new cm9 having problems

[patgwashere]

Hi all
just got my cm9 yesterday and bought it to the range today to break it in.
I cleaned and lubed it first.
1st 20 to 25 rounds went through without a hitch then the problems began.
gun started failing to feed even though I was following kahrs instructions to 1st lock back slide 2nd insert mag and 3rd release slide to load.
Also at this point I noticed that if I pull slide back slowly it will lock about half way back (before it reaches slide lock. It will not go forward unless I pull it all the way back and lock it then release the slide lock. why would the slide lock in place before reaching the slide lock? I was getting a lot of failures to feed and then this slide locking in the middle problem so I called Kahr
They are having me send the gun back at their cost (thank god for this)
I tried dissasembling and reassembling 3 times at the range but the problems still existed.
very discouraging experience. I have 2 glocks a springfield xdm and a ruger lcp all with many rounds through them and 0 problems. This is my first kahr so I hope they can fix it. I wanted this to replace my ruger lcp as my pocket gun but now i am losing faith. I hate to have to depend on my ruger lcp`s 380 ammo but I would rather have a 380 that works then a 9mm that does not

forgot to mention I had 2 types of ammo CCI blazer brass 115 grain ball and speer gold dot 128 grain+P HP and problem happened with both ammos

[Ressom]

Sounds like something is wrong with the guide rod/spring. Are you sure you had the closed end of the spring against the guide rod/barrel and the open end against the slide.

[jocko]

Hi all
just got my cm9 yesterday and bought it to the range today to break it in.
I cleaned and lubed it first.
1st 20 to 25 rounds went through without a hitch then the problems began.
gun started failing to feed even though I was following kahrs instructions to 1st lock back slide 2nd insert mag and 3rd release slide to load.
Also at this point I noticed that if I pull slide back slowly it will lock about half way back (before it reaches slide lock. It will not go forward unless I pull it all the way back and lock it then release the slide lock. why would the slide lock in place before reaching the slide lock? I was getting a lot of failures to feed and then this slide locking in the middle problem so I called Kahr
They are having me send the gun back at their cost (thank god for this)
I tried dissasembling and reassembling 3 times at the range but the problems still existed.
very discouraging experience. I have 2 glocks a springfield xdm and a ruger lcp all with many rounds through them and 0 problems. This is my first kahr so I hope they can fix it. I wanted this to replace my ruger lcp as my pocket gun but now i am losing faith. I hate to have to depend on my ruger lcp`s 380 ammo but I would rather have a 380 that works then a 9mm that does not

forgot to mention I had 2 types of ammo CCI blazer brass 115 grain ball and speer gold dot 128 grain+P HP and problem happened with both ammos

send it back take kthe entire recoil assembly out and try this. the open end of the outter spring which goes towards the front of the slid.e take it off and see if u can put it on backwards. My reason is this possably upon recoil that outter tupe of the recoil assembly is getting stuck on tha topen enbd of the outter spring. We have seen this happen on a few kahrs lately. If this is so, just take a pair of plier and open up that outter spring a tad until is slides smoothly over that outter tube. Even smnooth that shapr end off will hgelp some. \If this is not the issue, then probalby let kahr have a loot at it, but tome it sounds like it is in the recoil assembly. very easy tocheck it out and if I am right witht heabove, then a simple fix also.

[kahrlover123]

Try to do some quick fix yourself first. Anything back to Kahr now will be a big delay. Yesterday I talked to a support rep and he told me that they would not even look at your gun until 2 weeks later. It takes another week in the work bench and a week to get it back to you.
Estimated turn around time at this time would be 3-4 weeks.
If you do not believe me, call Kahr and ask. You're lucky if you can even catch someone one phone.

[patgwashere]

Sounds like something is wrong with the guide rod/spring. Are you sure you had the closed end of the spring against the guide rod/barrel and the open end against the slide.

yes
I also dissasembled and reassembled at the range 3 times with no luck
hope kahr can fix this problem. Dont know if I will ever trust this gun now.

