P380: It Has To Go Back Again

[Great Lakes Shooters]

First of all let me introduce myself.
I'm an abid gun enthusiast and also a small gun dealer.
I collect firearms and SHOOT firearms.
I've been around firearms all my life.
On the business side of my interest I always try my best to
be helpful and knowlageable to my customers.
My business has also become a facet of my passion for firearms.

I've sold a lot of Kahr firearms direct from Kahr and also through distributors.
Actually I carry a PM9 Black Diamond and enjoy shooting it as well.
I purchased a new P380 for myself and went through the new Kahr prep rituals as I've done in the past(I also have a MK9 '98 Elite that 100%).
Took it to the range and ran 200 rounds with the only problem being failure to lock slide open on the last round.
Next trip out has the same slide problem,light primer strikes,and stovepipes.
Just to add I'm shooting Lawman,WWB,Blazer Brass,Gold Dot,Critical Defense.
Called Kahr and explained my situation and was suggested to try out a new recoil spring as my piece is of '09 vintage .
New recoil spring intalled which cured the slide not locking back on the last round but still had Light primer strikes,stovepipes and a new extraction problem.
The case would not eject and stayed in the chamber when the slide was pulled back.
Spoke to Kahr again and had the gun returned to them for repair.
A little over a week later the pistol was returned stating that the extractor was replaced and the feedramp was polished - Test and fired....
Shot the gun yesterday with Lawman and didn't even get through the first half a box and had two light primer strikes and also two stove pipes.
I'm very very frustrated with this firearm and hope that Kahr makes it right not only for me but also for the fact that I sell these pistols to customers who's lives depend on this gun.
I can not and will not sell a firearm to a customer knowing that I'm selling an item that's not reliable.

[Bill K]

First, welcome to Kahrtalk.

Secondly, I'm sure you'll find a lot of empathy and help from members here concerning your P380 issues. New to this board (recently bought a PM9) but I sense more issues with the P380 then any of the other Kahr models. I can tell you from a P3AT experience that sticking with getting your P380 up and running will be worth the current efforts and frustration. Having a reliable .380 to carry as a backup or even as a primary when you can't or won't carry anything bigger will prove very comforting.

Bill K.

[Great Lakes Shooters]

Kahr is sending out a return slip to return the firearm to their repair dept.
The tech told me that when the gun was there the first time after repairs they shoot two mags through it.
Now that it's being returned again Kahr says they will be more extensive with final test firing.

[Great Lakes Shooters]

Well to get back to this old post :
The P380 was returned to me with a complete new slide.
Still had feed and light primer strikes.
Sent the gun back to Kahr and they replaced the frame - RC4XX.
The handgun purchased was of '09 vintage and evidently had some QA issues.
Haven't been to the range but plan to put a couple hundred rounds through to regain confidence in the P380 .
Beautiful little gun that hopefully will stand tall with my PM9.

[kahrlover123]

I'm seriously doubt that P380's reliability can be compared or stood up with PM9.
I have both and they're both excellent but I trust PM9 more and that's what I carry.

[HadEmAll]

I'm hoping time proves that to be only with a certain range of P380 serial #s.

I'll find out personally when mine gets back with a new frame.

[OldLincoln]

Welcome to the Forum, GLS. Hey folks, This is the guy I bought my PM9 from a couple years ago! Good to work with and held my hand a bit as it was my first on-line gun purchase. As for the PM9 I bought, well you all know I'm crazy about it and it is very reliable.

I'm sorry you got one of the bad batch of 380 frames. The story is that batch used an incorrect mix of Poly which allows the frame to torque when it warms up from shooting. If memory serves me right, those receiving new frames have been fine.

I just realized your first post was last April, sorry I missed you then.

