My new P380... Issues.

///MIKE said:

Hello all, just joined the forum. I'll apologize in advance... I'm not too knowledgeable when it comes to firearms. The p380 is my second hand gun. I have a USP 9mm compact as well.

Anyway, took my brand new Black on Black w/ Tritium Sites to the range the other day (Ser# 8***). I figured there wouldn't be any issues because the load ramp was polished to a mirror finish and the serial was in the 8's... Boy was I wrong.

Had a failure to feed on the very first round... took me about 2 minutes to get the first round in the chamber (buffalo).

BRONZE 380 AUTO 90GR FMJ 50RD (200 Rounds Fired)
Buffalo .380 +90 (50)

Fired 250 rounds total.
8 Failure to feeds
20+ Stove Piping
25+ Slide locked back before I was out of rounds...
0 Failure to Fire.

The sites are literally worthless. The gun is very inaccurate...if I try to use the sites. If I fire just instinctively without using the sites it's accurate. I was very frustrated because I'd rest the gun on the bench, aim, fire, and it was firing very low. This was extremely frustrating because I passed up a LCP to purchase this gun... for the sites alone.

Anyway, in a nutshell, I'm very disappointed. I never...ever had an issue with my USP. You put any kind of ammo in that gun and it will load, fire, and discharge the cartridge without issue.

I'm going to send it to Kahr and see if they can fix the issues I'm having. I'm not even remotely comfortable carrying this gun for concealed carry at the moment.

-Mike C.

Click to expand...

The factory sights are far from "literally worthless." They are acceptable+ given what the gun is designed for: up front and personal protection. Bottom line, in a SHTF scenario, you are not even going to see the sights. If you are that concerned however, an improvement in sight picture can be experienced by installing XS Big Dot sights. I have them on my P380 as do other members and the consensus is, they do make a difference in your ability to get on target quicker (at close in distances).

Secondly, I would not rely on BB ammo as break-in ammo but a tried and true standard pressure round such as Gold Dot, Hydra-Shok, etc.

Sorry you are having problems with your P380 but the reality is, most P380 owners are very satisfied with their weapons. Your situation is not the norm and should not discourage a potential buyer from taking a serious look at the P380. In its price range, I firmly believe it is the gold standard in pocket 380s. Horror stories abound with other pocket .380s.

In closing, I would get your gun off to Kahr as soon as possible. They have excellent customer service and I expect you will have your P380 back in a relatively short time. Once received and it still fails to meet your expectations, best to get rid of it and find something you prefer better. If on the other hand you decide to stick with it, there are many folks here who are not only generous with their assistance but know this gun inside and out. Jocko being one.

jocko said:

ARE U TRYING TO HAND RACK THAT FIRST ROUNDINTO THE GUN OR ARE U USING THE SLIDE LOCK LEVER TO LOAD THAT FIRST ROUND?/

nice post?? for a 1st time forum member.. :

Is this your first kahr???

Click to expand...

This is my first post and this is my first Kahr. I'm a first time forum member because I bought the gun, had issues, and then went online looking for answers. What do you know... I found a p380 forum. Why would I join this forum without owning a P380? I have not owned any of the other compact 380's... so I can't really compare it to anything else.

Anyway, I'm going to get authorization to send the gun back... However, I'm going to try about 200 more rounds through it before I do (someone posted that I probably wasn't using the best break-in rounds). I'll try some of the rounds recommended and then go from there.

I will stand by my statement that the sites are worthless. I'm kicking myself for buying the night sites...

Does anyone else have a problem with the gun shooting too low? I'm talking at 10 Yards it's 6" down.

Anyway, I was racking the gun today and moving practice rounds through it. I noticed that I had failure to feeds only when there were 6 rounds in the clip. If there are only 5 rounds in the clip it racks perfect every time. ???

Mike,

Please don't take this wrong because it isn't intended to be. Its just that I always like to look at the simple things first and you did say that you are new to firearms.

When the P380 is shooting 6 inches low at 10 feet, how do you have your sites lined up?

I own a Glock in .357Sig caliber with tritium night sites. I thought it a good idea at the time and paid extra for it, but after thinking it through, it wasn't smart on my part - and this wasn't my first handgun either. Probably around number 10. Tritium sites might work for the first shot in the dark, but after that you are going to be blind from the muzzle flash and not be able to see night sites anyway. Besides tritium will dim with age - probably about a 10 year life.

