Slide disassembly question

[jonholl]

Going to put in a 5 lb. striker spring in a CM9 & have a couple of questions. I've printed out & read through the sticky. I'm only taking the slide down to where I can replace the striker spring.
When removing the back of the slide, if I have the "tool" holding the striker spring assembly, which other springs do I have to worry about?
When reassembling the back, with "tool" in place, do I have to worry about the position of the extractor assembly?
Thanks.

[gb6491]

Going to put in a 5 lb. striker spring in a CM9 & have a couple of questions. I've printed out & read through the sticky. I'm only taking the slide down to where I can replace the striker spring.
When removing the back of the slide, if I have the "tool" holding the striker spring assembly, which other springs do I have to worry about?
When reassembling the back, with "tool" in place, do I have to worry about the position of the extractor assembly?
Thanks.

There's a spring in the extractor tunnel. You must push the rear extractor pin to compress this spring when removing and installing the rear plate. It can shoot that rear pin (and itself) away if your not careful with it.

There's also a spring used with the striker block. It's not normally a problem, but you do need to manipulate the block when removing and installing the striker. If you take the block out, it's a small spring and care needs to be taken that it stays in it's hole in the block when reinstalling.

The front extractor pin (right behind the extractor) has to be positioned properly (angled side against the extractor, round side outboard) when doing the install.

Regards,
Greg.

[Bawanna]

Anybody but me wonder what the world would be like without Greg?

Jonholl, Greg nailed all the spots of concern precisely. That being said, don't be intimidated, it's not terribly difficult.
It can be a bit daunting the first time or two or if one hasn't done it for a long time. It seldom needs to come apart that far but it's not that hard.
The one thing that got me the first time is that little pin on the extractor chain. As the picture shows, the hole appears bigger but part of the hole is covered. You have to push where his arrow says push or it's not gonna move.
I had to go to a smaller jewelers screwdriver. Just have to get something small enough to get to the pin.

The back plate might need a bit of gentle persuasion the first time too, a little pry. Again not hard just sometimes more than one can muster with thumb alone.

[jonholl]

Thanks guys, appreciated. I was wondering about the extractor, this nails it. I don't plan on taking the extractor or striker out, just the striker spring & guide, & replacing the spring with the 5 lb. one I got from Wolff. Only 7-800 rounds through it, don't figure I need to detail clean yet.
** Good idea to shoot some brake cleaner in the striker while it's disassembled this far?

[Bawanna]

When you get that back cover off, the hard part is over. I'd pull the extractor chain and the striker out. That's easy stuff. Just note the order of the extractor chain so it goes back together right. Get the extractor oriented as Greg showed in his great photo and your home free.

Then you can forget the brake cleaner and use a Qtip or swab and wipe out both channels. I lube them but then wipe out all the lube. Try to leave them clean and dry.

Your really talking about the easy part when you get to that point. It will be good for you to see the internals, get to know your gun a little more intimately.

[kwh]

Great pictures and explanations.

[jonholl]

Well, have the new 5 lb. spring installed, with only a couple of hiccups .
I noticed the 5 lb. spring was longer than the stock 6 lb. that came out of the CM9, I take it this was because the 5 lb. has not setup yet?
Haven't taken it to the range yet, hopefully everything was reinstalled correctly , but the trigger seems lighter & smoother.

Thanks for the help, especially Greg's pictures.

[Bawanna]

Did you measure the trigger weight before? I think they vary a bit. My PM45 was already on the low end of the scale at around 5#. I put the 5# replacement in anyhow and after it took the set it was just slightly better.
Without the scale I wouldn't have been able to tell.
If you feeling it, your's might have been the high end of the weight range at 6 or 7#. So you benefitted nicely.

With or without the scale your finger is the judge. If it feels good to you, your golden.

[jonholl]

Did you measure the trigger weight before? I think they vary a bit. My PM45 was already on the low end of the scale at around 5#. I put the 5# replacement in anyhow and after it took the set it was just slightly better.
Without the scale I wouldn't have been able to tell.
If you feeling it, your's might have been the high end of the weight range at 6 or 7#. So you benefitted nicely.

With or without the scale your finger is the judge. If it feels good to you, your golden.

Measured today, ~ 1 lb. less, spring installed 24 hours, but feels "smoother" to me.
Shot 4 different brands of ammo - Fed 115 aluminum, WW 115, Speer 115 GD, Fed HST 147 - with no failures to fire (or feed,eject), guess it's good to go .

[Bawanna]

I'd agree, good to go.

[zaitcev]

Anybody but me wonder what the world would be like without Greg?

I don't have to wonder, because I took my slide apart without bothering to read. As you can guess, it was a mistake, because Kahr is not like Glock. On Glock, the little hole on the right of the rear plate is only used to assemble the slide, but for disassembly you have to push a striker spring sleeve with a flathead tool. Needless to say, it didn't work so well on Kahr and I ended with a good gouge on the back plate where I hit it with a screwdriver. I figured that puzzle eventually. Also, I remembered to note how the extractor plunger was oriented, thank heavens for small favours.

[Bills1873]

I'm OCD about my guns, so I read all I could about these little guns on this forum. Still went back to the stickies before performing disassembly.