P9 is unreliable. Trigger frequently fails to arm

[XFlyboy]

I've owned a P9 now for the past 3 years or so, and I must say I've been very impressed with its reliability. Never had a misfire, in fact. Until a few weeks ago when I was qualifying for my CCW permit renewal. For the last 20 rounds or so that I had to fire, the gun failed to arm two or three times. Embarrassing. I brought the gun home, cleaned and lubed it. Now sitting in my living room and dry firing, the trigger fails to arm (not sure if I'm using the right terminology) maybe one out of ten racks of the slide. Even when I lock the slide fully back and cock the gun by releasing the slide stop, the trigger occasionally fails to arm and I have to re-rack the slide.

Any ideas what the problem might be?

Thanks.

[gb6491]

My first thought would be to see if the trigger bar is returning to it's full height position. You can verify this by looking at the disconnector...or better yet remove the side plate.
https://i.postimg.cc/26pKLcBn/ktb2.jpg
Removing the side plate allows you check the trigger bar spring and full trigger bar as well as cleaning that area.
If all looks good to this point, install the slide with the side plate off and work the action to see if the trigger bar continues to return to it's full height.
https://i.postimg.cc/hG4jWsGb/ktb1.jpg

BTW, the side plate is held on by a screw or pin towards the rear of it. There is also a ball stud and socket under the plate towards the lower rear (you can slide a small, flat tool under the plate to pop this joint apart). The plate also has a tab/shelf on it's leading edge that fits under a lip on the frame. You are basically freeing/lifting the rear of the plate and sliding the plate backwards to remove it.
https://i.postimg.cc/qMSVzdgJ/xf6b6h_copy.jpg

Regards,
Greg

[XFlyboy]

Thanks Greg for the detailed response. If the gun is definitely malfunctioning, maybe best just to send back to Kahr as it is still under warranty?

[getsome]

Hi XFlyboy and welcome to Kahrtalk...Greg is one of the resident geniuses here and posts great pictures of problems folks may have with their pistols and what you see in the picture is the trigger bar and disconnector ...The problem you are having is called trigger reset, in other words you can pull the trigger and make the gun fire but the trigger doesn’t go forward enough to reset....The trigger bar may be rubbing against the frame which prevents it from fully returning to reset and can be removed and smoothed to get rid of burs and if you feel comfortable with taking off the side plate and messing with it you might be able to see what is causing the bind and fix it yourself but since your P9 is new and under warranty I would call Kahr and ask for a return shipping label and let let their gunsmiths make the corrections or adjustments to correct the issue.....Kahr will make it right so I would send it back and let them correct the problem, might take a few weeks but when you get it back it will be right.....Good luck and let us know how it goes....

[XFlyboy]

Hi getsome. Thanks for the clarification and explanations on the trigger reset. I really appreciate Greg's detailed posts. He's helped me out in the past with my problematic P380 that has been back to Kahr a couple of times so I know how that drill goes. I checked my receipts and my P9 was purchased in 2017 so a couple of years left on the warranty. I think I may keep it and experiment for a bit longer before I send it back. In hindsight, I may not even have 500 rounds through it yet. I'll give it a couple of hundred more before I decide if it needs to go back or not.

[rms2324]

Hi getsome. Thanks for the clarification and explanations on the trigger reset. I really appreciate Greg's detailed posts. He's helped me out in the past with my problematic P380 that has been back to Kahr a couple of times so I know how that drill goes. I checked my receipts and my P9 was purchased in 2017 so a couple of years left on the warranty. I think I may keep it and experiment for a bit longer before I send it back. In hindsight, I may not even have 500 rounds through it yet. I'll give it a couple of hundred more before I decide if it needs to go back or not.

If I’m not mistaken, Mark from Kahr CS told me the 5 year warranty is over and all Kahr Premium series have a lifetime warranty