Tweet
In a thread about CW9 magazines in the P and CW sub forum, I posted the following in a response:
"Most of us never really learned of or considered to inspect the actual shape of a 9mm brass casing. I admit myself that I didn't learn this until 4-5 years ago. Unlike most other "acp" rounds, the casing of the 9mm is not straight walled. Try a real simple experiment: lay out 7-8 rounds of 9mm on a flat surface in the same configuration they would stack in a magazine. Make sure the sides of the brass are making complete contact with the adjacent rounds. You shouldn't even need a straight edge along the cartridge bases to see that they tend to make a curved line. When they are forced into a straight line (back wall of the mag tube), this tends to make the bullet end appear to be "unsupported". With a full magazine the problem tends to be more pronounced.....lay out 20 rounds of 9mm in the "experiment" and you will most certainly see a curve forming. A fixed angle follower (pretty standard) in a straight backed magazine (haven't seen a curved one yet...although I can dream) would seem to me to be the culprit in feed issues on many varieties of 9mm handguns. Must not be a big issue or they would have adopted the spring hinged follower exclusively for the 9mm firearms. I wonder if Kahr might experiment with a spring hinged follower that might reduce the problems of the tapered 9mm cartridges?"
I believe the above observations explain the reason that one would assume the top round in the Kahr magazine (at least in the CW9-my only personal hands on experience) to be "loose". You can easily push down the nose of the top round on a full magazine making it appear to rock vertically. I have owned, handled many 9mm pistols over the years and never really noticed this phenomenon before, although it has yet to cause any problems for me with my CW9. I can handle it with the same loading techinques I've used with every other 9mm pistol and never experience a malfunction, but I know Karh recommends loading from slide lock. I am beginning to believe the loading issue could be all but eliminated by a redesign of the follower or even possibly something as simple of adjusting the spring tension design to apply more pressure to the forward end of the cartridge(s). I have 7 old Chip McCormick Shooting star magazines with my old Kimber that use the hinged, spring loaded followers. These tend to apply additional upward force to the bullet end of the cartridges, keeping them a bit more firmly against the feed lips, thus in better alignment with the feed ramp. With .45 acp being "straight walled" brass, I don't really see the point, but with the tapered nature of 9mm rounds it would appear to be a pretty good possibility for correcting a feeding problem/issue.
Just my thoughts. Anyone want to chime in?
surv
"Most of us never really learned of or considered to inspect the actual shape of a 9mm brass casing. I admit myself that I didn't learn this until 4-5 years ago. Unlike most other "acp" rounds, the casing of the 9mm is not straight walled. Try a real simple experiment: lay out 7-8 rounds of 9mm on a flat surface in the same configuration they would stack in a magazine. Make sure the sides of the brass are making complete contact with the adjacent rounds. You shouldn't even need a straight edge along the cartridge bases to see that they tend to make a curved line. When they are forced into a straight line (back wall of the mag tube), this tends to make the bullet end appear to be "unsupported". With a full magazine the problem tends to be more pronounced.....lay out 20 rounds of 9mm in the "experiment" and you will most certainly see a curve forming. A fixed angle follower (pretty standard) in a straight backed magazine (haven't seen a curved one yet...although I can dream) would seem to me to be the culprit in feed issues on many varieties of 9mm handguns. Must not be a big issue or they would have adopted the spring hinged follower exclusively for the 9mm firearms. I wonder if Kahr might experiment with a spring hinged follower that might reduce the problems of the tapered 9mm cartridges?"
I believe the above observations explain the reason that one would assume the top round in the Kahr magazine (at least in the CW9-my only personal hands on experience) to be "loose". You can easily push down the nose of the top round on a full magazine making it appear to rock vertically. I have owned, handled many 9mm pistols over the years and never really noticed this phenomenon before, although it has yet to cause any problems for me with my CW9. I can handle it with the same loading techinques I've used with every other 9mm pistol and never experience a malfunction, but I know Karh recommends loading from slide lock. I am beginning to believe the loading issue could be all but eliminated by a redesign of the follower or even possibly something as simple of adjusting the spring tension design to apply more pressure to the forward end of the cartridge(s). I have 7 old Chip McCormick Shooting star magazines with my old Kimber that use the hinged, spring loaded followers. These tend to apply additional upward force to the bullet end of the cartridges, keeping them a bit more firmly against the feed lips, thus in better alignment with the feed ramp. With .45 acp being "straight walled" brass, I don't really see the point, but with the tapered nature of 9mm rounds it would appear to be a pretty good possibility for correcting a feeding problem/issue.
Just my thoughts. Anyone want to chime in?
surv
Comment