CW380 misfire / click no bang issue

[bobbyh]

I had my second range trip this weekend after getting my CW380 back from it's second strip to Kahr to fix the FTF issues I was having yet again.

I was shooting Precision One Hornaday XTP JHP, 50 rounds, and had two instances of clicks with no firing with one of my 6 rd. magazines. When I manually ejected the rounds they had dimples on them. I placed them aside but didn't load them again.

I also shot 25 rounds of Hornaday CD and had zero issues.

Is there something that I can look into to try to eliminate the misfire issues? I am open to doing just about anything short of returning it to Kahr; it's not going back again. I love the way it feel and shoots and I'm even crazy enough to consider just buying another one and taking my chances on it.

I was considering maybe stronger recoil springs or magazine springs but Wolff doesn't indicate they make them for this pistol.

Thanks!

[gun papa]

That is what my gun did before striker failed.

[bonjorno2]

maybe some gunk got into the channel of the striker. I've seen metal shavings in there on new guns before. I'd strip the slide and re try before contacting kahr. Unless you don't have time then send it to them for repair.

[erichard]

I agree with bonjorno2. Just make sure when you take the slide apart that you are maybe on a big white sheet so if the springs fly out, you can spot them easily. Easy to lose the very small bits and springs, but not too hard to take apart (look for videos on it...I think the CM-9 videos are the ones I followed as I recall, since they are similar design.) While you have the striker out, maybe buff/polish it a little, and maybe the channel too. As other stickies have mentioned, don't use lube down in that striker channel, which includes the spring area. That will mire the striker with increased viscosity and solids that cling to the oil, etc. Just leave that particular metal on metal region dry (unlike most of those regions of the gun), though some have mentioned conditioning the metal channel with lube that accomplishes that task (but leaves no liquid residue).

I use the nonchlorinated brake cleaner spray with the red tip buried in the tiny hole next to the striker channel. Spray there and fluid will jet out of both ends of the striker channel (wear eye protection and have gun over something that won't be damaged by that solvent). That might be the first step if you want to avoid disassembly.

Make sure the slide goes fully into battery too, though I assume that is not the issue.

[bobbyh]

I agree with bonjorno2. Just make sure when you take the slide apart that you are maybe on a big white sheet so if the springs fly out, you can spot them easily. Easy to lose the very small bits and springs, but not too hard to take apart (look for videos on it...I think the CM-9 videos are the ones I followed as I recall, since they are similar design.) While you have the striker out, maybe buff/polish it a little, and maybe the channel too. As other stickies have mentioned, don't use lube down in that striker channel, which includes the spring area. That will mire the striker with increased viscosity and solids that cling to the oil, etc. Just leave that particular metal on metal region dry (unlike most of those regions of the gun), though some have mentioned conditioning the metal channel with lube that accomplishes that task (but leaves no liquid residue).

I use the nonchlorinated brake cleaner spray with the red tip buried in the tiny hole next to the striker channel. Spray there and fluid will jet out of both ends of the striker channel (wear eye protection and have gun over something that won't be damaged by that solvent). That might be the first step if you want to avoid disassembly.

Make sure the slide goes fully into battery too, though I assume that is not the issue.

Thanks for the advice. I don't have a problem trying to take down the slide myself. Hopefully it's not a striker that is ready to expire as mentioned above and in a longer thread about it!

I always clean/lube mine after every range trip per the stickies. I'll do some work on it and give it another few trips to the range. If I can eliminate this and keep the old FTF's away I will be happy to carry this gun. I won't return it a third time to Kahr. It's been back twice already; I can't justify sending it back again as it will be past the point of trying to to get it to run good enough to trust my life with. I've dumped enough money in all different types of .380 ammo to get this thing to run right. When it works it's awesome; but reliability is still an issue for me.

My CM9 has 700 rounds it in without a single issue; just wish my CW380 would be as good.

[topgun1953]

It could be gunk....but could be the prelude to a broken striker as gun papa said. Take it out and examine the weak point where the pin joins the larger piece. That is where it fails.

[bobbyh]

It could be gunk....but could be the prelude to a broken striker as gun papa said. Take it out and examine the weak point where the pin joins the larger piece. That is where it fails.

Should I just replace my striker with a new one while I have it all apart? I have about 700 rounds through it as of now.

[gun papa]

It could be gunk....but could be the prelude to a broken striker as gun papa said. Take it out and examine the weak point where the pin joins the larger piece. That is where it fails.

