P380 Extractor Chain, Old vs New

[DJK11]

A p380 is a p380. Mine’s an RAxxxx, first production run, with nite sites and the sn tag on the grip. What difference does it make if it’s made last month or last year or the year before that.
All this excitement!!

[wally1]

Just shot my new P380 yesterday. Took it apart, cleaned and lubed it first. Racked the slide a bunch till it started to smooth out some. Shot Winchester 380 round nose that I've had for a long time. Multiple failures to extract, failures to feed, a couple of slide failures to lock back on last round, and one light striker impact. Only fired 36 rounds total - in my backyard.
I cycled some flat nose 380 through it and that seemed to cycle smoothly.

The gun obviously needs more break in, but I hit what I aimed at when it did fire.

[topgun1953]

A p380 is a p380. Mine’s an RAxxxx, first production run, with nite sites and the sn tag on the grip. What difference does it make if it’s made last month or last year or the year before that.
All this excitement!!

Yes excitement. The difference is that at some point Kahr decreased the tension on the extractor which should eliminate many of the feed problems a lot of us had in older production. Now there’s less headaches and more fun being had with these great 380s.😀😀

[DavidR]

Just shot my new P380 yesterday. Took it apart, cleaned and lubed it first. Racked the slide a bunch till it started to smooth out some. Shot Winchester 380 round nose that I've had for a long time. Multiple failures to extract, failures to feed, a couple of slide failures to lock back on last round, and one light striker impact. Only fired 36 rounds total - in my backyard.
I cycled some flat nose 380 through it and that seemed to cycle smoothly.

The gun obviously needs more break in, but I hit what I aimed at when it did fire.

Certainly not a great start.

[King Rat]

Certainly not a great start.

Have a little patience. 36 rounds is not squat. You will reap the rewards soon. Mine will go through the standard 48 hr Recoil Spring "Set" before I even shoot it. Will use other other magazines while the new ones take a "SET". You knew the gun had tight tolerences before you bought it. At least I did and I expect it not to run smooth right out of the gate. Relax and go with the flow. It will bloom in quick time.

[DavidR]

Have a little patience. 36 rounds is not squat. You will reap the rewards soon. Mine will go through the standard 48 hr Recoil Spring "Set" before I even shoot it. Will use other other magazines while the new ones take a "SET". You knew the gun had tight tolerences before you bought it. At least I did and I expect it not to run smooth right out of the gate. Relax and go with the flow. It will bloom in quick time.

Totally agree, but - some Kahr 380s simply don’t work without some post factory gunsmithing. Some problems will not resolve themselves with more rounds.

[King Rat]

Totally agree, but - some Kahr 380s simply don’t work without some post factory gunsmithing. Some problems will not resolve themselves with more rounds.

Some Glock, Beretta's, Sig's and on and on the same. Just the nature of the beast.

[Bawanna]

Which is exactly why most all guns with few exceptions require a break in period even though Kahr is one of the few that emphasize it.

[topgun1953]

Just shot my new P380 yesterday. Took it apart, cleaned and lubed it first. Racked the slide a bunch till it started to smooth out some. Shot Winchester 380 round nose that I've had for a long time. Multiple failures to extract, failures to feed, a couple of slide failures to lock back on last round, and one light striker impact. Only fired 36 rounds total - in my backyard.
I cycled some flat nose 380 through it and that seemed to cycle smoothly.

The gun obviously needs more break in, but I hit what I aimed at when it did fire.

Be sure to try different ammo. Here is a link to some 380 that goes through mine very easily. The price is great and they still have plenty in stock.
https://www.ammosupplywarehouse.com/...ducts_id=30494 I have 1400 rnds of the stuff.

I've been running some Maxx Tech through mine and I get several fail to extract. I can't just tap the casing out of the chamber. I usually have to grip the case rim with my finger nail to help get it out. Maybe the chamber is on the small side? They feed fine on my old P380. Since you had some fail to feeds, I'd wager that the light strike was due to being out of battery. You should be good to go in a bit. I've put 300 rnds through my new P380 now. I like what I see so far.

[DJK11]

First, thanks for the link. That’s a great price, I’m passing that on to fellow shooters. I haven’t purchased factory ammo in many years so haven’t ran Armscor but heard favorable reviews.

My P380 has more than 5k through it. With less than 1k it had more than it’s share of problems. On the third barrel, third striker ( now a Lakeline ), second cocking cam and trigger bar. Fourth extractor. Can’t say how many recoil spring combinations I have in a Ziplock. The broken extractors is the most concerning. And yes I’ve reduced the tension. Kahr claims steel case is the cause, but I’m not using steel.