Help! Kahr P45 slide stuck with round in chamber

[eusebius rex]

I bought it, took it home, dissasembled it (used the dam manual for the first time in my life) then reassembled (again with manual) and then put a loaded mag into it and pulled the slide to load one round.

Ok, so that was careless, but I figured despite it being untested, I might as well see if it can load a round before I unload it and leave it in the safe.

Mag removed, I pulled back the slide to eject the round and it jammed. SLide moves back a little, but it will not eject the round, nor will the slide come back. So I have it jammed with a live round in the chamber.

Any ideas what it could be and should I just fire the round out?

I'm a little miffed about it - but please no "should have bought a ..." talk just yet. My initial problem is I can't get the slide back, nor do I want to just fire it with a live round jammed in the chamber - not sure if that could damage something or if that would be safe.:banghead: Ammo used is a Hornandy TAP JHP...

Thanks!

 

[JAV8000]

I'm thinking it's the locking lug on the barrel binding with the slide when the action is closed. I've heard of this happening with 1911s.I would say give the slide a good "whack" with a rubber mallet, but thats probably not a great idea with a live round in the chamber. I'm not too familiar with Kahrs, if they have a trigger safety it wouldn't be as bad a thing to do.

 

[David E]

How much is "a little bit?" regarding the slide travel? How can a slide be "stuck" and still be able to move? Does the round extract slightly or what?

Personally, if it's a factory round, I'd take it to the range and shoot it outta there.

 

[eusebius rex]

I just got is loose - lots of oil, some body armor on the bed for "just in case" and some elbow grease got it unstuck. I don't know if it will do this to a spent caseing or if the extra length of the round had anything to do with it. I've got .45 snap-caps so I'll try this tomorrow with them and spent casings but am not looking forward to it. I generally think a proper working firearm should only really take a few pounds of pressure to the trigger to work properly, not the same amount of force necassary to turn coal to diamond. I did think of the rubber mallet - but the live round thing caught me - it will be on standby tomorrow.

no sign of real trauma to the bullet - nothing looks damage, but it was pretty hard - not sure what it was. I found on another forum that someone had the same problem and sent it in for warranty and had the same problem intermittently after until after breakin was complete. I'm not very happy.

I sold a Taurus PT24/7 .45 that had no issues for half the cost. Thank God I kept the Glock and the revolvers... OK, so I guess I am starting the "I shoulda' bought ..." deviation

 

[David E]

Was it a factory round? If so, what ?

 

[eusebius rex]

How much is "a little bit?" regarding the slide travel?

Sorry, shoulda' been more specific.

Ammo used is a Hornandy TAP JHP factory in the nice scary black nickel - if only bad guys saw the casing before they get shot...

So the round didn't seem to more out of the barrel at all. the only movement of the slide was for the length of travel allowed by the barrel's kidney lenght travel guide underneath it - manual is upstairs, not sure what to call it, but the take down pin goes through it. So the barrel moved less than a half inch, not enough to push out the take down pin which I wanted to. I don't the barrel does get shifted down in this travel, so my thought is that the round is beng shoved against something and the extractor is too tight, so it binds up. I just can't see what causes the casing to stop like that. thankfully lots of lube did the trick

 

[JAV8000]

Interesting (not for you). I bet it will be easier to operate with each use. I think it's a sharp edge or bur on the locking lug or locking lug surface. Furthermore, if this IS the case, I would "lap" this portion of the operating system with a steel lapping compound by applying it to the lug and contacting surface, then operating the action until smooth(er). Could end up being a real tight gun.

 

[OrangePwrx9]

Yeah, what Jav said, but don't get carried away. That gun might be a real sweetheart for accuracy once you get it past its teething problems. A few magazines through it could do the trick.

Kahr builds them tight.

 

[usp9]

Kahr builds them tight

Yeah, but not that tight.

Did/ does the slide cycle easily now, without a round chambered? Was the recoil spring installed correctly, ie; offset from the ramp?

What happened was way out of the ordinary. Some types of rounds do not fit the short throat of the polygonal barrels and don't seat well, but that doesn't appear to be the case here. IMO you should put a call into Kahr C.S.

 

[71Commander]

put a loaded mag into it and pulled the slide to load one round.

Ok, so that was careless,

Why was this careless?

 

[Racinbob]

I didn't keep my Kahr long. It just wouldn't work. But I seem to remember something in the manual about reassembling it wrong and causing this problem. Basically there words were that you'd be sending it in if you do that. Might check the manual again.

 

[JAV8000]

Give us an update.

 

[S&WMP45]

here's what you do:

sell it, after warning the buyer it has a live round in the chamber-and then never buy kahr again

kahr's cost too much for all the problems people have with them!

 

[RedAlert]

I have a PM 40 and no longer have feed issues. I followed the manual. My manual tells me to load a round by releasing the slide-stop. Don't do a "manual pull the slide back and then release to load a round." Loading mine the manual's way has eliminated the problem of the extractor failing to grab the case rim.
Once I have a round in the chamber, I drop the mag, add a round to the mag and reinsert the mag. And now I have maximum capacity in the pistol.

 

[RSVP2RIP]

Man this sounds just like a problem I had with a CZ40B. It would lock up on a hot round from the magazine every 50 rounds or so. I never did fix it or send it in, but I sold it to a CZ nut who I made aware of the situation. He must have known the problem. Sometimes I wake up at night wondering if I made a mistake :/

 

[fastbolt]

Something of a similar nature to what it seems you're describing happened to a fellow I know when he was qualifying with a Kahr .45.

I don't know what happened in your case, obviously, but in the case of the fellow I know I asked him if he had installed the recoil spring properly, specifically asking him if he had made sure the closed end of the recoil spring had been positioned against the flange at the rear of the guide rod.

He had installed the recoil spring backwards. The open end of the recoil spring had been mistakenly positioned at the flange (rear) end of the guide rod, and the open end of the spring had slipped back over the rear of the guide rod.

He isn't the first Kahr owner I've seen make this mistake. The last guy did it with a K40 and badly bent/damaged his factory recoil spring when he was trying to disassemble the gun.

Kahr does offer helpful video clips of disassembly/reassembly on their website. Here's one for their P45.
http://www.kahr.com/download/dtlmov_takedown-p.html

You might consider calling Kahr to discuss this incident with them, to see what they feel might be involved with your gun.

 

[TheWarhammer]

I think Fastbolt got it! I'm willing to bet that the recoil spring is in backwards. It's easy to do and will lock the gun up tight. Don't ask me how I know this!