fccsluke
01-08-2011, 05:10 PM
Hi everyone! Just signed up for the forum. I recently added a new P380(blackened with night sights) to my collection and I took it to the range yesterday to break it in.
Since I had read about feed and light strike problems I figured I would keep track at the range and post up a report for others to compare to their experiences and give my opinions for people shopping for the gun to be able to read. I posted this on another forum earlier but I figured a Khar report should also be on the Kahr Forum.
On the way I stopped at Walmart and bought four different kinds of ammo. The kinds I bought were:
Remington UMC 95GR FMJ
American Eagle 95GR FMJ
Blazer Brass 95GR FMJ
TUL Ammo 91GR FMJ
I set up four targets and fired 10 rounds slow fire from each type of ammo in the order above for 2 cycles. I then changed out targets and fired another 10 rds slow fire of each ammo for two more cycles. My last target change was to a silhoutte where I fired the last 10 rounds rapid fire of each ammo.
The failures I experienced(count and ammo) were:
Round 2 FTE (Remington)
Round 3 FTE (Remington)
Round 6 FTE (Remington)
**Unfortunately one of the ammos had to be first. Considering I didn't have any further failures from the Remington I wouldn't put too much stock into these.
Round 36 FTF (TUL)
NOTE: I'm using FTF for Failure to Feed vice Fire. I had zero failures to fire.
Round 57 FTF (American Eagle)
Round 73 FTF (Blazer Brass)
Round 92 FTF (American Eagle)
Round 157 FTE (Blazer Brass)
So from the first 200 rounds I had 4 FTE(3 of which came in the first 10 rounds) and 4 FTF. Every one of the FTF's was caused by the slide locking back as if the magazine was empty. Unfortunately I did not think to keep track of the magazines I was using, but next time I will mark the mags and note which mag is in when the gun FTF's. I'm convinced that this is not a problem with the gun but rather a magazine problem or even more likely an operator error where I am accidently pushing the slide lock up with my thumbs. I shoot thumbs forward and there's not alot of room for my big ape thumbs to go on that little receiver. I tried paying more attention to that on the range and as you can see there was a significant drop off in the amount of FTF's, with only 1 occuring in the last 108 rounds.
Accuracy wise all of the ammo's shot fairly tight groups with the best being:
1-Blazer, 2-American Eagle, 3-TUL, 4-Remington. I was consistently shooting just a bit low and to the right with all of the ammo. That's not indicative of the ammo but rather something that I need to work on because my big hands are trying to properly grasp and fire such a little gun. I'm not posting pics but if anyone wants to see the ammo boxes or groupings just PM and I'll send them to you.
After I fired the first 200 I bought a box of Atlanta Arms 95GR TCJ from the range and proceeded to work on follow on shots and reload drills. I had two more FTF's during this time(rounds 207, 208). After all of this I loaded up ten more rounds of my carry ammo(Sperry Gold Dot) and experienced no failures.
So after 260 rounds downrange, here is my opinion of the gun:
Pro's:
-The finish on the gun is really good as it should be for a gun in the price range.
-Trigger pull is amazingly smooth for a DAO on a gun so small. Even my Girlfriend who is a far less experienced shooter can pull through the trigger with a snap cap on the end of the slide without dropping it.
-The gun is super small but yet doesn't sacrifice accuracy or have that harsh recoil sting that some other smaller guns are known for.
Con's:
-The slide lock/release may be a bit too tight/small for inexperienced shooters to operate, especially since this gun must be loaded with the slide locked back. the literature says that if the magazine is not fully loaded you can pull and release the slide to load the weapon but who wants to carry around one less round? it already only carries 6 in the provided magazines.
-The gun is really small and can take some getting used to, If you have big hands like me you might find yourself looking for something to hold onto, which as I stated earlier is most likely causing my slide lock/FTF problem, and is affecting my accuracy, hence the low and to the right groupings. So small gun, new grip... simple as that.
-Take down/reassambly. Before taking down the gun read the directions carefully and go to the Kahr site to watch the videos. There is a really small spring that can and does get easily bent if you do not pay attention while putting the gun back together.
Overall I am really pleased with this gun so far. It's an awesome little gun, It's accurate, the trigger pull is really smooth and it is really comfortable to shoot. Yes, I have some issues to work through regarding my grip but once figured out I may even carry this bad boy on shorts and t-shirt day!
