CW9 Light Strike and Failure To Fire

[Frank Ingram]

Purchased a new Cw9 and am having a terrible time with the firing pin not striking the primer hard enough to fire the cartridge. I have tried Blazer Brass Fmj, Remington green box jhp, sig sauer elite performance jhp and federal hydra shock ammo and all of them fail at random times with light primer strikes in this gun. I have a Glock 19 and have never had a primer failure. Is this common in this gun?

I bought this gun because i wanted a single stack 9mm and liked the way it fit my hand. Plus, i didn’t see too many issues on the interwebz with this partficular model. Did i just get a lemon? I hope Kahr fixes it. This dud is going back to the factory. I really like the trigger and it carries like a dream.

The dang thing doesn’t do me any good if it doesn’t go boom when i pull the trigger.

[Bawanna]

First thought is maybe junk in the striker channel. Don't see it much any more but in the past there was left over machining junk left behind.

You can take the slide off, hold down the drop safety on the bottom of the slide and push the striker back and forth and see if it moves freely. Should be able to hold the drop safety down shake it and have the striker rattle.

[yqtszhj]

First thought is maybe junk in the striker channel. Don't see it much any more but in the past there was left over machining junk left behind.

You can take the slide off, hold down the drop safety on the bottom of the slide and push the striker back and forth and see if it moves freely. Should be able to hold the drop safety down shake it and have the striker rattle.

Exactly what he said. The CW9 is an excellent pistol. You’ll get it straightened out.

Welcome me to the forum by the way.

[Frank Ingram]

Exactly what he said. The CW9 is an excellent pistol. You’ll get it straightened out.

Welcome me to the forum by the way.

thank you you for the welcome. where would the drop safety be? is it that small button near the firing pin channel?

[Bawanna]

Yes, I wish I could post pictures and diagrams like Greg here does. It's on the bottom of the slide near the back. It's spring loaded. Easily depressed. This clears the way so the striker can go through its full travel.
Many use brake cleaner to flush out the striker channel and doing this same thing while doing this should help too.
Mine don't seem to accumulate junk and they were clean when I got them new but some have found junk in there.
I'll see if I can find a picture, I know there are some here.

[Frank Ingram]

Yes, I wish I could post pictures and diagrams like Greg here does. It's on the bottom of the slide near the back. It's spring loaded. Easily depressed. This clears the way so the striker can go through its full travel.
Many use brake cleaner to flush out the striker channel and doing this same thing while doing this should help too.
Mine don't seem to accumulate junk and they were clean when I got them new but some have found junk in there.
I'll see if I can find a picture, I know there are some here.

Thank you you for the wealth of information guys. Since this is a brand new pistol I am going to give Kahr the chance to make it right before I attempt any tinkering. I’m hopeful because I want this pistol to be my concealed carry. I’ll update my journey.

So far I have put 400ish rounds through it with one failure to extract (stove pipe) which happened during the 200 round break in period so i take that with a grain of salt. And, twenty or so light primer strikes mostly after the 200 round beak in. I only had one light primer strike during the 1st 200 rounds with the rest coming between rounds 200-400.

[RustyIron]

I am going to give Kahr the chance to make it right before I attempt any tinkering.

That's probably the wisest decision, since the problem existed right out of the box. But eventually you'll need to learn to yank the striker and clean up the channel. Lubricant, powder fouling, and other scrunge will find it's way in there, potentially diminishing reliability. You don't want the first indication of "too much dirt" to be the day when you REALLY NEED the gun to function.

[Frank Ingram]

That's probably the wisest decision, since the problem existed right out of the box. But eventually you'll need to learn to yank the striker and clean up the channel. Lubricant, powder fouling, and other scrunge will find it's way in there, potentially diminishing reliability. You don't want the first indication of "too much dirt" to be the day when you REALLY NEED the gun to function.

i agree with what you are saying. however, my edc won’t be a finicky ammo sensitive gun. i’m not saying this gun is...yet. i believe in proper cleaning and maintenance but if it gets to the point that i have to detail strip this gun after every 200 rounds just to get it to go bang, it will no longer be my gun. 😄

[RustyIron]

i agree with what you are saying. however, my edc won’t be a finicky ammo sensitive gun. i’m not saying this gun is...yet. i believe in proper cleaning and maintenance but if it gets to the point that i have to detail strip this gun after every 200 rounds just to get it to go bang, it will no longer be my gun.

I totally agree. My first striker fired gun was an 80's vintage Glock. I didn't know anything about striker fired guns when I bought it, so I gave it no special treatment and it ran flawlessly. My next striker fired gun was a Kimber, and it was a finicky ***** right out of the box. On one of the trips back to the manufacturer, they proclaimed that the striker channel was contaminated with oil. WTF? My Glock could be black with scrunge and it would run flawlessly! Before you think that I'm a moron (I probably am, but for different reasons), on a subsequent trip back for warranty repair, they conceded that my gun was a POS, melted it down, gave me something else, and discontinued that model. After that experience, I generally remove firing pins or strikers periodically. Perhaps it's a little OCD, but it makes me happy.

[sharpetop]

Cleaning out the striker channel is a good starting point. If that doesn't work contact Kahr and describe the issue and that you would like a new recoil spring. They'll send you one free of charge. Same thing happened to my CW9 and a new recoil spring solved the problem.