Another range session with issues... P380

[MDH65]

So took out the P380 again with WWB round nose ball, 50rd box not 100rd flat nose value box. Had 3-4 ftf issues. Slide would be about 1/4" to 1/2" from closing. Seems the rounds where getting hung up on the breach area. Possibly the rim of the cartridge not wanting to go under the extractor.

So then tried some Corbon DPX copper hp ammo. Same thing. As well as some rounds hitting the feedramp and jamming.

Very frustrating.

Ideas, suggestions???
Its been back to Kahr once already. They replaced everything in the slide except the slide.

[wyntrout]

I had a bad extractor on my wife's new P380. The claw was resting on the breech face and the pistol was acting like a blowback after I pushed the slide into battery. The case rim was NOT going under the "claw".

Lock your slide back and look down the breech face from the top. There should be about 1/16 of an inch or slightly more clearance for the case rim to slide under the "claw" and be retained for chambering and extraction. I'll see if I can find my post on that and add it to this post in a sec.


Here's a picture of the replacement extractor with a gap for the case rim to fit under:




http://kahrtalk.com/showthread.php?t...P380+extractor

Wynn

[Cokeman]

Are you saying that there is WWB ammo with a round nose?

You should take pics of the stuck round so we can see what is happening. Everyone should do this?

[MDH65]

Are you saying that there is WWB ammo with a round nose?

You should take pics of the stuck round so we can see what is happening. Everyone should do this?

WWB in the small 50rd card board box U380A92, 92gr fmj round ball.
The 100rd value box of WWB is a 95gr fmj with a flat nose.

[MDH65]

I had a bad extractor on my wife's new P380. The claw was resting on the breech face and the pistol was acting like a blowback after I pushed the slide into battery. The case rim was NOT going under the "claw".

Lock your slide back and look down the breech face from the top. There should be about 1/16 of an inch or slightly more clearance for the case rim to slide under the "claw" and be retained for chambering and extraction. I'll see if I can find my post on that and add it to this post in a sec.


Here's a picture of the replacement extractor with a gap for the case rim to fit under:




http://kahrtalk.com/showthread.php?t...P380+extractor

Wynn

Mine looks like that.
Say, could the underside of my extractor be rough or possibly the breach face?

[Cokeman]

Did not know that.

[MDH65]

Anything special about disassembling the slide?
Thinking about completely striping the slide to give the breach face a good polish and go over the extractor.

[MDH65]

So took some of the Fiocchi and WWB ball and did some function checks after I cleaned the P380. Seems the rim of the cartridge is getting stuck going under the extractor. If I hit the back of the slide, the round gets under the extractor and feeds completely.
So think its time to strip the slide and take a good look at the extractor pieces. Maybe a spring is too long or one of the extractor pins is or even something going on with the claw of the extractor.

[Cokeman]

People have shortened the pin behind the extractor to solve this problem.

[jocko]

if u shorten shorten the PIN, not the spring. somehave taken off as little at .10 and lightened it up to suit them..

[WMD]

Be careful with WWB ammo. It is not consistent and can cause malfunctions. It is not made in the US. I have seen and experienced issues with WWB ammo myself.

Try getting some other type of standard round nose ammo (federal, American Eagle, etc.) and see what happens. This will help validate if you have an ammo problem or not. The Corbon may not be a good test because your 380 may not like it. Some of the self defense ammo's have feed issues due to the bullet's ogive being farther forward on the bullet. This means the wide part of the bullet (before the bullet begins the radius) is moved closer to the nose.

Then again, you may have a recoil spring issue. Not sure how you did your "function" test so cannot speak to the extractor tension on the rim. There should be some tension. That is why the extractor claw is designed to open up a bit.

And lastly, You could give Kahr a call and get their thoughts.

[wyntrout]

There's a sticky and pictures of the slide detailing and the "C" clamp tool for holding the striker spring together so that you can remove the back plate.

Don't shorten anything until you've looked at the extractor. You can radius the inside lower edge to make it easier for the cartridge rim to slide underneath the "claw". Just smooth and round that a bit and then polish it. My P40 benefited from that smoothing because it was not completely chambering rounds... cocked halfway into the chamber, but the tiniest bit of rearward pull on the slide and the cartridge would click into place and then chamber easily.

Use the tiniest jeweler's screwdriver and remember to cover the spring trains to preclude the striker OR the extractor assemblies from SPRINGING out to parts unknown!

Wynn

[JFootin]

You might look about smoothing the breach face behind the extractor, too.

[Cokeman]

Don't shorten anything until you've looked at the extractor. You can radius the inside lower edge to make it easier for the cartridge rim to slide underneath the "claw". Just smooth and round that a bit and then polish it. My P40 benefited from that smoothing because it was not completely chambering rounds... cocked halfway into the chamber, but the tiniest bit of rearward pull on the slide and the cartridge would click into place and then chamber easily.Wynn

Do you take the slide off and try to push a round up from the bottom under the extractor?

[markstertt]

MDH65,
Find my post on rectifying this same problem," P380, junk to jewel" as it seems a lot of us are beating the same dead horse. Mine has not failed in any form with any of my cheapo ammo since these mods. Try some CCI alloy cased ammo just for fun and see how it functions for you, then proceed to clean up the action and perhaps shorten extractor aft pin as I described as I found what I considered excessive force on extractor. Follow the steps I outlined and you should see an improvement and it should only take you about an hour...good luck