Metal Magazine Followers For 9mm Kahrs!!

[Alfonse]

If the feed ramp is the proper length it can't contact the follower and the follower won't break. There are literally thousands of Kahr pistols that feed just fine with the original follower configuration. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a MIM part. It's simply a less expensive way of manufacturing a part of equal quality.

Muggsy is right. MIM is just fine when used properly. It is less expensive. It is not as strong as machined, or forged parts and cannot be made as hard as those processes will allow. It also has quite a bit of shrinkage and some "slump" that is part of the manufacturing process. All of that can be accounted for in the design. Since many parts are by the nature of their designs lightly stressed, MIM parts allow much less expensive parts and much more affordable pistols.

The quality is equal if it works fine pretty much forever. The MIM striker spacer is such an example. I can't imagine it ever breaking. I brought it up with regards to the tooling costs of making a different design.

I have plastic followers with many thousands of rounds shot with them. I don't think anybody "needs" a different follower.

That said, I don't think you will ever hear of one of the Lakeline followers breaking.

Thanks everybody for all the interest.

[Streetkahr]

I have 2 steel kahrs a mk9 & mk40. Both will feed even when riding the slide (done as a test only) so I'm wondering if the metal follower profiled like a sanded one would be a problem & not an improvement. I also wonder if with the g10 grips if the grip screws would stay tight. My mk40 especially when shooting the screws shoot loose. I have to tighten them every other mag.

Was reading about Kahr owners being able to ride the slide once the pistol was broken in very well. Without some digging, I can't remember what it is about the Kahr design that usually requires the use of the slide stop. With semi-autos, I like to keep the chamber empty when indoors, so the slide stop rule is a slight issue, but I can live with it. Don't really think the follower is the issue in the slide stop rule, but I will have to do some digging to read about it again. There are a number of posts where folks have sanded the underside of their followers to resolve an issue, but I can't remember what it was. I'd need to look that up again too. Can't see that the new metal follower being a problem due to having the sanded profile. If anything, it seems it would be an improvement and feed even better. I was always a little paranoid about the followers in my BHP mags and inspected them every time I cleaned. The Inglis HP mags had metal followers, but Inglis mags were hard to find and very expensive.
Don't know about the MK grip screw issue, but that is one that would bug me. Here is the URL for the MK G10 grips: https://lakelinellc.com/product/mk-series-g10-grips/
It would not surprise me if Lakeline has addressed that issue and upgraded the screws. You could always email and ask. He seems to be really on the ball when it comes to improving Kahr parts.

[berettabone]

I have been able to ride the slide and slingshot my MK since day one..........................did change to Wolff products, and my magazine always had a metal follower, which is nice. Now that it's broken in, the slide release is so touchy, that just breathing on it will let the slide return to battery.................................

[Streetkahr]

I also just started a Facebook page for Lakeline LLC. It would be a good place to stay up with our latest information and news. https://www.facebook.com/LakelineLLC

I don't think you will ever hear of a MIM spacer breaking on a Kahr. That is a fantastic application of MIM and the part is far stronger than it needs to be. In comparison, a machined part is prohibitively expensive. I only brought it up because there is a tooling cost that needs to be amortized to make a new version.

I am designing new grips for the K9 as well. I am looking at G10 and other materials. The amounted of wasted material to machine Kahr grips is very high because the grip wraps around and makes the back strap unlike a 1911 or other common pistols. One advantage of that is using a material with different colored layers might look very cool!

I think our guide rods are super! The flange is thicker than the factory pieces and it is a solid piece. That makes it a bit heavier and much stronger. We are also using 316 stainless which is extremely corrosion resistant and very strong.

MIM parts per se are not a problem is well designed. As i said, the striker spacer is a great application for MIM. I haven't looked at my K9, but I expect that all the striker spacers are MIM. The striker on the 380 is machined and they are still breaking every so often. MIM isn't the issue. In that case I have designed a much stronger striker that also solves the problem of the round below the one in the chamber being struck. But, so far I have not found a production option that makes the parts affordable enough to sell. I would also make the spacer in MIM if I thought I could sell enough of them although the striker itself would be a very strong tool steel.

I love that Ferro Veritas as well!

Thanks to you and Muggsy for resting my fears about MIM. I didn't realize they were that strong. I actually envisioned the parts breaking and metal dust crumbling. Thanks to you both. That really restores confidence. I was raised on blued steel hand fitted guns, so the polymer revolution threw me for a loop. I eventually embraced CNC machining knowing that hand fitted handguns could no longer be produced at a price that was affordable, and I became convinced of the advantages of CNC. Still wish I had kept my old BHP and the hand fitted Colt Detective Special, though. Both had stunning blueing. Very elegant and great shooters.

Good to hear you are doing K9 grips. Material other than G10 would also work great, and color options other than black might also be nice. Not fond of rubber because it sticks to clothing and prints. Love wood, but the checkering is sometimes too sharp and can catch on clothing and have the same printing issue. Don't know about the checkering on the Hogue, though. I understand that Esmerelda is willing to do one-off wood grips for the K9. She does a stunning grip with Celtic knotwork that is tempting. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

Your stainless guide rod sounds better than the Wolff/Kahr parts version. I will order one in addition to some of your metal mag followers. As I buy more mags, I will buy more followers. Speaking of mags, are there any issues with the standard 7-round K9 plastic floor plate? Would aluminum be an advantage?