[JodyH]

My P380 first went back for trigger reset issues, frame replaced.
I sent it back a week or two ago for failure to return to battery, light primer strikes and failure to lock back on empty.
Im sure they'll replace the frame again.
If it still doesn't work after a second frame replacement im going to request they replace it with a PM9 or a MK9. At least that way I have a chance of getting something that works.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

[jocko]

i feel ur pain, it is never a good thing when it happens to u. This frame replacement is not a pandemic thing, but we also don'tknow if that is the cure either. Ur gonna har all kinds of reasons why frames are replaced but I just don't think kahr is gonna tell us why or how they are doing it. We have readof rame replacments still not working rigtht, so that kinds shoots that theory in the ass somewhat. I sometimes thnk when the replace the upper portion (slide) and i9t has no positive results the next thing would be the lower part replaced, which is what they are doing, but we certainly don't know if thatis a real fix or not. so I guess from what I am tryhing to say is that I have one of the first 125 P380 madeit has been back for work on it (no frame replacement) so far it has been OK, but I really need to shoot it a couple hundred rounds in one setting to get the feel of whether this gun is right or not. Because I have one of the first5 125 madee tells me maybe my gun is not r9ight yet either but more rounds need to come out of it, but I am not gboing to box it up and send it back just because I have read of amaybe a half dozen frame being replaced. To me that is not a scenario of a pandemic prbolem or also a pandemic fix either. Everyu gun is different. IMO these P380 are touchy little bastards, unlike their bigger brother kahr..

[JodyH]

IMO these P380 are touchy little bastards, unlike their bigger brother kahr..
My T9 is at Kahr for major malfunction issues as well.
And Kahrs don't get much bigger than the T9.


Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

[jocko]

very rare for a T9, ..

[Great Lakes Shooters]

Welcome to the Forum, GLS. Hey folks, This is the guy I bought my PM9 from a couple years ago! Good to work with and held my hand a bit as it was my first on-line gun purchase. As for the PM9 I bought, well you all know I'm crazy about it and it is very reliable.

I'm sorry you got one of the bad batch of 380 frames. The story is that batch used an incorrect mix of Poly which allows the frame to torque when it warms up from shooting. If memory serves me right, those receiving new frames have been fine.

I just realized your first post was last April, sorry I missed you then.

What a suprise hearing from you!!!
Glad you like the PM9 as much as I enjoy mine.
Finally went to the range with the new P380.
The good news is that the little bugger went bang
for all the 200rds that went through it.
The BAD news is that the slide doesn't always lock back
with various ammo???
Don't think it's worth the time dealing with Kahr again.
ALSO the mag release is very diffucult to press to release mags.
The two mags Kahr sent me are almost impossible to release and my other two certainly don't just drop out.
I guess I'll have to do some homework on this forum and see if I can fix the mag release situation.
Maybe take the edge off the magazine lip?

[jocko]

I would say read the kahr tech section ahd the propper prepping of ur new kahr, there might be some hints there to hlep u out. The slide not lockling back could bejust more rounds needed to get those recoil springs into their proper set. What u could do is order a spare set of springs and clip a half coil off and see if that helps any. We have seen this with someof the cm9 not locking back and kahr has told the owner to clip a half coil off ad retry.

Take one of your hard to get loosemags, and just ry ramminbg the magazine in the gun a few dozen times to see if it takes maybe any burr off the magazine release.. If this doeksn'thelp give kahr a call and ask for a new mag releaser button. It has to be the button is out of spec. Ibet with alittle tcl this will work itself out, as far as the not dropping freely, many here have just o so lightly compressed the upper portion of the magazine and it seems to work fine. It willbe the upper portion that needs this tweeking. Again ur not gonna hurt anything by trying one magazine, just go slowly with the compressing thing. It does work. most all report positive results.

[KahrOwner]

IMO, they probably just fire a few shots and then move on to the next one. There is likely a very long line of P380's waiting for service.

But, I am currently on a 10 day wait to get my (own) "repaired" P380 pistol back because they also changed the frame and thereby the serial number (so it is like a new handgun purchase here in wonderful CA).

