New cw380 first shots

[mpgo4th]

I picked up my new CW380 today. It was an anniversary present to me from my wife. I’m fully aware of the problems with this 380 but I have other guns to depend on, so I figured I’d give it a shot anyway. Ammo choices are crappy right now. I got 150 rounds of Remington umc fmj and one box of hornady critical defense. Just like everything I’ve seen online, I had many failures today. Failure to go into battery over and over. He UMC failed every two or three rounds. I had magazines that I had to hit the back of the slide every round to load it. I shot fifty rounds and the malfunctions didn’t seem to get better or worse. I loaded up the hornady and tried again. The critical defense ran perfectly. Not one bobble. Overall I’m still glad I bought this gun. I knew what I was getting into. Now my problem is do I keep shooting and only run ammo that I know works, send it to Kahr or try to file the extractor myself? I can’t decide what to do.


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[dustnchips]

Do the prep for a new Kahr sticky in the New Member forum. Then shoot another 150 rounds and see what you've got. Mine ran Remington and Winchester white box a bit rough at first, but after prep it ran perfectly.

[mpgo4th]

Do the prep for a new Kahr sticky in the New Member forum. Then shoot another 150 rounds and see what you've got. Mine ran Remington and Winchester white box a bit rough at first, but after prep it ran perfectly.

I did the prep. The only thing I haven’t done yet is leaving the slide open to relax the spring some. I’ll clean it again and leave it in the safe over night with the slide open.


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[markman]

The cause can be too much extractor tension. I don't know if you ever heard of Cylinder and Slide in Nebraska, but they'll "Radius and tension the extractor for improved feeding reliability" for $35, but of course you'll have to pay shipping both ways. I just prefer to do it myself, as it isn't that hard to do. I posted this below and in another threads. A lot of people here like to remove a little bit of metal from the pin on the extractor for more clearance of the rim cartridge. My problem with that is that when you have a cartridge with a narrow rim you'll have too much clearance. But it is another option and those that do it have good luck with it. Here's a link for that and other options.

http://www.kahrtalk.com/showthread.p...tery-on-CW-380

A couple of 1911 gunsmiths have told me in the past that the wrong extractor tension can cause failure to feed or extract. If it's too much, it can cause failure to feed. If it's not enough, it can cause a failer to extract. In the below video at about 2:30 it talks about it. The video also shows how they measure the tension. The second link shows a extractor tension guage set they use in the video. The extractor in the Kahr pistol is adjusted by shortening the rear pin behind the extractor spring, like previously mentioned in a post earlier. I forgot to add, for the Kahr pistols, it should be about 2lbs tension for a 9mm and about 2 1/2 lbs for the 40. One also said every Kahr pistol he ran accross with failure to feed, had way too much extractor tention.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nnqKKWk2ig&app=desktop

http://www.jackweigand.com/etg.htmlThe cause is too much extractor tension.

[markman]

I finally found the original post I first heard about tensioning the Kahr extractor. I first read about it in 2002 in the post linked below and have since talked to a few more gunsmiths and they have all told me the same thing. In the post it starts out talking about it for a K9, but it will work on any Kahr. Instead of making a new pin, I just file the existing pin a little at a time to get the proper tension. I also radius the bottom of the extractor a little bit. I have done it on 3 Kahrs and have told a number of people who have done it with excellent results. There are numerous YouTube videos on how to take the slide rear cover off to access the rear pin. I forgot to add that I filed one of the pins too much. I was able to get 2 OEM Kahr pins from Midway for $9 shipped. Maybe this will help.

http://pistolsmith.com/kahr-pistols/...r-tension.html

[yqtszhj]

Like dustinchips said you may give it a few more rounds to see what happens. If you feel good about doing the extractor mod yourself go for it. I probably would myself also.

Glad it ran the Hornady ok. Just shows its ammo sensitive and you can fix that.

I took the risk and I was fortunate and mine runs everything even slow racking the slide. Makes me wonder if its too loose but hey, as long as its working I'm not gonna complain.

Keep us posted.

[yqtszhj]

The cause can be too much extractor tension. I don't know if you ever heard of Cylinder and Slide in Nebraska, but they'll "Radius and tension the extractor for improved feeding reliability" for $35, but of course you'll have to pay shipping both ways. I just prefer to do it myself, as it isn't that hard to do. I posted this below and in another threads. A lot of people here like to remove a little bit of metal from the pin on the extractor for more clearance of the rim cartridge. My problem with that is that when you have a cartridge with a narrow rim you'll have too much clearance. But it is another option and those that do it have good luck with it. Here's a link for that and other options.

http://www.kahrtalk.com/showthread.p...tery-on-CW-380

A couple of 1911 gunsmiths have told me in the past that the wrong extractor tension can cause failure to feed or extract. If it's too much, it can cause failure to feed. If it's not enough, it can cause a failer to extract. In the below video at about 2:30 it talks about it. The video also shows how they measure the tension. The second link shows a extractor tension guage set they use in the video. The extractor in the Kahr pistol is adjusted by shortening the rear pin behind the extractor spring, like previously mentioned in a post earlier. I forgot to add, for the Kahr pistols, it should be about 2lbs tension for a 9mm and about 2 1/2 lbs for the 40. One also said every Kahr pistol he ran accross with failure to feed, had way too much extractor tention.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nnqKKWk2ig&app=desktop

http://www.jackweigand.com/etg.htmlThe cause is too much extractor tension.

good post there.

