Kahr Problems...

[ZeroNine3]

I purchased my Kahr PM9 on 1/27/2011. This past Saturday, 2/19/11, and today, 2/20/11, I finally got out to the range to shoot it. Since I had not gone through the 200 round break-in period yet, I didn't expect the gun to work flawlessly. And it didn't. On Saturday, after firing 99 rounds, on the 100th round, the gun failed to fire and the slide could not be pulled back. I was finally able to clear the gun and bring it home by forcing the barrel down so that it would clear the slide. Today, I took the gun out again, but nonetheless the same thing happened. I think that something might be wrong with my slide, because it sure looks like there is a problem. Also, when chambering a round, even using the slide release lever, the slide will not go fully forward. I know I haven't gone through the entire break-in process yet, but it's kind of hard to do so when the gun won't even shoot. Does anyone have any input on this issue? Thank you, I will be giving Kahr customer service a call tomorrow.

Pics:

The top of the barrel seems to be scraping metal off the inside of the slide:


A zoomed out view:


I never noticed it before, but is that bulge supposed to be there? Any PM9 owners care to let me know?


Nothing seems to be wrong with the barrel:


As you can see, the slide can't be pulled back because the barrel is hitting the top of the slide:

[vintagearms]

Send it back to Kahr. Mine did that as well as peen the slide. They should take care of it. Its a known issue with the PM9's although not all do that.

[redcliff]

I'm sorry to say your Kahr has a substantial problem. I personally would not be happy with anything less than a slide replacement and barrel refit.

Call Kahr and talk to customer service and get a Return Authorization number. 508-795-3919. You'll have to pay to ship it back overnight via UPS or Fed EX. Alternatively you could ask your selling dealer to take care of the problem and return it for you (they are not required to overnight ship) but sometimes dealers can be flakey.

[Swift Justice]

I really want to like Kahr's (I've met the owner and his lovely wife) but frequent stories like this and the price of the guns will probably keep me from ever owning one.

[Wolfhound9k]

If your dealer won't step in for you and the gun is still under warranty, try seeing if Kahr will send you a pre-paid envelope or express home pickup. I've heard of them doing this for people who ask for it.

[nick]

I had problems with my Kahr CW9, as well, the slide wouldn't fully go back to battery every 7-20 rounds. When I called Kahr, I was first given the "200 rounds break-in period" crap, then "sometimes it takes up to 500 rounds to break it in. I ended up telling the guy on the phone (during my 5-6th call to Kahr) that he's full of it and asking him whether Kahr is looking to test whether the gun would fire out of battery, at which point he agreed that I should send it to Kahr. Lo and behold, they ended up replacing the slide.

You might want to start making your calls early. The earlier you start, the earlier Kahr might graciously agree to fix it. And you better do it before the 1-year warranty expires. I heard of Kahr fixing problems for free after the warranty expired, but then you're completely at their mercy.

[Wolfhound9k]

Actually, Kahr offers a 5-year warranty... plenty of time to get all the kinks worked out and test before it's street ready IMO

[Oceanbob]

It's simply too bad Kahr

cannot get it's act together. I recall a long list of problems including barrel peening, failure to feed, serious reliability issues dating back to 2007..!

Sending your new weapon back to the FACTORY for fixing seems to be the Standard Operating Procedure when you buy a Kahr.

For the money they should do a much better job. Including proper fit of machined parts, perhaps a series of factory honing (break-in) actions to insure that the weapon runs 100% when it arrives.

They were telling people a few years back that the break in was 200 rounds, then other factory reps said 500 rounds....that's great..you have to spend
some serious ammo cash just to get the weapon 'worn in' enough for the thing to function..

Dang....

[nick]

Actually, Kahr offers a 5-year warranty... plenty of time to get all the kinks worked out and test before it's street ready IMO

Really? When did they change that? It says 1 year on my warranty card, I bought my Kahr in 2008.

[thearmedrebel]

Call them and then email the pictures. The slide should NOT look like that and a new slide is in order. I'm attaching a pic of the area on my slide. Mine's an MK9, the all stainless version. FWIW, mine ran flawlessly from day 1 and now has several thousand rounds through her. I know there are plenty of people who have had problems with Kahrs, but I suspect those that haven't outnumber those who have by a huge margin. Still, this is little comfort when it's your own gun. I'd be pissed if it were mine. If they give you the "200 rounds/500 rounds" break-in, let them know that the gun is disabled, no further rounds are possible.

Whatever happens, please keep us posted, good or bad.

Robert

[pointedstick]

Call them and then email the pictures. The slide should NOT look like that and a new slide is in order. I'm attaching a pic of the area on my slide. Mine's an MK9, the all stainless version. FWIW, mine ran flawlessly from day 1 and now has several thousand rounds through her. I know there are plenty of people who have had problems with Kahrs, but I suspect those that haven't outnumber those who have by a huge margin. Still, this is little comfort when it's your own gun. I'd be pissed if it were mine. If they give you the "200 rounds/500 rounds" break-in, let them know that the gun is disabled, no further rounds are possible.

Whatever happens, please keep us posted, good or bad.

Robert

[ZeroNine3]

Thanks for all the replies. I will be giving Kahr a call today. Hopefully everything will be worked out. This whole situation makes me love my Sig more and more, it goes bang every time.

[Wolfhound9k]

Really? When did they change that? It says 1 year on my warranty card, I bought my Kahr in 2008.

Oh, did you buy new or factory refurbished? The new models come with a 5-year warranty and the factory refurbished models only come with a 1-year warranty I believe.

[Ranger20]

Send it back they will take good care of you and it...

[chiselchst]

Check out the Kahr forum here:

http://kahrtalk.com/

They are supposed to be much better now. I just picked up a new PM9 but haven't had a chance to fire it yet.

They also have a basic "Kahr prep" procedure that works very well. They'll be able to answer questions too...

Good luck!