PM9 - Failure to feeds developed at 1,500 rounds or so

[kpm9]

where did that statment come from. Never heard of any statement coming out of kahr less than 1500 rounds. recoil springs are cheap to replace so it is really ones decision. I personally feel 500 rounds is way way to early, but again they are cheap in cost to.

My bad, I meant 1500 rounds. It was a recommendation from Kahr when I bought the new spring. This might have changed too, but I though I saw a recommendation from a Kahr manual.

I might be thinking about Sig though.

[jocko]

sounds right to me. Rohrbaugh recommends changing their R9 springs every 200 rounds and they mean it to..

[Seahawk60]

not sure about the recoil springs strength being changed . I do know they went from a 3/8" flat end on the guide rod to 1/2" for some reason. that has been a few years back, but I have never seen a poundage spring change by kahr. Wolffs has shown the 18# factory spring for the pM9 way before kahr ever changed to the 1/2" flange on the end of the guide rod....

They're definitely different. Either stronger or longer...maybe both. My made-in-2004 PM9 came with the guide rode with the smaller button and both springs were silver. I was able to lock the slide back by hand from day one. Not so with the two new guide rod/spring assemblies. They definitely need a break in via firing and/or leaving the slide locked back for a few days before it is in anyway easy to lock the slide.

Another difference is the outer spring will not just fall off the guide rod, as my old one did. It takes some force (twisting) to get it off. This was a good move by Kahr because it makes it much harder for someone to accidentally get that spring on backwards because, as we all know, it is supposed to only go on ONE way. Failure to do so could cause the entire pistol to lock up hard if the "open end" of the spring is placed up against the flange of the outer guide rod piston instead of inside the area in the front underside of the slide. It was important enough for Kahr to actually include that in my 2004 owner's manual. I've also read reports of people jamming up their pistols because they put the spring on backward and the "open end" coils jumped over the back of the outer part of the guide rod. Other than replacement, there's no reason to take the outer spring off the guide rod anyway.

Anyway, Kahr told me they were using stronger springs when I asked about the "redesign" and before I got the first one they sent.

[JD Cowles]

hmm, i'm in the same boat perhaps. i went to the range last night to put another 100 rounds through my PM9 (had about 850 already with no problems) and had a half dozen fail to feeds. there was a new mag so i thought maybe there was something to it but it did it with my other two (all 6rd) as well. is it possible i burned through a recoil spring at 850-900 rounds? i felt 'off' all night so it could have been my technique but it's freaking me out to have such a reliable pistol get weird on me.

thanks all-
JD

[jocko]

shouldn't be the recoil springs either but I would callkahr and talk to Jay or Eion and tell them what is going on and maybe they will send you a new recoil assembly to try out. Try it again to see if it does it when your feeling better about shooting to and maybe have a shooter friend there also to see if he can duplicate your issues.Probably not u either but you need to eliminate the possables before getting to excited.


Give that a try first

[JD Cowles]

thanks jocko, i am a bit OCD and already spoke w Ian? at Kahr and a new recoil spring assembly is on it's way. meantime, i cleaned the snot out of 'er and will polish the feed ramp some tonight before banging a few rounds through tomorrow. fingers crossed i was tired and out of whack. either way i'll be back on here celebrating or crying into my empty magazines...

JD

[Lobo_79]

...I haven't kept an exact round count, but I'm guessing I am somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 rounds, have haven't changed the recoil spring yet...

Like others have already commented the most likely culprit is the recoil spring. I replaced just the outer spring and it cured my problem. Others might replace the entire guide rod and both springs but I think it's just the outer spring that takes the brunt of work.

Kahr doesn't seem to publish a service interval for spring replacement but if you root around in the KahrTech section you'll find enough useful information to make you feel guilty...LOL. The consensus seems to be somewhere around 1250 - 1500 rounds for a recoil spring. That's the easy part; the bigger challenge is keep track.

[jocko]

Ihave my ammo in stack of 1000 rounds, andI am able to keep alot better track of rounds down range that way.l Not to important as we think for recoil changes. Normally the gun will give you some indication that it might be time for a change. Certainly IMO when in doubt change um. Most issues in a gun rre recoil spring related and magazine related. Get those two purrng right together and your gun should go bang every time.

[JD Cowles]

whew...

Put about 75 rounds through the old girl on Sat am and am proud to report the only fail to feed was after shooting my Glock for an hour (the first round out of the PM9 kinda surprised me and was 124gr carry ammo). That one was my fault. After that, 6+1 twice through each of 3 mags and no problems. I am happy that Ian @ Kahr has a new recoil spring assembly on its way as i will wear this one at sooner than later :53: