P380 Slide Lock Help

[CPO15]

New pistol, about 400 rounds, flawless until last two range trips: fails to lock back after last round on both magazines. Well cleaned and proper recoil spring orientation. S/N RB**68.

Not "insufficient recoil resistance" as the issue did not occur during first 300 rounds. Slide will lock when retracted manually on empty magazine. Seller & Belloit, Fiocci and American Eagle during break-in. Issue occurs now using only American Eagle. No other feeding/ejecting problems. Grip not interfering with the slide stop.

Called Kahr and the rep began to suggest limp-wristing (I was tempted to tell him that sounded like something a Taurus rep would say but, since I needed his help, I kept quiet) and he's sending ONE new mag follower to see if this is the problem.

I have not cleaned the mags but will do so when the part arrives.



Anyone have an idea or suggestion? Couldn't stumble upon anything using search or Google/Bing. Thanks in advance.

[jocko]

Mine did that after about 500 rounds. Up tothen it was perfect and I tried everythihng. I reploaced the followers, no luck, mag springs, no luck, new slide stoplever, no luck, new slide stop spring, no luck, new recoil springs, no luck, finally gave up and sent it back to kahr and they replaced the entire slide. never had an issue again, now go figure, what the hell changed in 500 rounds to cause this.????

If it only does it with American Eagle, then IMO ditch that round and move on, Try it with some good american brand ammo again like Remingotn or Winchester. U night have somehow bent that little slide stop spring enough to becausing it also. If you go to the kahr tech section and hit on propper prepping of your new kahr, it gives some good tips there on how to adjust it and then hit on the other sticky by gb6491 on cw issues and fixes. It shows great photos of that that little spring hy should look like. Eliminate all the possables before boxing it up and sending it back. If only one round is casuing it, for me, I would just not shoot it but that in itself is strange to.

[CPO15]

Actually, I was surprised that the Kahr guy said the AE ammo was good. And happy to hear that since I've got about 500 rounds of the stuff.

Jocko: in looking at the issues and fixes thread you mentioned, I wonder if I may have bent the lip(s) on both mags (using an Uplula)? But the slide does lock manually on an empty mag.

[Whaleman]

Remove the mag and the slide. With the slide off place the slide stop back through the frame. Replace the mag and you can now see if the mag follower is in fact pushing up on the slide stop. If the to of the mag is very dirty it can keep the follower a little too low to push up hard enough to lock the slide.

[Ross51]

I am thinking of selling my Kahr .p380 and getting a S&W bodyguard woud I be making a bad decision can anyone advise?

[zeromeow]

I am thinking of selling my Kahr .p380 and getting a S&W bodyguard woud I be making a bad decision can anyone advise?

Get the bodyguard, but keep your Kahr. Shoot the bodyguard a few hundred times. See how you like it compared to the Kahr. Keep the one you like and sell the other one. Also, report back here what you kept and why.

[jocko]

Actually, I was surprised that the Kahr guy said the AE ammo was good. And happy to hear that since I've got about 500 rounds of the stuff.

Jocko: in looking at the issues and fixes thread you mentioned, I wonder if I may have bent the lip(s) on both mags (using an Uplula)? But the slide does lock manually on an empty mag.

only mentioning some possables to look at. I doubt if the uplula did any damage. I havre used it in my P380 magas before and isee no reason why it should. The feed lips are not what engages the slide lock anyhow. If the follower is engaging the slide lock lever manually, I would thinhk it would be OK. It is all about timing to in the slide lockingopen. Not so say either that maytbe anew set of recoil springs and test out to see. One never knows. but springs would be the first thing I would replace as it causes no negatives to what ever else the gun is doing and new springs can certainly not hurt anything. Again u need to eliminate any possables. See if the4 mag locks back with like maybe 3 rounds in the magazine. Make surethe magazine is spiffy clean on the inside and that the spring is on correctl;y also. Check to see if the followers are OK and not cracked. I am at a loss to tellyoiu directly what is the issue bnut if you eliminate all the possables that you have control over, then there is nothing else you can do exc ept send it back. AE ammo is good stuff but if it gives ur gun issues and no other brand does, then IMO juyst move away from it. My P380 was not very friendly with 102 grain golden sabres, so I just stopped tryingto press the issue with it. U did statre that the issue only occurs with AE ammo, so for meI has to be somehow ammo related. why that is I cannot explain but again there are lots of good 380 ammo out there, so why not just get someotyher brands and test them out. If they are reliable stick with um..

