My new PM 40

[jayp]

Just getting back into shooting- I used to shoot fairly regularly as a young man, not much for the past 15 years or so. I recently sold my house and have a few extra bucks, so I bought a Glock 23. A week or so later, I was in the local gun shop, and saw a Kahr PM 40. I was impressed by it's small size and light weight, and I bought it. It seemed the perfect size for everyday carry. It was an impulse purchase- I had not researched the Kahr. I had seen ads for it ("approved for carry by the NYPD") and I had the impression that it was a quality weapon.

I then discovered this forum. I was distressed by the number of Kahr owners reporting malfunctions and unreliability. I probably would not have bought the Kahr had I seen what was being posted here in the Kahr Club. I'm not at all mechanically inclined, and I'm not interested in tinkering with a gun in order to make it work right.

I took the Glock and the Kahr out to the range today. The Glock had no malfunctions whatsoever (of course!) The Kahr would choke on about 50% of the magazines fired. The slide would not return to the forward position when fired. I could clear the malfunction by racking the slide, which would eject a live cartridge. (This would be a failure to feed, wouldn't it?) I kept hoping it would clear up after about 200 rounds, but it continued. I put about 300 rounds through the gun, which is very hard on the shooting hand.

I'm gonna call Kahr in the morning. Hopefully, I can send it in, and they will send it back in functioning shape. I'll keep you posted.

By the way, Glock Talk and the Kahr Club are great forums. I love my Glock 23!

[LGCubana]

Did you clean & lube as diagramed below; prior to shooting ?
Originally posted by Michigun
Here it is again... BackDraft's link must have been broken.



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v733/Michigun/Kahr/KahrLubePoints.jpg



.

[jayp]

LGCubana: Yes I did field strip and clean and lube the pistol before taking to the range, though I probably did not lube as extensively as indicated by the diagram you posted. (Great diagram, by the way- thanks!)

Update: Called Kahr this morning, they said that they will send FedEx to my house tomorrow to pick up the pistol. So far I am happy with their customer service.

[jayp]

Took less than 2 weeks (12 days, to be exact) for Kahr to get my pistol back to me. I'm impressed with the turn around time. A note accompanied the pistol, reading "REPLACED SLIDE AND BARREL TESTED ALL SYSTEM NORMAL AT THIS TIME"

I won't be able to get to the range till Thursday. Will let you know how it goes..

By the way, does anyone know what the PM 40 "likes" for ammo? Does your PM pistol run reliably on some ammo, and not reliably on others?

[tabor-pm-9]

Wow, the PM40 is the most problematic Kahr. When I got my PM9 I had FTGB issues that were corrected by an updated recoil spring/guide rod assembly. I would email Kahr and see what they can do for you.

[Rotty37]

Originally posted by jayp
Took less than 2 weeks (12 days, to be exact) for Kahr to get my pistol back to me. I'm impressed with the turn around time. A note accompanied the pistol, reading "REPLACED SLIDE AND BARREL TESTED ALL SYSTEM NORMAL AT THIS TIME"

I won't be able to get to the range till Thursday. Will let you know how it goes..

By the way, does anyone know what the PM 40 "likes" for ammo? Does your PM pistol run reliably on some ammo, and not reliably on others?

JayP,

I pretty much had the same problem initially and also had sent to Kahr for work. They did pretty much the same thing to your PM40 as to mine and also they added " polished feed ramp"

Seems like you had better luck than I had, it took them 6 weeks with mine, but that was earlier during the year. I'm guessing that they had a huge work load at that time and turn around was longer. I also recently had crack/broken plastic followers with both mags, and Tom @ KAHR was very professional and very helpful in sending me 4 new followers at no cost to me in like 5 days. So I'm hoping you won't have that problem, but if you do , Tom is the person of contact and has been very helpful and quick with his responses if you leave voice mails.

So far I've only shot WWB 180gr ammo. I don't remember using any other types of ammos like HP's. I think I shot a group of Federal HP ,don't remember the specs, its been a while since then. This Thursday , Ill be at the range and test out some Federal HP's and see if I have any problems with those with feeding or other issues.I had issues earlier with slide lock back every round, but I found out that the Pearce Extensions I had , had to be shaving down so that the mag would fully engage and since them it seems to solve that problem. Very strange but guess it worked.