My tritium sites are three small balls. On the Glock, if I try to put the front ball (the forward site) between the to rear balls (the rear knotch) and the target just on top of the front ball (classic stick-and-ball approach) it is also inaccurate. BUT. If I stack the balls - like the front one is sitting on top of the two rear ones - the bottom edge of the front ball sitting on the top inside edges of the rear balls - the gun is spot on every time. Once I figured out how to best aim that gun, it never misses in practice.

I once had a revolver that at 25 feet, you had to aim with the top of the blade level with the rear knotch and always put the top of the blade about 4 inches low. As long as you fired that gun that way every time, you hit the X every time. I always suspected that it had to so with the 6 inch barrel and the recoil raising the gun before the bullet exited the barrel. I was young back then. Probably had to do with how I was holding the revolver. The point is, once I learned how to shoot that gun and was consistant with it, it was one of the most accurate guns I ever fired.

Maybe its just a matter figuring out how to best use your P380's sites.

Hope this helps you.....

I went to the range three times now and fired about 250 rounds. Mine is a "fine" California edition with a useless loaded chamber indicator and a magazine safety (also useless, I might add). I tried every type of ammo there is from PMC 95 GR FMC, through Winchester TCMC, Hornady Critical Defense, Buffalo Bore +P FMC flat nose, Cor-Bon DPX, Remington Golden Saber, Winchester bonded JHP and found the following:

1. the pistol is absolutely perfectly accurate at any distance tried from 7 to 25 yards
2. the pistol is absolutely perfectly reliable with full metal round nose ammunition
3. the pistol is perfectly and absolutely reliable with Cor-bon DPX and Hornady Critical Defense cartridges
4. the pistol will occasionally fail to feed Remington Golden Saber and Winchester bonded JHP
5. the pistol is absolutely worthless with any kind of truncated metal case ammunition and that includes Buffalo Bore +p as well as Winchester TCMC.

The failure to feed approaches 75% and that makes it worthless in my book. Almost every pistol has some ammunition brands it likes and some it doesn't. It does not surprise me at all that the truncated (or flat nosed) bullets do not feed well in the little Kahr pistol since the tolerances are so tight and it does not take too much to hang a bullet on the feed ramp.

Conclusions:
Practice with anything that is full metal round nose, for me PMC always served me well and you can find good price on this ammo.
Carry two mags full of Cor-bon DPX interchanged with Hornady Critical Defense, occasionally practicing with those as well and you will be set

Good luck and stay safe
Richard

IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER !!!!!
In all this anxiety over a beautiful and accurate pistol I failed to mention the most important thing
Please remember to check your recoil spring every two hundred rounds or so. I did not and the pistol started to develop an increasing rate of FTF, particularly in the last 1/8 inch of the travel of the slide. I know it had to have been the recoil spring being weaker. It reminded me that those gun manufacturers that have vast experience with small semi-automatics such as Seecamp and Rohrbaugh either supply the guns with spare recoil springs or remind their customers to replace them at about 200 to 300 range round count.
Sure enough, I asked Kahr to send me replacement recoil spring set and when I got it I measured the old spring. It was 65mm long and the new set was 72 mm long. Of course, there was a noticeable difference in the slide action when closing on a snap cap although not sufficiently hard to prevent normal loading of the pistol by inserting the loaded magazine, pulling the slide to the back, releasing the slide and letting the spring do its job. Tomorrow will go to the range and will feed all kinds of ammo - then let you know....

Hi,

Just joined.

Purchased a new P380, with night sights and LCI.

Had numerous FTF's and stovepipes on the first 100 rounds. I understand that there is a 200 round break-in period.

I had one serious problem that really concerned me.

A round was fed but when I pulled the trigger, I felt a slight engagement but then it slipped away and the pulling the trigger all the way back did not release the striker.

This happened on two occasions.

I was using Corbon DPX.

I talked to Jay at Kahr and he told me to send back the gun.

I thought that I would get it back within a week, after reading other posts on how good their service was at Kahr.

However, I have since been informed that I will have to wait 4-6 weeks.

That really has caused me concern.

Why should I have to wait that long?

I paid a pretty penny for this gun and would expect much quicker service for a new gun.

I was going to buy a P9, but now I have second thoughts.

Anyone else experienced this problem with the striker pin and the poor service.

Thanks for your help.

Bob S.