[jocko]

I am thinking of selling my Kahr .p380 and getting a S&W bodyguard woud I be making a bad decision can anyone advise?

kahr is not reliable and ur unhappyt with it, get the bodyguard and it if works like it should also. then u made a good decision. I won't keep any gun that doesn't work. I personally feel the kahr is heads above the bodyguard but that is not to say the Smith is not a good gun either. Don't be ellusioned that the Smith doeksn't give issues either, but they like kahr will stand behind their product..

If you love the guinh you bought, no matter what brand it is then at least give the company/maker one chance to make it right, then after that if it doesn't perform, peddle it. These companies are all squeezinbg alot of sh-t inthgese small ass guns and bugs are just gonna occur in some of them..

[wyntrout]

I don't think the MagLula would hurt the magazine, but if you're using the larger one that only goes down to 9mm, it might be several things. You may be damaging the front of the feed lips because of contact with the "beak". It's too wide to go back far enough between the lips without modification... AND continued pressing down on only the front part of the cartridges MAY be weakening the spring in the front, which needs all of its strength to push up against the slide lock actuator.

You might try bending the free end of the spring under the front of the follower up a bit... exaggerate the lift in the front. Maybe that will help in the short term. I would hate to mess with the slide lock spring's free end with trying to lighten its downward pressure, but if you're REALLY careful with that screw into POLYMER... PLASTIC, maybe that would help. Maybe it's too tight and causes too much pressure, though.

I finally got a "Baby UpLula" while they were on sale for $25 at Midway. It's only good up TO .380... quite a bit smaller. I haven't really "used" it yet, just tested it on .22 mags for my TPH... much better than fingers and thumbs.

Wynn:)

[CPO15]

I think I'll stop using the Uplula and give a good look at those mag lips. When the follower arrives from Kahr I'll compare it to the followers on the two six-round mags I've got: assuming there's no difference, and that the followers and mags are clean; I just may have to buy two more mags from Kahr.

I was cautious with the Uplula but, as noted, it does require a partial insertion to feed the round and I may not have been as careful when retracting it, thus applying upward pressure on the lips. But that pressure would seem to allow the follower to "rest" or "reset" to a higher position, applying more upward influence on the slide stop. Unless I screwed-up the springs as you suggested.

Might I be able to make a valid comparison of my P380 mag geometry to that of my PM9 and/or my CW9 mags?

My main confusion, perhaps because I've never been comfortable with physics, is why does the slide lock engage when manually retracting the slide but not when the last round is fired?

[wyntrout]

I filed down the sides of the "beak" on one of my Mag UpLulas, but not enough to go back all the way like it does on 9mm and up. I'm afraid I'll compromise the strength of that "beak" and it will bend! :eek:

I would guess that the Kahr design is very similar. The P380 mags are the easiest for me to load without a loader.

The magazine spring has to be strong enough to get the front of the follower up quickly during firing. You're cycling the slide much slower and the weaker spring can push up enough to engage the slide lock.

I've found that most 1911 mags will engage the slide lock on the PM45 when cycled by hand, but none work or work reliably in firing. Most of the springs are just too weak to push up the front of the follower enough for the Kahrs. I've gotten some real nice followers for experimentation for my PM45, but the big weakness is the design and strength of the 1911 springs. NONE of them focus enough on lifting the front of the follower with enough force to actuate the Kahr slide lock when firing. I need better springs, but most 1911 are just too weak for use. The spring must match the design of the follower to work with any magazine in any gun.

Wynn:)

[racuda]

I would suspect the slide stop spring. I bent mine when I reassembled the gun once. I wasn't careful inserting the slide stop and that little spring got bent.

Mine wouldn't lock back on the last round, although it also would'nt lock on an empty mag. Maybe it is a matter of degree?

You can check it by pulling the slide back and thumbing up the slide stop. If the spring is bent there won't be any spring pressure pushing the slide stop down. It will be kinda free floating.

If it is the spring you can bend it back into shape with a pair of needle nose.