PM9 failure to fire question

[Sublimeon24s]

Hey guys

Bought a used 2yr old PM9 yesterday that has about 300rds through it from the previous owner and took it right to the range. I put 150rds of Remmington UMC and Independence 115gr FMJ through it and had (2) failure to fires. The first one was after a fully loaded mag was inserted and the slide release was dropped letting the slide slam home and chamber the first round. The second failure to fire was about 5 mags later after the first shot. What would cause this? I also noticed the frame has some wear on the polymer "channels" that guide the slide that almost look like a dremel was taken to parts. I saw a thread someone posted here with pics showing theirs and it seems the general consensus was it would not affect reliability, so I dont think thats the issue even though it doesnt look right to me

[jocko]

slide doesnt run on the rails once on the gun, have u went to the kahr tech section and hit o the propper prepping of your new kahr and also the kahr lube charet, both should help u alot.

without seeing a photo we are guessiing as what doesn't look right to you. There are some cut outs on the left side of the frame in the poly mer section, so that could be normal what your thinking mayhbe is abnormal. Again no photos, to say either way..

[kpm9]

Were both failure with the Independence and/or did they have firing ping strikes on the primers?

No worries about the frame wear, typical.

[bonjorno2]

could be bad ammo also

[jocko]

possabvle that striker channel needs a good good spray cleaning using that little hole in the bottom of the slide up by thebreech face, fluids willc omeout the back and also the breech hole. no oil after in that chaqnnel area either.

[Sublimeon24s]

thanks for the responses. The (2) failure to fires both happened using the Remmington UMC ammo if my memory serves me correctly. I didnt even look at the rounds for a primer strike mark, just dropped the mag / ejected the round, put it back in the mag / re chambered and it shot fine. I did not do any of the initial prep work since the gun has already had 300 rounds fired through it, I just did a normal cleaning like I do on my Springfield XDMs. What I didint do was spray in the striker channel, didnt even know this PM9 had a little hole to do so, going to do that now!

[gagnejs8]

were they in the 7 round mag?

[MaxStravinsky]

I'm not sure what Remington UMC is, but I had trouble today with Remington hollow points. I let someone at the gun club try my pm9, it had 4 hornady hollow points, and 2 remingtons. Both Remingtons caused trouble. I'm not sure if it was a failuare to feed, or what it was exactly since I wasn't doing the shooting.
Anyone else have trouble with Remington defense rounds in their pm9?

[CJB]

Been thinkin' about failures to fire on Kahr.

What could cause it?

Round not quite fully chambered, so that force of striker moving forward is "cushioned" by the cartridge seating deeper in the chamber?
Related to that, a dirty chamber.
Related to that, out of spec ammo.

Firing pin protrusion inadequate.
Related to that, broken striker.
Related to that, dirty striker or slide (debris someplace).
Chamber too deep, ammo too short.

Firing pin striking force inadequate.
Related to that, hard primer, out of spec ammo.
Related to that, weak striker spring.
Related to that, bad part allowing striker to release too soon (before proper tensioning)
Related to that dirty chamber, out of spec ammo (size), cushioning firing pin blow.

Ammo out of spec.
Round too deep in chamber due to bad case length.

It all's just a few inter-related things. Just gotta sort out which is which.

If I were having repeated failure to fire... I'd take out the barrel, check each and every round in the chamber for ease of chambering, and how they seat as far as depth goes.

I'd clean the pistol. I'd make sure it passed the "BIC pen test". If the gun had some use, replace the striker spring.

And try it again to see if it improved.

[pappy42]

Well put CJB

[ApeWare]

@CJB forgive my ignorance, "BIC pen test" ??

[CJB]

The ol' BIC pen test....

....whereupon the well experienced "smithy" takes a cocked and unloaded pistol, and loads it from the muzzle (like a mortar round) with a BIC pen, firing the pen toward the ceiling.

Very un-scientific. Definitely wont pass any sort of "finite testing" that my local circle of engineer pals would ever conceive for pay, but.... every gunsmith type I've ever known, worked with, worked for, and every gun crank I've ever been around, has done that, comparing known good BIC launches to those from a suspect launcher (aka, the pistol in doubt).

