My Kahr P380 has failed

[Coltman 77]

Mine didn't need additional break in, it was broken, wouldn't fire, and in need of repair. Thankfully Kahr took care of the problem promptly and politely.
It may be a few hundred more rounds though before I'll feel safe trusting it.

I'm sure Kahr will take care of the problem. Please keep us updated on your situation.

I like to put 1,000 flawless rds. of various fmj and jhp before I trust a pistol for carry. YMMV.

Good luck.

 

[AustinTX]

Kahr Firearms require a "break in period." All high quality expensive semi automatic handguns need to be broken in by the consumer.This very issue has been discussed ad nauseum in the post titled "pistol break in period." I'd suggest buying a Ruger or Kel-Tec next time I'm pretty sure they don't require a break in.
Hope this helps.

How could anything you said possibly help? The OP's P380 wouldn't fire -- i.e., was broken. It's hard to break in a gun that won't fire. My gun has $400+ of ammo through it, and, furthermore, is having issues that have nothing to do with whether or not the gun has been shot enough.

All high quality expensive semi automatic handguns need to be broken in by the consumer.

Wrong. Higher-quality guns machined more precisely than Kahrs do not require a break-in period to achieve reliability. One should, of course, "break in" any pistol one is going to rely upon for self-defense to test for reliability, but my Berettas, HKs, Sig, Gold Cup NM, Walther, and Hi-Power have not necessitated any break-in period to achieve total reliability.

Kahrs are robustly-built for their size, but they are nowhere close to the refinement, fit and finish, and overall quality of guns from the aforementioned brands. I'm not sure there's any final fitting work at all that takes place at the factory. Every new Kahr I've looked at has burrs on the slide rails, has high spots on the frame rails, and has roughly-finished polymer. Many have burrs on the barrel hood. I've seen several with poorly-cut crowns. I took a chance and bought a new one on Gunbroker, ceding the ability to visually inspect it first, which was a dumb move. The dovetails on my slide are very sloppily milled. The barrel had a ridiculously large burr from the factory. The slide rails and frame rails had the standard burrs and high spots. The magazines seem to have been welded and crimped by a sixth-grader.

A Kahr requires a break-in period because it is machined for a tight fit but not to particularly precise tolerances and not with any final finishing work.

 

[Ben]

I had a good experience with Kahr 's customer service. Look at my posts for my PM45 issues.

Ben

 

[2edgesword]

I've said it on the Kahr forum and I'll say it here, their 200 round break-in, the suggestions about raking the slide 500 times and doing anything but a cursor intial cleaning are a bunch of hogwash. I don't want to be part of Kahr's outgoing quality control team. Any breaking in in preparation to have a 100% reliable fireamr should be done by the manufacturer.

 

[orionengnr]

Wow. I've owned three Kahrs so far (PM9, P45, PM45). The PM9 had the barrel peening issue when new (going on five years now) and Kahr fixed it quickly and on their dime. It has worked perfectly ever since. The P45 and PM45 worked perfectly from round #1. So I don't buy the "break-in" statement.

I'd suggest buying a Ruger or Kel-Tec next time I'm pretty sure they don't require a break in.

Having owned four Kel-Tecs, this statement is patently ludicrous. They don't require "break-in", they come "pre-broken" straight from the factory.

As soon as I find a P380 for the right price, I will buy it and sell the LCP. Not because the LCP doesn't work (it does, and has from round #1) but becasue the Kahr has such a nice trigger and high build quality.

 

[Cheapshooter]

Typical of this forum. If it's a Taurus with a problem there will be 3 pages of yea, it's junk. Let it be a $600 Kahr, and there is 3 pages of excuses, and apologies...Go figure!!!

 

[C0untZer0]

I don't want to be part of Kahr's outgoing quality control team - 2edgesword

Absolutely...

Also lets be clear about something. An FTE / FTF are things that might be attributed to the gun just needing to be broken in, but a jammed gun? NO... No way. A gun that ceases to function - that is either a design or a CQ problem, you need to just call it that.

I think Karh basically is conceading that they don't have good QC processes in their manufacturing, things which could be resolved using modern industrial laser QC systems. They have parts in their pistols that have spurs or blemishes and they basically tell their customers to do the sanding and polishing themselves by working / firing the pistols.

I've also noticed something else... there are people who know their craft whether it be engines, or firearms, or time peices or whatever. And these people can look at something and figure out what is going wrong. And usually they can fix it.

Then there are other people who don't know their craft - they are parts replacers. All they can do is replace parts and hope the problem goes away. It sounds like Kahr has people just replacing parts and sending it back to the customer. The problem with that is - if you have a QC problem - like an ill fitting MIM part or something, it's just a crap shoot that the replacement part won't have the same problem as the part it's replacing.

 

[MLeake]

Cheapshooter, you should notice one other difference: two weeks after the OP first reported the issue, his gun is back with him, fixed the first time around, with shipping paid by Kahr.

 

[AZAK]

I tried it out. Ran slicker than owl poop.

I am not sure if I find solace in this. Owls also regurgitate pellets.

Here's hoping that it continues to send "pellets" out the correct end with no more trips back to Kahr!

 

[AustinTX]

Typical of this forum. If it's a Taurus with a problem there will be 3 pages of yea, it's junk. Let it be a $600 Kahr, and there is 3 pages of excuses, and apologies...Go figure!!!

You should read the thread a little more closely. I see more posts leveling criticism at Kahr for their poor QC than posts making excuses for them.