Since I had read about feed and light strike problems I figured I would keep track at the range and post up a report for others to compare to their experiences and give my opinions for people shopping for the gun to be able to read. I posted this on another forum earlier but I figured a Khar report should also be on the Kahr Forum.
On the way I stopped at Walmart and bought four different kinds of ammo. The kinds I bought were:
Remington UMC 95GR FMJ
American Eagle 95GR FMJ
Blazer Brass 95GR FMJ
TUL Ammo 91GR FMJ
I set up four targets and fired 10 rounds slow fire from each type of ammo in the order above for 2 cycles. I then changed out targets and fired another 10 rds slow fire of each ammo for two more cycles. My last target change was to a silhoutte where I fired the last 10 rounds rapid fire of each ammo.
The failures I experienced(count and ammo) were:
Round 2 FTE (Remington)
Round 3 FTE (Remington)
Round 6 FTE (Remington)
**Unfortunately one of the ammos had to be first. Considering I didn't have any further failures from the Remington I wouldn't put too much stock into these.
Round 36 FTF (TUL)
NOTE: I'm using FTF for Failure to Feed vice Fire. I had zero failures to fire.
Round 57 FTF (American Eagle)
Round 73 FTF (Blazer Brass)
Round 92 FTF (American Eagle)
Round 157 FTE (Blazer Brass)
So from the first 200 rounds I had 4 FTE(3 of which came in the first 10 rounds) and 4 FTF. Every one of the FTF's was caused by the slide locking back as if the magazine was empty. Unfortunately I did not think to keep track of the magazines I was using, but next time I will mark the mags and note which mag is in when the gun FTF's. I'm convinced that this is not a problem with the gun but rather a magazine problem or even more likely an operator error where I am accidently pushing the slide lock up with my thumbs. I shoot thumbs forward and there's not alot of room for my big ape thumbs to go on that little receiver. I tried paying more attention to that on the range and as you can see there was a significant drop off in the amount of FTF's, with only 1 occuring in the last 108 rounds.
Accuracy wise all of the ammo's shot fairly tight groups with the best being:
1-Blazer, 2-American Eagle, 3-TUL, 4-Remington. I was consistently shooting just a bit low and to the right with all of the ammo. That's not indicative of the ammo but rather something that I need to work on because my big hands are trying to properly grasp and fire such a little gun. I'm not posting pics but if anyone wants to see the ammo boxes or groupings just PM and I'll send them to you.
After I fired the first 200 I bought a box of Atlanta Arms 95GR TCJ from the range and proceeded to work on follow on shots and reload drills. I had two more FTF's during this time(rounds 207, 208). After all of this I loaded up ten more rounds of my carry ammo(Sperry Gold Dot) and experienced no failures.
So after 260 rounds downrange, here is my opinion of the gun:
Pro's:
-The finish on the gun is really good as it should be for a gun in the price range.
-Trigger pull is amazingly smooth for a DAO on a gun so small. Even my Girlfriend who is a far less experienced shooter can pull through the trigger with a snap cap on the end of the slide without dropping it.
-The gun is super small but yet doesn't sacrifice accuracy or have that harsh recoil sting that some other smaller guns are known for.
Con's:
-The slide lock/release may be a bit too tight/small for inexperienced shooters to operate, especially since this gun must be loaded with the slide locked back. the literature says that if the magazine is not fully loaded you can pull and release the slide to load the weapon but who wants to carry around one less round? it already only carries 6 in the provided magazines.
-The gun is really small and can take some getting used to, If you have big hands like me you might find yourself looking for something to hold onto, which as I stated earlier is most likely causing my slide lock/FTF problem, and is affecting my accuracy, hence the low and to the right groupings. So small gun, new grip... simple as that.
-Take down/reassambly. Before taking down the gun read the directions carefully and go to the Kahr site to watch the videos. There is a really small spring that can and does get easily bent if you do not pay attention while putting the gun back together.
Overall I am really pleased with this gun so far. It's an awesome little gun, It's accurate, the trigger pull is really smooth and it is really comfortable to shoot. Yes, I have some issues to work through regarding my grip but once figured out I may even carry this bad boy on shorts and t-shirt day!