[Jeremiah/Az]

If not understood, I use a pencil with rubber eraser down, the firing pin will "shoot" the pen or pencil when the trigger is pulled on a c0cked gun. As CJB said, be double sure the gun is unloaded!

[jocko]

with such a quality gun as the kahrs, I prefer to use a Mont Blanc pen..

[deadhead1971]

I had a failure to fire the last time out..well sorta...I was doing rapid fire and did not let the trigger fully reset. I was pulling the trigger too fast.

[kahrseye]

with such a quality gun as the kahrs, I prefer to use a Mont Blanc pen..

RIGHTTTTTTTTTTTT........If you do, you have more money than brains and you should spread the wealth....lol. I thought you were going to send me some pics of the wife's bike ......still waiting. :eek:

[Bawanna]

If not understood, I use a pencil with rubber eraser down, the firing pin will "shoot" the pen or pencil when the trigger is pulled on a c0cked gun. As CJB said, be double sure the gun is unloaded!

I use the pencil with a good eraser as well. I just did that trick last week to determine if a gun was functional and operational for a court case.

Used it many times in the past.

[Bawanna]

RIGHTTTTTTTTTTTT........If you do, you have more money than brains and you should spread the wealth....lol. I thought you were going to send me some pics of the wife's bike ......still waiting. :eek:

I just got done studying Patek watches, now I gotta figure out what the heck a Mont Blanc pen is. Who are you people?

[jocko]

i can take photos, just don'[t knbow how to put them on the fourm.


aw Bawanna, life is good, u know that. I resemble yo9u b ut I don't need a chair, put my poaints on probalby the same way as u, al;ittle older, maybe not any wiser. I am a wise ass though, as u wll know. . I worked hard all my life, invested wisely, and I am going to spent it like I stole it. No one ever gave it to me. And I have a certified Birth Certificate to prove that I am what I am to.

[Bawanna]

Soooooo, you invented the Mont Blanc pen? I gotta go research, I'll be back.

[OldLincoln]

i can take photos, just don'[t knbow how to put them on the fourm.
You can always email them to me and I'll do it for you. Or, I can help you set up your Photo Bucket account and how to post yourself.

[Bawanna]

Sweet Mary and Joseph! I found a Mont Blonc pen (they make watches too but not patek). It was 692 smackeroos!:eek: Bet cha don't leave that on the counter when your signing your food stamps.

Who knew? Lots of em for 300 bucks. Didn't see any in the Bic range which are my normal writing instrument.

My favorite pen was a gift from a detective. A guy turned it out of coco bolo and it's got Cross refills. Like it well enough that I've gone thru about 5 refill cartridges. Lost it a couple times but always found it again. No idea what he paid for it but I bet it was 50 bucks at least!

[Bawanna]

You can always email them to me and I'll do it for you. Or, I can help you set up your Photo Bucket account and how to post yourself.

Maybe you could set up a on line picture posting course. I got my Photo Bucket account but I got stuck after that part.

[jocko]

r u finnin me ol great one ???

[Bawanna]

r u finnin me ol great one ???

No way. They got their own website and everything.

Ever wonder how we got from PM9 Failure to fire to extremely high priced fountain pens?

We now return to our ailing PM9 gets well thread.

[Sublimeon24s]

Well....update :(

After having the striker channel fully cleaned out I took it back to the range today to put 300rds through it.........had about 15 failure to fires and the slide did not lock back twice......let the gunsmith at the range shoot it and in 1 mag he had 2 failure to fires as well.......whats weird is, when it happens, you pull the trigger and it feels dead (almost like there is no mag in it all) and it makes a small sound but not really a click, then sometimes if u pull the trigger again right afterwards it fires.....other times no matter how many times u pull the trigger when this happenns it wont fire......something is going on and im not sure what

[Sublimeon24s]

I just realized when I sprayed the striker channel, heavily might I add, before the last range trip I used Eezox which has a synthetic lubrication in it.......that very well might have caused the issues.........I get it back tomorrow morning from a full detail strip / cleaning by the gunsmith at the range.......Fingers are crossed when I run a quick 100rds through it there are no issues

[Sublimeon24s]

..............it works! so far.........picked it up after the cleaning and put 150rds through it without a single issue