Striker not resetting after firing ?

My brother and I recently purchased 3 Kahrs. He a PM45, & I a PM9 & P380. My PM9 ran flawlessly for 250 rounds. My brothers PM45 ran fine using the 5 round Mags but persistent jamming with the 6 rounder. While checking to find the problem I noticed the striker was out while trying to chamber a round, causing the base of the shell the jam under it & the mouth of the chamber. Fast forward 2 days. My P380 Came in. As with both other guns, I did all the recommended pre-prep before starting the breaking. I could understand this problem with 1 gun, but 2 doing the same thing! Has anyone had this problem? I am totally baffled 😯

It is normal for the striker to protrude during the slide cycle to the rear but it will be pulled back during the forward motion and should not be visible as a new round is chambered. Otherwise a Kahr would have a tendency for "slam fire" incidents. They do not. The only problem may be with the 6 round mag.

If you dry fire the 380 and then attempt to feed a round, the firing pin does not usually “have enough time” to retract and will cause this problem. I just cycle the slide by hand first or turn over the pistol and pull the foot of the striker back. Try it and you’ll see. I have a CM45 but have not noticed the same issue.

I talked with a service tech. at Kahr and explained in detail what the PM45 was doing and he said to send it to them to be checked out. As far as it retracting during the cycle forward, it is not in both the 380 & 45, causing the round to jam.

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Originally Posted by SKSears

I talked with a service tech. at Kahr and explained in detail what the PM45 was doing and he said to send it to them to be checked out. As far as it retracting during the cycle forward, it is not in both the 380 & 45, causing the round to jam.

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How are you verifying this? I ask because if you are checking after the striker has been released the tip will be visible as the striker's tab/sear surface is ahead of the cocking cam. Cycling the slide fully will put the striker tab behind the cocking cam and the cam will hold the striker as the slide continues to move forward. Just before the slide is in battery, it will come to a point where the striker tip should be just below flush with the breech face.

Have you checked if the spring in the 6 round magazine is correctly oriented with the follower?

Regards,
Greg

BTW, welcome to the forums:)

Greg, I’ll try an explain this as best I can. After firing the last round in the magazine, the slide travels to the rear & locks back. At this point the striker to protruding from the breach face. After removing the empty mag and replacing with a loaded mag and releasing the slide release ,the slide moves forward stripping a round from the mag and it jams between the top of the chamber and the bottom of the striker that is protruding from the slide. I’m not sure at what point the striker resets after firing, dry or live fire. I hope that clears things up as far as what is happening.This same situation is happening with both PM45 & P380. All mag springs are correct. I removed and cleaned before starting the breakin cycle.

OK, thanks for the follow up.
Might I suggest dry firing the pistols and locking the slides back, then look to see if the strikers are protruding from the breech face. If they are, give then a push back into their hole. It should take very little effort to do this. Otherwise, I would disassemble the slide and give the components a good cleaning (especially the striker channel) then reassemble (no lube on the striker parts) and see if the issue persists.
Regards,
Greg

Greg, I did not try pushing the striker back in but I did turn the gun over and pulled it back by the tab below the slide.with the P380, I just dry fired and pulled the slide to the rear locking it back and the striker is protruding from the breach face. Is this correct? It is hard to see but appears to be retracting upon release and going forward into battery.

Greg, as far as my brothers PM45, after the jamming started I did completely break the slide down and clean, leaving striker channel dry , reassembled & lubed at recommended points ,fired the gun with the same problem. Have you heard of anyone else having this problem?

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Originally Posted by SKSears

Greg, I did not try pushing the striker back in but I did turn the gun over and pulled it back by the tab below the slide.with the P380, I just dry fired and pulled the slide to the rear locking it back and the striker is protruding from the breach face. Is this correct? It is hard to see but appears to be retracting upon release and going forward into battery.

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No, that's not correct, but did you push the striker block in while pulling the tab back?

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Originally Posted by SKSears

Greg, as far as my brothers PM45, after the jamming started I did completely break the slide down and clean, leaving striker channel dry , reassembled & lubed at recommended points ,fired the gun with the same problem. Have you heard of anyone else having this problem?

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There have been some folks in the past that posted this happening (mainly with 380?). If I remember right some were fixed with a cleaning and some by reshaping the striker tip a bit. I also believe some were returned for repair.

