New CW380,dissapointed.

[SlowBurn]

I pulled the recoil springs and they are different than the originals,the outer spring is a little shorter and the inner spring is 1/8" longer,the inner spring seems to be of a smaller wound diameter meaning it is tighter on the guid rod than the original.
I believe the original springs may have been binding on each other causing battery issue.
The springs were a little hard to feed together when putting the over the guide rod and now they slip together with ease.

Aha - Light begins to dawn. I suspect Kahr had something mixed up in the parts department for awhile and now they are addressing it without admitting it.

Please let us know if that fixed the problem. If it did I suggest anyone with a new cw380 or p380 having these problems order a set of recoil springs before sending the weapon to Kahr. Even if Kahr pays shipping both ways, their current turn around time is 2-3 weeks. You'll be out $9 or so for the springs but to me that's better than doing without the weapon for that long.

As for Kahr quality, I get the frustration but wrong recoil springs is really a pretty simple thing, if that's what it is. All you have to do is inspect the gun next to other popular 380s especially in the cw price range to see that you are getting a much better gun. Currently on the Ruger Pistol forum you can see threads about LCPs which only lasted a year, or blew up in the user's hand, etc and I consider the LCP the "best of the rest". Problems cause a lot more "noise" than no problems when you look at the forums. If this fix works out, and your gun runs the way the vast majority run, you'll forget all this bruhaha in a few months, and just shoot in happy satisfaction without posting anything except helpful tips. You won't post messages about how your gun is cycling fine.

[timboy]

I do genuinely hope it clears up and works fine now.
Turn around on my gun was onew week sent it out on a Thursday and got it back on Friday so the wait time was not too bad plus the tuned the extractor and "tested"it.

Aha - Light begins to dawn. I suspect Kahr had something mixed up in the parts department for awhile and now they are addressing it without admitting it.

Please let us know if that fixed the problem. If it did I suggest anyone with a new cw380 or p380 having these problems order a set of recoil springs before sending the weapon to Kahr. Even if Kahr pays shipping both ways, their current turn around time is 2-3 weeks. You'll be out $9 or so for the springs but to me that's better than doing without the weapon for that long.

As for Kahr quality, I get the frustration but wrong recoil springs is really a pretty simple thing, if that's what it is. All you have to do is inspect the gun next to other popular 380s especially in the cw price range to see that you are getting a much better gun. Currently on the Ruger Pistol forum you can see threads about LCPs which only lasted a year, or blew up in the user's hand, etc and I consider the LCP the "best of the rest". Problems cause a lot more "noise" than no problems when you look at the forums. If this fix works out, and your gun runs the way the vast majority run, you'll forget all this bruhaha in a few months, and just shoot in happy satisfaction without posting anything except helpful tips. You won't post messages about how your gun is cycling fine.

[ReManG]

Simply put,I expected better from kahr as did many others.
A product that does not work is a faulty product,the malfunctions and problems myself and several others are having are not ammo or user related,they are quality control issues,I hope for the sake of the company and the countless people buying these pistols that these are isolated incidents and not representative of current production standards on their behalf.
Having to shade tree gunsmith a new personal defense gun into working properly is totally unacceptable in my humble opinion,these firearms are not at the hi point or Jennings price point.

I understand your feeling, but ALL brands can have the Friday made lemons... I only had ammo problems, and I figured I would due to the brand not being good for the CW380 (information learned here...) but it still counted toward my break in....

So I took my CW380 out today. I had previously been exploring it and did not consider my exploration to be "shade tree gunsmithing" but had noted some issues. I cleaned and lubed it prior to this with Seal1 CLP and this was my first time shooting this pistol. I had previously helped a friend get a used P380 up to snuff and broken in, so he tagged along today with his for comparisons....

30 rounds of Remmington green box- NO issues, ran fine on stock mags.
10 rounds of Hornandy Critical Defense- NO issues, stock mags.
25 rounds of mixed factory, ball, Speer Gold dot, Hornandy Zombie max, in whatever order it was picked up and loaded. One fail to extract from a Fiocchi HP......
50 rounds of Fiocchi ball ammo. 33 fail to extract..... for whatever reason the rim on the Fiocchi was not being held onto by the extractor, stock and modded mags---AMMO fault
50 rounds of Winchester White Box FLAT NOSE ball. NO issues.....

The BAD Fiocchi ball, ran fine in the friends broken in (1000+ rounds) P380, in just the modified magazines (follower mod, found here in a sticky), not in the stock mags from my CW380. I figure it is a rim thickness issue, but not a big deal, just cross the brand off the shopping list....

