My First P9 Experience was not a good one....

[MJS83]

Hey Guys new member here. I have been reading on here for over a month as I researched about purchasing a Kahr P9 for a carry gun. My local gun shop and range recommended the P9. My buddy is the gunsmith there and he let me shoot his P9 and I loved it so I purchased the one they had in the shop. I took it home and field stripped it and did a basic cleaning and lube per the instructions on here.

I went back today excited to put some rounds through it. Loaded both the 7 & 8 round mags; put the 7 mag in, released the slide, took aim, pulled the trigger and.........................CLICK. Dropped the mag, cleared the round, took a quick look then reinserted the mag, released the slide, took aim, pulled the trigger and...............CLICK. Same routine again but I put the eight round mag in and........CLICK

Called my gunsmith buddy out to take a look...............CLICK

He looked at it and said you have a broken striker! He and I were both stunned since we both knew I hadnt even put one round down the tube.

He was pissed (because he recommended the gun to me) so he immediately called Kahr and told them he just sold me a brand new gun (never shot) and the striker was broke. They are sending the new striker to him at the shop.

I did not dry fire it at all either.

I have to say my confidence level is zero right now after this experience for this being my potential carry gun.

Has there been a problem with strikers breaking?? I didnt read anything about that on here before I bought it.

Hopefully Kahr will get the striker out real soon. Hopefully you guys can give me your experiences and help build my confidence up on this P9.

Thanks for the help.

[jfrey]

So far my CW9 and sister-in-law's P9 have been basically flawless. A broken striker in a new gun is very curious. I'm sure Ian will replace it very quickly. He is good about stuff like that. No doubt Jocko will lend his vast experience here shortly and help you understand what might have happened.
Do you know exactly what part of the striker broke? Did the point break off or was at another place further back?

[MJS83]

No i dont know exactly where the striker broke. My Gunsmith buddy took it and kept it at the shop. I will be there tomorrow and I will ask him. If I remember to take my camera I will take a picture. How many posts do I need before I can post pics??

[Michael W.]

No i dont know exactly where the striker broke. My Gunsmith buddy took it and kept it at the shop. I will be there tomorrow and I will ask him. If I remember to take my camera I will take a picture. How many posts do I need before I can post pics??

Pics would be good as I think this is of great interest to Kahr owners
(and potential owners). I don't believe there is a minimum post rule
to post pics.

When I was looking into the Kahrs as a possible carry gun I went out of
my way to search out all the problems people had. I read every complaint
post and rant just to get a feel for what kinds of problems people were
having. Broken striker was not one of them, this is the first I've heard of it
in a Kahr. But I suppose since anything man made can have flaws it's not
unimaginable that you had one that must have broke during the test firing and
no one was the wiser because it wasn't fired again until your tried to. I'm
sorry that it happened to be your gun and I can certainly understand that
sinking feeling in your gut of not being able to trust a gun. If it was my gun
that I just plopped down that kind of coin for I'd be more than a little
steamed. But before you give up on your P9 give it a shake down run when
the new striker is installed you may find that you can move past this and
develop confidence in the gun as a carry piece. I would imagine that this type
of failure is a very isolated case.

Michael-

[MJS83]

Pics would be good as I think this is of great interest to Kahr owners
(and potential owners). I don't believe there is a minimum post rule
to post pics.

When I was looking into the Kahrs as a possible carry gun I went out of
my way to search out all the problems people had. I read every complaint
post and rant just to get a feel for what kinds of problems people were
having. Broken striker was not one of them, this is the first I've heard of it
in a Kahr. But I suppose since anything man made can have flaws it's not
unimaginable that you had one that must have broke during the test firing and
no one was the wiser because it wasn't fired again until your tried to. I'm
sorry that it happened to be your gun and I can certainly understand that
sinking feeling in your gut of not being able to trust a gun. If it was my gun
that I just plopped down that kind of coin for I'd be more than a little
steamed. But before you give up on your P9 give it a shake down run when
the new striker is installed you may find that you can move past this and
develop confidence in the gun as a carry piece. I would imagine that this type
of failure is a very isolated case.

