P4043 P40 Feeding problem big time

[hoguej115]

I purchased a P40 have put oh around 400 rounds through it very slowly. Very slowly because fire a round slap the slide to feed the next round fire a round slap the slide to feed the next round. Well am sure you can see where this is going. Firing Remington target rounds brass casing bull nose round. I use the same rounds in my M&P shield, my Taurus G2C 40 we use them for qualification in our Glocks for the sheriff's department not one problem, feed just fine. I have buffed the ramp bought the metal mags followers from Lackline oiled mag springs have tried everything I can think of. Seems like the magazines make the round nose dive everytime. Get the first round fed after that have to slap the slide. No not limp wristing it either. Anyone else have the same problem. Thanks for any input. Oh and no have not contacted support because when I bought the gun had a CW barrel in a P40 ended up having to contact their head of marketing to get any response about the barrel. She did get a new barrel sent to me and I sent them back the CW barrel.

[berettabone]

How did you know/find out about the barrel issue? Did you replace the recoil spring?????????

[Ken L]

CW barrel was probably put in for the cut rifling versus the poly rifling to shoot cast bullets. If the previous owner did shoot it a lot, it very well could be that the recoil spring needs to be replaced. I just replaced mine in my CW40 for the first time after 2000+ rounds. The new one was a full inch and a half longer.

[Bawanna]

If you lock the slide back, load a magazine and hit the slide lock lever does it chamber a round consistently?

If it does, I'd agree with the recoil spring theory.

If it doesn't I'm thinking a tight chamber, I'd say maybe a long cartridge but it they work in all the other guns, probably not the case.

[getsome]

Call up Kahr and get a new recoil spring and see if it corrects the problem...The retaining nut on the end of my PM9 recoil spring came off at the range the first time I shot the gun....I didn't know it until I was cleaning it that night and the gun never malfunctioned but I called Kahr the next day and had a new recoil assembly in just a few days at no charge so try a new spring and see how it goes.....You might try some good carry ammo and see if your gun functions with it....My previous Kahr was a PM40 and for some reason it would choke on WWB and Remington range fodder from Walmart but shot Federal and PMC range stuff just fine so who knows....Anyway good luck and let us know what happens...

One other thing I thought of was you mentioned having Lakeline followers in your magazines....Did your gun come with them or did you install them yourself and if so were you having nose dives with the stock Kahr followers?....What I'm getting at is to be sure the magazine springs are in correctly...It's possible to get them in backwards and sometimes guns came from the Mother Ship with mag springs installed wrong... If you order a new recoil spring it might be a good idea to get new mag springs at the same time...Lots of things happening very fast in these small pistols so the springs all need to be in good shape to make things cycle every time.....Just a thought and welcome to Kahrtalk, lots of real nice, knowledgeable folks here more than willing to help you out!

[hoguej115]

How did you know/find out about the barrel issue? Did you replace the recoil spring?????????

On the barrels they are stamped CT40, CW40, P40. When the marketing head contacted their engineering dept they told her yep had the wrong barrel in it. No didn't change out the recoil spring but will get a hold of Kahr see if they can send me another.

[hoguej115]

Call up Kahr and get a new recoil spring and see if it corrects the problem...The retaining nut on the end of my PM9 recoil spring came off at the range the first time I shot the gun....I didn't know it until I was cleaning it that night and the gun never malfunctioned but I called Kahr the next day and had a new recoil assembly in just a few days at no charge so try a new spring and see how it goes.....You might try some good carry ammo and see if your gun functions with it....My previous Kahr was a PM40 and for some reason it would choke on WWB and Remington range fodder from Walmart but shot Federal and PMC range stuff just fine so who knows....Anyway good luck and let us know what happens...

One other thing I thought of was you mentioned having Lakeline followers in your magazines....Did your gun come with them or did you install them yourself and if so were you having nose dives with the stock Kahr followers?....What I'm getting at is to be sure the magazine springs are in correctly...It's possible to get them in backwards and sometimes guns came from the Mother Ship with mag springs installed wrong... If you order a new recoil spring it might be a good idea to get new mag springs at the same time...Lots of things happening very fast in these small pistols so the springs all need to be in good shape to make things cycle every time.....Just a thought and welcome to Kahrtalk, lots of real nice, knowledgeable folks here more than willing to help you out!

Gun came with the poly followers I noticed the flat then slight angle on them so decided to try the Lakeline metal ones. With the Lakeline followers will chamber the first round fine of course that is locking the slide then releasing the slide. Its every round after that will check the mag springs again actually on another gun a GSG the guy turned the springs around and it helped that one feed. My wife's GSG will not cycle using 36 grain federals has FTF and FTE eject but using Remington Thunderbolt 40 grain works like a charm so go figure. Do appreciate all the input.

[dao]

I have a P40 that I bought new, and on my first range trip it consistently failed to go completely into battery, at least once per mag. Took it home and cleaned it up and applied slightly more oil to the slide on the rail channels as well as the rails on the frame. Next time out it was much better, out of a box of 50 it only failed twice and each time was just a 1/4 to 1/2" short of going into full battery.

I cycle all of my new Kahrs manually 300-500 times before taking them to the range, and did not expect this problem as it had never happened on any of my other Kahrs. But even in these days of mass production, each gun can have its own idiosyncracies and I think that's the issue with mine. If it doesn't perform perfectly after the next trip I'll try a new recoil spring. Inexpensive experiment that could completely solve any lingering issue in this area.

[Violin58]

Iv seen guns run better if you turn the recoil spring around. They r supposed to go only one way..try it out and try different ammo too.

[wyntrout]

The Kahr recoil springs are designed so the the front is open for freedom of movement, but the rear is closed to grip the recoil guide rod and stay in place. Turning the spring the wrong way can allow the open end of the spring to override the rear of the guide rod and jam your your pistol... not nice if your life is at risk!

I had problems with the Fiocci 170-grain FMJ cases having too pronounced a case mouth that would catch in the chamber.

Check out the video at the 3:15 point for the recoil assembly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=G2cZgVg_SwA#t=208s

[Redwood]

M
The Kahr recoil springs are designed so the the front is open for freedom of movement, but the rear is closed to grip the recoil guide rod and stay in place. Turning the spring the wrong way can allow the open end of the spring to override the rear of the guide rod and jam your your pistol...
+1 It makes intuitive sense that the closed end of the spring would face the rear of the gun so as to press snuggly against the flange of the guide rod. The open end presses against a larger surface - the inside front of the slide. From a layman’s perspective it makes sense the gun comes that way from the factory.