Examine it real good. After my light strikes, I pulled and examined my striker. All seemed fine. A few dry fires later, broken. Examine under magnification if possible.

[ulflyer]

Are there any type of attachments to a dremel that can be used to polish inside the striker channel? I couldn't come up with a jury rigged polishing device to use in mine. Easy enuf to polish/buff the striker itself but would be nice to get inside the channel.

[muggsy]

It sounds to me like a ammo related failure. Bad primers aren't all that uncommon. I wouldn't do a thing to the gun other than routine cleaning and lubing. If the failures to fire continue, then I'd be looking at the gun. Try the pencil test to see if you are getting a solid strike.

[bobbyh]

It sounds to me like a ammo related failure. Bad primers aren't all that uncommon. I wouldn't do a thing to the gun other than routine cleaning and lubing. If the failures to fire continue, then I'd be looking at the gun. Try the pencil test to see if you are getting a solid strike.

I'll try the pencil test now that I know what that is and see if it passes.

The failures were (2) of the Precision One Hornaday XTP HP, 90 gr. Both failtures were the third round on my #2 magazine.

No failures with (50) of the standard Hornaday CD.

Maybe I'll just field-strip and clean it and try another outing with the standard CD. If I continue to have issues I will take the slide down all the way, inspect it, and clean it.

Thanks

[erichard]

Are there any type of attachments to a dremel that can be used to polish inside the striker channel? I couldn't come up with a jury rigged polishing device to use in mine. Easy enuf to polish/buff the striker itself but would be nice to get inside the channel.

I'm not sure what the correct way to do it is, but I used a cotton bore cleaner/mop attached to an extension (that came with my gun cleaning kit, probably meant for rifles). You can then try to put this in a Dremel or portable drill. The end of that extension had a machine screw, so I was cautious in cinching down the lock of the drill or Dremel. There's probably some adapter to do that safely, who knows (don't have a rifle so wasn't a big deal to me). I then put some metal polish on the bore cleaner and went away at polishing the striker channel. Rinse out thoroughly with solvent afterwards. Generally, polishing like that makes a mess of the whole gun due to splash and drip, so it's a good time to polish all you need to do in one sitting before cleaning it up well. I think I've done this for polishing the chamber of guns as well.

Next time, I might use some Militec metal conditioner and a blow dryer to give it a long lasting lubricity while leaving no residue that might attract crud.

I wonder with regards to these broken strikers if it might be worth heat treating them ourselves. I've read where some people do this with springs after stretching them to original lengths (after years of use). For springs, it re-sets the metal, whereas without the heat treatment, the metal is weakened by stretching. I think people were putting the springs in the oven on a baking sheet at like 400 degrees for 45 minutes. Not sure if that would help the striker, but it might. Maybe a metallurgist could answer. Seems we have all types reading the gun forums.

[cobrasjp]

If the strikers are breaking due to metal fatigue (in layman's terms the metal 'crystallized', but steel is always a crystal, so this is technically incorrect) there is no amount of heat treating that will remove the fatigue damage (usually in the form of a crack).

If fatigue cracks haven't started, the striker could be annealed and heat treated, depending on the carbon content of the steel and the desired mechanical properties. But this is way beyond the scope of expertise available to the average DIYer. If you know what a phase diagram is and you know how to read a time-temperature-transformation graph, then you are probably qualified to determine your own heat treatment process. Otherwise it should be left to the professionals.

Regarding baking the springs in an oven, that would just anneal (think soften) them, assuming the temperature is above the recrystallization temperature of the particular grade of spring steel, which is usually well above the temperature that a kitchen oven can produce. Baking a spring at 400 degrees just leaves you with a hot spring. Any perceived change in properties is just due to the placebo affect.

I think a better approach would be to let the engineers at Kahr analyze the problem (assuming there actually is one) and determine what is the best fix.

[erichard]

Ask and ye shall receive. Thanks.

[bobbyh]

Today I went back to the range after doing the pencil test (which it passed) and cleaning the pistol as I normally do.

I shot 50 rounds of Hornaday CD and I had one click/no boom on round #26 with my #2 magazine (all click failures were with this magazine, not sure if that matters). Otherwise all the other 49 rounds fired off fine.

I'm going to try another 50 next time without the #2 magazine and see if that does anything. Still hoping this works itself out in the end?