Holy Brass Chips Batman -- Clean out those firing pin channels!!!

[CarlCyrus]

Brother called me to complain he was getting light firing pin strikes on his MK40. He had done some research and apparently what he found was guidance to send the pistol back to Kahr for warranty service.

Being a tinkerer, I called BS. Told him to first clean out the firing pin channel...may be gunked up, and if that doesn't work to get a new striker/firing pin spring. Pistols need maintenance. Had to replace the recoil spring in my 1970 era Colt Combat Commander and my 1-year old Kimber Pro II. Told him before he sends the pistol off to do some owner-level maintenance on it.

Well...that got me to thinking about my own MK9. Pulled it down and it was loaded with brass chips. See the two pics.

Bottom line...if you have more than 500 rounds through your MK9 or PM9, I highly recommend you pull the firing pin and blow the junk out of it!!!

Carl

[mr surveyor]

or easier than that, just blow it out with a good high pressure can of solvent (or Jocko's cheaper brake cleaner) with the straw in the cleanout hole. I blow mine out every time I field strip for basic cleaning. I dis-assembled the upper immediately after test firing, just to get familiar with the internals, and to look for the rumored machining residue to be gunking up the works. Don't need to do that for normal cleaning. Just blow it out - clean and simple.

[CarlCyrus]

I blow mine out every time I come back from the range and clean the pistol. Obviously the little hole doesn't do that good of a job.

This clean-out job is now on my 500-round maintenance checklist.

Carl

[mr surveyor]

????

do you manually pull the striker back when you "blow it"?

[jocko]

what surv said, sure saves alot of time. once u get that chanel clean, every cleaning, this should be done and that channel will stay perfectly clean. certainly that photo is one messey strker channel..

[MW surveyor]

Whoa, what a load of cr@P

[MrTuna]

You have struck gold! J/K.
I will make a note to clean that area.


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[jocko]

I blow mine out every time I come back from the range and clean the pistol. Obviously the little hole doesn't do that good of a job.

This clean-out job is now on my 500-round maintenance checklist.

Carl

that crap was in there from the git go, once u get it spiffy clean IMO no need to take it down. but what ever floats ur boat. I can say in my 32K+ rounds io have never had my striker channel all apart. The fartest I have ever ha dit was to take the rear backing plate off ad put in the 5# striker spring. I use the clean out hole every tme I clean thegun and I pull back the striker when using that clena out hole and I also keep that striker p7lled back and then I spray right through the breech face and with the striker back now that clean out hole is wide open and any **** in that channel will run oput with the solvent. Error on the side of caution so one does what everyw ay floats his boat..

[Tinman507]

I blow mine out every time I come back from the range and clean the pistol. Obviously the little hole doesn't do that good of a job.

This clean-out job is now on my 500-round maintenance checklist.

Carl

Same thing here. I use Jocko Brand Brake Cleaner every time I clean.
http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o542/tinman507/jockogundouche.png
Recently pulled mine down totally and pulled a huge pile of brass filings out of it. I think brake cleaner is a good interim solution but I honestly feel it needs a full tear down every 500-1000 rounds. I also noticed my extractor was all gunky as well. Cleaned that really well and the ejects really fly now.

[Bill K]

Wow, I would have been surprised to see a tenth of that amount of brass come out of the striker channel. Is that brass all a result of the primer strikes?

Thanks...

[OldLincoln]

I don't know about every 500rds, but it is good to change out the striker spring with every recoil spring and of course clean it out then. I did it because it came with the recoil spring so why not. While I have found some gunk in the striker channel, it's been only trace amounts. Definitely nothing like the above pics since the first time. When I flush it out with brake cleaner I do it a lot working the striker back and forth and generally have cleaner going out both ends of the channel. I go through quite a bit and buy 2 or 3 cans at a time even though I only shoot 1 gun.

PS to add, I recommend that a new gun have the striker dissembled and the channel cleaned out. That firs time seems to have crud from the factory left behind.

[CarlCyrus]

I was surprised to see that much brass also. It is a simple task to pull it down....that is why it is now on my 500 round checklist.

Carl

[wyntrout]

I don't think the BRASS bits have anything to do with the primer strikes. The cartridges get banged around quite a bit and bits of brass get shaved and knocked off... then blown everywhere, including into the striker pin hole. The area above the magazine and between the slide, the chamber and the breech face /extractor is a busy place and lots of contact with the surfaces result in these tiny bits of brass... that add up in out of the way places like the striker tunnel. Lubrication in that area can hold the stuff there and really GUM up the works, causing failures to fire as the striker is impeded from full stroke strikes at the primer.

