Kahr MK9 Slide rattle?

[Tom Servo]

Hi all. I've got about 450 rounds through my MK9 and am very happy with it so far. The slide seems to have come a bit loose, and it's developed quite a bit of play to the point that it rattles noticeably when shaken. Is this normal?

 

[wingman]

Darn, what you been feeding the little fellow,+p.?? Mine has 300 plus
rounds in it and still very tight, you may need a new recoil spring,
when I replace mine believe I will use the Wolff spring setup.

 

[Richochet]

Erik, for what it's worth, I've seen gunsmiths take the slides off 45 autos and put them in a vice between two padded boards to keep the metal jaws from marring the finish and then cranking down a bit to squeeze the slides back in a bit and thus tighten up a gun.

Is your rattle normal? Probably. Does it hurt anything? Probably not. I suspect it's more annoying to you than the gun. A lot of automatics have rattles. I think it's just the nature of the beast.

 

[plateshooter]

My most used autos have a little rattle when the hammer is back and the gun is shaken, and they go thousands of rounds with no malfunctions. IF you are looking for reliability, the extra bit of play may be an asset.

 

[seed]

Do you remember checking it for tight fit when you first got it? With me, I'll notice imperfections on every gun I own as the years go by. I never know if they were there originally or if they came through use. I do know that I used to be very paranoid about it in my early years. But then I realized that nothing is perfect and that even if they were, they will show signs of use that do nothing to harm them in terms of function. My guess is that it was probably as loose or almost as loose when you got it, but you didn't really notice it as much because you weren't looking for it. But after you had it for a while, you started to notice imperfections. My MK-40 is not the tightest slide to frame gun in the world (not horrible by any stretch, though). But after many rounds of breaking it in and after one part change (mag catch), it is flawless and is very accurate. And that is what matters most. Took a while, but it proved itself worthy of my trust.

seed.