[patgwashere]

Try to do some quick fix yourself first. Anything back to Kahr now will be a big delay. Yesterday I talked to a support rep and he told me that they would not even look at your gun until 2 weeks later. It takes another week in the work bench and a week to get it back to you.
Estimated turn around time at this time would be 3-4 weeks.
If you do not believe me, call Kahr and ask. You're lucky if you can even catch someone one phone.

actually I got a pretty nice guy on the phone after only a 2 or 3 minute wait.
(maybe I got lucky) He is sending a fed ex label to ship the gun back. I really dont want to try fixing it myself and risk voiding warranty. I am really dissapointed that my gun has to go back but what can you do. I will re post after the gun comes back and I get a chance to test it at the range.
looking at the insides I think it is a barrel problem. I think the top of the barrel lug at the very front (where rectangle part meets round part of barrel is catching on something.

[JFootin]

They'll get it straitened out for you. Don't lose confidence in the gun. Things like this happen with every make. In fact, the CM9 has been so flawless ever since introduction that it would be MORE likely for you to have trouble with about any other gun on the market, especially subcompacts. Just a little glitch in a well designed gun. You'll get it back, put a few hundred rounds through it and be full of praise for it! It is a sweet shooter, especially for its size.

[patgwashere]

you can see in the picture where it locks. pulling the slide all the way back and releasing will just lock it in the same place. the only way to get the slide to go forward is to lock it back (all the way where it is supposed to lock) then hit the slide release then it returns to battery.
By the way notice there is no magazine in the gun.

[jocko]

evidently u don't even want to take the gun apart to see if what i had suggested could be true. send it back wait a month...

[Bawanna]

Out of curiosity, how hard is it to push forward from where it's locked up now. Can you smack the back of the slide with your hand and force it forward. Will it jump that stuck spot and go into battery or just move a little bit forward?

It looks like it's too far back to be hanging up on the barrel hood to me. I'm kind of leaning towards something in the recoil spring like the others suggested.

I had a K40 that just wouldn't quite go into battery quite frequently and they determined it was what they call peening, which is kind of what your describing. The front of the chamber hood was making too much contact with the slide and was leaving a bur or would have if left unchecked.

But mine was much closer to being locked up than yours.

There really is no time for a slow slide retraction, it needs to work at speed and with gusto. If you rack the slide and get it all the way to the rear before you release it should run right past that spot. It's doing it from slide lock so it should with a proper sling shot.

I assume things are well lubed? Just trying to figure this out.

[patgwashere]

i have tried slingshotting it but it doesnt go forward ( maybe I didnt do it fast enough but my hands are hurting from racking the slide 500 times last night.) hitting it on the back does not help either. only thing is to lock it back and release lever. I made the slide stay like this by just pulling the slide back not by shooting the gun.

[Bawanna]

Wow, somethings really stuck apparently. Thinking cap on.

[Bawanna]

Try taking the recoil spring out all together and just run the slide and barrel over the frame back and forth and see if anything hangs up.

[patgwashere]

Try taking the recoil spring out all together and just run the slide and barrel over the frame back and forth and see if anything hangs up.

did this (and yes it is hanging up about where it gets stuck.
had trouble getting the slide back off(was getting worried but it finally came off.)
guess it isnt the recoil spring.

[jocko]

certainly needs to go back...u did all u can.

[patgwashere]

i agree it is going back to kahr. I looked everything over real closely (this time with my reading glasses on) and I think the problem is The top leading edge of the barrel shroud. It doesnt look right almost like it is starting to malform. My guess is kahr will send it back with a new barrel. I will update after I get the gun back from kahr.
Thanks for the responses guys.
guess the lcp will have to stay in my pocket a little longer unless I decide to carry my block I mean glock 26.

[Bawanna]

I'm guess if your right in your prognosis it will come back with a new slide and maybe new barrel too. Mine did.

Let us know, curious minds need to know, ya know?

[apdturbo]

i agree it is going back to kahr. I looked everything over real closely (this time with my reading glasses on) and I think the problem is The top leading edge of the barrel shroud. It doesnt look right almost like it is starting to malform. My guess is kahr will send it back with a new barrel. I will update after I get the gun back from kahr.
Thanks for the responses guys.
guess the lcp will have to stay in my pocket a little longer unless I decide to carry my block I mean glock 26.

good diagnosis, always good to have some idea of the issue when sending it back, whether the gunsmith takes your thoughts to heart or not is on him but something that obvious should be easy to correct.

isnt it funny to compare the kahr pm/cm beside a glock subcompact, makes the glock look like a fullsized pistol and shows how oddly shaped the glock frame really is.

best of luck with what persues.

