#%&*<^~! Broken Follower!

[sharpetop]

It finally Happened! Wanted to ring the PM40 out a bit and had a FTF on the last round. Pulled the slide back and noticed a broken follower. I'm really wanting to like this gun as I've narrowed the carry ammo down to one it will reliably eat and now this. It's a finicky little SOB but I'm not giving up! Now an e-mail to Ian and get a couple of new followers.

[CJB]

No need to panic!

First, there is a cure. Second, you'll get a free replacement.

Get your replacement from Kahr.

Disassemble the pistol. Reassemble the barrel only, with no slide. Push the slide stop pin through the hole in the frame to engage the barrel's locking lug. Push the barrel rearward, and down, with an empty magazine in place. Does the barrel touch the follower? Is it just a C-hair from the follower? If so, trim some feed ramp - which at the contact point is not really utilized. Don't go nuts with it, you only need to trim off, or have trimmed off, a very tiny amount. The trim should leave a very small vertical "face" on the end of the barrel. You can leave it be, or round it over slightly for cosmetic purposes. The trim can be accomplished with some good old 100 grit paper wrapped on a suitable dowel, and is not critical. Just need to make sure the barrel doesn't hit the follower as the frame flexes during recoil. One guy here took a huge amount off... leaving a good 1/8 inch gap. Pistol still worked just fine, just the barrel looked kind of funky down there.

[Hawkeye911]

Another alternative would to install a new spring and follower from magguts.com

Yep, it cost a little money, but you add one additional round to your magazine capacity, and it works great!

Here is a thread here on Kahrtalk that discusses the pros and cons: http://www.kahrtalk.com/showthread.p...hr-380-pistols

[CJB]

Except they don't make one in 40cal.

Not to mention that Ivanhoe sells mags for as little as $25.95, and the MagGuts is $21.95 for their "kit". Ouch.

Another alternative would to install a new spring and follower from magguts.com

Yep, it cost a little money, but you add one additional round to your magazine capacity, and it works great!

Here is a thread here on Kahrtalk that discusses the pros and cons: http://www.kahrtalk.com/showthread.p...hr-380-pistols

[Hawkeye911]

Had never looked for a .40, so didn't know. My bad!

I debated for some time before I spent the money to convert my two 6 round mags with magguts kits. After the fact, I am really glad I did. YMMV

[sharpetop]

I emailed Ian yesterday and haven't herd anything back yet. I left my home address, etc. in the email. Maybe they'll just send a couple of followers to me without contacting me.

[sharpetop]

Ian never got back with me but Matt did and he sent out two followers Friday. He also sent a link for the RA # if it happens again.
Two thumbs up, again, for Kahr service!

[CJB]

If you take the time to perform the test described (above), you'll see how delightfully simple the fix is, to the point that you may with to undertake the rather non critical endeavor yourself.

[sharpetop]

I hear you CJB! I came over here a few years ago from the world of Kel-tec so I'm kinda used to a bit of tinkering. I got the Dremel out and ground off a tiny bit of feed ramp and buffed it up. It looked to be enough with the one good follower I had left. When the new ones arrive I'll check the clearance before shooting. Thanks!

[Marine One]

Had the same thing happen with my CM40, did the feed ramp shave thing CJB mentioned above using some 320/400/600 grit sandpaper. There are several other posts and a youtube out on this fix as well. I just put the sandpaper flat on my workbench, took the barrel and held it vertical and rubbed the very end of the feed ramp back and forth against the paper. Put 75 rounds through the weapon afterward with absolutely no problems. Also took my CM9 to the range on the same trip and discovered a broken follower on my 7 round mag when I took it apart to clean it, so the feed ramp on the 9 got the same treatment yesterday.