[dpierce]

I purchased my CT 380 Nov 2017 after reading numerous reviews on 380 pocket guns? I wanted something small I could put in my pocket when i was running out to the store or carry with me on the motorcycle. I have a Kahr CW45 and really like it and decided on the Kahr CT380 even after reading reviews on FTF and FTE issues! I ran 100 rounds of mixed factory thru it with about 3-4 FTF and FTE every mag!! I read about the extractor mod of rounding off the bottom edge a little and did that mod and that dramatically helped a lot but still had numerous FTF and FTE that i felt made unreliable as an edc!! I then found this forum and the sticky about prepping a new Kahr!! I followed the cleaning procedure and was amazed at how much gunk i got out of the extractor cleaning hole?? I also did the 500 hand racks recommended plus a couple hundred more because the gun just felt like it was loosening up and hand racking was a lot cheaper than running 500 rounds thru it!!! I have now run an additional 200 rounds of my mixed brass reloads 50 rounds of WWB and 25 rounds of Hornady XTP thru it without any FTF or FTE!!! The plus is this little gun is accurate as heck in the 10-21 ft range and is easy to shoot!!! Looking for Kahr 9mm now to add to my collection!!

[markman]

I forgot to add in my posts above that you can check your extractor tension before you do any mods just to see if it is too much or not. It’s one way to possibly eliminate a suspected problem before you disassemble the pistol.

[Ed M]

Have 2 CW380s and a P380.

The CW380s ran Fiocchi/Perfecta about 50% reliably, but the P380 wouldn't chamber it at all.

Did the extractor mods myself, as I couldn't see asking Kahr to fix a problem that didn't exist running the recommended domestic made ammo, and the fact that I was only working on a $15 part.

Worst case scenario was that I'd have to replace the extractor if I messed something up.

All three 380s now run 100% with any ammo I feed them. It was worth it to me to do the extractor mods, as I have a pretty large stash of Perfecta 380 ammo on hand.

[mpgo4th]

Great replies guys. This has to be a record for me. Everything post was actually very helpful. On the down side now I have too many fixes and have to pick which one to try first.
Markman’s pin fix sounds the easiest and most important the cheapest to fix if I mess up. I’ll keep racking and cleaning and working it in until I figure out where to start. On the other hand, I could do nothing and just run the ammo it works 100% with.


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[mpgo4th]

Have 2 CW380s and a P380.

The CW380s ran Fiocchi/Perfecta about 50% reliably, but the P380 wouldn't chamber it at all.

Did the extractor mods myself, as I couldn't see asking Kahr to fix a problem that didn't exist running the recommended domestic made ammo, and the fact that I was only working on a $15 part.

Worst case scenario was that I'd have to replace the extractor if I messed something up.

All three 380s now run 100% with any ammo I feed them. It was worth it to me to do the extractor mods, as I have a pretty large stash of Perfecta 380 ammo on hand.

Which mod on which part of the extractor did you do?


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[markman]

If you go this route, just remember what I posted previously. That you can check your extractor tension before you do any mods just to see if it is too much or not. It’s one way to possibly eliminate a suspected problem before you disassemble the pistol. And the best thing, it won't cost you a dime!

Markman’s pin fix sounds the easiest and most important the cheapest to fix if I mess up.

[mpgo4th]

If you go this route, just remember what I posted previously. That you can check your extractor tension before you do any mods just to see if it is too much or not. It’s one way to possibly eliminate a suspected problem before you disassemble the pistol. And the best thing, it won't cost you a dime!

Wouldn’t I have to pay a gunsmith with the tools to measure it?


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[CharlieW]

[QUOTE=mpgo4th;394410]Great replies guys. This has to be a record for me. Everything post was actually very helpful. On the down side now I have too many fixes and have to pick which one to try first.
Markman’s pin fix sounds the easiest and most important the cheapest to fix if I mess up. I’ll keep racking and cleaning and working it in until I figure out where to start. On the other hand, I could do nothing and just run the ammo it works 100% with.


In another thread I reported on my CW380 experience with the Remingtom green box ammo -- the chamber was too tight to accommodate the ammo, but I have confirmed that Sig V-Crown and Hydra-Shocks run perfectly in my gun (as well as Monarch FMJ!). Tight chambers have been discussed previously in the threads. Rather than starting down the path of modifications that I am not experienced in, I am choosing to continue running the ammo that has proven to work.

Good Luck with your new CW -- I am pretty happy with mine when using compatible ammo.

Based on your experience, I will give the Critical Defense a try.