Michael-

Michael

Thanks for the response. You are right the only way it could have broke was during the test fire before it shipped. Same thing my buddy said. When i first pulled the trigger I thought maybe it didnt strip and chamber a round but then I cleared the round. I am very upset about this and my buddy was so mad he took the gun and was on the phone with Kahr before I could even pack up my gear and get off the range.

I am putting an email together to Kahr right now. I am very interested to see how they respond and how quickly they respond.

I will keep you guys up to date.

[Bawanna]

Michael

Thanks for the response. You are right the only way it could have broke was during the test fire before it shipped. Same thing my buddy said. When i first pulled the trigger I thought maybe it didnt strip and chamber a round but then I cleared the round. I am very upset about this and my buddy was so mad he took the gun and was on the phone with Kahr before I could even pack up my gear and get off the range.

I am putting an email together to Kahr right now. I am very interested to see how they respond and how quickly they respond.

I will keep you guys up to date.

I'll bet a new striker is enroute pretty quickly. I've never heard of a broken striker at all on this forum before. Kahr is really top class in taking care of this kind of thing which of course doesn't help one little bit when it's your gun and your expecting a fun day at the range and all you get is click. BUT it does happen. I got a new PM45 just this afternoon and my first fun day with it is gonna be sunday and if all I get is clicks I'm not gonna be a happy camper. But if I do just get a click I'll figure it out or send it in knowing that it will get fixed. I'll bet your only a few days away from a striker and back on track hopefully flawless from this day forward, but do keep us in the loop.

[jocko]

strikers in kahrs do not break, this was just a defective striker from the git go. It can happen, yours is the second I have ever read about breaking. I would like to see a photo of the broken striker, but it has to be in the tip which is even a tapered tip for additional strength. Your P9 is as good as any gun on the market. I could understand that kahr would not send a new gun either. They just don't do that for a broken striker as the two are not really related. You will be good to go and feel good that it did it right from the git go and now down the road when you might have needed it. A photo should would be nice to see though, if possable.

You might want to view the kahr tech section and read up on the PROPPER PREPPING OF YOUR NEW KAHR. Might save some head aches down the road. Enjoy your P9, IMO it is one of the best in kahrs line. Take your time learning the trigger on a kahr, they are loooong by design and takes a few rounds to get the hang of ut. There is no smoother out of the box trigger system than what you have..

[at_liberty]

Confidence in the gun is still going to come from firing it a bunch after getting it operational. Perhaps it is a bit like ones first major repair on a vehicle. You get a little uneasy about what comes next and whether the thing is still worthy of your confidence, attention, and pride in it. I think the store should give you another one, so you can start over mentally. Having a major problem on the first shot is crap.

[jlottmc]

Indeed I have not heard of this either, and to the number of posts required, I think the ability to post pics comes with membership (which you have). You will love that little gun when the new striker gets in. I think that because of the current rush and demand that QC might take a bit of a beating right now. This is not just with Kahrs, but ammo, and everything firearm related. You'll be good to go in short order, as previously mentioned, Kahr's customer service doesn't do people wrong.

[jocko]

would

Confidence in the gun is still going to come from firing it a bunch after getting it operational. Perhaps it is a bit like ones first major repair on a vehicle. You get a little uneasy about what comes next and whether the thing is still worthy of your confidence, attention, and pride in it. I think the store should give you another one, so you can start over mentally. Having a major problem on the first shot is crap.

a car dealer give you a new car?????

[Bawanna]

In this case I could almost see the shop providing a new gun and then dealing with the defective one themselves. I suspect they didn't have another or they may have done that very thing. No need really other than the confidence level and the customer being more faithful to that shop would have been greatly improved. The timeline as I read it would have made it easy to just change the paperwork but as stated, I suspect they only had the one.
It's totally fixable, get er running, shoot the heck out of it, rebond and it'll all be good.

