Broken striker

[Whaleman]

Yesterday after going to the range I was cleaning my P380 (RB27xx) and I realized something was not right after I reassembled. I always rack a few times and dry fire. The "click" on dry firing sounded weak. I broke down the gun and the slide and my striker/firing pin was broke. I emailed Kahr and I hope they just send a new one. I have not read about this being a common problem. Any thoughts? Thanks Dan

[Bawanna]

Only heard of it once before here and I'm pretty sure it wasn't a 380. It was obviously a bad pin the way it broke.

I don't know any reason why they wouldn't just send you one. Might send them a picture of the broken one to help things along.

[DJK11]

Mine broke at 900 rnds. after cleaning and dry fire function check. I don't like the fact Kahr does not incorporate a rebound spring. Not much material behind the nose of the striker sooo I don't dry fire without a snap cap.

[Whaleman]

This looks exactly like mine. Dan

[Whaleman]

Jay emailed me at 7:19am today and offered to send a new striker. He also offered that I could send the whole gun in. I prefer just the striker as I don't think there is any gunsmith fitting required. Good service!

[wyntrout]

That's pretty rare... up to 3 now that I've heard of here on the forum.

Wynn

[OldLincoln]

That's pretty rare... up to 3 now that I've heard of here on the forum.

Wynn
Note.... That's 3 across 4,242 posts. I think that qualifies as a rare event.

[Whaleman]

I don't know how long we want to beat this horse but I have noticed something interesting. On on side the broken area is all grey and it appears freshly broke. The other side is shiny and smoother (with 10 power loop). It looks like this side has been rubbing or beating together for quite a while. Both sides did not break at the same time. I just wonder how long the one side has been broken. Another thing to check if you have this apart.

[Tilos]

Whaleman:
Good info, not piling on at all.
Thanks for the post,
Tilos

[Whaleman]

I just had to post once more on this. when I got home from out of town last week I had to look at the broken areas under a microscope. Note: I am a mechanical engineer with studies on failure of materials. For sure one side just broke. Fresh grey and rough. The other side was very shiny and all the peaks were smashed flat. The one side has been broken a long time. I tried to put the broken piece back in the striker and it would not go flush. As soon as the peaks of the broken side were pounded flat it could never fit correctly. That side of the striker had some shiney wear on the outside as it was fitting tight. Moral of the story: If you are having light strikes this may not be the problem but is sure something to be checked. I had a problem with light strikes about 300 rounds ago and worked through it. I now believe that is when the wear on the outside of the striker happened.

[les strat]

What do you think one might do to prevent this? Or is it something that's just an every now and then fluke?

[Whaleman]

I do not know how to prevent it. Maybe dry firing is more damaging than thought. I do think if someone has no history of light strikes and all of a sudden you now start having them that it is something to check. Dan

[Bawanna]

We really haven't seen this happen much, only 3 times to date here so far. I guess it would be one good reason to tear the top end down once in awhile to look things over. Especially if a person is having issues.

I suspect maybe a few are just bad to begin with. I know the first I heard of hadn't been shot but very few times when it broke. Maybe just bad material. I'm not to smart in metalurgy but I got a hunch to hard or britle would be a bad thing.

[jocko]

very rare to find indeed. but no doubt it can happen. I doubt if dry firing has anything to do with it. IMO just a bad made striker that mabye was to hardened in the kiln and there fore to brittle.

[Whaleman]

I sent my broken striker to Jay with a long handwritten engineering overview of the failure. It will most likely go in the trash but I wanted to do it anyway. I just wonder how many P380's are out there with one side broke. I estimate mine went at least 200 rounds maybe many more. If someone never dry fired it could be a very long time. I promise this is my last post on this.:D Dan

[MW surveyor]

Dan, don't make it your last post! We need information on what they say and what they do.

[Bawanna]

Plus last post aren't really good in the Non Boring category.

Anything to liven things up is a good thing. Well maybe most things, not all things.

[Whaleman]

Thank You MW. I expect to hear nothing back from them. Jay has already sent me a new striker and it should arrive any day. My only point in talking more about this is so everyone knows the strikers don't always break all at once. If someone is having light strikes it is something to check. While it has been pointed out that this is rare what can't be determined is actually how long the gun will continue to operate with one side only broken and how many of our P380's have one broken side. What would make me happy is if just one person was having a problem and stripped the slide and found they had a striker with one broken side.

[Bawanna]

From your description I have no doubt that one side broke long before the other. I'd be very surprised if it happened any other way. One side is bound to break first which would put additional strain on the unbroken side.

As seldom as we hear about this and perhaps we don't hear about most of them, I think it has to just be bad metal or hardening. Perhaps bad machining.

I'm certain I wouldn't be happy to discover this but I see your point about confirming your beliefs and your right it is a good place to check anytime you get light strikes.

[OldLincoln]

On a similar note..... A couple months ago when it was 100* here, I hear the a/c unit suddenly raising a ruckus and I ran to shut it down. As the fan spooled down, it had the dreaded "ping, ping" sound as it obviously was hitting something. I called a former neighbor who has an a/c company and he made room for me and went up to take a look.

After getting to pannel off the top, he said "I found your problem" as he reached in and lifted out 1 blade of the big fan. He came down and showed me the old crack except for the last 1/4" was new. He said he didn't even tug on it. but when he grabbed it it fell off. Had I not shut it down when I did it likely would have torn up the cooling stuff which would have meant a new $4K unit instead of a $200 fan blade. I dodged a big one there and told wifey I deserve a big prize like a new gun, but I won't repeat what she said back!

[Bawanna]

You tell that sweet wife of yours that all here agree that you saved an enormous amount of money in your diligence and deserve the nicest new gun of your choice. If she insist on names tell her Jocko, Wynn, Jeepster, Jdlott, and WMD said it was the right thing to do.

