CW380 - Is there a way to determine if yours will have issues

[rwfishman]

Good Morning!

I've been reading as many posts here as I can to learn as much about my new CW380 as possible to prevent any issues. Below are a few questions that I have based on posts here, and by speaking with other Kahr CW380 owners.

1. Is there a range of years, or are there certain serial numbers that you can look at and say "OK, I'm going to have problems"?

2. Do the firing pins break/will you need to replace the striker prematurely regularly?

3. I was told that with the CW380 I should not dry fire or rack and release the slide without either a magazine, round, or snap cap in it. Is that true? I have a P9 too and have not heard that doing that will cause any issues.

4. Don't use Winchester White Box ammo (or any flat tipped ammo) in this firearm.

I want to have a good experience with this firearm so any accurate information provided will be very helpful. I'm replacing a BG380 with this which had a stovepipe, a FTE, a light strike, and 2 FTF's (in the first 120 rounds) and don't want to get involved with something else that I can't depend on.

Thanks in advance for your responses.

[muggsy]

1. There isn't any range of serial numbers or years that you need to be particularly concerned about.
2. Some strikers have broken, but it's a rare occurrence and nothing that should concern you greatly. Kahr will replace a broken striker at no charge.
3. You shouldn't allow the slide to slam shut on an empty chamber on any semiautomatic pistol. It's akin to slamming a screen door. Not a good practice.
4. Flat tip ammo doesn't feed well in some guns and feeds perfectly well in others. Every gun is different. The .380 auto was originally designed to run on ball ammo.

Most Kahr pistols run just fine right out of the box or after the break-in period. Some require a little tweaking. Kahr stands behind their products, so you shouldn't have any concerns about buying any new Kahr pistol.

[Alfonse]

You won't know until you know! Anything can have issues. You have to use it to find out. Muggsy is right (I've said that twice this morning and that just isn't right), your chances of having a problem are slim and Kahr will stand behind their product.

[DavidR]

There's no way to know. You should go into it expecting a 200 round break in and possibly a trip back to Kahr. Kahr's 380 is finnicky about ammo. PMC Bronze FMJ and Hornady Critical Defense HP seem to work well.

I will add that while Kahr will usually pay to ship it back to them if it has immediate problems, they don't always "make it right".

[SlowBurn]

+1 muggsy's comments.
I would only add that I had stovepipes and other issues when I got my first micro 380 (not a Kahr) but IT WASN'T THE GUN. Tiny semi-autos are much less forgiving than other types of handguns. You've got to really grip em, and really stiffen your wrist, etc. I only bring it up because you mentioned your problems with the BG380 and that's not characteristic of them either as far as I know. They're no fun to shoot imo, but as a rule they seem to be reliable.