[bonjorno2]

bawanna to the rescue again!

[OldLincoln]

Just for yucks, take a look at the upper inside of the slide (lube point 6 on the lube chart). Is it scarred up? You may have a burr on the front top of your barrel shroud and it's hanging on the upper inside of the slide. Please let us know either way.

If so it's up to you to send it back or not (nothing at all wrong doing that), but should you want to correct it yourself, you can take out the roughness with high grit count paper then buff the slide, and take off the burr until the edge is smooth but still square and polish that also. I used 1200 count sandpaper for the slide and a metal fingernail file for the barrel shroud. Then grease both and the slide should be super smooth.

[patgwashere]

Just for yucks, take a look at the upper inside of the slide (lube point 6 on the lube chart). Is it scarred up? You may have a burr on the front top of your barrel shroud and it's hanging on the upper inside of the slide. Please let us know either way.

If so it's up to you to send it back or not (nothing at all wrong doing that), but should you want to correct it yourself, you can take out the roughness with high grit count paper then buff the slide, and take off the burr until the edge is smooth but still square and polish that also. I used 1200 count sandpaper for the slide and a metal fingernail file for the barrel shroud. Then grease both and the slide should be super smooth.

lube point 6 did not appear to have any serious scratches or scarring
top of barrel shroud does look a little funny dont know if the little edge that sticks up is supposed to be there.

[patgwashere]

I decided to put the frame on without the barrel or recoil spring installed. big mistake as the slide would not come off all the way.
Is this supposed to happen if the barrel and recoil spring are not in?

Only way I could get the slide off was to remove the back plate and then the firing pin. Once firing pin was removed the slide came right off.
This was no easy task with the frame attached to the slide. Thank god I found this forums excellent sticky that showed me how to remove the back plate and firing pin. I also removed and cleaned the extractor and its assembly and the firing pin safety while I was their. One good thing to come out of this is I can now detail strip a CM9 slide. I have done this on my glock and XDM but this was the hardest due to the frame being attached. Had to ask the wife to lend an extra hand.

[yqtszhj]

Kahr should fix you up. Hang in there. The CM9 is a good one. I really like mine. It's been flawless.

[OldLincoln]

Oops. Did you try pulling the slide forward as you pulled the trigger? It comes right off.

No that edge is not supposed to be there. The top should be smooth all the way to the edge and have a nice square smooth edge. I suspect you have some excess nickle from the plating process and you can remove it with a fine file. My burr wasn't big and I just used a metal fingernail file.

If you take that lip off and grease the slide at #6 and rub a tad on that edge the slide may be smooth.

[Benaiah]

I decided to put the frame on without the barrel or recoil spring installed. big mistake as the slide would not come off all the way.
Is this supposed to happen if the barrel and recoil spring are not in?

Only way I could get the slide off was to remove the back plate and then the firing pin. Once firing pin was removed the slide came right off.
This was no easy task with the frame attached to the slide. Thank god I found this forums excellent sticky that showed me how to remove the back plate and firing pin. I also removed and cleaned the extractor and its assembly and the firing pin safety while I was their. One good thing to come out of this is I can now detail strip a CM9 slide. I have done this on my glock and XDM but this was the hardest due to the frame being attached. Had to ask the wife to lend an extra hand.

I did the same thing as you did, but found an easier way to get the slide off. Line up the end of the slide with the end of the frame as it would be when fully assembled, and with everything lined up, pull the trigger. The slide is now free to come off.

[patgwashere]

i tried pulling the trigger slide would not come off no matter how many times I pulled the trigger. funny thing is when barrel and recoil spring is in slide comes off easy. without barrel and recoil spring in slide was stuck on frame. like I said taking the back plate off and removing the striker was the only way to get slide off

[patgwashere]

picture of barrel shroud from top and side

[jocko]

photo could be much better but it looks to me unless kahr has made some type of barrel change that that shround has now a lip onit where as the top of my barrel hood is smooth, then that little gap and they that raised portion (ring) that is on top of the barrel.

