CW45 returned today. 1 week turnaround!

[TheTman]

I received my CW45 here just a bit ago. Exactly 1 week since I sent it to Kahr. :D
Action Taken:
Rework Side Panel, Trigger Bar Spring. Replace Slide Stop Spring, Recoil Spring Guide, Lubed, Test Fire Good.

Probably hit the range tomorrow morning and see how she shoots. It resets the trigger everytime I pull the slide back. It seems that sometimes I had to pull the trigger 2 or 3 times to dry fire it during the period I was waiting to get to the range and was hand racking it, and getting a feel for the trigger. I know it was acting up during dry fire after I got it home from the range.
They also put a bevel on the guide rod, hopefully will be easier to reassemble now. I was going to do it myself, but figured I'd ask them to while they had it, and get it done to factory specs.
I'm pretty impressed with the quick turnaround. Next we'll see if they got it right. I doubt If I would have figured all that out, certainly not in a week, and not knowing what Reworking Side Panel entails. Certainly would have took longer than a week for me to get it going by the time I might have figured out something and ordered the appropriate part.

[edinero]

Wow! I sent mine in today to there factory so This thread will def help me ease my pain in my loss to the mother ship for repair of my cw 45.

[MW surveyor]

Hope that the fix works!

[jocko]

rework side panel. now that is a new one. wonder what they had to do to rework that panel. I could see replacing side panel but rework????Humm.. I guess as long as it functions like it shold, who really cares???

[TheTman]

Just got back from the range, shot about 175 rounds or so, had 4 or 5 failures to feed, 3 times the bullet got jammed up against the top of the chamber, and it failed to pick up the next round twice. WWB was the ammo. I attribute this to me being tired and slipping back into a limp wrist grip. Once I corrected things on my end and got better mentally prepared, all went smoothly with zero malfunctions, followed by 4 mags that ran perfectly through the CW40. After I ran out of WWB, shot up some old PMC ammo, it ran fine.
I think I had a string of about 80-100 trouble free rounds out of the .45, followed by 4 mags of trouble free shooting from the CW40 including 1 mag of SD ammo.
The round count for the .45 is up to 350.
I'm not going to post my target pictures today, I was really having an off day, but was anxious to test things out. I had trouble focusing on the front sight, I was seeing two of them even with one eye shut. I had to take some allergy medicine this morning, that's probably what caused that, and my general "off day" feeling. A good deal of my shots were hitting to the left. I took my glasses off for a few rounds and things improved dramatically, but I didn't have any other eye protection. I'll pick up a good pair of non-prescription shooting glasses, since my regular glasses always make it hard to focus on the front sight.
I'd say Kahr corrected their end of the problem and the rest is up to me, got to work on that limp wristing, hard to unlearn 40 years of shooting in just a few range sessions, especially when you're having and off day to begin with.
BTW, the 7 round mags part number K725G don't seem to work worth a damn in my CW45, I was just looking closer and they say for P45 and PM45 only, and that only shows up once it's in the checkout bin. I figured a Kahr .45 mag would work with any Kahr .45. I didn't know they'd have problems in a CW45. Anyone else tried these in the CW45? The right feed lip is a little shorter than on the 6 round mags, not sure if that's the problem or not, but they sure don't feed worth a damn. The pickup rail doesnt seem to want to pick up the next cartridge, the first goes in all right when you hit the slide release, but after that the cartridges aren't being picked up.
I'll examine them closer this evening and see if I can find any other differences that would make it not work. I'm not including problems with these mags in my failure report, since I'm convinced the mags are not working with my gun. I have 2 of them, both failed miserably. I'll have to order the other 7 round mag they offer, I just wanted the one with the extra plastic around the bottom.
All in all, I'm quite pleased with Kahr's service and quick turnaround.
If anyone is looking for a couple of 7 round mags for their P45 or PM45, send me a p.m. and I'm sure we can work something out.
I forgot to bring any .45 SD ammo with me, so that will give me a good excuse to get back to the range, they had SD some for sale, but not what I was looking for.
A friend of mine had a Kimber Ultra II drop in his lap for $500, (the seller paid something like $1200 at Gander Mountain, had the receipt, needed money for the tax man) and my buddy is anxious to shoot it. His payday is tomorrow so I'm sure he'll be rarin to go shoot tomorrow, so I'll try and put another 100 rounds at least through the .45. The .45 still nowhere close being ready to replace my CW40 as my main carry piece, but at least it's functiong pretty damn good now.
I'll see how it goes with another couple hundred rounds and a box of SD ammo. If it get through that with no problems, other than me limp wristing, It might get it's turn in the rotation, guess I'd better get to looking for a good holster for it.
I have an Uncle Mikes IWB holster, more of a pouch really, it holds the gun well, and is one of the most comfortable IWB I've ever worn, just don't like the floppy sides that could get pinched and pull the trigger. Here's pics of it for those that have never seen one. It's been handy, fits almost all my semi's except my 1911, but it's more of a "get you by until you can get something better" type of thing to me.
http://graphics.pccomps.com/unclemikes1.jpghttp://graphics.pccomps.com/unclemikes2.jpg