Just to note , the Pearce Extension and small Pachmyer grips makes the PM40 better to grip and easy to manage since its a small polymer frame and with a .40 cal its a nice snap/pop but managable with those accessories.

[jayp]

I'm really hoping this trip to Kahr has solved my issues- I really want this pistol to work. I like having .40 caliber punch in such a little package.

I'll keep Tom at Kahr in mind if I need further assistance- thanks Rotty37 for the name.

I'll shoot some range ammo (my indoor range requires you to buy ammo from them!) and I'll bring a few Winchester White box to test reliability. I have some Golden Sabers that I will try too.

Range day is Thursday. I'll let you all know if my problems are solved.

[Rotty37]

Originally posted by jayp
I'm really hoping this trip to Kahr has solved my issues- I really want this pistol to work. I like having .40 caliber punch in such a little package.

I'll keep Tom at Kahr in mind if I need further assistance- thanks Rotty37 for the name.

I'll shoot some range ammo (my indoor range requires you to buy ammo from them!) and I'll bring a few Winchester White box to test reliability. I have some Golden Sabers that I will try too.

Range day is Thursday. I'll let you all know if my problems are solved.

I feel the same way, I really love this pistol ...even with all the bad rep it has, I'm not giving up on it yet. I'll be using some Speer Gold Dot .40 165 gr GDHP's Thursday. Hope your range trip is a good experience. For me, range day is every Thursday nites.

And your welcome ! Hope all the info helps out.

[G-Bone]

After several trips back the the factory Kahr replaced my PM40 with a PM9. The PM9 functions flawlessly, carry it almost daily with ZERO concerns about function!!

[tabor-pm-9]

Originally posted by jayp
I'll shoot some range ammo (my indoor range requires you to buy ammo from them!) and I'll bring a few Winchester White box to test reliability.

That wouldn't be The Place to Shoot would it? I stopped going when they started making me buy their ammo. I didn't care that I still had 9 months left on my membership. * * * * * them. I could put up with the poor air quality (although in hind sight I don't think I should have been breathing in all that lead), I could put up with the fact that they poorly maintained their range and the lady at the front counter had no idea what federal and state laws had to say about minors possesing handguns. However, I could not put up with them charging $9/box for * * * * * y WWB 9mm. My Fiochhi is $6/box from Keith's Sporting Goods and is 10x cleaner than WWB.

[jayp]

Yes, it is The Place to Shoot.
Where do you go now to shoot, Tabor PM9?

[tabor-pm-9]

Originally posted by jayp
Yes, it is The Place to Shoot.
Where do you go now to shoot, Tabor PM9?

I take the time time to drive into the Tillamook forrest. If you are on the east side I hear there are nice places on Mt. Hood. As a bonus, once you are in the forrest, you can practice all of your draws, shooting while moving, and RIFLE shooting! Oh yea, and it doesn't cost money.

[jayp]

....after getting the pistol back from Kahr. Runs better, but not perfect. Shot about 100 rounds, a few incidences of slide locking back with rounds still in the mag. Two or three times I had to push the slide forward to get it to return to battery. I'm going to try shooting it again, as it seemed to get more reliable as I shot more rounds. Also, the magazine follower on on the the mags broke!

Frustrating. I'm glad I have a reliable Glock 23 and a S&W 642 for carry.

[jayp]

...about the broken magazine follower, also mentioned the malfunctions that occured when I took the repaired pistol to the range. Dottie replied promptly: "I'll get those right out. Let me know if the gun doesn't improve."

I'm still really happy with customer service. I really like the size and power of the PM 40-hope this works out.

[jayp]

Got 3 magazine followers in the mail today from Kahr. I replaced the broken one- plan on going to the range Friday to shoot. Fingers crossed.

[jayp]

Went to the range Friday. No failures to go into battery. Slide locked back with rounds remaining in the magazine, maybe 4 times out of 75 rounds. Anyone have any ideas? A magazine problem maybe?

Guess I'll e-mail Kahr on Monday.

[P_Pac]

Any updates? Do you still have failure to return to battery problem?

Thanks!

[jayp]

Originally posted by P_Pac
Any updates? Do you still have failure to return to battery problem?

Thanks!

