Thinking about a P45

[knkali]

How have the P45's been performing out the box? Anything that I should know ahead of time? I have a P40 and do not enjoy the kick but like the gun. Guys, do u think the P45 is a little more tame?
TIA

[VN Vet]

I don't own a P45, but I do own, shoot and carry a TP45. I found mine to be a sweet shooting and very accurate hand gun. During break-in I had no malfunctions to date after about 350 rounds. Compared to my K40 Covert, my TP45 is much nicer to shoot. That is why it is my daily carry. I use a custom made Shoulder Holster by Black Hills Leather. I carry the P380 as my BUG.

[Old Geezer]

I have a P45 that I shoot Buffalo Bore 255gr thru and while recoil or kick is felt different by everyone to me it has very mild recoil or kick.

[KahrArmed]

Follow the instructions, clean and lube it up before firing it for the first time. There definitely is a break-in period of about 500 rounds, and you may notice some failures to feed or stovepipes. Try firing Blazer brass or Aluminum through it to start, I have had a lot of success with those rounds, and make sure it is 230 gr. Just expect a few, and after that it is like butter.

[dorangolv]

P45 purchase

Having no experience with Kahr I bought a used P45 from my LGS. Paid $475 out the door. Looked brand new, no indication that had fired more than 10-30 rounds tops.
Had nothing but problems for the first 900 rounds.:32: Sent it to Kahr, they fired 280 rounds and after 3 weeks said they didn't have any problems.
I finally found the problem:
http://www.kahrtalk.com/showthread.php?t=21904

My daughter shooting the P45 for the first time. Almost jumps out of her hand on her first shot. As a result, it failed to chamber the next round and locked the slide back.
Before this trip, I installed the recoil spring backwards after cleaning and the guide rod started working it's way out the front of the slide after 3 shots fired. Not the guns fault. Skip ahead to 1:32
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twahP-20x1c

Later that same day I went through 4 magazines; 2-7rd and 2-6rd.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfLWi7R_5og

After all the headaches I now have a Bad @$$ little .45 ACP Pocket Monster. I bought 2 holsters and another on the way from ronbo. Couldn't be happier. This is my EDC pistol.

[wyntrout]

Thanks for sharing! A few observations... Abby's upper torso is leaning backwards from the waist instead of forward to keep her balance with the recoil. And... her trigger finger is on the trigger most of the time. The trigger finger staying outside the guard and off the trigger until you want to fire, is a habit you want to train into your "muscle memory". I can't put my finger into the trigger guard until it's pointed at the target. I certainly didn't develop that habit by 13, though!

It's nice to share things like that with your daughter. My daughter, first wife, and my son loved to go shooting when they were as young as 5 and 7. The children not my first wife... age, I mean.

From the video, it was hard to tell if the recoil spring was backwards. It looked like the open end was to the front, as desired. If the closed end is working its way over the flanged end, you need a new spring, or guide rod... maybe both. The closed end is supposed to grip the rod and not go over the flange, while the open end allows free movement of the rod, but care must be taken to keep it inside the slide while the front of the rod goes through the slide opening on assembly. You could tweak the open end out a bit if it seems to be getting past the tiny clearance allowed between the rod and the hole in the front of the slide, but usually the spring is partially through the hole on assembly and works its way out and jams the rod.

When I first got my PM45, it was an "all aspect" shooter... seemingly immune to limp wristing and would fire and chamber with the worst and weakest grips without jamming. Then on the second trip back to Kahr they replaced the slide with a very weakly engraved one... could hardly see "Kahr" or "PM45" on the side without holding the slide for best angle on lighting. With that slide even the most rigid grip would give "limp-wristing" FTFs and jams. With a third trip back to Kahr and a new third slide, I had an all-aspect shooter again. I'm only able to "limp-wrist" it and cause problems by shooting in my left hand, one-handed and holding it loosely. I think this is important because I might have to be diving for cover and shooting one-handed with a poor grip in a real-world situation and want my pistol to fire more than once!

Wynn

[dorangolv]

Yeah, her body is seriously listing. I'm not as worried about that as I am the trigger FINGER!!!
Woah!
How did I not see that!
Thank you.
The spring was backwards. I went through the video several times for about 15-20 minutes to double check. At 4:41 I remove the rod/spring assembly. The open end of the spring is facing towards the left side of the screen. It is in the same position in my hand as it was when I removed it from the slide. D'OH!

[wyntrout]

I didn't want to seem like I was picking on your daughter... and thought about PM'ing you, but we usually all get something out of public discussion.

She'll probably enjoy the shooting more if she's leaning into the recoil instead of being on the verge of falling backwards. I've seen many videos of guys and girls shoot heavy recoiling shoulder-fired guns or large pistols with that posture and getting knocked over or smacked in the face with the recoiling pistol!

It's great that you two can share shooting.

Wynn

[berettabone]

Stay away.............................................

[berettabone]

Thanks for sharing! A few observations... Abby's upper torso is leaning backwards from the waist instead of forward to keep her balance with the recoil. And... her trigger finger is on the trigger most of the time. The trigger finger staying outside the guard and off the trigger until you want to fire, is a habit you want to train into your "muscle memory". I can't put my finger into the trigger guard until it's pointed at the target. I certainly didn't develop that habit by 13, though!

It's nice to share things like that with your daughter. My daughter, first wife, and my son loved to go shooting when they were as young as 5 and 7. The children not my first wife... age, I mean.

From the video, it was hard to tell if the recoil spring was backwards. It looked like the open end was to the front, as desired. If the closed end is working its way over the flanged end, you need a new spring, or guide rod... maybe both. The closed end is supposed to grip the rod and not go over the flange, while the open end allows free movement of the rod, but care must be taken to keep it inside the slide while the front of the rod goes through the slide opening on assembly. You could tweak the open end out a bit if it seems to be getting past the tiny clearance allowed between the rod and the hole in the front of the slide, but usually the spring is partially through the hole on assembly and works its way out and jams the rod.

When I first got my PM45, it was an "all aspect" shooter... seemingly immune to limp wristing and would fire and chamber with the worst and weakest grips without jamming. Then on the second trip back to Kahr they replaced the slide with a very weakly engraved one... could hardly see "Kahr" or "PM45" on the side without holding the slide for best angle on lighting. With that slide even the most rigid grip would give "limp-wristing" FTFs and jams. With a third trip back to Kahr and a new third slide, I had an all-aspect shooter again. I'm only able to "limp-wrist" it and cause problems by shooting in my left hand, one-handed and holding it loosely. I think this is important because I might have to be diving for cover and shooting one-handed with a poor grip in a real-world situation and want my pistol to fire more than once!

Wynn

After what I saw....you were being extremely kind