Occasional "dead trigger" / fail to reset trigger on older p380

[caen1944]

Good day everyone.

Thanks for welcoming me back after a long time. I've got 2 Kahr pistols, but I'm not a big "gun guy" so I don't think much about whats inside them until something quits working. I shoot the guns I do have a lot though.

Anyway, I purchased a used p380 many years ago. It has been pretty good and ended up on my CCW permit when we were able to get them here in California. I practice a lot with my carry guns and started noticing that my p380 would start to fail to feed. I also noticed that the trigger seemed lighter than it should and I was starting to get light strikes. I also started to feel the slide hit the back of the frame harder during recoil. So I changed the striker spring, extractor spring, striker block spring and the recoil springs. After some swearing while reassembling it all, and a bit of break in, those problems all went away and I was happy.

However, not long after I developed a different issue I'm looking for advice on. About 1 time every 30 rounds the trigger will fail to reset. Live round in the chamber, but its as if the disconnector didn't work. There is a small dent on the primer, as if the firing pin can strike the cartridge but not hard enough to set it off. This concerns me enough that probably won't carry it unless I can fix it, but what happened recently makes me scared to even use it. I was loading the empty gun from the slide stop (which avoids FTF), and noticed that the trigger was dead even on the first round. But after ejecting that round I noticed that it also had a dented primer. I can understand this happening while shooting, if the sear doesn't grab the striker, the trigger is already pulled and the striker safety is defeated. But how can this happen if the trigger is forward while loading an empty pistol? It's one thing to have an unintentional double-tap if the firing pin sets off the next round while shooting, but quite another to have a gun go off while loading it.

The striker and striker block seem to function normally if I manipulate them with the slide off the frame. I'd imagine that all the springs in the frame are pretty old and may need replacing. Also the nubbin on the trigger bar that interacts with the slide and disconnects the trigger during shooting is worn down a bit. If this was a glock I'd just replace all the parts, but I looked on the internet a bit and it seems pretty challenging to rebuild the frame part.

So my question(s) for the experts are:
1. Anyone have a problem like this and know the cause? Any chance the frame itself is worn out, or too flexy or something and the gun has lived out its useful life?
2. There isn't a lot of video tutorials out there on how to rebuild the frame. Can a non-mechanically inclinded schmuck do it without good tutorials?
3. Does it make sense to try to send it back to Kahr for service?

Thanks so much for any advice!

[sorcerer]

Sounds like it needs a thorough break down and cleaning. Also sounds like the firing pin channel is gunned up and not allowing the firing pin to completely retract. Firing pin also needs to be closely inspected for damage.

[Whiskeyhorse]

Could be trigger reset spring or Trigger bar. Might want to take it down and should be a easy repair. As another poster said, maybe a good cleaning.

[caen1944]

Cool! Thanks for the tips. I wonder if I messed something up when I changed the firing pin spring. It was pretty hard to get back together. That plastic guide rod is very bendy. I saw that a stainless steel aftermarket one is available. Do you all think those are a good idea?

Also, the trigger bar seems like a good thing to change also. Any pointers towards any good guides on how to put all the stuff in the frame back together once I tear it all apart?

[Bawanna]

Trigger bar shouldn't need to be replaced, and I'm not aware of any that improve anything. It may need to be smoothed a bit it there's a rough spot but that's pretty easy. Did you have any issues before you changed the firing pin spring?

[caen1944]

The gun has been shot enough that the round thing on the trigger bar that interacts with the slide to disconnect the trigger is worn, but I can't see any way for the slide to actually "miss" it. But yes, before I replaced all the springs in the slide I was having light strikes, failures to feed, and I could feel the slide hit the back of the frame when shooting. But what I wasn't having is any failures to reset the trigger that I recall. I'm going to buy one of those stainless steel guide rods for the striker spring, and maybe a new striker, carefully re-clean the hole where they go, and see if that helps. If not, I'll go for a new trigger bar and new springs in the frame. I'll let you know how it works.