CW380 fails to load so often

[9mmlover]

This is a new gun. Did all the preps suggested by kahr talk. Fired 150 round today and got a lot of failures.
1. Failed to load at least 30 to 40 times. I had to push the slide forward to make it work.
2. Failed to load the first round twice (using the slide release.) I can see that the tips of the bullets got dented.
Should I keep shooting to break it in? Hate to waste more ammo.


My PM9 seems fully broken in. Shot 100 rounds without a single issue.

[dsk]

A new pistol will do that maybe two or three times per box of ammo until it's broken in, but if you really had 30-40 issues in 150 rounds it sounds to me like it needs to go back to Kahr.

[9mmlover]

A new pistol will do that maybe two or three times per box of ammo until it's broken in, but if you really had 30-40 issues in 150 rounds it sounds to me like it needs to go back to Kahr.

yeah, at the beginning I was trying to record each failure, but after a while I just gave it up. I asked a guy next to me to try my gun. He failed two out of six rounds. the worst case is it failed to load first round when using slide release. Something doesn't seem right.

[DavidR]

This sounds like much more than "normal" break in issues. You should send it back as it's not likely that it will fix itself.

[topgun1953]

Is your guide rod seated in the barrel and frame properly? If so, yeah send it back. PMC ought go through a CW easily.

[wyntrout]

The guide rod should not stick out like that. Your recoil spring may be in backwards, too. The open coil end should be to the front. The closed end should be to the rear to grip the rod.

See the Kahr video for proper assembly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=G2cZgVg_SwA

available at Kahr.com, too:

http://www.kahr.com/Pistols/Kahr-CW380.asp

Wynn

[muggsy]

The guide rod should be flush with the slide when the slide is in full battery. You reassembled the gun incorrectly. I'm surprised that you could get the gun to feed and fire at all. I'll be even more surprised to find that you didn't damage the gun by firing it when it was improperly reassembled.

[9mmlover]

Is your guide rod seated in the barrel and frame properly? If so, yeah send it back. PMC ought go through a CW easily.

Yes, it was.

[9mmlover]

The guide rod should not stick out like that. Your recoil spring may be in backwards, too. The open coil end should be to the front. The closed end should be to the rear to grip the rod.

See the Kahr video for proper assembly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=G2cZgVg_SwA

available at Kahr.com, too:

http://www.kahr.com/Pistols/Kahr-CW380.asp

Wynn

Thanks Wynn. The springs were assembled correctly. I checked the parts carefully when I disassembled it last night, all looked good.

[9mmlover]

The guide rod should be flush with the slide when the slide is in full battery. You reassembled the gun incorrectly. I'm surprised that you could get the gun to feed and fire at all. I'll be even more surprised to find that you didn't damage the gun by firing it when it was improperly reassembled.

hi muggsy, the pictures were taken after it failed loading just to show that the slide doesn't go forward fully.

[muggsy]

If the gun was assembled correctly, I'd suspect the ammo. You said that you shot PMC, but I noticed one of the boxes was marked Sellier & Bellot. I've never had a problem with PMC in any of my guns, but Selliers and Bellot has been problematic in many Kahr pistols. The factory test fires all Kahr pistols before they go out to the dealers. I find it strange that the gun would experience that many failures the first time out. A call to Kahr service is in order.

[Higgy Baby]

1 mag or 2?
If 2- does it have same trouble with both?

If just 1?......do you have something to measure the lips with? (digital caliper) Perhaps there are others who have the same gun that can measure theirs and compare opening in mag lips.
I'm thinking they may be too closed?

I have the CT380....and mine measure right at 0.290 near the center of the lips.

[SlowBurn]

hi muggsy, the pictures were taken after it failed loading just to show that the slide doesn't go forward fully.

Those pictures show the rod sticking out well past the end of the barrel. That means, at the time the photos were taken, the inside (flange) end of the rod was not in contact with the place its supposed to sit against the front of the barrel lug.

Anyway, if you're sure it was assembled correctly when it was fired, there's a serious problem with that gun.

[9mmlover]

If the gun was assembled correctly, I'd suspect the ammo. You said that you shot PMC, but I noticed one of the boxes was marked Sellier & Bellot. I've never had a problem with PMC in any of my guns, but Selliers and Bellot has been problematic in many Kahr pistols. The factory test fires all Kahr pistols before they go out to the dealers. I find it strange that the gun would experience that many failures the first time out. A call to Kahr service is in order.

hi muggsy, yes I shot one box of Herter's and two boxes of PMC. I was just trying to see if different ammo makes any difference. I brought with me 200 rounds of PMC and 100 rounds of the Herter's but didn't finish them all. I don't know how Kahr test fire the guns though. somehow I don't trust their QA. My PM9 had very serious trigger reset problems when new and I had to send back. Kahr did fix it the next day after they received it.

[9mmlover]

1 mag or 2?
If 2- does it have same trouble with both?

If just 1?......do you have something to measure the lips with? (digital caliper) Perhaps there are others who have the same gun that can measure theirs and compare opening in mag lips.
I'm thinking they may be too closed?

I have the CT380....and mine measure right at 0.290 near the center of the lips.

Two mags and problems with both.
I do have a digital caliper. I'll check it. do you mean that the lip is too wide to prevent it to travel up freely?