P45 Failure to Fire Light Primer Strike

help I cannot trust this gun to fire everytime. Very ammo senstive and have not been able to associate a particular ammo that will be 100% reliable. It is very unreliable with reloads. Over the past three years the gun has been back to Kahr three times and on the last trip they replaced the entire gun.

I put the gun away for year and discontinued its use, but have brought it back out since it is outstandingly accurate and excellent carry. But can't trust it.
I found a burr on the striker at the point where the safety block plunger had been hitting it. I thought for sure this was the problem but removing the burr didn't eliminate. The striker parts are all free and not binding so- - I'm thinking the trigger bar might have something to do with it.

I read some questions about the trigger transfer bar clearance, not letting the striker spring to pre **** properly any body got some hints.

I sure don't have a solid answer for you but it seems you've checked everything else. Some here have had trigger bar issues and once they were replaced all was well.
Since that area is virtually a no mans land for the average owner a call or email to kahr describing in as much detail as you can your issues would probably be the next best step.
If you haven't already I would try factory ball ammo, leave all reloads out of the equation for now. I suspect that isn't the issue but have to eliminate that possibility.
The trigger is resetting or you have a dead trigger following these misfires or light primer strikes?

gman: does the gun fire without any ammo in it? If not then you have a timing issue and it could be the trigger bar or it could even be the entire slide, not actually locking up good enough to let all moving parts fall into place.

If the gun does what it should without ammo in it then I would change brands of ammo to see if it could be the ammo. If by chance those rounds are to long and hitting or getting stuck in the throat , then, it will put the gun out of time and you won't even notice it.

you did not state that once they replaced the gun, whether you then broke it back in or what. It might just need a good cleaning in the striker channel area. That little hole in the bottom of the slide willdo that with a spray can and nozzle. a trigger bar out of spec will give light strikes even without a round in the chamber to. Ihate to hear this about your gun, u certainly have paid your dues with it and now for it to benot right would be very frustrating.

u need to eliminate any possablle issues before getting ahold of kahr. but if you callthem, defninitely insist that this is the 4th time back for this gun (technically) and you should not have to pay to send it back, But again be very sure that you have eliminated any possable issues before calling them. The gun being new, maybe you should go to the kahr tech secion and hit on the KAHR LUBE CHART AND ALSO ON PROPPER PREPPING OF YOUR NEW KAHR....

I have fired plus 400 rnds, I have disassembled cleaned checked for free movement of parts. Looks fine. yes, it will dry fire seems fine with the striker protruding from breech face. I just measured the chamber depth of 0.910 . For a colt 1911 match chamber this is on the high side of 0.905-0.910 so this should be okay. The hood to breech face clearance is good with 0.003.

I think what's going on is the striker pin is only protruding past the breech face by 0.025. The minimum SAAMI spec for case length is 0.895 and with my total headspace 0.913 (chamber of 0.910 plus hood of 0.003) means a clearance of 0.018 is present (0.913-.0895) with only 0.025 protruding; (0.008) this isn't much of a strike on a primer.

Anybody else ever see this , how far does others P45 striker protrude from the breech face? you can do this by placing a feeler gage flat on the breech face while holding the striker block up and helping the striker pin push as far as it can go before bottoming out.

Previous replys certainly bring excelent points. I'd like to share one of my experiences with the forum:

I had what may be a similar problem with a CW45 (I don't recall checking for a primer strike). Insert magazine, fire one round, no trigger reset, slap-rack-BLAM, no trigger reset, slap-rack-BLAM, no trigger reset . . . Gave up after 2 magazines of that & went to clean and troubleshoot. After field strip, pulled the trigger as in firing, pushed the "ear" at the rear of the trigger bar downward (as the recoiling slide would), released the trigger and watched for the trigger bar spring to push the rear of the trigger bar back up to it's "normal" position. It didn't. Under good lighting, I could see a "step" on the polymer frame was catching the top edge of the "ear" and keeping it from returning to the "ready-to-fire" position. I checked my other CW45. No "step" at that point on the frame. Don't know if that was a bad molding process, missed machining step, broken machining tool, or what. My slap-rack must have put enough sidways torque to jar the ear up and over the step. Call to Kahr with a description of the problem and what I had found resulted in a return authorization number. The pistol was picked up at my house, repaired and returned in about a week -- all on Kahr's dime.

Guess part of the New Kahr Prep (or even at the gunshop if they don't object to dryfire--take snap-caps along) should be: With a TRIPPLE CHECKED EMPTY pistol: 1. Pull the trigger (listen for click of firing pin) 2. Hold trigger fully to rear while cycling slide. 3. Release trigger completely (should be able to feel reset) 4. Pull trigger one more time to verify reset (listen for click)

Gman, your #2 post got there while I was writing mine. Looks like you may be on to something.

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Originally Posted by gman

...I think what's going on is the striker pin is only protruding past the breech face by 0.025. The minimum SAAMI spec for case length is 0.895 and with my total headspace 0.913 (chamber of 0.910 plus hood of 0.003) means a clearance of 0.018 is present (0.913-.0895) with only 0.025 protruding; (0.008) this isn't much of a strike on a primer.

Anybody else ever see this , how far does others P45 striker protrude from the breech face? you can do this by placing a feeler gage flat on the breech face while holding the striker block up and helping the striker pin push as far as it can go before bottoming out.

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gman,
I'm getting .035" (+/- .001") protrusion on my CW45.
Regards,
Greg

BTW, welcome to the forums!

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Originally Posted by gman

help I cannot trust this gun to fire everytime. Very ammo senstive and have not been able to associate a particular ammo that will be 100% reliable. It is very unreliable with reloads. Over the past three years the gun has been back to Kahr three times and on the last trip they replaced the entire gun.

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Timing issues also relate to the magazine. I'm guessing here that you have checked all of them and the issue is universal - right? What I don't understand is that you had the issue, Kahr replaced it with a brand new - different - gun and the second one has the exact issues also?

If the gun is different but the problem carries over, odds are it's not the gun. Please check the magazine, replace the spring, clean it, etc.

Friend of mine has a CW45 with almost identical problems. He finally loaded some ammo with "ball" 230 gr. bullets and Federal primers. Not sure what his seating depth is, but problems seemed to go away. It seems that some bullet configurations do stick slightly in the lands and the gun won't fire or slide won't completely lock up. He tells me the Federal primers are "softer" than CCI or Winchester that we had both been using.

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Originally Posted by jfrey

Friend of mine has a CW45 with almost identical problems. He finally loaded some ammo with "ball" 230 gr. bullets and Federal primers. Not sure what his seating depth is, but problems seemed to go away. It seems that some bullet configurations do stick slightly in the lands and the gun won't fire or slide won't completely lock up. He tells me the Federal primers are "softer" than CCI or Winchester that we had both been using.

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the bullet gets stuck in the lands/throat of the barrel, it will put the slide out of time. I would think if a person gets a light strike, then he should eject the round and look at the bullet to see if he can see marks on the bullet.