Battery on new PM40

[Slynchee]

Hi everyone. I am new to Kahrtalk and new to Kahr. I just bought my first Kahr as my off duty carry. I bought a PM40 and I put 225 rounds through it the first day. I found that about 30% of the time it would not go into battery. I would just push on the slide with my thumb and she was good to go. Last night I went to the range again and put another 145 rounds through her. This time I had only 4 failure to battery. I know that does not seem like alot, but I do not want any failure to batteries. I contacted Kahr and they are sending me a new recoil spring. What do you think the problem is. Thank you for reading my first thread, and besides the little mishap, I love my new PM40.

[Bawanna]

Welcome Slynchee.

The recoil spring would be the first thing I would try. It sounds like it's getting better. I'd try the new spring and keep it clean and lubed well especially right at first. Perhaps lubed a bit more than one would normally, give things a chance to wear in.
What kind of ammo were you shooting? I find that Kahrs while not finicky generally about ammo seem to prefer the warmer loads. Any good factory load should run just fine.

I'd check the chamber just to make sure it's not rough, usually they are well polished anymore along with the feed ramp. That's not your issue as they are feeding just not quite getting home.

Keep us posted.

[garyb]

Greetings and welcome Slynchee. I have a PM40 and before I fired a round, I took the prep advice of Jocko under the Kahr Tech section, Proper prep. I suggest you follow his advice and prep your PM. It only takes a few minutes. Did you clean and prep your new gun? Also look at the lube points section of the Kahr tech section. Did you lube it properly...as Bawanna45cal mentioned. It may be that your feed ramp and/or lube is not adequate. Very unlikely it is the spring, but possible. Take her apart and inspect, clean, prep, clean again and lube properly.

Finally, it may be the ammo, but I have not found the PM to be sensitive to ammo either. Not saying that some ammo won't create a problem, but unlikely and again, possible. Cycle it numerous times to wear down the rough edges. This helps alot and does not require ammo. Clean, prep and Lube it properly. Then give it another try with another good target ammo - Winchester target/practice 165gr FMJ is reasonably cost effective and feeds well. Best of luck to you, but don't give up on it yet. You will find that this forum will be most helpful to you and there is a diversity of opinions that makes the group beneficial.

[earle8888]

Welcome! I have had incidents of FTE and not going into battery with my PM40, only when others shooting it. It was a limp wrist or more precise insufficient grip. Don't know BUT!

[Slynchee]

Thank you everyone for welcoming me to the Kahr family and the advice. I will let everyone know how it turns out. I love my new Kahr PM40. I ordered a new crossbreed minituck and I was thinking of ordering the wolff springs for the mags and the recoil spring. Has anyone done this? What do you think of the wolff springs.

[garyb]

Wolff springs??? Have not heard of them, nor found any need for them...yet. I have qty 5 of the PM40 mags (the two standard 5 & 6 round mags that came with it and 3 extra extended 6 round mags for IDPA) and all work perfectly so far. Wondering why you feel you need new springs in your new mags?

[Bawanna]

Thank you everyone for welcoming me to the Kahr family and the advice. I will let everyone know how it turns out. I love my new Kahr PM40. I ordered a new crossbreed minituck and I was thinking of ordering the wolff springs for the mags and the recoil spring. Has anyone done this? What do you think of the wolff springs.

Kahr uses Wolfe springs when they build em new. Many folks here order directly from Wolfe. Order from Kahr or Wolfe, your getting the same spring.

[garyb]

OOPS! Well that explains part of my ignorance...haha. I guess I need my Wolfe springs after all....haha. Originally sounded like it was an upgrade or modification. Silly me. However, it does not change the fact that my mags are working as they should, obviously because they have Wolfes in them... Good idea...if you get new springs, get Wolfes guys...haha.

[Bawanna]

OOPS! Well that explains part of my ignorance...haha. I guess I need my Wolfe springs after all....haha. Originally sounded like it was an upgrade or modification. Silly me. However, it does not change the fact that my mags are working as they should, obviously because they have Wolfes in them... Good idea...if you get new springs, get Wolfes guys...haha.

