CW40 6 round magazine came apart

[lazervapor]

Just received my CW40. Very excited to "break it in".
First and second loads went fine. 12 shots. I loaded the
mag again, picked it up to put into gun and the spring and
ammo went flying. It came out the top of the mag, not the bottom.
I Put it back together and wouldn't hold. Very disappointing short
day at the range.

Is this common, fixable, to be expected? Any ideas appreciated.

[Brent]

Did the weld up the edge of the magazine break loose causing the magazine casing to spread open? I don't see how else the follower which is on top of the spring could get past the top lips on the magazine that are bent over. :confused:

[gb6491]

Just received my CW40. Very excited to "break it in".
First and second loads went fine. 12 shots. I loaded the
mag again, picked it up to put into gun and the spring and
ammo went flying. It came out the top of the mag, not the bottom.
I Put it back together and wouldn't hold. Very disappointing short
day at the range.

Is this common, fixable, to be expected? Any ideas appreciated.
Welcome to the forums.
Rounds and spring flying out the top of the magazine certainly isn't a common failure with these pistols,
However, there have been reports of broken followers, especially on the .40 cal guns. In almost all of these cases it was the front skirt of the follower that broke, but the gun could function with this condition (though the follower might come forward on the last round).
My guess is that you have a problem along this line, but it's hard to tell without more info. Could you post some photos of your magazine components?
If it is a broken follower, Kahr will make it right (usually by sending a new follower to you).
Regards,
Greg

Brent does make a good point above.

[lazervapor]

Thank you for the responses. The skirt on the follower looks as it should.
It looks as though the weld is broken as Brent suggested it might be. When
I load the magazine the flat edge separates up the back at the top. The bottom weld looks intact. After I received my CW 40 I ordered two more magazines in addition to the free one. I hope these will hold up better than this one did. Maybe I can send it back for replacement.

[wyntrout]

Email with a picture to Customer Service works very well. They may want the whole magazine sent back to them, though.

Wynn:)

[Rainman48314]

I just got a credit back from Natchez Shooters Supply for a Chip McCormick 7 rd 1911 mag. The bottom four welds all blew out the third time using the mag. Stuff happens. Glad to have three other mags handy.

[jocko]

some of the 40 caliber magazines tha thave wentbad ,, really swent bad. Some of the followers just broke up all to hell. I think GB is closer tothe issue witha very bad follower. I would thik if the back of the magazine split that bad, it would be very hard to eveninsertinto the mag well. After reading rainman's post about the chip McCormick 1911 mags, it doesn't make me feel better about the cws40 mag issue but it does tell me that it can happen to other than kahr products. I surew ould love to know what it is exactly tht is causing broken followers in some of these kahrs and it does seem to me anyhow that it is more prevelant in the 40 cal kahrs than others. I have had tow cracked followers in my PM9 and that is with 32K out of that magazine to, and mine never shut the gun down either. I luckily cuaght mine when cleaning the magaine up and I have no clue as to how long that cracked followers was doing its job either. If there is a qui8rk in kahrs that should get maybe alittle more attention in one area than any other, I would suggest always keeping an eye on ur followers. We can't prevent what will happen on the next "bang" thing ...

[Brent]

Hey jocko, my assumption was based on the fact that magazine was out of the gun when it flew apart. I'm guessing the weld broke when he was reloading the mag or shortly thereafter. No mention by lazervapor that he has loaded it and inserted it into the gun since the incident, but I would like to know if he has. Also, I had inspected my 6 round mag and discovered a hair line crack in the weld at the bottom. I don't think it will be as prone to breaking as it would at the top, but I'll keep an eye on it. It simply looks as if the weld isn't as strong at the bottom.

http://i1024.photobucket.com/albums/y302/BrentRFC/Kahr/mag-seam.jpg

Thanks for the heads up on the follower. I'll be watching that closely as well. http://i1024.photobucket.com/albums/y302/BrentRFC/Smileys/sthumb.gif

[lazervapor]

I can put the magazine back into the gun but only with a couple rounds in it or there is to much pressure and it splits again. Haven't fired it with the two rounds in it, but have no reason to believe it wouldn't work fine. Here are the pics. The follower is intact. The welds are broken at the top and bottom. Pliers are inserted just to separate the top.
http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc403/lazervapor/SAM_01852.jpg

http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc403/lazervapor/SAM_01862.jpg

[Brent]

Wow!!! Looks like an almost complete failure of the weld.

