CM45 New Mag Catch: A Question

[Blueman5]

So I have a new CM45, that has about 350 rounds through it. It was flawless for the first 290 rounds. Around round 300 I started having what appears to be the "magazine catch issue," mags were falling out every time. At this point I hadn't stumbled on KahrTalk.
Took the gun back to the LGS I bought it from, he looked at it and said the magazine leaf-spring looked bent near where it met the polymer frame--he said likely that way from installation, he corrected it, we contacted kahr about the mag catch & the spring. Like many others, was immediately told it was the mag catch. Kahr rep was a tad 'pissy', but whatever--we all have bad days, he said that if the spring's been straightened now it should be good to go and sent a new mag catch.
New mag catch arrived a day or two ago and installed it--the wear marks on the old one match the attachments others have uploaded with this issue. One thing I wish I had done was to take a caliper to the old and new mag catches and compare--since they look identical. I had seen some indicating that new ones had more of an angle on the shelf area or that the shelf was slightly larger. I will say that the new catch does seem to engage the magazine better, however, I want to make sure I get another 500 rounds through the gun downrange with no drops before I carry the gun.

For my peace of mind and also knowledge that I'm not going to waste another 300rds to find the same thing happen, can someone clarify exactly what the difference between the new/correctly machined/good and "faulty" mag catches are? Are there dimensional differences? Are there materials differences?

I want to make sure both that I didn't get sent a faulty catch to replace a faulty catch and that I didn't have a catch that was supposed to be good catch and I've not really addressed the problem.

I will say that I loved this gun in the first 290 rounds. I want to be able to trust it with my life, but I also want to make sure I can actually point to a reason for the previous failure.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[wyntrout]

I had a bad magazine catch on a new P380. The material on the "bearing ledge" was too soft and the edge rolled and would not retain the magazines. Kahr sent me another one after I posted pictures in an email. Problem solved. I haven't seen a bent spring for the mag catch, though.

I would just test it at the range and if it held up, be good to carry.

My P380 defective mag catch post: http://www.kahrtalk.com/showthread.p...001#post227001

Wynn

[gb6491]

Blueman5,
Welcome to the forums
Here's my take on the mag drops I had with my CW45:
http://www.kahrtalk.com/showthread.p...130#post360130
Regards,
Greg

[Blueman5]

Blueman5,
Welcome to the forums
Here's my take on the mag drops I had with my CW45:
http://www.kahrtalk.com/showthread.p...130#post360130
Regards,
Greg

Greg, hey yeah your's was one of the first I read. So on the 45s there is a discernable increased area of the shelf? We were looking at the new vs old and couldn't tell a difference with the naked eye. I'll pop the new button back out and compare it to the old one I guess.

[gb6491]

Greg, hey yeah your's was one of the first I read. So on the 45s there is a discernable increased area of the shelf? We were looking at the new vs old and couldn't tell a difference with the naked eye. I'll pop the new button back out and compare it to the old one I guess.

While it's not by that much, it's apparent the area of the shelf on the replacement latch I received is greater than that of the original latch. I'm not sure if this was intentional or a by product of the machining (which was left in the "white") done to angle the shelf down and away from the edge. I say that because there was a slight ridge above the area that had been machined (see arrow in photo):


Regards,
Greg

[Blueman5]

Greg,

Thanks! So the mag-catch was installed. About a week or so ago I took the CM45 out to the range and it ate 250 rounds no failures, no mag-drops, rapid fire, strong hand, weak hand, inverted...it ate everything I put through it like a champ. I decided I was going to put at least another 200 through it (with no failures) before calling it good; so I took it back out to the range today with a couple bricks of ammo. No mag drops, but, after about 40 rounds, I go to reload and I see:






After looking around for a few moments of looking around I found:



Ok, I think, 'I guess I'm lucky I found it, but seriously?'.

I checked, made sure the Recoil Spring had the open end muzzle side & closed end on the flange & recoil spring guide were seated correctly. What's the deal? Does this happen often? Looking at the guide rod, it appears that it only has maybe 2 threads for the guide rod nut. Is supposed to be torqued with a specific amount of force? I'd rather not have to locktite it because, well given the heat around that end of the gun I'm assuming blue locktite would be useless and red would be a pain if (when) I've got to change recoil springs...especially since (in the breaking in process, then checking the new mag catch process I'm already more than half-way through the theoretical 1000 round life of this recoil spring. Suggestions?

[Bawanna]

Most people only replace the outer spring, not the one contained by that nut.
They do once in awhile come off. The gun still works even without it but of course it should be there.
Kahr would probably send you a whole new one if requested.

I'd put it back on and Loctite the heck out of it, then I'd probably take a chisel or punch and stake it in place.

Solder it, weld it, whatever you got access to.

Usually they are good to go, if they aren't loctited properly at the factory they come off early such as yours did.

I check mine from time to time during mag changes to see if there's signs of loosening. So far none of mine have worked loose.

The 1000 round life span of the spring in my personal opinion is way too low. I don't change springs until I see signs of the need. Without searching it seems like Kahr recommends 12 to 1500 but I figure they'll go twice that and then some.