Kahr CW380 feedback

C

Carmady

New member
I've been very happy with the CM9, and been losing faith in the reliability of the LCP. I've become interested in the CW380 because of the size, weight, sights, etc. Searching has shown many posts praising Kahr 9mm pistols, but not so much when it comes to their 380s.

Please share any pros or cons with the Kahr 380.
 
What you will find online is the CW380 is smaller than the LCP. It is not. This gets posted by people who don't own both. The CW380 is larger. Also, because of the slide squareness of the CW380 (you'll know what I mean with your CM9), it prints more than than the triangular shaped LCP.

Mine was not reliable. Rounds would jam coming out of the mag and lock up going into the chamber. Fluff and buff doesn't cure this.

I haven't heard much about there being an issue with reliability of the LCP...

Not is the opposite of what I've experienced and read on the CW380.
 
Last edited:
I have and carry a cw380. It is 100% reliable with factory ammo. It is about 99.5% reliable with my reloads, maybe slightly better.

I carry in a pocket holster. That works well. I will be carrying it today.
 
I haven't heard much about there being an issue with reliability of the LCP...
Click to expand...

I'm probably the cause of the unreliability. There have been two instances where it failed big. The first was after I thought I had the ammo/mag combination figured out, and let it set a long time before shooting it again. Jam City, but I'll blame that on my limp wristing. It never made it through a mag without a failure.

The second time was about a month ago when I offered it to someone to shoot. It hadn't been fired or cleaned/lubed in six months, and after the first shot the trigger wouldn't move. The takedown pin took much more effort and different tools to remove, and after removing the chassis (for the first time) the trigger pivot and mag latch catch looked very corroded (probably from sweat). I'll take the blame for that too, should've been more diligent regarding cleaning and lube. Ruger replaced the corroded parts (thanks Ruger) and it worked fine with snap caps, and shot all 6+1 as it should.

Tomorrow I hope to put a bunch of reloads through it, and take notes on any FT- stuff. It'll have the stock recoil springs and a MagGuts equipped mag. The MagGuts kit was very unreliable with a 12 lb spring set, but a regular Ruger mag ran 100% on the same trip. On another range trip after that one, the MagGuts and stock springs had only one FTFeed out of 144 reloads.

Thanks for the replies.
 
Had issues same as #2. Then I changed from HP to FMJ and the feed/jam problems disappeared. Four range visits w/o a failure, now a grab and go carry option. More accurate at 7 yds than I expected.
 
I knew before I bought the gun that it had tight tolerances and would require a break in. I knew if I had the patience it would pay off. And Pay off it did big time. A superb shooting, well made Pocket Pistol. Mine now runs like a top and totally reliable. I use the PrecisionOne for defense as seen as the top 380 ammo in AmmoQuest.

Big fan of the Kahr firearms. Own two of the CM9's. I want one more Kahr, it might be a PM9 or one of the S series. Great triggers, well built and for me great accuracy.
 
I have a lcp custom and a lcpII. Both are reliable. I only use factory mags without mag guts for the extra round. An extra round is worthless if the gun is jammed up. You can always carry an extra mag on your belt if need be.
 
I have a CW380 that I carry only when I can't conceal my Glock 42. People usually seem to be able to find some kind of ammo that doesn't work reliably in the CW380. That's OK - I don't need my CW380 to run every brand of 380 that's ever been made. I just need it to run with the premium SD ammo that I carry - Hornady Critical Defense - and my gun does do that.
 
Good luck on the magguts. I like mine. I haven't tried it with different springs as I'm not sure there is any benefits to the the 12lb spring.

Avoid Karhtalk for information. It's pretty specific fan based only.

I think if you dig more, you're going to find the CW380 works for some ammo and people are pleased with that. Otherwise, it's been one of the more finicky 380s posted about.

Not to say you're LCP isn't troubled. I would send it back myself. Heck, Ruger sent me a new guide rod and springs when I sent them a pic up my chewed up guide rod. (which I agree, isn't entirely awesome that it was doing it--but it functioned fine).


Final: Is your LCP marked Prescott? The new Mayoden, NC made LCPs don't appear to be as nice and I haven't read that this has changed at all.
 
