P380 Break in????

[wyntrout]

You really have to watch the 'Net and be poised to take advantage of good prices and deals on ammo.
http://www.ammoengine.com/ is a good place to look for stuff -- real easy to search for particular ammo and best prices.
Cabela's has deals and discounts to watch for. Currently they offer free shipping on orders of at least $150 through the 8th or 9th.
Sportsman's Guide has decent prices when they get the ammo you want and they are up front with "In Stock" and when they expect other stuff. If you join you get 10% of everything but ammo, which is 5% off and you can usually get $10 off purchases of $99 or more.
Gun shows have been pretty pricey on defense ammo and .380 is high.
I just bought some Blazer .45 ACP FMJ from Widener's for breaking in my PM45. All I have right now is Wolf and that's pretty dirty and steel-cased. I really looked for better ammo and the Blazer was the best priced FMJ($15.95/50) and non-Russian steel-cased.
Wynn

[In-Yo-Grill]

I got an e-mail for Cabelas but they are backordered on most of their ammo. I hate teasers...

[recoilguy]

OP you seem to be doing everything right. It is good to break in your weapon and to get to know it and to keep it clean. I give my guns all a good polishing on the ramp, it is not always necessary but it never hurt yet. Good luck you have chosen a very fine weapon!!!!!!

RCG

[tomwalshco]

I'm buying a P380 today. Please tell me this problem went away.

Is the P380 suseptible to limp-wrist issues? Some little pistols are very prone to feed/eject problems (like my Kel-Tec PF9) if you get too casual at the range....

It IS heartening that I don't see a bunch for sale in the trading post area.

[WinstonRomeo]

I find my P380 to be sensitive to ammo brand. The first time I shot it I fired 50 rounds of Remington hardball and it failed to feed all 50 rounds out of the magazine. I could have used a rubber mallet to save the bruising on my left hand. The second 50 rounds were MagTech and they all worked without issue. Followed up with 50 rounds of WW Silvertip as well as some Federal Hydroshock. Session was fired without cleaning during the session which I normally do not do. The little gun feeds better from the magazine if you pull the slide back and release rather than dropping with the slidestop, it just seems to need the extra fraction of an inch of spring compression for reliable first round feeding. I love the gun for its ease of carry in the front pocket with pocket holster. Accuracy at 7yards: how about a massive 150 round heartburn group in one ragged hole 4" or so in diameter. WOW a pocket pistol that is a shooter!!

[Vinikahr]

I find my P380 to be sensitive to ammo brand. The first time I shot it I fired 50 rounds of Remington hardball and it failed to feed all 50 rounds out of the magazine. I could have used a rubber mallet to save the bruising on my left hand. The second 50 rounds were MagTech and they all worked without issue. Followed up with 50 rounds of WW Silvertip as well as some Federal Hydroshock. Session was fired without cleaning during the session which I normally do not do. The little gun feeds better from the magazine if you pull the slide back and release rather than dropping with the slidestop, it just seems to need the extra fraction of an inch of spring compression for reliable first round feeding. I love the gun for its ease of carry in the front pocket with pocket holster. Accuracy at 7yards: how about a massive 150 round heartburn group in one ragged hole 4" or so in diameter. WOW a pocket pistol that is a shooter!!

Thanks for the report, Kahr's pistols are thigh as heaven.

[bayoutrigger]

My wife bought a p380 and had FTF problems at first. I helped her get a better grip on the gun and the rest of her 200 round break-in was finished without a problem.

[Vinikahr]

My wife bought a p380 and had FTF problems at first. I helped her get a better grip on the gun and the rest of her 200 round break-in was finished without a problem.

Ahhh! The limp wrist syndrome. I suffer two in my break in period with the CW45 and PM9, I was tired. 400 plus rounds is not joke.

[gknola]

My P380 was returned to Kahr for service in early February and returned in under 2 weeks.

I reported: Failure to go to battery, slide locking back in the middle of a magazine and stovepiping. This was with over 900 rounds of various brands of ammunition fired by myself and 2 other experienced shooters.

Kahr reported doing the following work: Replaced extractor, recoil spring, slide stop spring, polished parts as needed (I wonder which ones), lubed and test fired. I also had them install XS Big Dots while they had the gun.

After receiving the gun back from Kahr I fires 300 PMC Bronze, 20 Gold Dot, 40 CorBon 90gr JHP and 40 CorBon DPX in one session without any cleaning and without a single problem. I now consider the gun to be reliable for CCW.

I've also installed a CT LG-433.

I've decided on CorBon DPX as my self defense ammunition for the P380. Since the gun is for the most part a BUG, I'd anticipate very close range usage if I ever had to use it. The DPX has the largest muzzle flash of all of the self defense ammunition I've run through the gun and I figure that even if the rounds don't penetrate sufficiently, there's a good chance I'll set the BG on fire.

As a final comment, I now feel as good about the P380 as I do about my PM9 which has never had a malfunction of any kind with over 1000 rounds downrange.

[Vinikahr]

My P380 was returned to Kahr for service in early February and returned in under 2 weeks.

I reported: Failure to go to battery, slide locking back in the middle of a magazine and stovepiping. This was with over 900 rounds of various brands of ammunition fired by myself and 2 other experienced shooters.

Kahr reported doing the following work: Replaced extractor, recoil spring, slide stop spring, polished parts as needed (I wonder which ones), lubed and test fired. I also had them install XS Big Dots while they had the gun.

After receiving the gun back from Kahr I fires 300 PMC Bronze, 20 Gold Dot, 40 CorBon 90gr JHP and 40 CorBon DPX in one session without any cleaning and without a single problem. I now consider the gun to be reliable for CCW.

I've also installed a CT LG-433.

I've decided on CorBon DPX as my self defense ammunition for the P380. Since the gun is for the most part a BUG, I'd anticipate very close range usage if I ever had to use it. The DPX has the largest muzzle flash of all of the self defense ammunition I've run through the gun and I figure that even if the rounds don't penetrate sufficiently, there's a good chance I'll set the BG on fire.

As a final comment, I now feel as good about the P380 as I do about my PM9 which has never had a malfunction of any kind with over 1000 rounds downrange.

Thanks for sharing and cheers for an happy ending!

[gknola]

There's also a lot of P380 info at the 380 forum.