[TheTman]

Went back to the range today and shot another 100 rounds of FMJ, and a couple mags of Winchester PDX1 230gr HP. Got the laser zeroed in. Had a couple of jams with the bullet lodged against the top of the chamber and a couple FTF. That was in the first 20 or 30 rounds, and seeing with what I could get away with, and what I couldn't. Once I quit messing around, I had zero malfunctions for 75 rounds or so.
Had really no issues with the .45. Kahr really got it working great.
I fired a few mags of .40, and had one malfunction on the Winchester Ranger 155gr HP, it has a wide mouth and it bumped the slide release up once and caused the slide to lock back. I took the mag out and bumped the back against the table and put it back in, and shot it and another mag a few times with no problems, just bumped the back of the mag against the table and get the cartridges all lined up good before I put the mag in. I'll have to see if need to file a hair on the slide release lever inside there so wide mouth bullets don't hit it. Got some non prescripton shooting glasses, now I can see the front sight a lot better, and can still see the target well enough to shoot.

[Cornel]

I sounds like is working better, but put couple of hundred rds more just to see how it continues to work!

I have two 6 rds mags and two 7 rds mags with the finger extention and all work just fine in my CW45. And I think that in the Kahr's web site they say that ALL the .45 ACP mags are compatible with ALL .45 ACP pistol calibers.

Now I'm waiting for mine to come back from its birth place. Hopefully within a week fromm tomorrow.

Wish you luck!!

[Old Salt]

Tom, glad your CW45 is working much better.

[TheTman]

Cornel,
I got mine back in exactly a week, hope they can do that for you too.
I think my gun would have shot all hundred rounds yesterday without a hiccup if I hadn't been fooling around with my grip. But I was curious to see what would make it fail and what wouldnt. Have a good idea now. If it shoots the next 100 rounds and a box of SD loads ok, I think I'll consider it good to go.
I have found a difference between the 7 round K725G listed as for P45 and PM45 only, and the 6 round mags. The 7 round feed lips don't allow the top cartridge to tip up quite as much as the 6 round ones. If the bullet DOES get picked up, it's hitting lower on the feed ramp and not going into the chamber. When looking at the front of the two loaded mags, there is a couple millimeters of space between the rim of the first cartridge and the rim of the 2nd on the 6 round. The 7 round doesnt have this space. A very minor difference, but I think it's enough to make it not feed reliably in my gun. It's hard to tell any other differences by looking at them. There's not enough difference you'd think one would work and the other wouldn't, but that is the case with my gun. That is about the only difference I can see. Wgat usually happens is I put the 7 round in, hit the slide release, pull the trigger, and click. No round in the chamber. Or, sometimes it goes bang, and then I go to shoot the 2nd round and click, no round in the chamber. It doesn't jam or anything, just doesn't feed rounds into the chamber. Anyway, they are history, they've failed enough that no way am I going to carry one.

Frank,
Thanks, The CW45 is really turning into what I expected it to be. The first 3 or 4 mags I was using different grips, intentionally limp-wristing, and things to see what I could get away with, and I had some failures. Once I quit fooling around it ran perfect. I think it's time to order a holster for it. That laser sure is fun. I might get one for the .40 while they have that rebate going on. Think I will wait and see if I get my first rebate back before I order another one though.
I guess my CW40 felt neglected so it had to act up once. May need to do a little filing on the slide release where it hit the bullet, I was on the 2nd round of a full magazine, I think the 2nd round got pushed forward enough to hit the slide release nub as the top round was fed into the chamber. That was on the SD ammo I'd been carrying around for a month or so, and the gun has been bumped around quite a bit. Maybe I need to pull the mag out and slap it against a table to line up the rounds every time I carry the gun. I'll check it out more this evening. Right now the sun is shining, it's warming up and my scooter is calling me to go for a ride.