The worry I had about the trigger was unfounded, in reality, I noticed no stacking when shooting (loosening the rear upper sidepanel screw 1/3 turn minimized it anyway)... It stacks that close to let off... The sidepanel "bulging" is not an issue either during shooting, never noticed it when there was a BOOM as the striker was released. If it should become an issue, I will contact Kahr and let them look at it should I not feel up to ordering a new trigger bar and dremeling in the shade of a tree.... either way it will work and for what it is, it is an awesome package...

I am new convert to the FrogLube/Seal1/TrackLube+ type of CLP's and I have to admit, it took significantly less (50%) time to clean up after the range and I did it in the house with the nice bubble gum smell of the Seal1 wafting around. It actually got my wife interested in helping me clean, as she was not all oily/smelly/dirty after handing me parts and watching the process. Win-Win....

Good luck, and keep a good attitude, there is nothing close to the CW/P380 in this class of pistol in my humble opinion, so work on it and get it up to your standards.

[timboy]

Please see update here http://www.kahrtalk.com/showthread.p...667#post316667

[dcg]

Quick update on my own issues - Submitted my RMA request Sept 9; had my pistol back Sept 17. Included documentation said:

"Replaced slide stop spring extractor reworked extractor port and spring tension lubed and mm tested good"

Was out of town the past few days, but got to take it to the range tonight. Shot 50 rounds of PMC bronze with no failures of any kind.

[timboy]

Great to hear dcg,I have put around 150rd through mine so far,since I got it back,and it was flawless,there were 5 different brands and bullet types included and in went right through all without a problem.
I have given it the green light for carry.

[SlowBurn]

I do genuinely hope it clears up and works fine now.
Turn around on my gun was onew week sent it out on a Thursday and got it back on Friday so the wait time was not too bad plus the tuned the extractor and "tested"it.

That was fortunate, but Kahr says their "gunsmiths are currently experiencing a two to three week turnaround time and will service your firearm as soon as possible." Depending on one's tolerance for waiting, might want to invest the $9 in recoil springs first and see if that takes care of it.

[DavidR]

That was fortunate, but Kahr says their "gunsmiths are currently experiencing a two to three week turnaround time and will service your firearm as soon as possible." Depending on one's tolerance for waiting, might want to invest the $9 in recoil springs first and see if that takes care of it.

New recoil springs did not completely solve my problems. I no longer have battery issues with round nose FMJ or small-mouthed hollow points but flat nosed or wide mouth hollow points still don't cycle properly.


Dave

[dcg]

Great to hear dcg,I have put around 150rd through mine so far,since I got it back,and it was flawless,there were 5 different brands and bullet types included and in went right through all without a problem.
I have given it the green light for carry.

I've got a few hundred more rounds of the PMC in the safe, and a few boxes of Hornady Critical Defense. If I get through another box of PMC without issue, I'll give the defensive rounds a shot. Can't believe how enjoyable this pistol is to shoot, given how tiny it is.

[marshal kane]

. . . I ran 300 rounds through it and it only had one failure to feed but a consistent problem with the slide not returning all the way forward,stopping with the end of the slide flush with the end of the grip frame,requiring smoking the back of the slide to get it into battery.
Running the slide by hand if you ride the slide you can feel the loss of spring tension as it nears the end of the grip frame. . .

Did you check your fired brass for scratches near the base of the brass? If you find two scratches, they are caused by rough interior feed lips on the magazine gouging the case as the slide tries to strip the round from the magazine. This extra resistance can slow down the slide enough causing the slide to not completely go into battery. Put a round in the magazine and push it out from the base, then check for scratches. I found this problem when I was breaking in my P9. You can cure this by burnishing the interior feed lips of the magazine with a steel rod e.g. shank of a drill bit or you can continue feeding rounds through the magazine until the feed lips eventually smooth out. I just received a new magazine from MidwayUSA and tested the magazine with an empty case and found scratches as I described. When pushing the case out of the magazine, I could feel the roughness and resistance as the case was sliding under the magazine's feed lips. I burnished the interior feed lips of all four of my P9 magazines and now rounds feed through them like a greased pig. This may/may not be the source of your problem but it doesn't hurt to check. Hope this helps.

[warbird1]

Recently traded for a used P380. It's just like me in that it's picky on what it likes to eat. It does love Barnes TAC-XPD however and since for me it's not a range gun that is just alright!

[dcg]

Another 50 rounds of PMC, plus 25 of Hornady Critical Defense. All flawless. That makes 125 failure free rounds since servicing at Kahr.