Kahr PM9 light strike?

[TheProf]

My Kahr PM9 has had about 1500 rounds. Today, I had three light strikes in a row. I was using Winchester White Box (FMJ) from Walmart.

Now...was it the gun? Or was it ammo? This is the very time I ever ran across a light strike in any of my guns. I should have switched ammo brands (I also had my SD rounds) to verify if indeed it was the gun or the particular brand of ammo.

Anyways, it was three bullets in a row that refused to fire. All I heard was a
"click" and no "bang". I examined all three bullets and I can see the indentation made by the firing pin on the primer.

Any thoughts or comments?

 

[dfariswheel]

Have you given the slide a good detail clean? Could be fouled up.

Is the firing pin imprint as deep as normal?

First suspect is the ammo, so try something else.

 

[nitforfun]

What happened to the Winchester white box ammo

it seems as though alot of people are having the same problem out of all different types of pistols

what has changed in the WWB ammo .....it use to go bang every time

 

[ltxi]

Kahrs tend to have ftf light strike issues (design reasons which could fill a page) with some ammo...esp with with those that use hard primers. Current production WWB 115 9mm seems to be the most common "offender".

 

[outerlimit]

Detail strip the upper, clean the firing pin channel thoroughly. Don't leave any residue or cleaner inside of the channel, make sure it is dry when you are done. Try other brands of ammo. I'd start there.

 

[greenlion]

I've shot WWB ammo for years, and have never had a problem until recently. I have had two boxes that had a few light primer strikes and a complete dud round. I blame it on the mad rush to produce too much, too fast, and I trust it will straighten out soon. I wouldn't hesitate to try WWB again later. Try another brand for now.

 

[outerlimit]

greenlion, was this with a striker fired gun as well? I haven't read any problems with WWB recently until this thread, but I haven't been keeping up.

 

[orionengnr]

Go back and read post #2. This guy seldom (if ever) gives bad advice.

Consider that facts that you have had 1500 trouble-free rounds, followed by three consecutive failures.

This might lead one to conclude that either something significant has changed with your firearm
--broken firing pin, broken firing pin spring or gummed-up firing pin channel, or
--bad ammo.

Please let us know which one it is.

 

[9mmepiphany]

i would suspect the ammo first, but would not forgo cleaning the gun out anyway.

FWIW: WWB is known as a "dirty" ammo, i've had better luck with CCI Blazer as it's both cleaner and cheaper

 

[TheProf]

I will try another ammo brand on my PM9 this week. Also, i will use the suspected WWB ammo in another pistol and see if there is a problem there.

I will keep you guys posted.

BTW, my gun is always cleaned and lubed between trips to the range.

 

[greenlion]

Outerlimit, Yes the bad rounds were being fired in either my Glock 17 or Glock 19. I can't remember which.

 

[NinjaFeint]

i would suspect the ammo first, but would not forgo cleaning the gun out anyway.

FWIW: WWB is known as a "dirty" ammo, i've had better luck with CCI Blazer as it's both cleaner and cheaper

I agree with you on the Blazer, there is also more of it available around here.

 

[TheProf]

Here's the update:

The problem of "light strikes" were attributed to BOTH Winchester WB ammo and the Kahr PM9 pistol itself. Yup... I tried using the WWB ammo on my Beretta M9...and no problems. (So...it seems it is the Kahr pistol that is at fault.)

Then I tried firing other ammo (PMC) with the Kahr PM9. No problems. The Kahr PM9 fired all the PMC practice rounds and my carry ammo (hollowpoints) with 97% success rate. But it would still not fire the WWB ammo. (So...it seems that WWB must have really hard primers.)

Bottom line: It seems that the kahr PM9 does not "strike" as hard as my other 9mm pistols. And that the WWB ammo may have harder primers than other ammo brands.
When combined... not good.

And with the repeated 97% success rate (on the good ammo)...(97% success rate =there were a couple of FTF on the good ammo)....I decided it was time to trade the Kahr PM9. I made the switch to a j-frame revolver. "Five for sure" beats "7 most of the time".

 

[pm9mm]

I have had the same problem with my PM9 after 600 rnds. Also with WWB.The round fired fine the second time from the same PM9, I checked the round and there was a light indent on the primer after the misfire. I checked the firing pin channel and it was clean as could be. Sounds like the striker spring needs to be stronger.