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Failure to Extract

7786 Views 14 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  P7
My P380 has been back to Kahr. I was having all sorts of jams including failures to feed and mostly, failures to extract. They ran 48 rounds through it without a problem. Just got back from the range. No failures to feed but many failures to extract. Out of 100 rounds fired, 7-8 failures to extract. These failures showed up after about 25 rounds and became more frequent over the next 100 rounds. By the last 25 rounds, I was getting a failure to extract almost each magazine. The recoil springs were in the correct position. I'll call Kahr Monday morning. I did not clean the gun. If they test fire it, the pistol is more likely to malfunction when dirty. I really don't care if they can replicate the problem. I just want them to do whatever they think might resolve the problem. I'm thinking they should replace the extractor. Your thoughts?
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Is it taking a gouge out the case rim?
Is the chamber rough looking?

If the case is still stuck in the chamber I would check the the extractor is not broken & the chamber is not rough or pitted causing the case to imprint into the chamber.

What ammo are you using?

Does it always eject when it does extract, or do you sometimes have a stovepipe or a case stuck just above the next round feeding?
Brent375hh

The rim looked rough. I didn't save a casing to see how bad it was. Yes, I had a couple of stovepipes and, a couple of times, the last cartridge in the magazine was extracted but not ejected. It was left on top of the magazine follower when the slide locked back. I also thought about a rough chamber as a possibility. Before I sent it to Kahr the first time, I polished the chamber with Flitz and a felt dremel pad. This stopped the failures to feed I had my first time out. It's hard to see, but I don't think the chamber is particularly rough. I used Winchester white box and Magtech fmj rounds. I noticed no functional difference between them. What happens is the empty case is halfway extracted and left on top of the next round in the magazine. I must drop the magazine to clear it. When I drop the magazine the empty falls out. This occurs on both magazines. I'm thinking of asking them to polish the chamber and replace the extractor. What do you think?
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indeed send it back, tell them exactly what it is doing and again, ask them to issue a prepaird mailer for the gun to. Not ur fault it isn't right.

A shame for the second time back to. Have you let anyone else shoot the gun to make sur ethat is possably could not be shooter error. Wouldn'thurt to test this out before sending it back.
Take the slide off and insert a variety of rounds under the extractor.

Is there enough tension to hold the round in place while give it a light shake? Can you pull the round straight out with the bullet still facing forward?

If it won't hold the round in place and you can easily pull it straight forward you either have a weak extractor spring or it is not cut correctly.

Mine was not cut deep enough front to back (between breech face and extractor) to always allow the whole rim to slide in. I took a needle file and gave it a few strokes until all ammo I had would have the entire rim slide under. Perhaps .003 to .004. Mine has had no problems since.
Thanks guys. This is a great place to get good advice. I'll take the slide off and see if a cartridge fits properly under the extractor. Frankly, I'm not that mechanical and I'd prefer the factory fix it. It's frustrating when they can't replicate the problem. I think I'll ask them to polish the chamber and replace the extractor and extractor spring. Does that sound reasonable?
P7 said:
Thanks guys. This is a great place to get good advice. I'll take the slide off and see if a cartridge fits properly under the extractor. Frankly, I'm not that mechanical and I'd prefer the factory fix it. It's frustrating when they can't replicate the problem. I think I'll ask them to polish the chamber and replace the extractor and extractor spring. Does that sound reasonable?
I would not mess with the extracot.... Also do let some one else shoot the gun this will help alot as I stated above. I am certainly not trying to say it is shooter error either. this just eliminates another possability.

Certainly if another shooter can indeed shoot it ok, that will tell u something also. No harm in trying..
Jocko: Thanks. I'll let someone else try it.
Anyone who can tell me how to replace the extractor? Thought this might be worth a try.
P7 said:
Anyone who can tell me how to replace the extractor? Thought this might be worth a try.
go to glock talk, com and hit on the kahr forum and about the 4th sticky down will be a complete with photos on how to dissabele the upper slide, with a very good explanation that will save you alot of time and frustration. Itis not a hard thing tod but this willsure help u out alot more than just trial and error. Just be careful things tend to fly whent hat back plate is taken off the slide, Alot use a big zip lock bag when takng that back plate off, to catch flying tiny objects.

I think I wold call kahr first and askif they would send you a new extractor first before doing anything. I certanly woldnot fileonthat extractor, unlessyou have alot of experiience in that area. as bad as I hat eot say it, I think the gun might need to go back to kahr.
If other people have shot it and it is doing the same thing.....
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Hi Jocko: Talked with Kahr this morning and they're picking it up today. Again, thanks to all board members for helpful replies. I'll keep you posted.
Received my P380 back from Kahr in 9 days flat. I sent it in dirty hoping they would experience the failure to extract. They did. They replaced the barrel. I'll get it out this weekend and post the results.
The new barrel is working well. No more extraction failures. However, it will not reliably feed Golden Sabers. It's fine with Hornady hollow points, Silvertips and fmj. Do you think polishing the throat and chamber might help it digest Golden Sabers? Or am I better off leaving it alone and going with everything but Golden Sabers?
P7 said:
The new barrel is working well. No more extraction failures. However, it will not reliably feed Golden Sabers. It's fine with Hornady hollow points, Silvertips and fmj. Do you think polishing the throat and chamber might help it digest Golden Sabers? Or am I better off leaving it alone and going with everything but Golden Sabers?
pass on the golden sabres, mine will not feed them either. the reason is your golden sabres are hitting the inside of the slide lock lever and throwing the round off course as it tries to enter the chamber. I am suprised you are not getting premature slide lock opening even with the sabres. Mine would lock the slide open , not all the time but enought to tell me to forget about the sabres.

I have went to the corbon 90 grain hp and they work fine. I think those 102 grain sabres are just to big to work perfectly. You could file back the inside of the slide lock lever as I did to make my sabres work but now every once in awhile it will not lock open on the last round either, ,so I think the best is to move on from the sabres and go with the other 100 good brands of defense stuff out there.

Now if indeed you just ar ein love with the sabres 102 grain, then file back the slide stop until it clears and once loaded the gun willwork perfectly every time and unles syou carry a spare magazine, u need not worry about the slide locking open either on the last round, or also get another slidle lock lever and leave it alone and just pop it in when going to the rang eto shoot your junk practice ammo.
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jocko: Once again you're a great source of information. Thanks.
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