CW9 light strike and FTF?

[shovel99]

Hi Guys,
I am a pretty serious Kahr fan, have had P9, PM9 and P9 Covert (3.5 inch barrel, short grip 6 round cross between P9 and P9 that is my fave). I was such a fan that I convinced my brother to buy a CW9 at a good price under promotion. I have shot all kinds of HP rounds and reloads through the P9's with nary a misfire, light strike, FTF or anything. Don't know the round counts. Probably 2k spread across all three over 10 years. No spring changes and very rare take down cleans of the internals. They just shoot and shoot.

My brother's CW9 worked well for a couple of years... pretty much right out of the box. Shot both factory and our reloads without problems up until a few weeks ago. (115Gn Berry's or Ranier hollow base plated with .37 CC of Titegroup, 4.1-4.3 grains). It now light strikes by not going back into battery by a small fraction, light strike slightly off center. I tried rechambering and second trigger pull: light strike no bang.
I pulled the bad rounds out and put them in an LC9..... bang bang no issue.

We sent it back to Kahr. They replaced springs and other parts, shipped back.

Took back to range. Loaded up the light load 4.1+ grain of titegroup 115 gn round nose reloads that fire effectively in every one of my 9's: P series Kahr, glock, sig, ruger, and: light strikes continue.

We haven't tried stout factory defensive ammo since the pistol has returned from Kahr. My suspicion is that the light range loads are having a hard time pushing back the original stiff +P springs.. and not storing enough energy to return the next round to battery. Any other ideas?
TIA, shovel99

[Bawanna]

Take the reloads out of the equation first to see if they are the issue.
It's possible it has a slightly tighter chamber and the reloads are seated just a tad long.
If factory works without issue, might try seating the reloads a bit deeper.
Or easier yet, do the plunk test, drop a reload down the barrel and see if it sits properly in the chamber.

Most of the Kahrs strike slightly off center and often times leave what I call primer smear, it's like the striker doesn't retract quickly enough and drags across the primer as the case is on the way out.

Check it out and let us know how it shakes out, we can all learn from this.

[shovel99]

Take the reloads out of the equation first to see if they are the issue.
It's possible it has a slightly tighter chamber and the reloads are seated just a tad long.
If factory works without issue, might try seating the reloads a bit deeper.
Or easier yet, do the plunk test, drop a reload down the barrel and see if it sits properly in the chamber.

Most of the Kahrs strike slightly off center and often times leave what I call primer smear, it's like the striker doesn't retract quickly enough and drags across the primer as the case is on the way out.

Check it out and let us know how it shakes out, we can all learn from this.

Thanks Bawanna,

We will try to get out to the range this weekend, shoot some factory defensive ammo and ammo sold by the range,
and report back.
shovel99

[shovel99]

Thanks Bawanna,

We will try to get out to the range this weekend, shoot some factory defensive ammo and ammo sold by the range,
and report back.
shovel99

Critical Defense in STD pressure shot well, with a very short COL and narrow cone, I figured if anything would cycle, this should, and we would just let it go at that.

Per the excellent recommendation, I did gravity drop both Hornady Critical Defense and my own reloads into the chamber of the CW9, (with muzzle facing down) and neither of them dropped all the way in. Stopped at around 1/8 inch still protruding. So rounds are facing some resistance in chambering.

I tried dropping them into my Ruger LC9S Pro and both rounds dropped right into the chamber.

I plan to personally give the CW9 an extra barrel scrub with the bore brush and solvent and see if the bro hasn't been keeping his tools clean.
Surely, Kahr would check this when a weapon is returned with a cycling problem, I was telling myself?

Either way, brother has lost confidence in the go "bangedness of Kahr" and will probably move on to a Ruger LC9S Pro.

Mine shoots everything, including all the rounds that didn't go bang in the Kahr, first trigger pull.

Kahr used to own this market but things change.

Thanks to all.

Paul

[bugs]

I would look to the striker channel first for gunk slowing the striker enough to produce a light hit w/no bang; if the channel is clean, use Federal ammo or primers (softest) in your reloads. did brother replace striker spring with a reduced power striker spring? sometimes that results in FTF with certain brands of ammo. I use reduced power striker spring in my EDC/COMP. CM9, but keep striker channel clean w/o problems.

NRA LIFER
IDPA BELEIVER

[Ed M]

What's the COL on your reloads?

Kahrs are pretty intolerant of longer COL reloads.

My pet reload in 9mm works great in every 9mm I own. It's 4.7 gr of HP-38 (same as Win 231), with Ranier 124gr HP bullets seated to 1.1" COL.

[shovel99]

Guys, I disassembled the slide to insure that the striker, channel were clean, ok, and to install a new factory striker spring. I think I have identified the problem. The firing pin assembly for lack of knowing the proper term, is unbelievably rough with circular pattern gouges all the way around the exterior. Dont have webhost but will try pasting here. I am assuming I should smooth this off with fine grit emery paper. I believe I have 400, 600 and 1000. I also have cotton buffing wheels and some cerium oxide from a glass scratch cleaning project that would work. These are deep gouges. How the heck does this happen with a gun fired less than 200 -300 rounds? I have used Non chlorinated brake cleaner as recommended by many perhaps twice. My guess, I smooth this down and throw it back together and it runs like crazy, without the spring changeout. Spring feels pretty darn stout getting it out. I tried to insert a picture (I am not going through the hassle of setting up web host to post one picture here) the system would not accept it. Sorry. Trust me, I have never seen anything this pitted made from metal, sliding on metal. My pickaxe that I break rocks with is smoother than this part. I cannot for the life of me figure out a smooth piece of steel from the factory turned into this.

Thanks, Shovel99

[gb6491]

Photos:
I use https://postimages.org
Just chose and upload your image; then copy the "hotlink for fourms" on the next page and post it here.
Regards,
Greg

[shovel99]

Thanks Greg for the link to picture host. I will probably follow through to show you guys what the dreadful firing pin assembly (right term?) looked like. I cannot imagine how it got that way. The surface had circular grooves in it and an almost diamondback pattern on it as if it had had acid poured on it. I sanded it with 400 grit then 1000 grit emery paper taking out most of the deep grooves. Not all... some so deep I would still be sanding them. I also then noticed that the striker spring was kinked right at the end of the guide... maybe 4-7 degrees. Curious as hell that the gun would function fully with hot defensive ammo and not 4 grains of TG and my 115 grain plated round nose in that condition.

Put it back together and went to the range. Fired all the reloads and 3 different boxes of JHP defensive rounds from 115 grain to 147 grain gold dots, all perfectly.

So the moral of this story is look inside before trying to diagnose. I was a bit leery of disassembling the slide, but several youtube videos were the magic.

Thanks again, gents.

shovel99

[skiflydive]

Another happy ending at the KahrTalk Forum!