I had a CW380 several years back and functionality was fine but for me the problem is that Kahr's slide stop/release is also their take down lever and in a gun that small, it was very difficult for me to not engage the slide stop while shooting. At first I thought it just didn't lock back on an empty mag, but my hand was hitting it. It's an easy fix on a bigger gun, but for me with the CW380, it's so small that to not keep from engaging it, I had to hold it awkwardly. I've had LCP and LCP 2, but my favorite small 380 is the Glock 42.
 
Made it out to the range with 181 95gr LRN reloads, and stock recoil springs. Other than the first round they were all cycled from firing, using the 7-rd MagGuts kit. One in the chamber followed by 25 fully loaded mags. That's 176 rounds with ZERO failures of any kind using the MagGuts with the stock recoil springs.

That left one in the chamber, and a few in the last mag. Round 180 had failure to extract. Cleared that, manually chambered the last round from the mag. It also failed to extract.

Back home, removed extractor, looked like fresh metal where the pointy end broke off, called Ruger CS and the lady said they'll mail me a new extractor in a couple of days. Can't beat that.

Next time I'll run a variety of factory FMJ through it with everything else the same, and see how it does. Didn't intend to change the subject of the thread, but I was thinking about the CW380 as a replacement for the LCP. Time will tell.

Final: Is your LCP marked Prescott? The new Mayoden, NC made LCPs don't appear to be as nice and I haven't read that this has changed at all.
Click to expand...

It is, made in 2013. I've read the same about the NC guns, but have no personal experience with them.

Edit:
After cleaning it was reassembled, snap cap chambered from a mag, and the snap cap remained in the chamber after the slide was pulled back to extract it. That's three FTExtract in a row, it appears the extractor is broken. Better to break at the range than when needed, I feel lucky about that.
 
Last edited:
I have maggut is 6 magazines with the CW380 and not one problem. I like the metal follower. Go join the Kahr talk, sure plenty of fan boys but they know their gun like any dedicated forum. You can always ask questions and plenty of good experienced folks to help you.
I have posted many pics of the LCP's over the years. Yes, they are reliable and yes many many post of failures as well. I went through a lot of LCP's when I first started shooting Pocket guns on a regular basis. The Kahr is built tough and will out last the LCP many times over. Beautiful made firearm.
Not sure where this stuff of the LCP being easier to carry comes from. But for the exact dimensions, here is a link comparing the two. The Kahr for me is a extremely mild shoot without the muzzle flip of the LCP.

Kahr demensions -go to the link and look at a actual comparison.

Kahr CW380 Ruger LCP II
Length 4.96" 5.17"
Height 3.9" 3.71"
Width 0.75" 0.75"
Weight 10.2 oz 10.6 oz
Barrel Length 2.58" 2.75

Kahr CW380 Ruger LCP
Length 4.96" 5.16"
Height 3.9" 3.6"
Width 0.75" 0.82"
Weight 10.2 oz 9.6 oz
Barrel Length 2.58" 2.75"

https://www.handgunhero.com/compare/kahr-cw380-vs-ruger-lcp
 
Thanks for the specs and link, Carl.

They show the LCP as a single action, but everything else looks good.

I've shot 35 7-rd mags with MagGuts in the LCP with zero failures. I would not recommend the MagGuts for a spare mag because it's much harder to seat (when loaded with 7), but it'll remain installed for edc.
 
Enjoy Kahr Talk.

There is a thread anyone can google about there members coming to my house and killing my family.

I called out one of their head dudes (jacko) for saying he had 34,000 rounds through his PM9. He made the mistake of saying his PM9 had 22,000 rounds then a week later he had 34,000. Called him out. He disappeared from thefireingline/glocktalk/thehighroad. Only to live at the Kahr forum as a god.
 
I had the Ruger LCP for many years, it was reliable and forgiving with all types of ammo, but the heavy trigger and crude sights caused me to get a Kahr CW 380 which is much better to shoot at the range.

However the Kahr is much more ammo sensitive and mechanically very tight. I have to keep it well greased and oiled, and only use certain brands of ammo. I also had to put 300 rds. through it for reliability. Kahrs have to be carried with a round chambered all the time, I use a spare magazine to lock it back, then pop in the loaded one by letting the slide release work. It is also more difficult to put back together and it takes a very strong hand to lock the slide back. The Ruger is easier to use.

I finally got rid of the Ruger when with the pins kept walking out of it with little shooting done, on the last trip to the range the main side bolt pin was half way out, this could have caused the gun to fall apart in sustained shooting. The Kahr never does this. My Kahr does like the flat tipped and hollow point bullets though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top