Kahr troubles

Seems to be common with the Kahrs. Both my CWs are scratched up, but doesn't seem to affect function, so I don't worry about it. SS rods are available from Kahr that seem to hold up better.

Ditto what greenjeans said.

Be sure you have the spring on with the closed end inserted onto the guide rod first and the open end inserted into the slide.

I wouldn't pay the guide rod much attention, the light primer strikes would bother me. If it happened only with one brand of ammo I'd try another one, and if the problem continued I would call them. Anyway good luck.

From what I have been seeing on here as of late the Kahr's seem to be very problematic indeed. IMHO they just don't seemed to be designed well at all.

Could this be a headspace problem? Get different types of ammo and insert some into the chamber of the barrel when it is disassembled. Look closely at how far the cases go into the chamber. Perhaps the ledge that is supposed to keep the cases from going in too far was machined too far into the chamber.

Teddyb From what I have been seeing on here as of late the Kahr's seem to be very problematic indeed. IMHO they just don't seemed to be designed well at all.

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Welcome back Pappy109 !!!!!

Kahr is either good or bad. If you get a bad one you are screwed. Their customer service totally sucks. Sounds like you got screwed.

From what I have been seeing on here as of late the Kahr's seem to be very problematic indeed. IMHO they just don't seemed to be designed well at all.

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Always remember that you'll hear more the folks that are having problems than you do from folks that have a problem free gun. I have a PM45 that had a 3 point jam at round 39 and has run ever round I have put in it since, several hundred but probably short of 1,000.

IMO the KAHR design has a lot of 'rules' and people don't follow them properly or even at all, and that causes the overwhelming majority of problems. It is why their CS often gets blamed for being "bad," if the problem if operator malfunction then they cannot fix it. Of course sometimes you just get a lemon with any manufacture.

my CW9 is doing the exact same thing. I noticed it will cleaning it last week and it only has about 150 rounds through it.

Had the same problem. I sent mine back to Kahr 3 times before they fixed it. Unfortunately, this seems to be happening more and more with their guns. Do you have a shot of one of the primers that didn't ignite? Here's a shot of mine.

Light Primer Strikes

The firing pin appears to have impacted off-center- is it possibly due to the slide not being fully locked before the firing pin was released?

Had the same issue with 2 Glocks once- their strikes were even closer to the edge of the primer.

If the slide wasn't fully locked and the cartridge did fire it would have been interesting!

Mountie855

Your post made me remember one of the many 'rules' that KAHR has......Always use the slide release to chamber the round.

Oblivious if you guys are getting these light strikes after the first round is fired that would not be the problem.

The light strikes on mine were 100% random with several different ammo brands. It could be the 1st, 3rd or 7th round, it didn't matter. Mine was defective, plain and simple.

I had the same light-strike problems with a P380 and Kahr was never able to correct the problem. I have a PM9 that runs like a top.

Lightstrikes in the Kahr line and in particular the CW model appear to be gun related, not operator related. IMO, the striker design may need some "over-engineering" consideration to make it more fool proof, which is what almost all other striker or hammer fired guns can boast. If the firing pin hits a primer, the primer should ignite...period. Kahr's striker design has a "just enough and no more" quality to it.

This being said by a Kahr owner and user. I like the guns, I like the overall quality, but the primer/striker question is real and needs to be addressed.

Never owned a Kahr, but have fired a few of them. They are nice, slim, pleasant feeling guns. However, they are way too expensive, and any company that requires you to pay for 3-4 boxes of ammo to "break it in" should give the purchaser a voucher for that ammo. So you spend $600-$700 on a new gun, than they want you to spend another $40 on ammo, and then the guide rod looks scratched up like this?

No other gun I have bought advised they owner to shoot 200 rounds before it is broken in. Let them fire the 200 rounds at the factory, then clean the gun and ship to the dealer if those rounds are necessary for reliable function. No other semi auto I have owned has failed to fire with any ammo at any time.

Someone on another board pointed this little trick out to me.

Take a pencil, put it eraser side down in the barrel (unloaded of course). Pull trigger, note how high the pencil jumps.

I did this with my meagre gun collection.

Kahr K9...barely 3".
KelTec P11...4".
CZ 75BD...2' above the muzzle.
Sig 220...darn near hit the ceiling.

