MK9 not feeding

[ciliatus]

I went to the range yesterday and my previously flawlessly operating MK9 failed to feed 6-7 times. The fired round would eject but the slide would fail to cycle forward. Sometimes the next bullet was still in the magazine and sometimes it would be out of the mag but not fully in the barrel. I could quickly correct the problem either by pushing the slide forward or re-racking the slide but I would rather not have to do that in a real situation. Any ideas on what could be the problem? Could it be a worn recoil spring? The gun was used when I bought it and I have only put around 500 rounds through it.

[cjblackmon]

Touch base with Kahr. You may very well have an old recoil spring. Also, how often do you clean it? Do you use grease or oil?

[ciliatus]

I called Kahr when I first bought it to see how old the gun was. They told me it was manufactured in Dec of '04. I clean the gun after every range session (which has only been twice now) and I use Hoppes 9 lubricating oil after cleaning.

[ProfMoriarty]

Obvious questions:

Is the bullet shape truncated cone rather than a rounded ogive?

Have you fired these rounds without incident before?

Have the magazine feed lips become deformed?

How does it function with a different magazine?

Have you changed the way you grip your weapon?

[ciliatus]

Is the bullet shape truncated cone rather than a rounded ogive? rounded

Have you fired these rounds without incident before? yes

Have the magazine feed lips become deformed? no

How does it function with a different magazine? I had failure to feed with both of my mags.

Have you changed the way you grip your weapon? no

[ProfMoriarty]

You might have some fouling build-up that is preventing the extractor from moving fully. That could explain the failure to fully seat the round.

Detail clean the slide or spray a good amount of gun scrubber in it then relube.

And, as you stated, the recoil spring might need to be replaced. 500 rounds is not very much, but it's probably worth changing it out anyway.