Wynn:)

[olympicmotorcars]

I just cleaned my PM 40 out tonight for the first time. I have about 1000 rounds through it and just wanted to do it for my peace of mind.

Mine was virtually spotless when I got it apart. I blow mine out through the clean out hole every time I clean it after every time I shoot it though.

I probably will not take it down that far again for awhile. Although it was not nearly as hard as I had feared, especially with the coat hanger tool to help with reassembly .

[OldLincoln]

You might be right, Wynn. Chambering is a rather violent affair and it's a wonder the cartridges survive at all.

[tilefish]

I bet I can remove my striker before any of you guys can blow all that crap out with brake cleaner. Just detail strip it and get it good and clean.

[mr surveyor]

You might be right, Wynn. Chambering is a rather violent affair and it's a wonder the cartridges survive at all.

that could be the OP's problem..... some mild rounding/smoothing of the leading edge of the cartridge interface ramp just may solve the mysterious excess brass shaving issue

[Cokeman]

Is this an extractor issue? People with lots of brass in their channel, what does your spent brass look like? Are there scratches on the shells? Mine always has scratches and sharp edges on one side.

[jocko]

I just cleaned my PM 40 out tonight for the first time. I have about 1000 rounds through it and just wanted to do it for my peace of mind.

Mine was virtually spotless when I got it apart. I blow mine out through the clean out hole every time I clean it after every time I shoot it though.

I probably will not take it down that far again for awhile. Although it was not nearly as hard as I had feared, especially with the coat hanger tool to help with reassembly .

agree with you on that. I just feel in my little mind that once cleaned right, that after that , that little hole will do the job perfectly, but again it is a decision made by the owner. I just base my thoughts on 32K rounds and never been apart but once and that was over 5 years ago..

[CarlCyrus]

I will certainly try to do a better job of blasting the junk out via the clean-out hole in the bottom of the slide. But in the meantime, I have another question:

Would the amount of brass I found in the firing pin channel be able to cause light primer strikes?

Carl

[Tinman507]

Darned right it would. Would slow the striker down enough or impede it enough to give you a light strike. That's why it floored me so much when I pulled mine apart. Never had issues but I feel like I stopped issues before they happened.

[CarlCyrus]

Just talked to my brother. He couldn't get his apart to clean, so he blasted away with brake cleaner in the clean-out hole. He got some junk, but not a lot. Went and tested but still had one light strike about every mag.

He loves the pistol, so he will contact Kahr and ask for guidance.

Carl

[jocko]

does ur brother have access to this forum. he can go to the kahr tech section and pullup how to disassemble the slide. I really think he shouldmake an attempt at taking it all dwon, maybe leave the extractor area along but give that strker channel a good cleaning with no striker in it. Then if all else fails, let kahr have it back.

[Cokeman]

Just talked to my brother. He couldn't get his apart to clean, so he blasted away with brake cleaner in the clean-out hole. He got some junk, but not a lot. Went and tested but still had one light strike about every mag.

He loves the pistol, so he will contact Kahr and ask for guidance.

Carl

Is he sure that his slide is closing completely when the light strike happens? Many Kahrs have had the slide not close completely and the striker barely hit the primer.

[DJK11]

I should have taken a pict. but when I disassembled my PM45 before firing it and found large bits of brass. Phoned Kahr CS and they said "You must be using Federal ammo".

[CarlCyrus]

I haven't put any Federal through it.

My brother does have access to the forum and has seen all of the take down pics and videos he can find. For some reason, he can't get the little plunger (opposite end of the spring from the extractor) to move one iota. He and I will be getting together this weekend, so I'll show him how I took mine down, and give him the specially ground nail I made.

Carl

[Tinman507]

First time I pulled mine all the way down I couldn't move the extractor pin at all. I shot some brake cleaner down in there and it moved. Tell your brother it does move. Essential piece of gear is one of those tiny screwdriver sets. The smallest one works well for pushing the extractor pin down. The coathanger (Ripley Striker Spring Holder Backer) is also essential.

[CJB]

http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o542/tinman507/jockogundouche.png (http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o542/tinman507/jockogundouche.png)

How many cans of that smeg do ya need to clean that howitzer on the label?

[Tinman507]

It's also available in the 55 gal drum with the Swab Applicator.