Bad day at the range & Kahr ??

B

Big Iron

New member
I think it was one of those days I should have stayed home. Got a bad load(factory Remington) in my .357 Blackhawk. It just fizzled and lodged the shell in the barrel. Plus it locked the hammer and trigger. Pulled the cylinder out and no change. I'm not any kind of a gunsmith, sooooo it's off to someone who is.

My new Kahr K40 is ejecting bent casings. The end of the casing looks like a "D" instead of an "O". Is this normal for a Kahr? Never seen another semi do this. It also has a very long trigger pull on the first round only. That too seems wierd. It also seems to be a little finicky about when it's going to shoot. A couple times on the first round there was no firing pin release. Had to eject the first shell and try again.

However, my Taurus PT940 just kept banging away. Never failed and I'm more accurate with it than either of the other two.

Guess it was just my turn. Think I'll try my .22s next time.
 
My K40 also dings the casing mouths -- I'm not sure how this happens, but I've seen it on other subcompact autos. Regarding the first shot malfunctions, it sounds like the striker cam isn't picking up the striker when you rack the slide -- this is abnormal, and should probably warrant a visit to a smith or back the Kahr. I usually don't mess around with malfunctions of fire control parts. This is potentially a safety issue in that: 1) Weapon is not reliable for self defense when you need it and 2) one of the "safety" features is malfunctioning -- the striker cam prevents the striker from traveling forward unless the trigger is pulled. With the cam malfunctioning, only the firing pin block is preventing a discharge if the weapon is dropped. To make matters worse, a portion of the striker cam also disables the firing pin block, so a cam malfunction may disable this, too.

Having said that, I would put the gun through a safety check after checking (twice) that it is unloaded. Pull the trigger, releasing the striker. Then, slowly rack the slide, and you'll hear the click of the striker cocking after about 1/2" of rearward motion. Verify that the striker is cocked by pulling the trigger again. Now, rack the slide with the trigger depressed -- the stiker should still be cocked. Now, remove the slide and check the firing pin block as described in the Kahr manual -- push the striker forward and confirm that the firing pin doesn't extend past the breech face. If it fails any of these maneuvers, it should definitely be checked by a smith before being fired again.

Well, I hope you get your Kahr straightened out -- I've found my K40 to be a wonderful and utterly reliable carry piece. Best Regards.

Andrew
 
almost every Khar i have heard of dings brass like you describe. add that to the fact that Kahrs have polygonal rifling and i have given up on reloading for this fine pistol. i shoot PMC ammo in it for practice and throw the brass away.

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Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the outcome of the vote.
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