P380 failure to eject

At the range, after shooting off about 50 or 60 rounds with my trusty P380, an empty shell casing just stayed in the chamber. I had to pry it out with a knife. It was not a stovepipe or anything like that. Looked like nothing happened with the empty shell, it just stayed right where it was after the bullet fired. I've never had that before with any gun.
There were a couple of other hiccups toward the end of that session too so i was hoping it was just time to replace the recoil springs. I went home cleaned everything pretty good, and wrestled new recoil springs into the gun. Next range trip, there were no other hiccups but the same thing happened with an empty shell towards the end of the session. After it came out I shot a couple more mags with no problems.

Anyone else ever have this issue? I'm no gunsmith but I have to guess its something to do with the extractor or one of those little springs. I'm getting ready to contact Kahr, but maybe someone here has seen this before.

You had to "Pry" the case out of the chamber? What ammo are you using? Is it swollen or out of spec cases? Reloads?

I'm thinking out of spec round or a dirty chamber, but if it worked for a couple mags after prying the case out, that pretty much eliminates the dirty chamber theory.

Don't think it's a spring issue.

I would have the same issue with another firearm (9mm) that in the past I shot steel case ammo in the past. Became pissed off at the gun. The gun would fail to remove the shell from the chamber. Not every time but to the point that the gun was not reliable.
I tried everything. Replaced extractor, springs and on and on. Then I read where the chamber would accumulate residue that was hard to clean off. They advised to get a chamber bush, which I did and scrubbed like yell. Yep, fixed the problem and never had a issue again.
Now if anyone knows me, they know I am a huge fan of the small pocket guns. Thousands of rounds for years shot through them. And one thing about them that must be learned is that they get dirty fast! Watch what happens if you fire 200 rds through one. That seems to be the magic number when they start to fail.
Personally I also believe in changing out the recoil springs much more often that most folks will agree on and also the magazines springs. All my Pocket guns run great. No issues and I trust them. I keep them maintained.

https://i.imgur.com/FSuCJCJ.jpg

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Whiskeyhorse

I would have the same issue with another firearm (9mm) that in the past I shot steel case ammo in the past. Became pissed off at the gun. The gun would fail to remove the shell from the chamber. Not every time but to the point that the gun was not reliable.
I tried everything. Replaced extractor, springs and on and on. Then I read where the chamber would accumulate residue that was hard to clean off. They advised to get a chamber bush, which I did and scrubbed like yell. Yep, fixed the problem and never had a issue again.
Now if anyone knows me, they know I am a huge fan of the small pocket guns. Thousands of rounds for years shot through them. And one thing about them that must be learned is that they get dirty fast! Watch what happens if you fire 200 rds through one. That seems to be the magic number when they start to fail.
Personally I also believe in changing out the recoil springs much more often that most folks will agree on and also the magazines springs. All my Pocket guns run great. No issues and I trust them. I keep them maintained.

---

Chamber cleaning brush! Thank you. Never heard of that but it makes sense. I have a LOT of rounds through this little guy (lost count long ago) so it will have built up whatever might build up. I'm going to get one and try that with some good solvent, see if that does it. I have 5 other 380 pocket guns including a couple of cw380s and all my other handguns are 9mm, same diameter. In fact now I think about it my PCC is 9mm also. So I'll get after all of them with the chamber cleaning brush while I'm at it. Can't hurt.
FWIW for the range I use whatever brass cased fmj ammo I can find the cheapest. Lately its been Norma and Monarch (Academy Sports store brand which I've heard is rebadged Magtech)

UPDATE - the only place this is currently available is the Wilson Combat site itself. Shipping cost more than the gizmo but I "bit the bullet." I expect to use it on all my 9s and 380s, so its worth it.

You can often just use a larger bore brush to clean the chamber as well. I have a couple chamber brushes, especially useful for shotguns but the chamber on a handgun needs a good scrubbing now and then.

The only spring that might cause this issue would be the extractor spring. I've never had to replace one of those. A worn extractor could also be the culprit. Are you in the habit of loading a round manually into the chamber and dropping the slide closed on it?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FreeMe

The only spring that might cause this issue would be the extractor spring. I've never had to replace one of those. A worn extractor could also be the culprit. Are you in the habit of loading a round manually into the chamber and dropping the slide closed on it?

---

Not in the "habit" but I've done it a few times. I quit when I read it could be detrimental, but even before it was only very rarely. I load from the mag.
The post from Whiskeyhorse rang a bell. I'm gonna give it a good scrubbing with the chamber brush when it arrives. If that doesn't do it, off to the factory. Messing with the extractor or extractor spring is well above my pay grade.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Slow Burn

Not in the "habit" but I've done it a few times. I quit when I read it could be detrimental, but even before it was only very rarely. I load from the mag.
The post from Whiskeyhorse rang a bell. I'm gonna give it a good scrubbing with the chamber brush when it arrives. If that doesn't do it, off to the factory. Messing with the extractor or extractor spring is well above my pay grade.

---

The extractor still could be an issue. It's possible that the extractor spring/strut tunnel needs cleaning. It's really not that hard to get into, especially if you make yourself a Ripley Retainer. (Do a search on this site)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FreeMe

The extractor still could be an issue. It's possible that the extractor spring/strut tunnel needs cleaning. It's really not that hard to get into, especially if you make yourself a Ripley Retainer. (Do a search on this site)

---

I had extraction issues with a CW380. My P380 had been perfect. I looked for differences in the extraction parts. First thing I noticed and did was to slightly file the edge of the "hook" to chamfer it a smidge (tech term) and smooth it. I noticed that the combination of the front extractor pin, the spring, and the rear pin was longer in the CW. The spring in the CW was considerably longer. I removed .025 from the rear pin. Between the 2 little mods I haven't had any issue since. YMMV!