Army vet having trouble reassembling a Kahr CM9

[mtf5104]

I recently bought a Kahr CM9. I disassembled it but I'm having a lot of trouble reassembling. I inserted the bolt and properly rested the recoil spring against the barrel lug. The wire spring is also over the slide stop pin hole. When I try to put the slide on the frame, I hear a click and it's not seated all the way back in the proper position. I can push the slide back slightly but I'm still unable to put the slide stop pin in. I know that this is operator error because the gun functioned fine before I took it apart and I'm quite unfamiliar with the weapon system. Any advice at all is better than nothing, I watched so many youtube videos on the CM9 my eyes are starting to bleed. Thanks guys!

 

[Tactical Jackalope]

Can you disassemble the gun again and lay down all the parts and see if anything maybe got caught in there or broke? If you're describing you assembled it the same way you took it down, meaning everything is in line and matched up where it should be. It should be fine. Try again?

Maybe post some pics of the progress? I always do pics religiously when I have an issue (see my threads) they help tremendously.

 

[gothcopter]

Probably a stupid question, but did you install the recoil spring and guide rod assembly with the plastic flange end of the guide rod resting against the barrel lug? If you install it the other way (guide rod flange in the front of the slide and recoil spring against the barrel lug), then the recoil spring assembly won't compress properly and the slide won't retract once it goes on.

You also want to make sure the closed end of the recoil spring rests against the flange on the guide rod, and the open end goes into the front of the slide. Kahr has a nice video on field strip and reassembly here:

http://www.kahr.com/p9-takedown.asp

 

[Microgunner]

Sometimes you need to pull the trigger a little to get the slide fully back on the rails.

 

[MLeake]

Another stupid question - are you aligning the witness marks on frame and slide?

(Note: I haven't handled a CM, but assume it will have marks like the PM and MK.)

 

[PSP]

One other possibility is that the slide is bumping into the ejector. Some of my Kahrs do this and I have to gently push the ejector down to allow the slide to ride overtop. Then all should go as expected.

Insert the slide stop pin to capture the barrel lug.
Pull the slide back to the witness marks.
Push the pin all the way through, under the small spring on the frame.
Done.

 

[Wiskey_33]

Make sure your recoil sping/guiderod is centered in the slide and not over the barrel.

The barrel lug isn't centered in the frame like a 1911's.

 

[thinktwice]

What PSP said is most likely your problem. When putting the slide back on press down on the ejector and it should solve your problem. Let us know what you find.

 

[UnSafe]

Very, very late into this thread, but since it popped up at the top of a Google search, it's worth adding to. The solution to not being able to retract the slide rearward during reassembly is that the recoil spring assembly can fail to align with its hole at the nose end of the slide. It'll hang up enough to prevent rearward slide travel and leave the person scratching his head about "What the ... is it hanging up on?", while their hand is covering the problem.

So, slide the slide on rearward and if it abruptly stops when nearly to its assembled position, look at the nose of the slide and use anything small enough, like a punch or pencil and align the recoil rod/spring assembly so it will fit in the hole.

 

[michael t]

All I can say its assemble and disassemble a few times . I did it several times on mine and now no sweat

Its the blank ,blank ,PF-9 KelTec I fight with

 

[bedbugbilly]

Can't help as I'm not familiar with that one but looks like plenty of advice. All I can add is what an old retired Army friend of mine would say . . . . "Paint the $#%%$ thing O.D. green and swear at it!" Must have worked for him as they kept him enough years he was able to get retirement pension from his service!?

 

[PatientWolf]

I had a lot of trouble with trying to get a PM9 to operate after a cleaning. IIRC, I put it together, but couldn't cycle the slide.

I found out I installed the recoil spring backwards. I turned it around and no issues since.

 

[2ndsojourn]

If the OP hasn't figured out how to reassemble his gun after four years, maybe he's gotten rid of it by now.

 

[Spats McGee]

Yeah, I think we can safely assume that the problem has been resolved one way or another.

Accordingly, closed.