Your only ignorant until you get new information. I'm ignorant of alot of things so I dont consider it a shameful thing at all.

I figure don't mess with the best. Wolfe is top drawer stuff so no matter where you get it, it's a good choice.
As yet, they don't have springs for the PM45's but I'm sure its only a matter of time.
As for your mags, don't fix that which is not broken.

[Mits3kgt88]

How much lube are you using and what kind? I had a feeding and return to battery issue with my P40 until I had switched from using Rem Oil to the Hoppe's Elite Gun Oil and made all lube points wet. Kahrs like to run wet it seems. I found that the Rem Oil would dry up and only leave the Teflon film on the surfaces. Apparently that wasn't enough. Now I don't have those issues anymore. I do want to use the Mil-comm TW25 grease but haven't been able to find it locally. So I'll be buying it online soon. Good luck, I hope you figure it out.

[jocko]

slynchee. to me it seems the gun is now starting to mate up with itself and the shooter. Both must work together to make thingshappen. It is evident that maybe your gun is going to take a few more break in rounds that some others do. Not sure if you did any propper prepping of your new kahr either, this could have saved some time.

I think your OK, just keep shooting and proper lubed it will shoot itself out soon.

Just remember the PM9 and PM40 use the same recoil springs which is 18#. Wolffs makes for the PM9 and PM40 the 20.5 Recoil spring which I even have on my PM9 and I certainly feel it would be a great advantage to the PM40. U just need to replace the outter spring and not mess with the inner one.

[earle8888]

I changed both inner and outer springs with new Wolffe's. The inner spring is tough, delicate at the same time. If your not confident, the follow Jacko. I don't know if the inner spring is worth the trouble. Also, you can get new spring and guide rod from Kahr.

[Slynchee]

Jocko, thanks......I am feeling much better about my PM40. I use Hoppes oil for the slide. I see guys talking about Tw25, should I use this on the slide instead of the hoppes. I put a couple drops on either side of the slide and rack it a bunch of times. Would TW25 be better?

I am also ordering the Wolffes Springs for the recoil and my mags.

[WMD]

slynchee,

like Jocko said, keep firing the gun. The PM's require a 200 or so round break-in period. I believe you said you had 225 rounds through the gun and the failure rate decreased significantly. Could be you have a tighter then normal gun. That is a good thing! Keep shooting. If you get 300 rounds through the gun and still seeing failures (not due to limp wristing), then I woudl consider a recoil spring or some other recourse.

Lastly, keep this in mind. When shooting the PM40 your hand will get tired after you have gone through a number of rounds. You may have a tendency to limp wrist at this point. I know, I have done this. After 20 rounds my hand got tired and I limp wristed (hard to admit that! :D) THe PM40 is a great shooter once you understand it.

[jocko]

If it was my gun, I would run a line of TW25 right down the middle of the slide rails. It just stays put. Oil is probalby OK but I think it runs (u may not know it). Basicalay what WMD stated is so true of the PM40. It is a handful to shoot (alot). many report this , not just my opinion,. It is what it is ,,, one powerful pocket rocket that weights darn near nothing compared to most 40 cals out there. It is so easy to get tired and not know it that is when things happen. Just be aware of when things start to happen. If it doesn't happen at first but later in the session, maybe attribute that to "being tired".

It seems to me the gun is starting to mate up also and yours might just need those extra rounds to get relaibe. I had a para carry 9 that gave issues and when I talked to the warranty people at Para, they said call them back after a couple thousand rounds. It smoothed out way before that. Sometimes one has got to give a certain gun alittle more tlc, for reason I cannot explain either. I do think the heavier wolffs recoil spring for the PM40 is the way to go. For the PM9 and PM40 to actually have the same recoil springs in them to me means one gun is under springed maybe..... your sure not gonna hurt the gun by trying a heavier spring...