It happened to me... Broken PM40 mag follower

[mudfish]

I had a 100% flawless PM40 with about 800 rounds thru it. Went shooting with three friends yesterday, all three had malfunctions with my gun. Then I did. Seemed to be the second shot with the factory 5rd mag. Wasn't returning to battery fully. Then was unable to load more than one round in the mag because the follower was hanging up. Noticed the lower front part of the follower was broken off. My other mags worked fine.

So now my carry gun is no longer 100%...

[wayneo1]

I would not even blink an eye on that one. Just get a new mag maybe Kahr will cover it. How old is the gun.

[mudfish]

The gun left the factory 9 months ago, and I bought it new about 8 months ago.

Tell you what, I've owned a lot of guns and this is the first mag follower I've ever broken.

And on a pretty new gun.

That has a reputation of breaking mag followers.

[mudfish]

"Just get a new mag" is a chunk of change, they're not cheap.

[wyntrout]

An email with a good picture is worth 1000 words. Kahr will replace the follower. That's why you should have extra magazines. I always got extra mags before I got the pistols... at a cheaper store than Kahr, though... Cheaper Than Dirt is usually good on prices for Kahr magazines.

Wynn

[mudfish]

My 3 buddies had never shot a Kahr before, only read about Kahr's problems. I talked mine up pretty big, only to have it malfunction repeatedly at the range... Those three guys will never buy a Kahr!

[knkali]

FWIW at the IDPA match yesterday. Two guys had mag failures on other make guns. This stuff happens. Throw the gun at the BG and go to knife.

[jocko]

kahr doeswn't make the magazines or followers. No excuse either but for some reason they have had some magazines fail due to splitting and the follower breaking thing to me seems more common in the 40 cal kahrs and I have no reason why that is either. Many companies use polymer magazine followers with no issues, actually kahr is one of the first that I have ever read of this issue happening "alot". If it happens to you oncve, that is alot.

I had two followers crack in 32,000 rounds and both times I never knew they were even broken until I took my mags apart for periodic inspection and cleaning and then the broken part fell out. THE MAGAZINES NEVER FAILED TO WORK.

Kahr will replace them, be polite, they know about this issue, not sure one has to repreach to them about it, they are aware of it and I certainly feel they don't like it either and whether it is a magazine failure or the gun itself actually causing it, you will not get that answer from kahr. trust me on that.

I know back in my days with kel tecs that this was a pretty common thing to happen and most found out that it was the feed ramp hitting that follower on the last round busting the follower. I think KT did alittle design change to the ramp and it was solved. Many before kt ever got around to it, called the procedure a "RAMPOCTOMY".

[MarineDoc]

What gives with Kahr and their magazines. I have a new MP40, first time I took it to the range, a follower broke. Kahr did send a new one. Yesterday, went to the range, first mag use, follower broke. Checked the rest of them today (5) and found one with the beginning of a crack. Three out of six mags is not a very good reliability record to me. I had been using this as my back-up but I am having serious doubts about that now. I may have to look for something with a better mag track record.

[garyb]

Now that I know followers are a problem on the PM40 I'll check mine more carefully in the future. I have not been paying much attention to this follower issue. I have 5 mags and so far I have not experienced any problems...no failures of any kind.

I am disappointed to hear that Mudfish's follower problem will influence his 3 buddies and Kahr's reputation, but I guess if people have it in their mind that Kahr has too many problems, it is what it is. It is not like other gun owners have not experienced problems...even glocks. Oh well. Hope you can get it fixed at no cost.

[MarineDoc]

Darn TucsonMTB, I am impressed. Wow, that was the first time I ever heard how those little buggers were made. You really impressed me. Thanks for the insight. I too hope that Kahr comes up with a work around for the weakness. Love the pistol.

[garyb]

Yea, Thanks TucsonMTB. Reinforcing words about my followers and an interesting explanation about why there may be problems with this part. It seems like an easy fix to improve their product and reputation. However, as others indicated, perhaps Kahr may not be molding this part and they farm it (follower molding) out to another supplier who is pushing out these parts with less regard than is deserved??? For want of a follower the PM was lost....

[earle8888]

I got to be the lucky guy! Several thousand rounds down and NO mag problems with flush mags. BUT have feeding problems, some times, at the range with extended mags. I need to go check my mags!!!!

[dirty_sanchez]

Guys- Who else can I talk to OTHER than Ian? A Friday range session resulted in another broken follower for my PM40.

Kahr-are you reading this?

A few years back I called Kahr about a broken follower and spoke to Ian who cheerfully replaced the follower and even send a spare for the just-in-case (gratis) without even a second question, any sort of grief and definately no aggrivation.

Earlier this morning I called, spoke to him, mentioned how much I love my PM9 AND my PM40, and explained that I now have 3 followers broken and I'd like replacements. Said the pistol should not break followers-then went on explaining why they're breaking.

I didn't get around to telling him that it's taken many thousands of rounds and several years to accumulate a my collection of broken followers.

He insists that if I send in the 40, they'll machine a bit off and replace the followers. This will come at FFL fees as well as shipping charges I'll have to eat. If they cover all charges to and fro, I'd be willing to send the pistol to them-I doubt it though.

I just want the darned followers replaced.

I called Kahr in a perfectly good mood but hung up the phone with him supremely aggrivated.

An I out of line here?

Any other names to speak with? Is there a special secret code word?

Dirty

[JFootin]

There are no FFL fees. Kahr (and any gun manufacturer) can ship to you directly without an FFL dealer getting involved. Why wouldn't you want them to fix the problem for good? Be very politely insistent on them covering shipping both ways, and they most likely WILL do it.