Is this correct? (possible noob question alert)

R

Republicrat

New member
So my wife just purchased a Kahr 9mm.

I noticed when dry-firing it that when the slide has been racked, if I continue to rack the slide multiple times it acts just as I would expect it to. i.e. nothing seems wrong.

Once I pull the trigger and then go to rack the slide again, the firing pin protrudes from the breech face the entire time while the slide is pulled rearward and continues to protrude as the slide moves forward- it snaps back into the breech probably 1/2 inch from the slide coming home.

If I lock the slide back during this, I can press the firing pin back behind the breech with my finger- it's loose, not locked into place.

I have 4 other autoloaders that have similar firing setups but none of their firing pins protrude like this as the slide cycles.

Is this normal? As I said the pin is loose so in theory if it came in contact with the round it would simply be depressed...err maybe.

Sorry if this seems silly, I've just not seen this before and I know that a permanently protruding pin would be mega bad news.

Any ideas?
 
J

JohnKSa

Administrator
It's normal.

The striker is picked up by the sear as the slide comes back into battery and that's what pulls the striker nose back behind the breechface. There's nothing holding the striker forward so it's very unlikely that there would be sufficient force to fire a round in the (also unlikely) event that the striker nose accidentally contacted the primer during the feeding process.
 
J

JohnKSa

Administrator
Got to thinking about this some more and it occurred to me that when the slide is cycling under the impetus of a fired round, it probably goes back hard enough that the stop at the end of the recoil cycle (before the spring drives it back forward) is sufficiently hard to pop the striker back enough that it doesn't protrude from the breechface.

I just pulled out my unloaded CW9, racked the slide, put in an empty mag, dryfired and then vigorously racked the slide. The slide locked in the rearward position due to the empty mag and when I looked, the striker nose was NOT protruding from the breechface.

So what you observed is an artificial condition created by manipulating the slide far more gently than it would be under actual firing conditions.
 
N

nass

New member
There is a statement in the owners manual in regards to oblong dimpled primers after firing being normal. What I took that to mean is that the firing pin is sticking out during the eject phase causing a swipe of the primer.

I'm with John in the thought that it is normal and shouldn't be an issue.
 
R

Republicrat

New member
Got to thinking about this some more and it occurred to me that when the slide is cycling under the impetus of a fired round, it probably goes back hard enough that the stop at the end of the recoil cycle (before the spring drives it back forward) is sufficiently hard to pop the striker back enough that it doesn't protrude from the breechface.

I just pulled out my unloaded CW9, racked the slide, put in an empty mag, dryfired and then vigorously racked the slide. The slide locked in the rearward position due to the empty mag and when I looked, the striker nose was NOT protruding from the breechface.

So what you observed is an artificial condition created by manipulating the slide far more gently than it would be under actual firing conditions.
Click to expand...

Interesting, no matter how vigorously I rack the slide the firing pin still protrudes. But like I said, it's not locked in place and I can press it back with my finger.

My manual also mentions the oblong dimpled primers so this could be why.

Her gun is the PM9 which is the smallest model Kahr sells, it could be the limited slide travel that determines how it functions in this case.
 
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