My new 380 range report

[TriggerMan]

What do you mean about the PM9?

Hate long DAO triggers. I shoot SA so much better.

I'm puzzled by a review of the CM9 in Combat Handguns (I think that's right, its a cover story). They had the trigger at 5.4 lbs. I have read that all Kahrs are at 7.5#, my PM9 certainly was. I didn't buy the issue but will double check that it wasn't the new MA/CA model.

[Cokeman]

So you hang out here and don't even have a Kahr or like them?

[TriggerMan]

So you hang out here and don't even have a Kahr or like them?

Oh, I like 'em, just not in love with 'em. Bawanna created a folder just for me, "Other Firearms". I wander out of there at times.

[Cokeman]

Got it. Good to have you around.

[gm412]

I agree with Coke and think you should be patient up to four hundred rounds. I think new owners would be better served shooting no more than fifty rounds at a time, then clean and repeat. It doesn't do any good to keep running these 380s when they're dirty. It takes several outings and cleanings before they smooth out.

If the gun still won't function after 350/400 rounds, rePquest a new recoil spring from Kahr. I'm sure they'll be glad to send one, free of charge. Give the new spring 50 rounds and if it still won't function, send it back to Kahr. IMO it's a waste of time to return it without exhausting all possibilities first.

I think this is good advice, but I have a shooting problem, as long as I have ammo I can't stop. The gun does a much better job on the first few mags and gets worse after that. This gun seems to get dirty fairly quick.

I talked to Kahr and they said try a couple different types of ammo and put another 100 rounds through and if that does not fix it to call back. They said they do not recommend the Korean ammo I tried. Use only US made ammo. I think the Korean ammo was dirty. Lots to clean after every outing. it is hard to find 380 in this area. So far could only find the 2 brands from my earlier report.

I will say that this is a report and not a complaint. I can tell this wil be an excellent gun. It shoots like a dream. I know many people will not carry anything under a 9mm, but I would not want to be on the recieving end of the p380. It shoots like a much larger gun.

Last time I shot I tried for accuracy. This is accurate for such a small gun. And it seems like I had less malfunctions, pro ally due to holding the gun tighter when trying to shoot accurately.

I will let you know how the next outing goes and I will try not to put so many rounds through it. If I can, hard to stop when there is still ammo in front of you. Now you know why I don't drink often anymore, it was always hard to stop when there was still beer in the refrigerator.

[Cokeman]

I would put as many rounds through it in a session as you want. How are you going to know if the gun is breaking in and functioning or not if you only run a few rounds through it and then stop. You want it to work right when you run 50-100 rounds through it. Mine now works fine and I have shot some dirty crap. I've been cleaning the gun and thought to myself "is this sucker ever going to come clean?" "I can't believe it didn't jam." I wonder if a dirty gun breaks in faster because of the grit and crap grinding between the metal parts.

In my experience, it doesn't matter where the ammo is made unless the rounds are just plain out of spec and won't chamber. I think it matters how much power the rounds have.

[LMT42]

Last time I shot I tried for accuracy. This is accurate for such a small gun. And it seems like I had less malfunctions, pro ally due to holding the gun tighter when trying to shoot accurately.

This may be the cause of your failures to return to battery and light strikes. You don't need to crush it, but you definitely need to hold it with authority. If you limp wrist it at all, you'll lose slide energy and it'll cause problems. Good luck and keep us posted.

[druryj]

The only advice I can give you is sell it as fast as you can. They still get good value in a trade or sale. My .380 had nothing but issues, I also dropped one of the full magazines and the bottom plate went flying, I had bullets everywhere. If that happened in a life or death situation I would have been done. Until Kahr finds out what the problems are with these .380s I wouldn't take one for free. My CW9 has been perfect and the K9 is a classic. For the price these cost it in no way should give you as much trouble as they do. If you want a project gun buy a Kel-tec. Upgrade to a CM9/PM9 which isn't much bigger and is a much better gun.

Wow. Remind me to never buy a gun from you.

[gm412]

I went for the third time to the range with the p380 today. This time with 50 rounds Remington followed by 50 of American Eagle. First 4 clips had feed problems at least once a clip. This was followed by 4 or so clips without problem. Then, 1 stove pipe and several more failures to feed. No light strikes until the last 20 rounds where there were 4.
I tried to call Kahr today but they are closed. I will try to call tomorrow. That is 450 rounds and although the gun runs good for short periods - too much is going wrong, I think. I will see if Kahr wants me to ship it back.

[Cokeman]

You've done your part.

Which ammo was better? Either? Mine liked AE better than Remington,

[gm412]

The Remington seemed to be slightly better but that might be because I used it first so the gun would have been a little dirtier by the time I fired the AE.

[Cokeman]

Interesting. I would expect the Rem to cause the failure to feeds over the AE.

[DKD]

I being an old timer to both shooting and reloading over several decades and as such have seem alot of things. After pondering some of the young pups comments about the this gun problem and that problem have come to a couple conclusions : first comment, half the time its just plain old operator error or shall I call it from my Army days operator head space & timing issues. Does the old adage "This is my weapon and this is my gun, one is for shooting and one is for fun" Now that we got that out of the way...keep your damn weapon clean and properly lubricated...you take care of it and it will take care of you. Don't handle your weapon like a light in your loafers ****** you Jackwagon!
Now that thats out of the way.... Alot of practise with small amounts of ammo with realistic practical drills is better than occasional practise all day. In all my years +49 years of shooting and 36 years of reloading I had only one instance of a bad shell and it was caused by a bad primer. Now thats just once out of tens of thousands of rounds down range. However with the volume of rounds fired with all this inexpensive, mass produced range fooder I have experienced dozens of poorly loaded factory ammo due to damaged primers from loading process, and faulty primers. The next time you want to blame the damn firearm for soft primer strikes , first check the indentation strike on that primer.....just might be that crappy ammo & not the weapon. If not that clean out the firing mechanism, in the Kahrs case that damn striker pin & spring area.
Take care of you weapon like it was your boys & that third leg with polio in your britches and it will take care of you.

At ease!!!! Carry on!!!!

[gm412]

Well I talked to kahr and they are sending me a box to ship my 380 back to them. I will let you know when I get it back and make it to the range.
I have been shooting since 1966 so not new to guns at all. When the light strikes happen you can see the dent in the primer. It has happened on all 3 types of ammo I tried. Put the bullet back in and she goes bang the next time. That said I know some of the failures to feed have been enhanced by my operator error. But in no way have all the problems been caused or enhanced by operator error. This gun does take a little getting used to.

[DKD]

My post was not directed to you GM412...just a general statement aimed toward the general mass' out there. Your poblem could be in the striker assembly or possibly an out of spec or damaged trigger bar. Most having problems on this site are caused by simple things that are easily corrected with proper prep, maintenance or crappy ammo which is under powered.
Hope they get things right for you...let us know when it returns and you have had a chance to fire that puppy up.