My experience with the Kahr CW380

[osomayomama]

Hello all, I am new to this forum and just wanted to post my experiences with the first 500 rounds through Kahr CW380 and the hiccups I have had with it. I purchased the gun at a cabala's in WA with the intent of using it for a concealed carry pistol. This is my second handgun, the first being a Glock 30s which I have been carrying for the past 6 months. The Glock is a great gun (ridiculously reliable) but is a brick to carry so I opted to purchase a smaller, easier to carry pistol for when carrying the Glock is unfeasible. I ended up choosing the Kahr because of its similar design to a Glock (striker fired and similar take-down) as well as it being a little smaller then the LCP. Various You tubers seemed to rant and rave about Kahrs (from the yankeemarshall to hickock45) and so that also greatly influenced my choice as well. I had heard about the break in period and had planned ahead by purchasing 300 rounds from palmetto state armory and the day I bought the gun I racked the slide for quite a few hours and left the slide locked back for 2 days. After this I took to gun to the range and got FTF's as well as FTE"s every single mag. After the slow, tedious process of putting 200 rounds down range, I took a break and cleaned the gun. After this I continued to put rounds down range and was still getting the same amount of FTF"s but did not get any FTE's. It went from multiple malfunctions in one mag to one every mag. After the last 100 rounds the problem had not lifted, in fact I found more. The slide would lock back 1/10 of the time so you would pull the trigger on an empty chamber, then put in a new mag and rack the slide and I would receive a catastrophic FTF where the ass end of the round would get stuck on the firing pin and the front or the round would get stuck in the slide ramp. The only way to fix this was to remove the mag and rack the slide (in a self-defense situation you are as good as dead if this were to happen). I thought this problem might be due to the ammo (which was PMC ball ammo) so I bought some Hornady conical looking hollow point ammo and ran that and the problem persisted. I ended up putting another 100 or so rounds of carry loads ranging in grain and +P, non-fixed the FTFs so I ended up sending the gun Back to Kahr. I got the gun back within the week (Kahr's service was great free shipping and fast service) and the service report said they replaced the rear extractor pin and polished the feed ramp. So I took the gun out today and put 100 rounds of PMC ball through it and this is what I got, 8 FTF's but no catastrophic ones which required the removal of the magazine. I can say most of the FTF's were while shooting the gun one handed, which leads me to believe the gun is prone to limp wristing. Besides that I am semi happy with its performance, I’m planning on going back out with some more Hornady ammo (The gun seems to like the pointed bullet shape) and see if limp wristing it with that ammo affects the FTF's. I want this gun to work perfect if I’m going to carry it so I am still weary every time I chose to carry it (Knowing the way you handle the gun is key to its reliability) and hope that with time the problem will sort itself out, we shall see.

[DavidR]

I owned a CW380 and now own 2 LCPs. The LCP is thinner and lighter than the Kahr and carries "much smaller" in the pocket.

FWIW - my CW380 experience was similar to yours. Kahr was unable to fix the problems so I cut my losses and moved on.

EDIT: mine was defective from day 1 and never should have left the factory. Warranty repair was terrible as the gun was returned to me with the same problem. There's no limp wristing here as between my son and I we have 4 LCPs and I've fired close to 1,000 rounds through them with no problem.


Dave

[Alfonse]

The Kahr, as well as other small pistols and many compacts, are susceptible to limp wristing. The diminutive size makes them more difficult to hold on to as well which makes the issue more pronounced for some folks.

Have somebody else shoot it. I have large hands and found I had to adjust my grip a bit, but since doing that my CW380 has been flawless. Some folks want to blame the gun when they can't figure out how to hold it.

[zredwire]

My initial experience with the CW380 sounds like the OP's. I had all sorts of problems, mainly FTF where the slide would not go completely into battery (without a tap on the back of the slide). I sent mine back to Kahr and they replaced several things and did some polishing. When it came back it was better but not perfect. I found two things that have made my CW380 perfectly reliable (I now have 2409 rounds through it and it has been completely reliable since about the 400 round mark). The main thing, as mentioned above, is limp wristing. I have several other handguns and have never had a problem with how I hold the gun so I assumed that the problem must not be me. Well, not the case. The little CW380 really needs a locked wrist. Once I learned to really lock my wrist, almost all my problems went away. The only problem that did not completely go away was the chambering of the first round. Sometimes this would get hung. I found out that Kahr magazine followers are not so great (it seems to be across all their pistols in all calibers). If you find that you were limp wristing and you get your gun where it is almost perfect (and you think you are going to keep it) then I highly suggest you replace the factory followers in all your mags. This is a bit expensive but completely worth it to me as I really like the Kahr guns. For the .380 I would replace the followers and springs with Magguts (http://magguts.com). This will also give you the added benefit of being able to have another round in the magazine without increasing the size (so the stock Kahr 6 round mag could hold 7 rounds). For other calibers I suggest the Lakeline (https://lakelinellc.com/product-category/kahr-pistol-accessories/) followers. The aftermarket followers hold the round a little different and makes it easier for the gun to chamber a round. Anyway, there are people that cannot get used to the Kahrs and they are never reliable for them. If that is the case I would definitely say try another brand pistol.

[dustnchips]

With my CW380 I had at least 14 failures of various kinds in the first 100 rounds. I then followed the stickies for new gun prep and nave not had a single failure of any kind since. Only about 800 rounds total so far, but I love and trust it.

[Ed M]

I got lucky and found the new Kahr prep thread before my CW380 even got here. I read the entire thread and all the applicable threads concerning this little gem, and did nearly everything recommended. I didn't sand the mag followers, but did take the mags apart and polished them up inside and outside, making sure the springs were installed correctly.

No failures of any kind were the result - except for Perfecta ammo. The case rim is just too tall to work in my CW380. Every other ammo I've tried ran perfectly in it.

When I got my CW380, I compared it at the range to the LCP, Sig P238, and my S&W Bodyguard. I found that due to the decent sights and really smooth trigger, it was much easier for me to shoot the Kahr accurately. I could shoot it all day, comfortably. Mine likes to be lubed well, and I wipe it down inside and out every 50 rounds to keep things smooth.

One thing that may help you is to install a Talon grip, or a slip on grip. Made a huge difference in being able to control the weapon, and may help with your grip. Worth trying, as they're pretty cheap...

[dustnchips]

Several times I've put 100 rounds through my CW380 and had no problems. I think I will try a grip to help my accuracy though.

[SteveOak]

....except for Perfecta, every ammo ran perfectly.

Gotta love the irony :)