On a side note, I think it might be possible that the extractor is holding the incoming round so tightly that it has no wiggle room so that when it hits the striker tip it stops instead of rocking over it and pushing the tip back in the slide (there should be nothing holding the striker forward at this point other than friction from the fit of the parts).
I think this mod to fix feeding issues on the 380s might help in this regards: http://www.kahrtalk.com/showthread.p...tery-on-CW-380

Regards,
Greg

On my P380 the striker normally retracts, so if I empty a mag and put in a fresh one, I don't have to worry about the protruding striker. If I have been dry firing, the striker is often protruding and when I try to feed, the new round jams on the protruding striker. Kahr is aware of this "problem" with the 380s but like I said, I've never had a problem during LIVE (edited) fire. So SKSears, what you said back in post #8 is entirely correct. Greg, not sure what you were getting at about pushing in the striker block. You can just pull it back achieving the same result as if you just pushed the pin in from the breech.

Greg ,I hope to have time tomorrow to work on this and see if that fix you referred to might take care of this. Thanks for your time & you welcoming me to the forum, Sears.

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Originally Posted by SKSears

Greg, I did not try pushing the striker back in but I did turn the gun over and pulled it back by the tab below the slide.with the P380, I just dry fired and pulled the slide to the rear locking it back and the striker is protruding from the breach face. Is this correct? It is hard to see but appears to be retracting upon release and going forward into battery.

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Originally Posted by gb6491

No, that's not correct, but did you push the striker block in while pulling the tab back?

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I'm sorry I must have read something into that which I wanted to see. What you wrote, "I just dry fired and pulled the slide to the rear locking it back and the striker is protruding from the breach face. Is this correct? It is hard to see but appears to be retracting upon release and going forward into battery.", is correct.
My apologies :o.
Regards,
Greg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SKSears

Greg, I did not try pushing the striker back in but I did turn the gun over and pulled it back by the tab below the slide.with the P380, I just dry fired and pulled the slide to the rear locking it back and the striker is protruding from the breach face. Is this correct? It is hard to see but appears to be retracting upon release and going forward into battery.

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Originally Posted by topgun1953

On my P380 the striker normally retracts, so if I empty a mag and put in a fresh one, I don't have to worry about the protruding striker. If I have been dry firing, the striker is often protruding and when I try to feed, the new round jams on the protruding striker. Kahr is aware of this "problem" with the 380s but like I said, I've never had a problem during dry fire. So SKSears, what you said back in post #8 is entirely correct. Greg, not sure what you were getting at about pushing in the striker block. You can just pull it back achieving the same result as if you just pushed the pin in from the breech.

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Darn my mind was off on another track and I was thinking along the line that the striker block might be interfering with the striker's travel in a way other than how it is supposed to. Yep, push or pull would have worked for that.:o
Regards,
Greg

Greg, I’ve been playing with this PM45 off & on for a few days and think you might be right about the stricker block being the problem. How big a deal is it to remove & change out. I was thinking of swapping the block in my p45 to my brothers pm45 to see if that resolves the problem. Forgot to mention, my P380 seems to be functioning fine now. I believe it just may have needed more breakin shots. The PM45, I have dry fired cycled approximately 500 times & the striker staying out seems to be intermittent. Going try and get to the range today and give them both a good workout! :rain:Weather not the best here today!

Good news & bad news. Made it to the range today. 150 rounds thru the P380 with zero problems! 100 rounds thru the PM9 ,zero problems. Bad news is PM45 is still jamming. The striker not resetting. I’m ready to let Kahr take a whack at it! I hope their customer service is as good as people say.

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Originally Posted by SKSears

Good news & bad news. Made it to the range today. 150 rounds thru the P380 with zero problems! 100 rounds thru the PM9 ,zero problems. Bad news is PM45 is still jamming. The striker not resetting. I’m ready to let Kahr take a whack at it! I hope their customer service is as good as people say.

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I will second what others are saying here. I have had two kahrs with the striker not resetting issue. A P9 and a CW9. The striker channel was the culprit on one. Some small shavings in there, probably from manufacturing, prevented stuff from doing as it should. The other was the same, but also, the striker body had some shiny spots. I cleaned both and ran a polishing cloth around the striker body (part that will contact the striker chanel) until all shiny. Other than that, shaping a cw380 extractor are the only "concerns" I've had with any Kahr, and I've had a few. Hope you can figure out whats up with your 45. I'm looking for a good, local deal on another cw45 myself. I miss carrying that one!

It took about 6 weeks for the PM45 to make it back from Kahr customer service. Had a couple of FTF during the first mag. After those initial problems it has been functioning with no problems! Action taken was the installation of a striker spacer! 100 rounds after the repair and no problems to report. Thank you Kahr service department!