Brand new ID series PM9 barrel peening?

[The Bat Dad]

Hello everyone, I'm new to Kahr firearms and obviously new to the forum. I've been lurking for about a month now and read up on everything I could before posting so that I don't waste anyone's time but I could use some advise now.

A little background, I picked up my PM9 in early January and it has been back to the factory twice already without firing a round. The first time was for two reasons, 1. because the magazines were not falling freely and the magazine release just didn't eject at all and 2. There was very visible scratching to the front of the slide. I was with my FFL when the pistol came in and know for a fact neither myself nor my ffl damage the slide. I sent it in immediately and got it back 3 weeks later. Magazine problem fixed but their solution to the slide damage was to take a dremel and take down the edge of the slide where there was damage, leaving it very noticeably lop sided and ugly. I called their customer service and the explanation was basically that they make 100% sure that all of their guns leave the factory 100% (cosmetically) and that the damage must have occurred after it left their factory and that they were basically doing me a favor by smoothing out the damage for me. I insisted that they make it right and they had me send in only the slide for "refinishing." They had the slide back to me within 1 week in perfect condition. Which brings me to my current situation:

I have already prepped and lubed the PM9 and magazines according to Jocko's recommendations and have been manually racking the slide to get it broke in a bit and also because I love pulling the smooth trigger. I noticed recently that the front part of the barrel is not smooth and seems to be peening. I don't know if this is something that should work itself out or if I should let Kahr know about the problem, if there is one. The last thing I want to do is have another repair on a gun that I haven't even been able to fire yet but if it's the best course of action then I'm prepared to be without for another few weeks.

I love the look, feel, trigger pull, size, and weight of the Kahr line-up but most of all I want it for the reliability that most people experience out of them as I hope to use it as my personal defense pistol. I really want this gun to work out but so far it has been a mixed bag of excellent to bad customer service and various problems with a brand new gun I paid retail for. If you have any advise to offer i'd be more than happy to listen, thanks.






Also in case you're curious about the cosmetic issues I was having you can see the way I received the gun and what they did to "correct the issue." It is perfect now.

[TucsonMTB]

Well, you will have to make up your own mind, but if it were my gun and were performing well, I would carefully file, stone, or sand off the burr and move on. But, that's me with a fair level of confidence in my tool using ability and some experience that makes something like that easy.

If you decide to tackle it, make sure your file strokes are from front to back, parallel to the slide so that the resulting texture blends in with the marks made as the barrel moves in the slide. You could even polish the barrel hood a bit when you are done to make it look really nice.

However, if you are not so quick to tackle things like this yourself, send an email to Kahr with that picture attached. Include another clear closeup picture of the barrel alone viewed from the side so that the extent of the peening is obvious. See what they say when they reply to your email and make a decision based on that knowledge.

Best of luck, sir. You sound like a stand up kind of a guy who deserves better luck than this. I have noticed that the universe is not always fair to me either.

[The Bat Dad]

Hey Tucson, thanks for the friendly reply and advice.

My main concern is if the peening is purely cosmetic or if it will get worse after firing. I'm no stranger to filing and dremel work but I'm afraid that if I take a file to the gun and it has to go in for repair after my initial 200 round break-in period they will automatically disregard me as another "dremel gunsmith" and void my warranty. My personal experience with them is that they are capable of blaming the customer but I have only dealt with them on two occasions.

I'm inclined to take your advice and just shoot the gun to see how reliable it is and then go from there. I'm hoping for good results especially after following all of the prep advise but only time will tell. I'll keep this thread updated just in case anyone is curious as to how things turn out. Thanks again.

[kerby9mm]

IMO shoot the gun first to see how it functions but I would be leary if that happened with only hand racking. Possibly there is something out of spec. Kahr in my one gun experience with them will stand behind their warranty.

