Protruding firing pin on Kahr PM9

[apocryph]

My usual CCW is a Kahr PM9. I bought it back in 2003, have put hundreds upon hundreds of rounds through it, and apart from the break-in period it's been rock-solid reliable. I mostly shoot 124gr Speer Lawman FMJ for practice, but every once in a while I'll put a mag or two of my defense load, 124gr Gold Dot Short Barrel +P's, down the pipe to make sure they still feed reliably. Most recently I shot it last Thursday and had no problems, followed of course by a cleaning.

This morning I was getting ready to chamber a round in the PM9 prior to the day's carry. I'm (perhaps irrationally) wary of slamfires, so I always check the bolt face of my handguns with a finger before releasing the slide, to verify the firing pin isn't protruding. This time, I felt the pin sticking out

I dropped the mag, released the slide on an empty chamber (the firing pin retracted again when the slide was about halfway down), dry-fired in a safe direction, and opened the slide again, but this time the firing pin was retracted as expected. I've repeated this multiple times now and cannot reproduce the protruding firing pin.

Has anyone else noticed this? Is it normal behavior? Since the pin retracted before the chamber closed, it doesn't seem a slamfire is possible, but now I'm worried. My PM9 is the only gun I can carry concealed at work so I hate to be without it.

I know I should contact Kahr customer support, but I'd like to see what THR members thing as well.

 

[the naked prophet]

You may have gunk in the firing pin channel. Can you disassemble the slide and clean out the channel, as well as the pin itself and the spring?

Clean them, and leave them dry (or wipe on a lube that wipes off with a dry-film of lube remaining) when you reassemble. That should prevent crud from building up in there.

 

[DENALI]

I've seen this many times on other pistol's particularly Rugers and it's just a gravity issue, what you don't want to happen is for the pin to freeze fully forward in the channel, then you'd have a real problem! Stay on the safe side though and contact the manufacturer.

 

[romma]

I'll be sure to check mine now that you've mentioned it...

 

[apocryph]

Thanks for the responses. When I get home tonight I'll do the striker/firing pin safety check I just read about, and if that checks out I'll detail strip and clean the upper.

I always chamber a round with the muzzle pointing out my window towards the ground in an empty field, just in case I get a slamfire or one of my Glocks just goes off as they're known to do . Even if everything checks out on my Kahr this just reinforces that behavior.