Reading all this P380 stuff on this forum has me wondering if a "frame change" is just done routinely to discourage any further returns - hmmm..... just a thought! :rolleyes:

But I plan on taking mine to the range with a couple of 100 round boxes of Wally-world .380 Winchester white box ammunition.

If it gets through both of those without a single hitch I will consider keeping it. If it misbehaves once it is going to become a gift for my mother-in-law :D

Either way I will be putting my range findings (AS LOUDLY AS POSSIBLE) on here and other Internet forums. Hell I may even make a YouTube video!!

What really p's me off is that I only heard positive stuff about this pistol prior to purchase - BUT now I DO smell a rat.

Bob

[JFootin]

I have heard it said on this forum more than once that the P380 really doesn't like to be dirty. IMO, clean it and re-lube it every 50 rounds. All these Kahrs like to be a little wet during breakin. Take your cleaning kit with you, or at least a bore snake and some oil.

[kahrlover123]

What a suprise hearing from you!!!
Glad you like the PM9 as much as I enjoy mine.
Finally went to the range with the new P380.
The good news is that the little bugger went bang
for all the 200rds that went through it.
The BAD news is that the slide doesn't always lock back
with various ammo???
Don't think it's worth the time dealing with Kahr again.
ALSO the mag release is very diffucult to press to release mags.
The two mags Kahr sent me are almost impossible to release and my other two certainly don't just drop out.
I guess I'll have to do some homework on this forum and see if I can fix the mag release situation.
Maybe take the edge off the magazine lip?
What's up with the "SLIDE DOES NOT ALWAYS LOCK BACK".
Do you have to push it up a little in order for the next round to go bang?

You're the 5th person that has this issue. I'm sure there are more.

[Great Lakes Shooters]

What's up with the "SLIDE DOES NOT ALWAYS LOCK BACK".
Do you have to push it up a little in order for the next round to go bang?

You're the 5th person that has this issue. I'm sure there are more.

Sorry for not stating my issue more clearly:
The slide doesn't lock back when the last round is fired.
This was tried with WWB,Lawman,PMC brass,Critical Defense.

I also want to note that this new P380 replacement slingshots
and goes into battery every time.

[rogerthedodger]

The problem with not locking open after last round fired I have found, is the slide latch spring is stronger than the mag spring when mag is empty. I have adjusted the latch spring with slide off, latch in place, and empty mag inserted. FORM not bend, the wire latch spring slightly UPWARD, which then lets the latch go up high enough to latch the slide, on an empty mag.
Roger

[Great Lakes Shooters]

I believe I found the problem with the stiff slide release button.
Looking into the mag well there's a straight heavy wire like spring that fits into a slot in the mag release at one end and then attaches downward to the inside magwell at the frontstrap.
The inside frontstrap is also slotted.
Instead of the spring sitting in the mag release the spring was riding on top of it and with the spring pressure placed upon the release the button was very difficult to push in not allownig mags to release.
Pushed the spring into the slot in the mag release and all is good even with the mags that were the most difficult to release.
All mags now drop free - SWEET

Next it's onto the last round fired slide not locking back issue.
I will take the advice of forum members and make a slight adjustment
then go to the range to test it out.
Slight adjustment looks like what I have at hand as it seems that too much may give me premature slide lock issues with rounds still in the mag.
Is the correct?

[jocko]

nice job of trouble shooting that. something for us to remember to...

[Bawanna]

Well you rock Great Lakes. That's the first time I've heard of that little leaf spring not being in the slot and like Jocko said that's another thing to add to the check out list if you have mag drop issues or a stiff mag release button.

Excellent diagnosis and cure.

A simple little fix that could drive the average person insane that takes 15 seconds to fix.

I'm putting you in for a Pulitzer.


I meant Nobel. Can't remember what a Pulitzer's for. Writing maybe. Heck I'll put you down for both, you wrote some stuff too.