[edinero]

Thetmanski,

I sent my gun this monday 4/25/11 and it was at the factory the next day Tuesday 4/26/11 at 12 noon overnight, When do you think my CW45 will get back? I had pretty much same issues but let me run down again. Many Jams , FTF, FTE, Slide stop would start to pull itself out until pretty much I had to shut down the gun or the slide stop would pop out entirely. Please help a brother out with a CW45 Ease his pain with timing of a hopeful return home to my hands.

[JimBianchi]

My K9 went yesterday.

Here is hoping for a spedy turn-a-round!

[TheTman]

I hope you get the same 7 day turnaround, I was thinking it would probably be more like two weeks from what I've read here, but was very pleasantly surprised.
Hopefully they're not too busy right now and can get you the same turnaround. When I called, I let them know I was extremely upset about the situation, maybe that helped but a burr under their saddle. I also got them to put a bevel on my slide and hope it's easier to reassemble now. Kahr said they lubed it up well, so I didn't bother taking it apart and lubing it before I went to the range to see if the bevel made any difference. Just saying that, as that added a little more work to be done on the gun, and they still got it back in a week. Good luck and hope they do the same good job for you. I'm extremely pleased with the way things turned out, my gun is shooting flawlessly now, as long as I do my part and don't limp-wrist it.

[Bawanna]

A week seems to be the norm it seems like. With the NRA show they may have taken some of the crew with them which may slow things up or they may have only taken supervisory crew which might speed things up. Ha ha.
Since the show is only thursday and friday, it shouldn't have to much effect one way or the other.

[edinero]

7 Business days or working days m-f?

[Bawanna]

My your anxious and impatient just like me! I don't think anyone can predict that close not knowing the work load and staffing at Kahr. I'd guess that 7-10 days is the standard answer.

For me it helps to not count the first day or the last day and try to play with something else (preferrably a gun?) to keep your mind off of it. Then it will be like a Christmas surprise when it gets back all clean and pretty and well oiled.

I know it's only getting on to May but we got snow again this morning so I'd see no harm in even putting up a return from Kahr Christmas Tree, might be tough to find a lot to buy one, might have to Paul Bunyon your own.

Seriously, well again I don't do serious but we're all sharing your waiting pain right along with ya. Anxious to hear the outcome and how sweet she runs when she gets back.

Stay strong, deep breathing.

[edinero]

LMAO, I have way to much time on my hand here at work ( Customs ) I can play with my service pistol but its nothing like my lost love my CW 45. Thanks for the advice and calming me down but I just Love my New Kahr and was so heartbroken when it did not work :( I am down here in Miami, FL Which there is NO Snow lol

[Bawanna]

LMAO, I have way to much time on my hand here at work ( Customs ) I can play with my service pistol but its nothing like my lost love my CW 45. Thanks for the advice and calming me down but I just Love my New Kahr and was so heartbroken when it did not work :( I am down here in Miami, FL Which there is NO Snow lol

Probably not many evergreen trees either. Not a convenient thing in the tree department either.

Do do you get to drive around in one of them cigarette boats with 4 engines and go like wicked fast and catch contrabanders? Or you stuck on the dock harassing tour boat travelers trying to steel the silverware off the cruise ships?

[edinero]

Lmao, neither pushing paper but hey someones gotta do it

[Bawanna]

Crap that's what I do here at the PD. That means theres at least two of us paper pushers. I really want to be a motorcycle cop but all I get is this computer. The cigarette boat would be cool too, down there that is. Not so much up here.

[jocko]

sure sure, ur just a wannabe, if you bought a motorcycle, it would probalby be one of those Harley ice cream trikes, with lolipops on it and a ding aling bell (NOT U OF COURSE). They could callu the ICE CREAM BOY!!!

[Bawanna]

sure sure, ur just a wannabe, if you bought a motorcycle, it would probalby be one of those Harley ice cream trikes, with lolipops on it and a ding aling bell (NOT U OF COURSE). They could callu the ICE CREAM BOY!!!