It was also pointed out there may be junk in the firing pin channel, so find out how to disassemble the guts and clean it out. Still happens...there were issues with the pin not protruding far enough and had to be fixed by Kahr.

I really think 90% of these Kahr issues would be solved if they ran just 10 rounds through each gun before shipping. Heck my CZ came with a test target.

My Kahr PM9 has had zero issues since getting it. Call Kahr and have them take a look at it.

I bought a pm9 back in 2005. It suffered from several problems. One of them was that when the trigger was pulled, the gun didn't go bang. After the third or fourth pull, it would go off. It was a mechanical issue inside the gun. Are you sure your problem is a light primer strike? It might have the same problem mine did. I've seen this problem pop up at least a few times here on THR.

I sent it back to Kahr after having to pay for the shipping cost, and it returned with that problem fixed. However, it still suffered from FTF issues. I tried breaking it in and really wanted to give it a chance, but it never got better. I wasn't willing to waste any more time and money on it, so I sold it. I'll never buy a Kahr again. My experience left a bad taste in my mouth, and since then I've seen countless threads about Kahr problems. I honestly don't know how they get away with charging so much for these little pistols when they don't even work half of the time.

I sent it back to Kahr after having to pay for the shipping cost, and it returned with that problem fixed. However, it still suffered from FTF issues. I tried breaking it in and really wanted to give it a chance, but it never got better. I wasn't willing to waste any more time and money on it, so I sold it. I'll never buy a Kahr again. My experience left a bad taste in my mouth, and since then I've seen countless threads about Kahr problems. I honestly don't know how they get away with charging so much for these little pistols when they don't even work half of the time.

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wow, that's rediculous that they made you pay shipping, after paying so much for one of their guns! then it still didn't work right after you got it back.

this is why i stay away from this brand, it seems to be a crap shoot whether you get a problem free one or not. they used to have a "tip" on their website that said if your kahr isn't feeding the last round from the mag, then you should download it by one round--that's unacceptable!

My PM9 ended up doing the same thing (light) strike off to the side) during the later stages of "break-in". I actually think that the strike is ok but too much off center to activate the primer, but who cares right? It isn't discharging!!

I paid shipping one way too, but others I later learned had theirs covered both ways. I think it depends on how hard you lean on them. Customer service a couple years ago wasn't too bad, I think I had mine back in under two weeks. That was when Dotty was handling RMAs.

I'm keeping mine because after one trip it has been operationally 100% with about 150 rounds of both ball and three varients of JHP through it. I like the form factor for pocket carry in an semi-auto 9mm. Unlike other handguns I probably wouldn't buy another. Too much babysitting.

If a handgun doesn't come with a lifetime warranty and shipping paid both ways for warranty related items it isn't on my short list anymore.

Do read the manual and follow the operational instructions.

DAdams said:

My PM9 ended up doing the same thing (light strike off to the side) during the later stages of "break-in".
I paid shipping one way too, but others had theirs covered both ways. I think it depends on how hard you lean on them.

I'm keeping mine but unlike other handguns I wouldn't buy another. Too much babysitting.

If it doesn't come with a lifetime warranty it isn't on my short list anymore.

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I shy away from any gun that would require a break in period regardless of the warranty. My thinking is that if I am going to spend several hundred dollars for your product than it better already be broken in and ready to go out of the box.

That said, there are many quality made handguns out there that do not require a break in period. Conventional wisdom would direct me to their products.

Well Put

Teddyb

I shy away from any gun that would require a break in period regardless of the warranty. My thinking is that if I am going to spend several hundred dollars for your product than it better already be broken in and ready to go out of the box.

That said, there are many quality made handguns out there that do not require a break in period. Conventional wisdom would direct me to their products.

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Obviously one wishes to get a 100 or more prior and uninterrupted rounds downrange to qualify as a personal protection device but I don't expect to have to put $100 or more worth of ammunition through it to "break-in" seat, or set moving to stationary components.

I never could (and apparently) still can't figure out Kahr's business model/marketing/philosophy approach. Why a company would not put an extra hour (probably much less) in labor (QC inspection and finish) into their product to overperform/overdeliver and charge accordingly is beyond me. Their perceived value would go up 100%.

Take a look at the Seecamp (.380) model. Two year backlog due to quality, form, fit and function.

This conversation is a well beaten horse to be sure.