[jocko]

as a gun dealer

In this case I could almost see the shop providing a new gun and then dealing with the defective one themselves. I suspect they didn't have another or they may have done that very thing. No need really other than the confidence level and the customer being more faithful to that shop would have been greatly improved. The timeline as I read it would have made it easy to just change the paperwork but as stated, I suspect they only had the one.
It's totally fixable, get er running, shoot the heck out of it, rebond and it'll all be good.

it is just sometmes not that easy to give the guy a new gun #1 it is registered ( you cannot void that registration), #2 the new gun would have to be registered . #3 Now the dealer has a used gun, no matter it be a day old or a month old. It has been titled.... Now when he sells that gun, he probalby would not devulge that either but if something happened down the road and a Trace would have to come into effect the second owner would certainly find out he bought a used gun(unknowingly). Now ask yourself. How would you feel about it, if it happened to you If the warranty registration of the new gun was even sent it, it could also alert kahr that this second owner is not entitled to a warranty either.

What happend is never good when it happens to one, no matter it be a gun, car, dishwasher,or what ever. It could have happend 500 rounds later to, so this striker was defective and it was just "when" was it going to go bad. to loose faith over it, to me is ridiculous and if that was indeed the case, the best advise I could even give is to move on to another gun, or accept the fact that you got a bad part that has since been replaced and you now are good to go..

The P9 is about as good as a gun as kahr has ever made IMO,but sh-t does happen. Put it behind you and just go out and shoot it like u stole it..

[Bawanna]

it is just sometmes not that easy to give the guy a new gun #1 it is registered ( you cannot void that registration), #2 the new gun would have to be registered . #3 Now the dealer has a used gun, no matter it be a day old or a month old. It has been titled.... Now when he sells that gun, he probalby would not devulge that either but if something happened down the road and a Trace would have to come into effect the second owner would certainly find out he bought a used gun(unknowingly). Now ask yourself. How would you feel about it, if it happened to you If the warranty registration of the new gun was even sent it, it could also alert kahr that this second owner is not entitled to a warranty either.

What happend is never good when it happens to one, no matter it be a gun, car, dishwasher,or what ever. It could have happend 500 rounds later to, so this striker was defective and it was just "when" was it going to go bad. to loose faith over it, to me is ridiculous and if that was indeed the case, the best advise I could even give is to move on to another gun, or accept the fact that you got a bad part that has since been replaced and you now are good to go..

The P9 is about as good as a gun as kahr has ever made IMO,but sh-t does happen. Put it behind you and just go out and shoot it like u stole it..

My thought was the range was attached to the shop, he never left. Gun paperwork might not have even been recorded yet. If it was then it's game over. Since the gun never went bang, technically it's used but a trip back to Kahr for a striker and checkup it would still technically be a new gun. Had he left, then it's a whole new ball game. Too late now. He'll be fine once some parts get there.

[jocko]

in his message, he stated he went back the next day, so my bet the paper work was sent in. Either way, he will get a new striker installed and all should be well.

[ripley16]

He looked at it and said you have a broken striker! He and I were both stunned since we both knew I hadnt even put one round down the tube.

I doubt the striker is broken too. Were the primers indented? What ammo were you using out of curiousity. I had lots of lightstrikes on a CW9 with Remington UMC.

He was pissed (because he recommended the gun to me) so he immediately called Kahr and told them he just sold me a brand new gun (never shot) and the striker was broke. They are sending the new striker to him at the shop.

I would have asked for a new gun. If he didn't have another then you're forced to wait on the part.

I did not dry fire it at all either.

Yes you did. ... at least once if you field stripped to clean the gun.

I have to say my confidence level is zero right now after this experience for this being my potential carry gun.

I don't blame you, but give the new striker a chance to show you otherwise.

Has there been a problem with strikers breaking?? I didnt read anything about that on here before I bought it.

I've never read of a striker breaking and some people dry fire their guns alot. Lightstrikes, on the otherhand, are unfortunately more common.