Thats really not a bad idea. I wouldnt need training wheels, I could toss out all the icecream and fill it with important stuff like ammunition, grenades, flashbangs, you know stuff the average meter maid needs for the commision of your normal everyday duty.
If I sold a little icecream on the side, so much the better.

[jocko]

sure, u could paint your trike TIT-Y PINK. u should have alot of that left!!

[TheTman]

Edinero, it was 7 days total. Sent it on a Monday, got it back the next Monday.
Hard to ask for better results than that.
Jocko, if we paint Bawanna's ice cream trike pink, we'd better paint some Betty Boop pictures on it too. LOL

[Bawanna]

Not a chance I'm risking a lawsuit. All that pink I'm saving for Jocko grips. Nothing else, no exceptions.

[edinero]

Thanks for the info Very much! I will advise status when I get my baby back and after range testing.

[Paladin]

Thetmanski,

I read your comments with interest regarding how the reliability of your gun changed depending on your grip. I think this is something that a lot of people overlook. When a gun malfunctions, its so easy to blame it on the gun. Just recently I was at the range and the guy in the next booth was having endless problems with his pistol. Failure after failure. After watching him for a bit, the range officer said "Can I try it?" He picked up the gun and emptied the magazine without a single failure. He handed the gun back to the guy, who immediately started getting failures again. The range officer then asked if he could give the guy some pointers. The guy agreed. After a few minutes of tutoring, the guy was shooting his gun flawlessly.

Not saying that there aren't bad guns. Not saying that gun companies don't make lemons. The Ruger SR9 is known as a good, solid, reliable gun. Yet I had one that was a nightmare. It was a jam-o-matic. It happens. But there are a lot of factors that can affect reliability besides just the gun itself. And small, light weight guns are more sensitive to how they are gripped and fired than larger, heavier guns.

It's funny, but I know a guy who simply can't shoot an LCP. Any LCP. Mine is 100% reliable. Hand it to him and it fails repeatedly. Just something about the way he shoots it. Never have figured out why. He just can't shoot an LCP.

[TheTman]

I think for one thing, people don't want to admit to "limp wristing" it kind of sounds gay or weak, or whatever, it doesn't sound good when someone tells you that you are limp wristing. I shot a 1911 for several years in target shooting competitions, and never had a problem, also my Baretta .40 Cougar never has had a failure of any kind. So after all these years I get this polymer framed gun, and am having all kinds of problems with it, and let a couple others fire it, and they each emptied a magazine with no failures, so I talk to the range officer, and he tells me about limp wristing and how it really messes you up on poly framed guns, I'd actually not heard of it before, or else not paid any attention since I wasn't having problems. The RO told me that the little poly framed guns flex a lot more than metal framed guns and any limp wristing will show up pretty soon. I changed my grip to put my wrist inline with my shooting hand, and as long as I use that grip, both my CW's perform flawlessly. Now and then I slip back into my old grip and get a jam, and look at how I'm holding the gun, and sure enough I'm back in my old grip. Takes awhile to unlearn 40 years of a bad habit. Sometimes just to make sure I'm gripping correctly, I cup my support hand under the butt of the gun, and then wrap 2 or 3 fingers up around my wrist to make sure it's in the proper position. Wish they made a brace that would keep your hand inline with your wrist that you could shoot with. Maybe they do. Have to start looking around.
A brace would be nice to help keep things in line and reduce the pressure on my wrist when shooting more than a couple hundred large caliber rounds. I can sure tell it the next day. Arthritis really kicks in after a long session at the range.

Of course people want to blame the gun and not their shooting technique, no one wants to be told they are doing something wrong, but just get over it and do what the RO or instructor says to do. I didn't get upset and say I've been shooting x number of years and never had this problem before, I opened my mind and ears and listened to what I was being told. The RO said what I went through was pretty common for people with their first polymer frame guns. I'm wonder if people have as much trouble with Glocks, maybe they don't flex as much, can't say for sure. I'd like to compare my CW's, to some other polymer framed guns from other companies and see how they compare when limp wristing.
I'll have to look and see what guns they rent next time I'm at the range.

[Bawanna]

Glock isn't a great comparison as they are sloppy and loose but run. I did however have an officer that got jams with his ever single magazine. I tore it down completely, found no issues at all. He tried again, jams every mag but nobody thought to let another officer try it.
I took it to the range and myself and 5 other officers shot it relentlessly, I limped it, I shot it upside down, I held it so loosely I nearly dropped it after every shot. None of the other 5 had a single malfunction.
We probably put 250 rounds thru it in half an hour.

