When you hit the magazine release...

[jpruitt]

...do your magazines fall out on their own, or do you have to pull them out yourself?

The last several autos I had, they fell out on their own, but my new gun (a Kahr CM9) they only come out an inch or so, and I have to pull them out by hand. The guy at the gun store said this was because the magazines were so light that they didn't have enough weight to make them drop on their own.

This is the smallest gun I've ever owned (both the gun itself and the magazines). I really prefer that the magazines fall out on their own, I don't want to have to worry about having to pull it out if I'm actually in a fight. If this is the way a gun this size is always going to work, I'll probably have to trade it for something else.

If it's just a break-in period that is required, that would be great, as I'd really like to keep the gun, it shoots great.

 

[ForumSurfer]

Search the Kahr forums. I've read that some people polished the mags lightly to rectify the problem. Take the advice at your own risk...I'm not a Kahr-smith and I have no experience on the matter. I have a buddy who had similar issues with his cm9 on 2 of his 3 magazines and I remember him mentioning it after his first outing. I never asked if it worked or not.

 

[Smaug]

Either the gun has a magazine safety, or they should drop free. (or it is a very old gun, which was not designed to have drop-free magazines; Lugers for example)

In your case, if the gun doesn't have a magazine disconnect safety, it is probably just a matter of Kahr trying to make the gun just a little too compact.

 

[hanno]

Some pistols (like some models of the CZ 75) have a magazine break so the mag doesn't drop free. With the CZ 75 it is an easy matter to fix this by either bending the magazine break flat or replacing it.

http://czcustom.com/CZ_75-CZ_85-SP01Solid-Mag-Break.aspx

""Q: "Why won’t the magazine fall free from my CZ 75?"
A: The CZ 75’s and 85’s have a "Magazine break" to reduce loss of magazines, (the CZ 85 Combat has a free fall mag.). This "break" is a flat spring located in the rear of the magazine well. It can be replaced with a "free fall spring" or modified by a gunsmith. The gun should not be used with the spring removed."

http://www.cz-usa.com/faq/


I don't own a Kahr so don't know if you can as easily do the same but the Kahr customer service folks should be ablt to tell you.

 

[19-3Ben]

My Kahr K40 does exactly what the OP describes. The mag catches somewhere in the magwell and I have to pull it free. It takes VERY little force to do it, and sometimes it actually does drop free on its own.

All my other guns just drop a mag freely, with the exception of my Sig P232. But that's a heel release and a whole 'nuther can of worms.

 

[Dogguy]

Early Glock magazines usually did not drop free (some did). Some guns with the mag release on the butt (European style) do not drop free. It's part of the design, to prevent the magazine from falling out and being damaged or lost.

 

[41]

Either the gun has a magazine safety, or they should drop free.

A mag safety only prevents the gun from firing without the magazine being seated in the gun. I have a s&w 3914, and I know someone with a s&w 5906. Both have mag safeties, and both drop the magazine when the mag is released.

 

[Jim Watson]

I think it is a short light magazine dragging against the molded plastic receiver.
I don't know how significant it is. Will you always have an extra magazine along and be ready for a fast reload?

 

[hAkron]

Take off the grips and try it. If it falls free then it might be dragging on the grips or the grip screws. My Sig P229 and my CZ 82 will do this if it run the grip screws in too far.

 

[Johannes_Paulsen]

The empty magazine always drops free in my Kahr MK9.

It will often hang in my Glock G36.

 

[Sniper X]

older stock Glock mags were made to NOT drop free. This was their idea so as to not loose a mag in a gunfight. These guns were not meant to be used in competition, so a free falling mag wasn't one of the deisgn features. The all metal drop free Glock mags took care of this problem/design feature. IDK about Khar, but would suspect the same thing. I'll also bet none of the aftermarket Khar mags stop in the mag well and wouldn't drop free.

 

[MidwestRookie]

my 18-round mec-gars fall out of my Berettas like butter..

 

[Cards81fan]

This is kind of a loaded question. While everyone will answer, correctly, based on their firearms and experience, only real true answer is "Depends on the gun."

Any other answer simply means you haven't yet stumbled on an example that works contrary to your experience. This is true regardless of weather your magazines are supposed to stick or fall free by design. There are always cases of weapons working correctly, and failing to work as designed.