I took the PM 40 out to the range one more time after my last posting. I had a few incidences of slide locking back with rounds remaining in the chamber. Had to nudge the slide forward maybe twice out of 100 rounds.

I'm gonna take it to the range one more time. I got though several magazines before a malfunction. I hope it is still "breaking in" since Kahr replaced the slide and barrel.

[skorpio]

jayp, I'm gonna go out on a limb here, and don't take offense at what I'm gonna say, but you might me limp-wristing your new toy. I say this because I just bought a P40 today and while I had no probs with it, my wife had two failure to go into battery occur while she was driving it. No mag probs, slide locking back at the wrong time, nothing.

I will admit to it being a little bit of a handful with 180gn Gold Dots. I'll probably look for something lighter like the 135gn CorBon, and I want to try the sub-sonic Ranger in it.

Good luck with it.

[Colorado4Wheel]

Originally posted by jayp
Went to the range Friday. No failures to go into battery. Slide locked back with rounds remaining in the magazine, maybe 4 times out of 75 rounds. Anyone have any ideas? A magazine problem maybe?

Guess I'll e-mail Kahr on Monday.

YOu probably bent the slide stop spring when you reassmbled it with out putting the lever to the 3:00 positon.

[jayp]

Originally posted by skorpio
jayp, I'm gonna go out on a limb here, and don't take offense at what I'm gonna say, but you might me limp-wristing your new toy.


No offense taken. I guess this pistol, being high powered and low mass, would be very susceptable to limp wristing. With that in mind, I tried to hold the gun rigidly when I fired it during my last range session. I do allow it to rise when it recoils, however. Is that limpwristing?

I'll try giving it a "death grip" on my next range session. Thanks for the input,Skorpio.

[jayp]

Originally posted by Colorado4Wheel
YOu probably bent the slide stop spring when you reassmbled it with out putting the lever to the 3:00 positon.

Would that make the slide lock back intermittently?
I tried to be careful when re-assembling the gun after field stipping, lever going from 4 o'clock to 3 o'clock.
Could I tell by looking at it if it were bent?

[Cerebus28]

The exact same thing happened to my PM9 when I bought it. First 100 or so rounds, it'd fail to return to battery like half the time. I sent it back to Kahr, they replaced the recoil spring (I think), and since then I haven't had any malfunctions at all.

Except now I've noticed that if I pull the slide back and let it go forward slowly, it snags on something and I have to push it forward the rest of the way. This has never affected shooting, but I don't know what's causing it. Colorado4wheel also tells me I probably bent the slide lock spring. I guess I'll call Kahr and ask.

[P_Pac]

Originally posted by jayp
Would that make the slide lock back intermittently?
I tried to be careful when re-assembling the gun after field stipping, lever going from 4 o'clock to 3 o'clock.
Could I tell by looking at it if it were bent?

Could anyone post a picture of the "unbend" spring? How do we find out if the spring were bent? And which spring are we talking about?

Thanks
P_Pac

[Colorado4Wheel]

Originally posted by Cerebus28
Colorado4wheel also tells me I probably bent the slide lock spring. I guess I'll call Kahr and ask.

Thats just what they told me when I had a issue with the slide like you describe (hanging up). Mine did it once directly after disassembling it and I called them for advice. I could not see anything bent. I pushed it down a little and it went away. They sent me new springs and I never installed them. The gun works 100%. She said if you don't have it at 3:00 (or 4:00 per directions for your gun) it can hang up. Once mine "un-hung" it was fine. Call Kahr and ask them what they think. What have you got to loose.

[gbeau]

I am also curious, is this the spring that is being talked about.

http://www.kahrshop.com/images/P_SlideStopSpring.jpg

Gbeau

[eltee]

You also have to be careful with these Kahrs to not let your thumb bump the slide stop during recoil. Especially if you shoot with your thumb straight. That will cause intermittant slide locks. I usually bevel the near edge and bottom edge with a dremel tool, so that it misses my thumb.

I have 4 Kahrs and 2 Glocks. I carry the Kahrs and keep the Glocks for reserve.

Good luck.

[comeandtakeit]

I had a PM40 once. All of the problems you describe are the same I had with mine. Sell it like I did and buy a S&W 340 PD. It goes bang every time I pull the trigger!