CW380 frame cracking- anyone else have this?

[u380b]

I have a CW380. Second owner- though it was pretty new when I got it. Prev owner not shot it much.

I broke it in and have placed maybe 300-500 rounds through it (maybe more). Reliable. Love it. EDC is great.

But.... not long ago when cleaning, I noticed circular cracks in the polymer at the back end of the front rails (just above the finger spot in the trigger area).

See this pic (top view- slide removed)-to show the general area where this is happening (yellow arrows). You can't see it from on top- only from on end view. As best I can tell, the "lug" on the front end of the slide- that seats the main springs.. when the gun is fired, that metal comes back and hits this area before moving forward and returning to battery.



Hard to photograph.... but this is what's happening and concerns me (see below).

You can see a significant curved crack on the right side of photo (yellow arrows).
You can also see where a similar piece broke off on the left side of this photo (red arrows).

So when I say in the title the "frame" is cracking.... this is what I mean.

One of my concerns is: if this area continues to deteriorate, will those guide rails eventually come loose?

Is this not a big deal?..... or potentially catastrophic? I'm obviously extra concerned since I am not the original purchaser.

Has anyone else seen this? Is it happening on your gun?

[Osu84]

Definitely contact Kahr on this. It doesn't look right.

[topgun1953]

I think you're ok. I've had to take out the xacto knife a couple of times to scrape away excess plastic that had appeared in the areas you reference. I actually scraped away most of the 'side flanges' that you are pointing to in your second photo. Why did I have to do this? Well, after a range visit it was difficult to remove the slide. When I finally got it off and the gun cleaned, I couldn't get the guide rod to seat in the frame. Turned out, those flanges had formed and they were blocking the proper seating of the guide rod and were also what caused the difficulty in removing the slide originally. It was as if those flanges were created during the shooting. I think an earlier thread deduced that the recoil spring was chewing on the frame there and caused those flanges to form. Bottom line, leave them be if they don't interfere with the guide rod, otherwise scrape/cut away. I probably have over 1000 rounds through my p380 since I cleaned up that area and it has stayed free and clear. I'm sure Kahr would take a look at it if you are concerned. I didn't see what I'd call a crack in your frame, but as you pointed out, its tough to get a good photo with good light.

[u380b]

Topgun... sorry for the confusion. I edited my post to make it more clear. When I say "cracks in the frame" I mean what you can see in the second photo. You can't see it from on top.

When I look at the second photo.... this is exactly what one would expect to see if you took those guide rails on the sides that hold the slide..... and PULLED them outward. That is the kind of cracks you would see.

Which makes my wonder.... is that what's happening?

It's as if this spot on the frame is kind of a backstop for the slide coming back.
And if that's what it's designed to do... it doesn't seem beefy enough to me.

BTW- your experience with this is encouraging.

[Bawanna]

Those rails are a solid piece molded into the polymer so they aren't going anyplace.

It's definitely taking a little beating by the recoil assembly. You can certainly send those photos to Kahr's customer service and see what they have to say. I suspect there's no need for concern myself but send pics anyhow and keep a close eye on it.

[gb6491]

I have a CW380. Second owner- though it was pretty new when I got it. Prev owner not shot it much.

I broke it in and have placed maybe 300-500 rounds through it (maybe more). Reliable. Love it. EDC is great.

But.... not long ago when cleaning, I noticed circular cracks in the polymer at the back end of the front rails (just above the finger spot in the trigger area).

See this pic (top view- slide removed)-to show the general area where this is happening (yellow arrows). You can't see it from on top- only from on end view. As best I can tell, the "lug" on the front end of the slide- that seats the main springs.. when the gun is fired, that metal comes back and hits this area before moving forward and returning to battery.



Hard to photograph.... but this is what's happening and concerns me (see below).

You can see a significant curved crack on the right side of photo (yellow arrows).
You can also see where a similar piece broke off on the left side of this photo (red arrows).

So when I say in the title the "frame" is cracking.... this is what I mean.

One of my concerns is: if this area continues to deteriorate, will those guide rails eventually come loose?

Is this not a big deal?..... or potentially catastrophic? I'm obviously extra concerned since I am not the original purchaser.

Has anyone else seen this? Is it happening on your gun?

I'm not seeing any cracks, that looks like deformation to me. As others have mentioned, that could be caused by not having the guide rod correctly aligned when installing the top end or it could be caused when the recoil spring stacks. I suppose it could also happen if the spring stack is not tall enough to prevent the slide from coming back that far.
I'd not be too concerned about it.

Here's that area on my P380 (it's banged up some):

Here's a shot with the recoil springs and guide rod in place. I think one could see where any misalignment of the springs when compressing could cause some deformation in the area:

FWIW, the front of all poly Kahr pistols have that "bulge" as shown in my photo.
Regards,
Greg

[King Rat]

Those rails are a solid piece molded into the polymer so they aren't going anyplace.

It's definitely taking a little beating by the recoil assembly. You can certainly send those photos to Kahr's customer service and see what they have to say. I suspect there's no need for concern myself but send pics anyhow and keep a close eye on it.

I have not had that issue with my Kahr, but did have many issues with the LCP, especially with grip cracks.
examples








I had another one that had a crack run all the way down the magazine well. Khar does a good job on place stainless steel inserts on the stress points.

[Armybrat]

I have not had that issue with my Kahr, but did have many issues with the LCP, especially with grip cracks.
examples

I had another one that had a crack run all the way down the magazine well. Khar does a good job on place stainless steel inserts on the stress points.

What ammo?

[King Rat]

Standard range ammo. I use to shoot a lot of Freedom munitions out of those guns. Which all felt like a light load. I would never shoot hot ammo out of a LCP. Just are not built for it. It was never about the ammo. It was about ammo count. Use them enough they will just start breaking down.