Gave it back to the officer it jammed every mag.

Watched him shoot, moved his strong hand thumb about a 1/16th of an inch and it runs fine.

Had a big discussion on that, instructor wanted me to replace all parts in the gun even after 5 guys had no issues. I told him to replace his shooter or train him. How do I know what I fixed if I replace everything. Not smart.

[jocko]

your all dead right, but when u tell a fella he might be limping agun, he wants to fight and say, heh a-hole I have been shooting for 20 years, I know all about guns, I cannot be me, so one has to tread lightly with a person when HE EVEN SUGGESTS IT. Bawanna proved a super point about the cop who couldn't make a glock work but 5 others could. I always recommend another person to shoot your gun if it is giving issue,s if he can duplicate, then assume it is gun related . Kahr can't fix, glock can't fix, smith can't fix THE SHOOTER. I have tried every way possable to limp my guns but when we think we are iniating a limp hold it doesn't do it. That tells me a shooter is doing something right yet but just doesnt know it. A death grip will not end limping but it damn sure is a good start, for your entire arm/wrist are woking with that tight grip.

Hopefully people on this foruj whgen they come with an issue will accept THE POSSABILITY of shooter error. Eliminatew that part first .

[pappy42]

Thats really not a bad idea. I wouldnt need training wheels, I could toss out all the icecream and fill it with important stuff like ammunition, grenades, flashbangs, you know stuff the average meter maid needs for the commision of your normal everyday duty.
If I sold a little icecream on the side, so much the better.

You could use the ice cream to lure the bad guys into into the beaten zone.

[Bawanna]

You could use the ice cream to lure the bad guys into into the beaten zone.

Darn good plan. Now I gotta get me a two seater though. Your riding shotgun, you earned it.

[TheTman]

Maybe you otta lure the bad guys in with beer instead of ice cream. Probably get more targets that way. :)

[OldLincoln]

I changed my grip to put my wrist inline with my shooting hand, and as long as I use that grip, both my CW's perform flawlessly.
I'm mid stream to changing my whole stance, grip and eye from "normal" to C.A.R. One of the learnings is to straighten the wrist so the hand is in line with the forearm by tilting the gun to the left if right handed a little gansta style. Play with it and you can see when it naturally falls in line.


I cup my support hand under the butt of the gun, and then wrap 2 or 3 fingers up around my wrist to make sure it's in the proper position. Wish they made a brace that would keep your hand inline with your wrist that you could shoot with. ..... Arthritis really kicks in after a long session at the range.I have Arthritis in my right wrist and have a brace that does that, but it's a real pain to shoot with because it has a metal plate that runs along the palm. I take Alieve and on shooting days may take two a couple hours or more before shooting.

As for grip, part of my new style really changes the usual and I find it really helps manage the recoil almost eliminating flip.

Here's a link to a video that explains The C.A.R. System (http://www.sabretactical.com/Paul_Video/paul_video.html) very well. You can see what I've talked about in the tilted grip and the hand position on the gun. Note the weak hand approaches the gun from the front, not the traditional rear. I am working on it, but being so different I have a long way to go. I believe it is more protective especially for an older weaker man like myself.

[TheTman]

Hi Old Lincoln,
That was a pretty good video. One of my buddies took a class and they taught him to shoot in a similiar style, with his gun closer to his body and standing not quite sideways to the target. The principle was the same as in the video, it's much easier to retain control of your gun in that position, than if you're holding it out in front of you in a traditional stance. Much less chance of it being knocked aside or anything.
I don't know if they taught him to use his eyes like they did in the video, but the stance is very similiar.
My main thing right now is to work on not limp wristing. I really need to practice on that so I don't revert to my old grip in a situation. It looks like that shooting system would help with that. Thanks for posting the link.

[TucsonMTB]

Center Axis Relock (C.A.R.) (http://www.sabretactical.com/Paul_Video/paul_video.html) looks like it should be fun to try out on the next range trip. We have a "Backup Gun" competition at the Pima Pistol Club (http://pimapistolclub.com/) that I would like to try. This technique seems tailor made, especially the magazine retention during reloads!

Thanks for sharing! :)