Ding in guide rail

[Night Owl]

Received my PM9 a couple days ago and just got done taking her apart and cleaning her. This is my first ever semi-automatic pistol. While she was apart I noticed that the guide rail on the slide release side for the pistol has a small indent toward the front of the rail. If you could envision taking a screwdriver and purposely placing it on the side of that guide rail and hitting it with a hammer leaving a small indent. It doesn't go all the way to the polymer frame it's about the size of a small pencil dot. Any reason for concern?

Additionally, as has been reported here before by others after having racked the pistol about 300 times now the slide release lever is STILL darn near impossible to budge and in some cases IS almost impossible. After racking the slide it has loosened up some but not much. I still have to in many cases take a screwdriver wrapped up in a cloth and push down on it to get it to budge. Still have yet to fire it but have 2,500 rounds of ammo ready to go...

[Alfonse]

If you are talking about a little semi-circular notch out of the rail, that is supposed to be there. I assume it is some sort of locating reference for a pin in the mold. Removing the slide release seems to get easier after actually shooting it a few hundred rounds and taking it down a few times. I lube mine really well with grease. That seems to help it come out as well.

[skiflydive]

Is the magazine out when you try to push out the pin? Try it with the mag out.

[laserfish]

If you are trying to release the slide on an empty mag, it is made difficult intentionally. Lets you know you are out of ammo and you are trying to release the slide on an empty chamber.

[muggsy]

The answers that you seek can be found in the owners manual.

[CJB]

****

Well this was READ THE FRIENDLY MANUAL.... but the filtering nixed it

[OldFatGuy]

Received my PM9 a couple days ago and just got done taking her apart and cleaning her. This is my first ever semi-automatic pistol. While she was apart I noticed that the guide rail on the slide release side for the pistol has a small indent toward the front of the rail. If you could envision taking a screwdriver and purposely placing it on the side of that guide rail and hitting it with a hammer leaving a small indent. It doesn't go all the way to the polymer frame it's about the size of a small pencil dot. Any reason for concern?

Additionally, as has been reported here before by others after having racked the pistol about 300 times now the slide release lever is STILL darn near impossible to budge and in some cases IS almost impossible. After racking the slide it has loosened up some but not much. I still have to in many cases take a screwdriver wrapped up in a cloth and push down on it to get it to budge. Still have yet to fire it but have 2,500 rounds of ammo ready to go...

Did you fire it before you noticed the nick on the slide? Mine was clean until I fired it, now I have 2 little nicks on the slide. After close inspection, the only thing I can figure is it was hitting the pin. It works fine, so I'm not worried about it.

[Alfonse]

The notch I was talking about is like in this photo:


Completely normal.

[OldFatGuy]

This is what I was referring to. Others have talked about peening, maybe that's what this is. Sorry about the pic, my old cells phone.

[CJB]

READ THE MANUAL

The slide release is supposed to be hard, when an empty magazine is in place.

The notch is there, as part of the production process.

Received my PM9 a couple days ago and just got done taking her apart and cleaning her. This is my first ever semi-automatic pistol. While she was apart I noticed that the guide rail on the slide release side for the pistol has a small indent toward the front of the rail. If you could envision taking a screwdriver and purposely placing it on the side of that guide rail and hitting it with a hammer leaving a small indent. It doesn't go all the way to the polymer frame it's about the size of a small pencil dot. Any reason for concern?

Additionally, as has been reported here before by others after having racked the pistol about 300 times now the slide release lever is STILL darn near impossible to budge and in some cases IS almost impossible. After racking the slide it has loosened up some but not much. I still have to in many cases take a screwdriver wrapped up in a cloth and push down on it to get it to budge. Still have yet to fire it but have 2,500 rounds of ammo ready to go...

[b4uqzme]

I went back and re-read Jocko's proper prep sticky. Most of the issues I've seen posted here over the past couple of years are covered in that 5 year old thread. Just sayin.

Great intro OP. Welcome! Read your manual. Read the stickies.

[alltimeqb]

Let's be clear, the notch in the slide rail in Alfonse's picture is what we're talking about, correct?

My CM9 with just over 200 rounds has something similar, but it does not look to be a machined/stamped "feature" of the metal part. It looks to be "hammered" there from something. It could be that this is how it was manufactured, but I'd sure like to know if this is fact and not an assumption.

Unless someone has Kahr documentation that this was manufactured this way, I think I'll be sending a picture to Kahr to get verification.

[b4uqzme]

Let's be clear, the notch in the slide rail in Alfonse's picture is what we're talking about, correct?

My CM9 with just over 200 rounds has something similar, but it does not look to be a machined/stamped "feature" of the metal part. It looks to be "hammered" there from something. It could be that this is how it was manufactured, but I'd sure like to know if this is fact and not an assumption.

Unless someone has Kahr documentation that this was manufactured this way, I think I'll be sending a picture to Kahr to get verification.

Please do. You deserve to hear it straight from the horse's mouth.

[alltimeqb]

BTW, pull the slide back a bit, hold it there and wiggle the slide... there's a ton 'o slop back and forth... maybe not the problem, but I'd sure like to have some frame of reference to know whether this is excessive or not (seems to me that it is).

[OldFatGuy]

Let's be clear, the notch in the slide rail in Alfonse's picture is what we're talking about, correct?

My CM9 with just over 200 rounds has something similar, but it does not look to be a machined/stamped "feature" of the metal part. It looks to be "hammered" there from something. It could be that this is how it was manufactured, but I'd sure like to know if this is fact and not an assumption.

Unless someone has Kahr documentation that this was manufactured this way, I think I'll be sending a picture to Kahr to get verification.

Yup, I was off when I complained about my dings on the slide, carry on.