That ought to fix her negative attitude. Maybe I'll knit her a nice stocking hat or maybe one of them things you wrap around your neck as a thank you. Made alot of those.

So much for any semblance of manhood on this forum huh?

[MW surveyor]

Whaleman

You may want to polish the inside of the striker channel just for kicks. When I changed out my striker spring on the CW9 I decided to just polish up everything while it was apart. Who knows. Probably wouldn't hurt anything plus it gives you something to do while waiting on the new striker to come in.

[jocko]

GOOD IDEA, IT CAN'T HURT ANYTHING but possably can help sometimes..

surv, with that great comment I am going to ask bawanna if he will now move your chair to the first row instead of where he had u all the way in the back facing the wall.:banplease:

[MW surveyor]

thanks jocko.

BTW - I used a Qtip (ok more than a few) chucked in a drill press and Mother's mag polish. Then cleaned it out with the non-chlorinated brake cleaner. Looked real shiny in there after I got through.

[Kenjs2]

I don't know how long we want to beat this horse but I have noticed something interesting. On on side the broken area is all grey and it appears freshly broke. The other side is shiny and smoother (with 10 power loop). It looks like this side has been rubbing or beating together for quite a while. Both sides did not break at the same time. I just wonder how long the one side has been broken. Another thing to check if you have this apart.

I wonder if this had any ill effect on the striker channel?

[jocko]

I doubt it, the slide is all stainless and although a broken striker is not a good thing, I can't see how it can damage the inside of the channel itself, . I would think it wold take some hard pressure fromt he striker itself to even make a scraach inside and there just is not that kind of pressure on that striker.

[Whaleman]

I received the new striker. The machining seems better than the broken one. The striker channel looked fine. Everything went back together perfect and it seems as if the trigger pull is smoother than before. Have not got to the range yet but I am sure it will be fine. Thanks,Dan

[kahrlover123]

I received the new striker. The machining seems better than the broken one. The striker channel looked fine. Everything went back together perfect and it seems as if the trigger pull is smoother than before. Have not got to the range yet but I am sure it will be fine. Thanks,Dan
I just happened to read this thread. Do you have any pictures from your "engineering reviews" ?
I would love to see it in details.

Thanks

[Whaleman]

While everything went back together perfect my first range session was very bad. 40%-50% light strikes. I even hit the back of the slide to make sure it was fully in battery and still got light strikes. Even got light strikes on the first round chambered with the slide stop. Emailed Jay at Kahr and said it needs to go back. Kahrlover123--- I did not take any pictures of the broken striker and I sent it to Jay.

[MW surveyor]

That's very strange to hear. Hope that they sent you the right striker! I'd take it apart again, and go ahead and polish the striker channel even though you said the striker was moving freely. Also check to see that the pin is going through the hole smoothly.

[jocko]

can't see why it just happened but my bet is that your trigger bar is out of spec/whack. try this just to see if anything changes, on that\ side cover on the right side at the back of the slide where that trigger bar moves up and down when trigger pulled. Push hard on that side plate with no round in the gun and see if u get a light strike.

[Whaleman]

I threw in the towel and Jay was nice enough to send me a prepaid fed ex label. I sent it in on Monday. Since I was RB27xx I very well may have a bad frame. I know the slide seemed somewhat loose up and down at the rear fully closed. Hoping this does not take 6 weeks as I feel naked without my little friend. Dan

[kahrlover123]

I threw in the towel and Jay was nice enough to send me a prepaid fed ex label. I sent it in on Monday. Since I was RB27xx I very well may have a bad frame. I know the slide seemed somewhat loose up and down at the rear fully closed. Hoping this does not take 6 weeks as I feel naked without my little friend. Dan
Good luck, my friend.
Turn around time for P380 now is at least 4 weeks. Oh wait, my friend's P380 is there 4 weeks already and the status is "The firearm is in the queue for a gunsmith to look at" :D

[jocko]

alot of people are relying on the "frame" change/thing to be the fix and we know some are already on their 3rd frame, so what dou read from any of this??

slide looseness IMO means nadda. I think kahr slides are TOO TIGHT expecially in the P380 line, which there is no need for it to be like that. Look at most all of these other 380's out there. some rattle even, "most" seem to work". Give me alittle play any day in my slide for a personal up close protection gun.

[Gliderguy]

Seeing that the striker blocking mechanism is behind the failure point, and the striker spring carries through right up to the failure point, I am wondering if there is any potential for an AD with this type of failure. Comments?

[Scoundrel]

I could see how, if the gun were dropped and landed on the muzzle, that the striker would continue to move forward and possibly strike the primer. But that broken off piece that would be free floating does not have much mass. I don't know if it would have enough energy to set off the primer.

[Gliderguy]

depending on how cleanly the striker broke, and how much spring compression
there is on the striker mechanism with the slide in battery, there could be substantial spring assist. Would be a crap shoot whether the nub of the firing pin would run true enough to hit the hole and find the primer...

[jocko]

the striker is held under damn near no stress, nothing like a glock or M & P or the kimbersolo which is 90% precocked. If that striker broek, IMO there would not be any mass there to ignite jack shi-t. Course in this day and age anything is possable, but what few strikers I have seen photoed that broke , it was the tip only and in that cae it would not do jack sh-t, more than likely would fall somewherein the striker channe. Ur not gonna breakthe striker body itself. that jsut ain't gonna happen. Never been a drop fire yet with a kahr and I think that has to relate to the striker itself being under no pre cocked pressure, another reasn why we also have a 3/8 trigger travel as we arenot fully cocking the striker. U wn't find a safer handgun than a kahr.