[jocko]

oh my, there is no weld on that magazine . unbelievable...

brent: I think ur magazne is OK, at the top ad bottom of all magazines there is an unwelded portion. Those magazines are plasma welded. U can see the weld all theway up the back of ur magazine where as the one by laservapor shows no weld at all..

No doubt that one slipped by the magazie maker and also kahr... I would send that email photo tokahr attn; eion or Jay and ask for a new one , they willprobalby ask u to send it back but mayb eu should just ask why???? It is broke, why pay $5 to do to..

[Brent]

oh my, there is no weld on that magazine . unbelievable...

brent: I think ur magazne is OK, at the top ad bottom of all magazines there is an unwelded portion. Those magazines are plasma welded. U can see the weld all theway up the back of ur magazine where as the one by laservapor shows no weld at all..

No doubt that one slipped by the magazie maker and also kahr... I would send that email photo tokahr attn; eion or Jay and ask for a new one , they willprobalby ask u to send it back but mayb eu should just ask why???? It is broke, why pay $5 to do to..

Yeh, I saw the unwelded portion. The red line is showing the crack in the actual weld. I don't think it will be a problem either. The bullets pushing up and therefore out on the magazine lips at the top would create a problem if the crack was there, but it looks fine.

I believe lazervapor's mag has a weld seem. Can't say for sure though. I had some pics showing the whole side of my magazine where the weld did not show at all. It blends in well if you're not doing a close-up shot.

[Brent]

Relooking at the pic of lazervapor's mag and it almost looks like it is tack welded at the very bottom and was possibly at the top, so maybe it didn't go through the complete welding process. :confused:

[jocko]

first magazine I have even seen totally like that.. something sure went amiss that is for sure...

[lazervapor]

I emailed the info and pics to Kahr and Jay said he was sending a prepaid fedex envelope to swap out the magazine. Thanks for the help and input.

Edited a typo

[Ressom]

Wow, that weld is not good. Is there a weld at all? I guess if not then that beats the one about them installing the springs backwards. :)

[lazervapor]

Great timing. Just received the extra magazines I ordered from Kahr when I got the gun. This is the best pic and as close as I could get. Right Resom, I think you can tell which one is welded and which isn't. Also Brent, the new magazine looks similar to your mag that has the crack. May not be a crack but a result of the spot weld. Just comparing the pics which isn't always easy to do.
http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc403/lazervapor/IMG_6986-1.jpg

[Brent]

The weld on that top mag looks like my 7 round mag. My guess is the weld starts from the bottom upwards. What it looks like I'm seeing on mine is just a light weld, where the weld starts up.

Good for Kahr on paying the shipping too! http://i1024.photobucket.com/albums/y302/BrentRFC/Smileys/sthumb.gif

[getsome]

Hello all, Have been away for a week so sorry for bringing up an old post..... I'm glad laservapor got his two new mags and hopefully they will stay together this time...When I bought my used PM40 it only had one mag so I had the gunstore order two spare mags...He got them from a distributor not from Kahr directly but they have the Kahr script and .40 at the bottom where the original is marked and overall look the same except for the finish and weld up the back....

Both new ones look just like the ones in the picture and have smooth welds up the back but they don't look like TIG welding and the body has the look of being galvanized...My original mag is smooth and shiny and will drop clear of the pistol but the new ones won't and the original mag's back weld looks like TIG welding should, almost like a zipper and has been ground smooth...The new mags look more like they were silver soldered not welded...

One other interesting thing is the two new galvanized looking mags will attract a magnet but the original won't...I don't think stainless steel should not be magnetic...Could these be counterfeit mags because in their magazine ads Kahr says stainless plasma welded magazines...

[gb6491]

....
One other interesting thing is the two new galvanized looking mags will attract a magnet but the original won't...I don't think stainless steel should not be magnetic...Could these be counterfeit mags because in their magazine ads Kahr says stainless plasma welded magazines...
It depends upon the composition of the steel and sometimes how it is worked. To say: there are stainless steels (IE some 400 series) that are magnetic, while others (IE some 300 series) are not, but you can make some non-magnetic stainless steels magnetic by cold working it.
Regards,
Greg