wesnellans
Expert
Bought wifey a P380 to replace the G42 she couldn't fire. Wishing I hadn't at this stage. I've never had the kind of teething pains I've experienced with this little thing. Don't know how many INGOers have experience with this but thought I'd throw it out there to the people I hope know more than me.
The recommended break-in period of the Kahr, according to the manual, is 200 rounds. I've put a bit over that through it so far and have experienced just about every malfunction I can come up with - everything from failure to chamber first round from mag (using the proscribed Kahr method of releasing the slide lock from hold open, btw), to failure to return to battery, failure to extract, double feeds, the works. The only thing I HAVEN'T experienced yet is failure to fire, so I'm sure the guts are working, anyway.
I think this is to be quite a learning curve for me - I'm used to guns that just work (certified Glock guy here, sorry!). I've had micro 380s before and haven't had issues with them - BodyGuards and LCPs - so I really can't see how my grip can be the problem, since I can fire hundreds of rounds through them without failure.
I'm thinking, however, I may be zeroing in on some issues that are contributing. Yesterday after field stripping and disassembling the slide for thorough cleaning I noticed that there's an area on the bottom of the slide that's showing signs of polishing - as if rubbing on something during operation. I noticed this because it's not the same finish as the rest of the slide bottom and is only in a small section that seems to correspond to a "hill" of sorts on the polymer frame in the dust cover area. From what I can see its a perfect match for the movement front to back of the slide to polish it up.
So, thinking this could be part of the problem - increased drag slowing things down enough to keep from proper function.
Also, in disassembling the mags for cleaning I found one 6 round mag that has the follower move relatively smoothly. Both the extra 6 rounder and extra 7 rounder it came with have the followers hitch quite a bit during travel. Granted, this may be overcome by the spring under pressure, but to my mechanical mind (not an engineer by any stretch, but 23 years of automotive experience, most of it in parts and service, has given me an eye for a few things
) the followers need to move through the mags with a minimum of effort.
So, INGO, are we talking about needing hotter ammo and reducing friction in the slide movement and follower, or is there something else I need to look for? I DID email Kahr about the issue, haven't heard back yet (didn't really figure to, emailing them on Saturday like I did), or is there something endemic to these little beasts I'm not seeing?
I'm sick at the thought of the money this little "premium" 380 cost me to give me these kind of issues.
The recommended break-in period of the Kahr, according to the manual, is 200 rounds. I've put a bit over that through it so far and have experienced just about every malfunction I can come up with - everything from failure to chamber first round from mag (using the proscribed Kahr method of releasing the slide lock from hold open, btw), to failure to return to battery, failure to extract, double feeds, the works. The only thing I HAVEN'T experienced yet is failure to fire, so I'm sure the guts are working, anyway.
I think this is to be quite a learning curve for me - I'm used to guns that just work (certified Glock guy here, sorry!). I've had micro 380s before and haven't had issues with them - BodyGuards and LCPs - so I really can't see how my grip can be the problem, since I can fire hundreds of rounds through them without failure.
I'm thinking, however, I may be zeroing in on some issues that are contributing. Yesterday after field stripping and disassembling the slide for thorough cleaning I noticed that there's an area on the bottom of the slide that's showing signs of polishing - as if rubbing on something during operation. I noticed this because it's not the same finish as the rest of the slide bottom and is only in a small section that seems to correspond to a "hill" of sorts on the polymer frame in the dust cover area. From what I can see its a perfect match for the movement front to back of the slide to polish it up.
So, thinking this could be part of the problem - increased drag slowing things down enough to keep from proper function.
Also, in disassembling the mags for cleaning I found one 6 round mag that has the follower move relatively smoothly. Both the extra 6 rounder and extra 7 rounder it came with have the followers hitch quite a bit during travel. Granted, this may be overcome by the spring under pressure, but to my mechanical mind (not an engineer by any stretch, but 23 years of automotive experience, most of it in parts and service, has given me an eye for a few things
) the followers need to move through the mags with a minimum of effort. So, INGO, are we talking about needing hotter ammo and reducing friction in the slide movement and follower, or is there something else I need to look for? I DID email Kahr about the issue, haven't heard back yet (didn't really figure to, emailing them on Saturday like I did), or is there something endemic to these little beasts I'm not seeing?
I'm sick at the thought of the money this little "premium" 380 cost me to give me these kind of issues.
