a bad idea either way, I'm sure.

[TimtheRef]

I did just purchase the Lakeline striker, as even if I don't have a broken striker, it may be a good idea to upgrade. Also, in case it matters, this is an old style flat nosed P380.

[Bawanna]

Well that's a perfect storm then. Installing the Lakeline striker will remove one of the possibilities.

We just need to figure out how to get it in for you.

[TimtheRef]

Worst case scenario on the striker, there's a gunsmith about a mile from my office. I hate to pay someone to do it, but it beats screwing it up and then paying someone to do it anyway. Also, after the cleaning when I got home I checked functioning and had no more FTRB. Ran a bunch of snap caps through it, slingshotted it, and attempted to get an FTRB, but was unsuccessful. Which is, I guess, a good thing. I'm hoping the Lakeline striker is able to get me back up to 100% reliability again. I love this little pistol, and I'm damn accurate with it. (I was hitting the red using point of aim shooting without sights at 5 yards, which is what I really want in an EDC pistol.)

[muggsy]

My doctors said that it's better to make an accurate diagnosis that to just throw pills at the problem. The striker hitting the primer slightly off center shouldn't cause a misfire. What ammo were you shooting? It could be just a matter of hard primers and that your gun is fine.

[muggsy]

Well that's a perfect storm then. Installing the Lakeline striker will remove one of the possibilities.

We just need to figure out how to get it in for you.

Every man can use a helping hand to get it in, Bawanna. :)

[Bobshouse]

I was waiting for that one mugs..LOL

[berettabone]

No Kahr that I know of, ever hits the primer dead center. More of a smear than a hit. Changing springs first is a cheap way to start. Sometimes, it fixes thing you didn't know were broke.............:p.

[TimtheRef]

My doctors said that it's better to make an accurate diagnosis that to just throw pills at the problem. The striker hitting the primer slightly off center shouldn't cause a misfire. What ammo were you shooting? It could be just a matter of hard primers and that your gun is fine.

Thanks for the advice. I still think upgrading to the Lakeline striker is not a bad idea. I may grab a new set of springs too. The ammo was Remington UMC (which I had a few previous issues with this, but only 1 of 50 today) and PMC, which I had never had trouble with before. My Hornady Critical Defense still runs flawlessly, so it'll probably still get carried, and 97% reliability is better than most cars on the road, so there's that. I still want to get back to full reliability though. I have 8 pistols. 3 of them are Kahrs. And those 3 are the carry guns 99.5% of the time.

[Alfonse]

If it is getting a bit hit and miss, I don't think it costs much to change all the springs, magazine, recoil and striker. If you have someone take the slide down, they will clean out the striker channel and put in a new striker spring. Might as well change the striker spring if you are taking it apart. The folks who have had bad strikers started getting light hits, probably when one side was cracked but it had not become two pieces yet. So, a smith can check that and change it out too.

I took apart one of my K9s without a bunch of rounds through it and there was quite a bit of brass in the striker channel. That motivated me to take them all down the next time I cleaned them. So far I have only cleaned out my carry PM9 with many thousands of rounds through it, and there was brass in the striker channel, but most of it was back at the back plate. Apparently my flushing it out with Gunscrubber each cleaning was keeping the crud out of the operational area of the striker.

I think you are on the right track and will have your P380 happily blasting away with everything again soon. Thanks for the business too and there are instructions as well as links to videos for taking the slide down that you may find helpful.

[Cokeman]

The light primer strikes and FRTB are the same problem. When the slide is slightly open, the striker hits the primer hard enough to push the cartridge forward into the chamber, but not detonate the primer. Cleaning the gun will help it get back in to battery but springs are probably the fix. I had to polish the inside of my chamber to get mine to stop doing that. Try pushing the slide all the way closed before every shot and see if the light strike problem goes away.

[TimtheRef]

I did receive the shipping label, but haven't sent the pistol in yet. I'm wondering if I should just replace the striker and recoil springs first and see if that helps. If that happens, then maybe I won't need to use the shipping label. Those that have shipped theirs in for repair, what's the process of getting the pistol returned? I assume I'm stuck having it shipped to a local FFL and then paying the transfer fees? In my area, that's $45 by itself.

[Bawanna]

As long as they don't replace the serialized part, (the frame), the gun will come back directly to your house.

Only if a new serial number is used does it have to go through an FFL.

[TimtheRef]

I didn't realize they could ship directly to my house. I assume someone will have to sign for it.

[TimtheRef]

Also, how do I package it to send it in?

[SlowBurn]

Also, how do I package it to send it in?

You can't just go to any old Kinko's. You have to go to the central FedEx shipping location in your area. I would just use the case it came in, bring the label with you, and let FedEx give you an envelope to put it in and seal it up and put the label on. The only thing you have to be sure of is that it's totally 100% unloaded including the magazine.

[Alfonse]

I did receive the shipping label, but haven't sent the pistol in yet. I'm wondering if I should just replace the striker and recoil springs first and see if that helps. If that happens, then maybe I won't need to use the shipping label. Those that have shipped theirs in for repair, what's the process of getting the pistol returned? I assume I'm stuck having it shipped to a local FFL and then paying the transfer fees? In my area, that's $45 by itself.

If you are going to send it in, I wouldn't replace any parts. They might not come back with the pistol.

[TimtheRef]

For sure. If I try replacement parts first, I'll remove them before sending. If I send it first, I'll swap out the parts when it comes back.