Why'd Kahr replace my pm9 extractor?

[Cerebus28]

I sent my pm9 back to the factory because it was failing to return to battery half the time I shot it. The woman on the phone said they'd probably just need to polish the feeding ramp. However, I just got it back and it turns out they replaced the extractor and recoil spring assembly. I'm curious...why?

[Dobbler]

Um.... how about you ask them?

[AZ Traveler]

When a round goes from the mag into the chamber, the rim must go behind/under the extractor and will lift the extractor slightly. If you notice when a round is chambered the extractor stands a little proud of the slide and can be used as a loaded chamber indicator that you can check by touch. (Note: I always drop the mag and visually check the chamber, as I was trained.)

If the extractor is sticking, it can impede the round from smoothly transitioning from the mag into the chamber, thus causing a failure to go into battery.

PS. My P40 Covert has been back to Kahr twice for a failure to go into battery (among other things). During the 1st trip, they replaced recoil spring, slide stop spring assembly and polished the extractor bore. Before that 1st trip, I had failure to go into battery 100% of the time. After the 1st trip the failure to return to battery was greatly improved, but I had a number of rounds failure to go bang. During the second trip, the replaced the barrel and polished the extractor bore again.

I will post a Range report later this week after some more range time.

[warmrain]

Good post 'traveler! ;c

[AZ Traveler]

Thank you. I try to help when I can.

[YukonGlocker]

Some extractors are leaving the Kahr factory unfinished. I know this for a fact because I have a pm9 that had a bad one. The surface of the extractor that rubs the front extractor pin is not getting a smooth surface like it should. This causes binding when the rim of the case tries to push the extractor out. I ordered a new extractor and it was finished perfectly. I now have no failures to return to battery. Here is a pic of the unfinished extractor. The lighting is not good b/c it was hard to get a good shot of this.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/YukonGlocker/ext.jpg

[warmrain]

Just like you sometimes see BOX slides in stainless, I've seen stainless slides with BOX or DLC extractors. It seems there were also some extractors that missed a finishing step... ;Q

[YukonGlocker]

What is BOX???

[warmrain]

Black Oxide finish on a carbon steel slide. DLC IIRC is applied over stainless.

[YukonGlocker]

Here is a pic of my new extractor next to my old one. New one on the left. I could not get the lighting right to get a good pic of the surface. And when I resized the photo I lost some detail. Anyway the new extractor has a really smooth surface that rubs the front ext. pin. The old one is really rough and was binding. My pic in my earlier post better shows the rough machining cuts in the old extractor. The new one is perfectly smooth.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/YukonGlocker/pm9ext.jpg

[warmrain]

Wow Yukon, That's got to really effect reliablility! Have you had a chance to try it? I don't remember... was the other one causing you trouble?

[YukonGlocker]

Yes, I was getting failures to return to battery. When the case was trying to push the ext. out, it was binding and not coming out easily. That resulted in a failure to return to battery. I could push the slide with my thumb and it would go on into battery. Since I changed the ext., I have had no failures to return to battery. Now I can even cycle the slide by hand, very slowly, and it will feed just fine. Before I had to use the slide lock to release the slide.

The picture above really doesn't show the difference b/t the extractors very well. But, there is a big difference.

The best way to check this: field strip the pistol and use your fingers to work the extractor back and forth. It should be stiff but smooth coming in and out. Mine was very rough or gritty feeling. If you look at my pic at the top of this tread, you will see the deep machining marks left on the extractor. It should be smooth.

[warmrain]

Mine has light machining marks, much lighter than your original post, difficult to see... No problems... Thanks for the feedback.

[amshooter]

Maybe that's what's going on with my PM9... (See PM9 on Hunger Strike)
It's on the way back to Kahr. Anyone know what their turnaround time is?

[Glock36digger]

Originally posted by amshooter
Maybe that's what's going on with my PM9... (See PM9 on Hunger Strike)
It's on the way back to Kahr. Anyone know what their turnaround time is?

you gotta bug the crap out of them or your gun will sit in MA for weeks.