The does not look right to me but maybe some members here can add to this comment. MY PM9 barreel that is over 5 years old certainly is not like that, but again the photo could be better to..

[joe d]

From the first pic, that doesn't look right...Looks like an extra lip or ridge if I'm seeing it correctly...My CM9 doesn't look like that...

[OldLincoln]

That doesn't look right to me. I thought perhaps you had some plating flashing there but that may be a real problem. That is unless the new CM's have a different barrel than my 2 yr old PM.

Here's my barrel hood. Note it is flat on the top without a ridge and squared at the edge.

http://i762.photobucket.com/albums/xx269/OldLincoln/PM9/P1010799.jpg

http://i762.photobucket.com/albums/xx269/OldLincoln/PM9/P1010798.jpg

[jocko]

thats what I am seeing also, can't believe that slipped through QC either.

[Bawanna]

Looks to me like its peening. My K40 did something similar. I sent it in and they replaced the slide and barrel. Can't say for sure of course but looks similar. Does it fail to go all the way into battery once in awhile?

[jocko]

good term for that bawanna, and I amj gonna venture to guess ur dead on target with that assumption If that is true, certainbly that barrel slipped through the hardening kilns..

Its gotta go back IMO, no sense in fokking with it.

[OldLincoln]

Like Bawanna said, I suggest sending both the barrel & slide. If they want the whole gun do that instead and let them test it out.

[Bawanna]

I suspect they will want the whole gun. Call or email them first.

[jocko]

I think I wold send them the photo email to . send to Jay at kahr arms or eion, state ur cocern, and ask them to issue a pre paid pick up.

[patgwashere]

Looks to me like its peening. My K40 did something similar. I sent it in and they replaced the slide and barrel. Can't say for sure of course but looks similar. Does it fail to go all the way into battery once in awhile?

it will fail to go in to battery everytime if you try to slingshot it. ( no magazine in) only way to get it to go to battery is to lock it back then release slide lock.
I already called kahr friday morning and spoke with CS rep
he told me to send the whole gun in. he said hewould send me a fed ex label on friday. still have no fed ex label so i guess they are not in a rush to help

[Devo]

When they prepaid my shipping, Kahr emailed me the shipping label. Seems they are using the pony express in your case. I would call them about that label.

[patgwashere]

called kahr again this morning and received label at 6pm. I will ship it tomorrow.
I will let you guys know what the problem was after Kahr sends gun back
Thanks for the replies.

[Deane]

I recently had a problem with my new CM-9 not wanting to return to battery. After a phone call, which was answered quickly, I was connected with Richard Merrill in tech support. I e-mailed photos of the spring to Richard and he saw the problem and sent me a new spring. I installed the spring and went to the range where the pistol ran without further problems. My thanks to Kahr and Richard in tech support for solving my problem in a quick and professional manner. I love this pistol.

[patgwashere]

I promised to write a f/u when my gun came back from kahr so here it is.

Note from gunsmith that came back with the gun said he replaced barrel.
I took the gun to the range today and fired 100 blazer brass fmj and 14 gold dot hp +p with zero problems. I loaded the +p gold dots to full 7 round capacity twice as this is how I will carry the gun.
The gun functioned very smoothly and recoil was tame even with the +P rounds.
I found the gun to be very accurate, more so then my other pocket gun the ruger lcp. (although the ruger has functioned perfectly right out of the box and has about 1000 rounds through it now)
I will have to run a couple hundred more rounds through her before I totally trust the gun again but so far so good. Will probably still keep my trusty ruger but I will carry this more if it proves to be reliable. I would rather have 9mm +p than 380 anyday.

[muggsy]

I had the same problem with my CM9. A new recoil spring assembly cured the problem. Kahr sent a replacement recoil spring assembly at no charge. All it took was an e-mail describing the problem.

[patgwashere]

I had the same problem with my CM9. A new recoil spring assembly cured the problem. Kahr sent a replacement recoil spring assembly at no charge. All it took was an e-mail describing the problem.


thanks for the reply but read post number 41. gun was fixed by kahr. they replaced the barrel