 

[Sig88]

In most of my guns, the magazines fall out on their own. The only ones that don't are the 597 with after factory mags and the Ruger MKiii.

 

[B1gGr33n]

I had a Taurus PT24/7 that the mags stuck. They'd only drop about 1/2 inch. I sold it before I got around to fixing it. My S&W 22A drops them clean. I've shot various pistols belonging to friends/family, and it seems to me that the major tendency for a magazine hanging up is a poly frame. I work in the plastics field, and while manufacturers do their best to make shrinkage uniform in production, there are a lot of factors that influence how much a plastic part shrinks after molding. Just my $.02

 

[autospike]

I don't want to have to worry about having to pull it out if I'm actually in a fight.

I went the other way. I always grab and rip the magazine out during mag changes - even on guns where the mag drops free. I don't want to be in a fight, hit the release, and lose valuable time trying to figure out what happened if it doesn't drop free.

 

[4thPointOfContact]

I owned a Glock-17 with the original non-drop mags for so long that I just naturally strip the magazine from every pistol I fire.

 

[Rexster]

Depends on the gun.

My Baer TRS and P229 SIGs drop their mags freely, as designed. My Seecamp LWS-32, by design, requires me to release the mag with the heel-clip style mag release, and pull the mag free.

FWIW, my so-called "European" P220 SIG had the older-style heel-clip mag release. I had to pull the mags out, the fastest way being by hooking the toe of the floor-plate with my index finger, and ripping it free, though I did not like treating my mags that way.

For that matter, I still don't like to let my mags drop free, and prefer the "reload with retention" way of reloading my current auto pistols. Southeast Texas is bayou country, with vegetation being thick brush or forested thickets. Before Hurricane Katrina taught the world-wide tactical community that dropping your mags in three feet of murky water means you will soon have no mags left, we knew it down here. If we didn't grow up learning it, such tropical storms as Claudette and Allison taught us.

OTOH, the ability of a mag to drop free just might be a good thing, in isolated incidents of civilians actually having to reload in a hurry, so if one's pistol should drop the mags freely, and does not, getting it fixed is the best practice.

When running scenarios, I seem to let my mags drop free when reloading is urgent, and retain the mags if there is a lull, so this should translate into the real world. (My only real-world defensive discharge of a firearm involved one shot, so I have no absolute real-world test of that theory.)

 

[GLOOB]

Here's a new one.

I have an FNX with an ambi release. When I hit the righty release, the mag drops free. When I hit the lefty release, the magazine usually needs some help... esp if the slide is locked back. Doesn't much bother me, except I wish the mag would ALWAYS do one of the other when the lefty release was hit.

Mags veritably shoot out from all my other pistols, except my mkIII. Even though I disconnected the mag drag, a loaded mag will often catch cuz the first round in the mag likes to get a head start.

TBH, I think a heel release is preferable to a badly designed thumb release + drop free mags. I've had a couple pistols now that liked to autoeject their magazines when looked at funny.

 

[MJ_ATL]

I have a Kahr PM9 and the mags fall free without any modification. Since the CM9 is roughly the same gun I'd expect the same behavior. Have you called Kahr?

 

[Caliper_Mi]

Mags fall free here. Although I did have to remove the mag disconnect on my Ruger 22/45 to achieve that. Everything else dropped from the factory.

 

[FIVETWOSEVEN]

The gun should not be used with the spring removed.

Glad they put that in the manual, could you imagine the horror if we used our CZs with that spring removed?

 

[Mike J]

I voted depends on the gun. My Ruger & XD both let the mag drop free. I have a little Kel Tec P-11 & when I first got it the magazine had to be gripped firmly to remove it. I sanded the inside of the plastic grip until it will let an empty magazine drop free (It is important to remove the mag catch before doing this otherwise it may become damaged & not hold properly. If you remove too much material it can cause problems also.). Loaded mags drop down some but still have to be pulled out.

 

[possum]

Depends on how dirty the gun is, what kinda dust, debris, etc is in the gun. Depending on how much shooting and training you do, and the environment at those locations can cause mags to stick.

My XD has over 20k through it, and I ran it so hard, and through so much training that every once in a while i would use very fine sandpaper to buff the mag well to smooth it out if I was having mag sticking issues.