Pm45 first round not going in barrel/jam.

[jskimerer]

I recently acquired a Pm45 Black diamond with night sights with Crimson Trace laser. The fellow I aquired it from said it was his wife's gun but it was too much for her to handle, he said it had less than a 100 rounds though it. I did check with Kahr and got a build date of Jan. 2010. I have put 250 rounds though it so far. I really like this pistol once I learned the trigger I have been dead on, no problems except first round not going in barrel, the slide will just push the first bullet down in the magazine and not chamber a round. I have done some experiment bullet placement in the magazine and have find out if I leave a 1/8 gap and not seat the bullet back all the way to rear of the magazine it will chamber the round. I use the slide lock to chamber as Kahr suggests. I recently purchased a Kahr 6 round magazine K625G and yesterday at the range and with bullet pushed back it jammed with bullet in chamber not seated, dropped the magazine slide would not pull back had to use the dead grip on slide and tap the back of the grip to free the bullet out of the barrel.Outside of this first round not chambering the pistol works flawlessly no FTE, no premature slide lockback, etc. I guess I can live with just loading the magazines with that 1/8 gap but it just doesn't seen right anyone got any ideas? Thanks

[Bawanna]

Sounds like the stripper bar on the bottom of the slide is not tapered properly.
If you lock the slide back and insert a mag with a round in it all the way back you'll probably see that it comes up under the bar instead of sliding in front of it.
Sometimes if you sling shot it, the slide will come back far enough to pick it up and chamber it.

It's an easy fix. Just take a file or a dremel and put just a bit of an angle on the front of that stripper. There's a good thread in the stickies.

Might be in the fixes for the CW45. I'll see if I can find it.

http://www.kahrtalk.com/showthread.php?1612-CW45-%28and-other-poly-45%29-issues-and-fixes&p=15671#post15671

Post # 4 shows an excellent picture of what I'm talking about. Thanks again to Greg for his efforts and photos.

[jskimerer]

I think I figured out one of my problems, I had been using Winchester ammo with no problems yesterday I bought a box of Federal they will definitely not fit squarely in the barrel of my PM45, I guess I'll go back to Winchester. Thanks for the links on first round not going in battery.

[DJK11]

One of my pm45's has the same build date, it's the original slide design without the mode to the stripper bar as Bawanna mentioned. I had the same occasional problem. The beveled edge fixed the problem as well as making sure the outer recoil spring is not too long as to prevent full slide movement to the rear. 1/4 of a coil too long is all it takes.

[hasselhoss]

I know that there will be those that disagree about a carry him and ammo sensitivity but you have to know your weapon and carry accordingly. My CW45 and CM45 shoot 165Gr Powerball 45acp +P 100% reliably. The slick rounded nose of the round solves any feed issues. The extra power solves any extraction possibilities. I've put 300+ rounds of it through my CW45 and it has never failed me. I get the occasional FTF and FTE on cheap Monarch 230gr but I challenge it up to what it is.

[joemsj51]

I think I figured out one of my problems, I had been using Winchester ammo with no problems yesterday I bought a box of Federal they will definitely not fit squarely in the barrel of my PM45, I guess I'll go back to Winchester. Thanks for the links on first round not going in battery.

ALWAYS change ammo first. That includes both FMJs and HP rounds. Ammo choice is usually the culprit.
Plus, stick with brass casings for best results.