K-9 Stripper Bar

[JohnR]

My K-9 has an issue with feeding occasionally. I had a similar issue with my PM45, which needed the stripper bar beveled off. It was easy to do, and the pistol functioned perfectly afterward.

I notice that my K-9's stripper bar is a sharp right angle, while my CW9's is rounded over.

Should I dremel my K-9's bar to match the CW9?

[Bawanna]

I would lean more towards bevel than round. Round might provide enough for the case to slip into place basically accomplishing the same thing. So a bevel with slightly rounded corners.

Don't think it needs a whole lot either way you go.

Hope this makes sense, it works in my head but reading it, I don't get it either.

[JohnR]

The CW9 is definitely rounded, but the bevel worked on the 45. I guess I could start with a bevel and round it if needed.

If any K-9 owners could examine theirs and let me know what you have, that'd be awesome. If you detail strip the slide, it's the long protrusion down the middle that strips the top round out of the mag as the slide moves forward.

[gb6491]

The rail on my K9 has a slight bevel on it:
https://i.postimg.cc/fR52RZ8k/k9sr3.jpg (https://postimages.org/)
It's kind of difficult to get a photo of it with my phone and it doesn't help that corners of the the rail have burrs/damage on them.
https://i.postimg.cc/4Npt55tg/k9sr.jpg (https://postimg.cc/ZCKCY6V7)
Regards,
Greg

[Linthead]

"Rounded" can be changed to a "bevel" if necessary; the reverse is not true.

[JohnR]

Thanks Greg, I think I'll give mine a little buzz.

[skiflydive]

Mine (SN BF09XX) has a shallower bevel than Greg's. For what it's worth it looks like the rail was beveled before the final mill cut on the top of the rail.

[ct9kahrtoter]

"Rounded" can be changed to a "bevel" if necessary; the reverse is not true.I thought the same thing, being a machinist for the last 26 years, but I would not put much of a radius on it, otherwise you will end up with a huge bevel.

[Old No7]

"Rounded" can be changed to a "bevel" if necessary; the reverse is not true.


I thought the same thing, being a machinist for the last 26 years, but I would not put much of a radius on it, otherwise you will end up with a huge bevel.

I had to think about both those comments...

I believe a bevel can in fact be changed to rounded -- and vice versa -- as long as you're willing to remove more metal, that is.

In this image I created, the red dashed lines are the "before" profile, while the blue mass is the "after". Either way, you're taking more metal off the edge to change the profile.

https://i.imgur.com/B1Zzlyy.jpg

Based on this, I wouldn't alter my gun at all; I'd change the loads and lube it well per the "Kahr Prep Info" and should the heck out of it.

I'm hearing my late father's words (2nd-generation locksmith and machinist) ringing in my head: "Remember kid, the take-off metal tools work much better than the put-on metal tricks."

Old No7

[Bawanna]

The whole issue is just to get that stripper bar (sounds like a nice place to go huh?) behind the cartridge case.
Years ago this was an issue quite frequently, don't hear much about it last few years.
It doesn't take much at all, and may not need it. Lock the slide back, insert a loaded mag and see if the case is in front of the stripper or under it. If it's under you need a bit of bevel. Especially if you load with the slide lock. If you sling shot you got a better chance of getting the slide back enough to catch the case.

I agree with Old No 7 and his father, don't mess with it unless you have to.

[Old No7]

...just to get that stripper bar (sounds like a nice place to go huh?)...
Time for a Kahr Talk Meet & Greet!!! (Or a shoot & hoot...)

Old No7

[wyntrout]

It won't HURT to bevel the 9mm "strippers" a bit. The 9mm doesn't have the problem that the .45, my PM45 in particular had, with the stripper being behind the top cartridge in the magazine. That's one thing that I noticed... that there was plenty of room behind the cartridges in the mags with the 9mm's, but the rim of the .45's could end up under the stripper and not be pushed forward to chamber... without the bevel. With the bevel the stripper can push the cartridge foreward with enough pressure to get behind the cartridge and then push it forward.

The same with the half-moon cutout or bevel on the upper front of the forward position for the recoil assembly under the slide. My K9 didn't have a relief, but I could see some very small marks there, so I gave it the relief the other Kahrs had... room for the recoil spring and guide rod to move up and down as the barrel and slide moved apart during recoil to unlock and lock or mate the barrel to the slide. We called that a notch. Some pistols had it and some didn't, but it was needed. Pic of robust factory PM9 notch below. Pic2 shows PM45 on the top cartridge rim. Pic3 is the PM9 with plenty of space for the stripper behind the top round. Pic4 the result of the PM45 stripper being forced forward(palm strikes to the rear of the slide) and just scraping over the top round. Pic5 shows the PM45 slide over the PM9 slide with the difference in bevels on the stripper. I have a picture of ther un-beveled PM45 slide, too. I'll add another post for that.

On some pistols without the relief, the RSA would eventually batter a small relief there anyhow.

[wyntrout]

Pic1 unbeveled PM45 slide at top ~ February 2010. I made a small bevel and the "repair" worked. The slide's stripper could now push the cartridge forward enough to get behind the rim and push forward to chamber the round in Pic2.

One thing that I found out was the problem mainly showed up with trying to chamber a round as Kahr suggests with the slide locked to the rear. With a proper full rack and clean release, the stripper can get behind the rim and chamber without a problem, as does chambering in normal firing.

Don't overlook the "notch". This confinement of the RSA CAN cause problems. Sometimes the notch is missed in production, as it was on my PM45 and K9.

:)