K9 fail to feed last round

[JohnR]

This is a consistent problem, the last round won't feed. The slide fails to go into battery, and the round is partially fed. I have to pull the slide back and sling shot it to feed it.

I know this was discussed here before but I can't find it.

It's a K9 I bought used, the seller said it had about 270 rounds through it IIRC. I have put 200+ rounds through it, and have used 9 different magazines and they all do it. It occasionally sticks on feeding the first round, and a nudge puts it into battery.

[Ed M]

Time for a new recoil spring....

[JohnR]

Time for a new recoil spring....
My first reaction was, “What, after only about 500 rounds?” But I just compared the K9’s spring to my CW9’s spring, and the K9’s is 1/2” shorter. My next experiment may be to swap those springs and see if the issue follows the spring.

[JohnR]

And the CW9 has more rounds through it.

[BirdsThaWord]

Curious to see your results. Is the feed ramp polished? I only ask as that last round may come in at a different angle, more nosed up, than the other rounds. Just thinking how that may possibly be effected by the feed ramp. Please let us know if the recoil spring fixes it.

[JohnR]

On Kahr's website the recoil springs for the CW and K have different SKUs, so I have no idea if they're supposed to be interchangeable. I haven't polished the feed ramp, but that's a good question.

[JohnR]

They’re not interchangeable. The barrels are milled differently, so the guide rods are different lengths, and the CW spring doesn’t fit in the K9.

The feed ramp seems pretty shiny.

[yqtszhj]

Or a weak mag spring causing last round issues. I had that happen on some pistol I just can’t remember which one. Of course if it’s multiple mags then it may not be the issue.

[JohnR]

9 magazines that all work fine in a CW9, and none feed the last round in a K9, doesn't seem likely to be the magazine's fault.

[Old No7]

With the slide off, can you load a mag with 1 round (the "last one", obviously) and insert the mag into the K9 and the CW9?

I'd be curious if any part of the slide stop is hitting the round or otherwise causing an issue...

If you can do this with both the K9 and CW9 side-by-side, and try different mags too, the "visual" you see may just help you debug it.

They try a mag with "2 rounds" and see if that next-to-last round sits any different than the "last one" did.

The mags are the same/similar, but it's possible they might sit higher/lower on one gun "just enough" due to the mag catch placement...

That's all I have for ideas. But good luck!

Old No7

[getsome]

Wow, that's a stumper alright....Do you have a mag with a Lakeline follower to see if that might be the fix? With that many different mags all doing the same thing it pretty much eliminates a mag spring issue so I would first install a new recoil spring along with a good feed ramp slick up to see if that does it and if not try a Lakeline follower in a known good mag and if that doesn't do it may be time for a trip back to the mothership...Good luck....

[JohnR]

No Lakeline follower, but I have a Magguts kit with their follower on the way.

I’ll check the slide stop clearance tomorrow.

[getsome]

Hea John, when you get a chance to try out the new Magguts kit could you give us a report on how it worked and if it helped the FTF last round thing....I'm interested in a Magguts kit for my PM9 but I need it to work 100% ....I hear good things about their other kits so am hopeful it will work as advertised...Who knows, that extra round might be the one that makes all the difference....

[Old No7]

Any updates on this?

Old No7

[JohnR]

I haven’t gotten around to it yet.

[JohnR]

Slide off, slide stop pin in, nothing touches anything.

[Old No7]

Slide off, slide stop pin in, nothing touches anything.
Thanks for updating us on this, was wondering how you made out John.

Is there any chance that after the last round comes "up" the slide stop moves a tad, and somehow that causes the issue???

On the other rounds, with a round still below in the mag, that wouldn't happen...

That's all I can come up with...........

Old No7

[sharpetop]

My money says that a new recoil spring will fix it!

[JohnR]

Well, it’s easy enough to try it, and nothing else has worked, so I guess I’ll thy a new recoil spring.

[gb6491]

Well, it’s easy enough to try it, and nothing else has worked, so I guess I’ll thy a new recoil spring.
Often a weak magazine spring is the culprit on last round in the magazine issues, but as you have had this across various magazines, I'd ask if you have pulled the extractor? If not, I'd be inclined to do so and give everything a good cleaning....shoot, maybe even swap the parts with your CW9. My thoughts being that perhaps the last round (with no help from rounds beneath it) is not quite getting up under the extractor and that the extractor is contributing to this.
Regards,
Greg

BTW, does the K9's slide travel smoothly with no sign of stickiness/hesitation?