Ferro Veritas, In Steel There Is Truth. An Elegant Weapon From A More Elegant Age.

[muggsy]

The reason that Kahr recommended the use of the slide stop to chamber a round was that some people rode the slide when racking and that practice can lead to feeding problems when the guns are new. After the break-in Kahr pistols can be racked by hand with no problem if you don't ride the slide. Most Kahr will feed properly even if you ride the slide after the break in period.

[kerby9mm]

On my mk's the only parts that even bother me a little are the plastic followers & plastic guide rod but they have worked for 4 years now with no problem. I still would be interested in replacing them with the new metal ones here. The guide rods offered by Kahr seemed to have troubles sometimes so I left the gun as is.

[Alfonse]

Good to hear you are doing K9 grips. Material other than G10 would also work great, and color options other than black might also be nice. Not fond of rubber because it sticks to clothing and prints. Love wood, but the checkering is sometimes too sharp and can catch on clothing and have the same printing issue. Don't know about the checkering on the Hogue, though. I understand that Esmerelda is willing to do one-off wood grips for the K9. She does a stunning grip with Celtic knotwork that is tempting. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

Your stainless guide rod sounds better than the Wolff/Kahr parts version. I will order one in addition to some of your metal mag followers. As I buy more mags, I will buy more followers. Speaking of mags, are there any issues with the standard 7-round K9 plastic floor plate? Would aluminum be an advantage?

Ferro Veritas, In Steel There Is Truth. An Elegant Weapon From A More Elegant Age.

I don't know of any issues with the plastic K9 base plate. For primarily cosmetic reasons, I have been playing around with a design for one. I thought I would price it in both aluminum and stainless to match the pistol. It might be kind of nice to have one that matches a bit better.

[Alfonse]

On my mk's the only parts that even bother me a little are the plastic followers & plastic guide rod but they have worked for 4 years now with no problem. I still would be interested in replacing them with the new metal ones here. The guide rods offered by Kahr seemed to have troubles sometimes so I left the gun as is.

Without having it in front of me, I think the recoil assembly is mostly stainless, except for the plastic doohickey on the end. Of course, that is what shows.

The plastic guide for the striker springs seem to work well on all the Kahrs. I've never heard of an issue with them.

You could look at the Wolff solution for the recoil assembly. I bought one. I haven't used it yet. It requires different springs available through Wolff. It isn't stainless, but it isn't plastic either if that helps.

[Streetkahr]

Metal Magazine Followers For 9mm Kahrs!!

I have been able to ride the slide and slingshot my MK since day one..........................did change to Wolff products, and my magazine always had a metal follower, which is nice. Now that it's broken in, the slide release is so touchy, that just breathing on it will let the slide return to battery.................................

It looks like some people can slingshot ok once their Kahr is really well broken in. Kahr says slide release only, but I cannot remember why..something to do with the design. Riding the slide is not important to me, but I would like to be able to slingshot. After my K9 is well broken in, I will do a bunch of range testing.

Did your MK mags come from the factory with metal followers? Don't know much about the MK.

[Cokeman]

I've always slingshotted my MK9. It's always worked.

[Streetkahr]

On my mk's the only parts that even bother me a little are the plastic followers & plastic guide rod but they have worked for 4 years now with no problem. I still would be interested in replacing them with the new metal ones here. The guide rods offered by Kahr seemed to have troubles sometimes so I left the gun as is.

I may try the Lakeline stainless guide rod. From what he said, they are more robust than the steel rods sold by Kahr and reduce recoil even more.

Ferro Veritas, In Steel There Is Truth

[Streetkahr]

I don't know of any issues with the plastic K9 base plate. For primarily cosmetic reasons, I have been playing around with a design for one. I thought I would price it in both aluminum and stainless to match the pistol. It might be kind of nice to have one that matches a bit better.

Good to know. The K9 is the first steel pistol I have purchased that did not even need a little gunsmithing. Even though it's not Elite, they seem to have polished the ramp and chamber anyway. When chambering a round, ejecting, and inspecting it, I can only see a single short very shallow scratch. That is the best I have seen out of the box. It's still hard to resist tinkering with it a little, though, and replacing some of the plastic parts with metal. It would also help with the slightly weird feeling I have about buying a NIB steel pistol that needs absolutely nothing done to it. Kind of funny, but I'm just not used to that. I would be interested in stainless mag base plates just for the improved cosmetics and pride of ownership.

Ferro Veritas, In Steel There Is Truth

[Streetkahr]

The reason that Kahr recommended the use of the slide stop to chamber a round was that some people rode the slide when racking and that practice can lead to feeding problems when the guns are new. After the break-in Kahr pistols can be racked by hand with no problem if you don't ride the slide. Most Kahr will feed properly even if you ride the slide after the break in period.

Very good to know! Thanks Muggsy! Mine is not yet broken in, so I'll keep using the slide stop for now.

[yqtszhj]

.... They could be on the front where the barrel can sometimes contact the follower after the last round,...

Thats it right there.^^^ but i have more rounds than I know, probably 1000+ with no issues, just dinged on the front of the follower. So that being the case Ill keep shooting it and if it breaks try a metal one maybe.

[Greg]

There aren't too many options for magazine base plates. I took one of the goofy plates used to fit an 8 round magazine in a K9 and cut it with a small saw and filed it to fit so I had a base plate without the finger extension for my P9.