[jocko]

abat dad; imo i THINK UR BARREL IS BAD. I would send that photo to Jay at Kashr and lethim see that p;hoto. That is not an area that I would recommend anyone to file down . This is part of the lock up of the fianl lock up[ of thyegun and this area is supposed tob e extgremelyt hard treated. It is soft as u can see. U have stated u have not fired if but hand rackedit whiocvh is far less punishable than the actual BANG thing happening.
the peenign willget worse and it will soon effect reliability ad oockup IMO. Some things on a kahr I wll agree that slittle filing or sanding can dono harm but IMO this is one area that needs kahrs attention for sure.

I will PM u.

[The Bat Dad]

I just e-mailed Jay at Kahr and added a a better picture as suggested.

Man this is frustrating and TBH if it wasn't for the enthusiastic folks on the forums I would have written off Kahr long ago...

[Bawanna]

Much as it pains me I agree with Jocko. We don't see it very often but that barrel is indeed peening. It's frustrating for you but wait for their response, get it in for a new barrel and probably slide.

My K40 did that a few years ago and they took care of it, no issues since.
I think it will get worse. But wait for Kahrs response.

[The Bat Dad]

Jay just got back to me and asked to see pictures of the barrel hood with the muzzle facing the camera. Maybe these pictures will help them out? I already sent them so I hope they are adequate.

[The Bat Dad]

Just got word back from Jay:

"Good afternoon. Thank you for the clear photographs and perfect
angle. I have reviewed the photo's along with our head gunsmith and the
barrel is perfectly fine. The edge you are seeing is from the lockup of the
slide and barrel and will not inhibit the function of the weapon in any
way. I hope this information helps.
sincerely,
Jay


You guys have made it clear that you believe that there is an issue. Do the barrels of your PM9s look like mine? Do any of them look like this? Should I just shut up and shoot?

I have to give it to Kahr though, that's the quickest correspondence I've received from any gun manufacturer. Kudos to them on that.

[TucsonMTB]

If Kahr wants you to shoot it before they render further judgement, go for it!

That should pretty quickly determine if that area of the barrel is indeed too soft. A few hundred rounds should not be dangerous, especially if you keep your eye on it.

If it gets worse, another discussion with Jay (and the gunsmith in the background of his conversation) will be in order.

I am hoping for a positive range report, but at least you have Kahr's attention if you need it.

[jocko]

ur last photo doesn't look near as bad as the firwst photo, so I would do what kahr asks, and shoot it like u stole it, if it gets wors, it will cause reliability issues, then, let kahr have a look at it. What looks no right to me is evidentley OK with kahr.

[The Bat Dad]

My thinking exactly Tucson.

I'll be shooting it no later than Monday afternoon while keeping my eye on it.

I have confidence that if an issue does arise they will take care of it swiftly, especially since they already have a background on the situation. = )

[OldLincoln]

Your barrel hood peening is exactly what I experienced. You need to look at the inside top of the slide (Lube point 6) where that peening rubs against. It could be scarred and will cause a lot of friction and likely fail to feed issues.

I removed the peening with a metal fingernail file being careful to take it just flat with the hood without any rounding. Then I sanded my gouged slide smooth and polished it with a dremmel.

Finally I rubbed TW25 into Lube Point 6 where I had polished. My feed issues went away immediately. I did also polish the ramp while at it but I understand Kahr does a better job of that with their new guns now days.

[TucsonMTB]

My thinking exactly, Tucson.

I have heard that "great minds think alike."

Admittedly, my wife might have a different opinion . . .

[CJB]

Barrel peening is _usually_ the result of a loose fit barrel, fore and aft.

What goes on is... the slide moves slightly backward at high speed under recoil (and pressure on the head of the cartridge at the breechface). The barrel is relatively stationary, and the two parts are like hammer and anvil.

When the barrel is fit tightly to the slide, then they move backward together, and the result is much much less wear, as they start out at the same speed and continue on that way. In reality, that sort of lockup is almost impossible to maintain in production, so you get some very little bit of peening wear with use, but not much.

I'd call that excessive.