[JohnR]

My revolver fever is in remission, and I’m back into semiauto 9mm. I got the MagGuts stuffed into the 8-rnd mag and it works fine so far in the CW9. The K9 is still acting up. This time the last round fed fine most of the time, it was an intermediate round that sometimes would result in failure to return to battery. A new recoil spring is on order. I sure hope that’s all it is.

[JohnR]

Gaaaaa!!!!

This is why I drift back to revolvers.

The new recoil spring is 5" long. The original one is 4" long. Ok, cool; maybe that was the problem.

I have NEVER encountered a recoil spring this difficult to install. It seems to require a factory jig to get it to compress enough to fit, without it sproinging to one side. I cannot get it in. Not at all. Not even close. This is pathetic. I feel defeated.

[Bawanna]

I hold the slide in my right hand and push the spring with my thumb, I use my left hand to control the sproing.
I'm sure a brand new spring is challenging but you can do it.

[JohnR]

That's more or less what I attempted. I got it to within about 1/8" or less of slipping into place, but it didn't make it.

[berettabone]

I got tired of fighting with certain autos.....................stick with your revolvers. Kiss theory wins out almost always......................................:p

[JohnR]

I rigged something up where the spring could be compressed overnight. It came out 4.5” long, and I got it installed without a lot of aggravation. Now, to try it out.

[Old No7]

I rigged something up where the spring could be compressed overnight. It came out 4.5” long, and I got it installed without a lot of aggravation. Now, to try it out.
We hope it works for you John!

Keep us posted please -- those of us with K9s will want to know.

Old No7

[JohnR]

My plans to test it keep getting thwarted. Possibly today...

[JohnR]

I was a little more scientific this time. 9 magazines, 150 rounds of S&B FMJ ammo, and a pen and paper.

Mag Guts 8 rnd. magazine, 2 mags full: First mag perfect, 2nd mag had a partial feed into the chamber on the 2nd round.
Kahr 9-8 mag w/ sleeve: 3 mags full: First mag had a partial feed on the last round, the other two mags fed perfectly.
7 rnd mag w/ flat metal base plate: 4 mags full: First and second mags had the last round fail to strip from the magazine at all, the other 2 times it fed perfectly.
7 rnd mag w/ flat metal base plate (#2): 3 mags full: 2nd round partially fed all three times.
7 rnd mag w/ plastic base plate (5 separate magazines): all fed perfectly.

The mags with failures are the Mag Guts, flat metal base plate, and factory 8 round. That leaves me 5 magazines that fed perfectly. The other mags can stay with my CW9.

Next test will be with other FMJ ammo, and JHP, just to be sure.

It could have been partially the recoil spring and partially some of the mag springs. I'll double check the faulty mags to see that the springs are in the right way, but they work fine in the CW9 which is odd.

[JohnR]

Oh, and a couple empty casings flew at my face. One lodged between my glasses and my temple, leaving a little rectangular burn mark less than an inch from the eye I just had cataract surgery on. My eye doctor will kill me, I’m not supposed to have any fun for a while. So I’m planning to pick up a visor. Hats work, but interfere with ear muffs, and get hot in summer. I figure a visor will be more comfortable and keep hot brass off my face.

Another reason to like revolvers! :D

[JohnR]

I went out again today with 25 rounds of Hornady Critical Duty and 25 of their +P rounds, and all fed perfectly. Then I tried the S&B FMJ again and got last round misfeeds on one of the mags. Upon examining the mag, it has the stamped metal piece between the plastic pinky rest and the spring, and the weakly stamped dimple doesn't hold the pinky rest securely. The pinky rest tends to slide forward. I suspect this is the issue. All the other good mags have an injection molded plastic piece there that holds the pinky rest securely.

The hat kept a couple rounds off my face, but I still got one down my back.

[Old No7]

Upon examining the mag, it has the stamped metal piece between the plastic pinky rest and the spring, and the weakly stamped dimple doesn't hold the pinky rest securely. The pinky rest tends to slide forward. I suspect this is the issue. All the other good mags have an injection molded plastic piece there that holds the pinky rest securely.

I'll check, as I think I may have some of those plastic pieces from when I changed over my K9 mags to use flush/metal bases. If I find any, we'll connect by PM or email.

Glad to hear you may have found the culprit!

Old No7

[JohnR]

Note to self... stop putting my thumb so close to the slide release.

I finally felt it, and the last round failure returned. I may have been doing this all along. :(