I'm a new owner - is what I experienced the first time firing it normal?

[Walther_PK380]

Hello,

I just bought the first handgun I've ever owned yesterday (actually, since it's after midnight now I guess it would be the day before yesterday) after someone tried to kick in my door at 4 am with my wife and 4 year old son home, thankfully the guy wasn't successful in kicking in the door, but it made me realize that if he had been able to break in there was little I could do to stop him without being armed. So a few hours later I bought the Walther PK380 because it was lightweight simplistic and fit my hand really well. But after taking it to the range for the first time, I was rather disappointed with it and wanted to ask you if what I experienced was normal and/or just part of the breaking in process.

First things first, chambering rounds seemed to make them stick, like the slide didn't want to fully re-seat with the round chambered. This wasn't an issue when the firearm automatically reloaded after firing, but was an issue nearly every time I would reload and manually pull back the slide to chamber the first round from the fresh clip. If it makes any difference, the ammo I was using was (I think) Federal FMJ 95gr 380 auto... at least that's what it looked like, though it might have been Remington UMC 95gr 380 auto, I've already thrown the box it came in away though. It was definately 380 auto ammo though because I made sure to check the engraving on the bullets to make sure they hadn't given me .38 ammo repackaged in a box labelled 380 or anything stupid like that. Also, I didn't clean or re-lube the firearm before taking it to the range for the first time if that also makes a difference. At any rate, I am concerned about this issue continuing because I don't want to have to cycle through multiple rounds to get one to chamber correctly in an emergency self defense situation. Was that just because it's new, unlubricated, not the ideal ammo, or was I doing something wrong?

Next, and more concerning is that frequently the hammer would drop but the gun didn't fire, upon ejecting the bullets they didn't appear to have been struck by the firing pin at all. It did this a lot at first but seemed to get better toward the end of the box of ammo. I did check to make sure the safety was in the up position with the F showing indicating that it was in the firing position. Although I suspect this was likely an issue with uneven lubrication since it got better the more I used it, but I wanted to ask your opinions on this anyway and see if anyone else experienced the same thing with new PK380's. I only fired 42 rounds at the range, so I know it's not even fully broken in yet, and I also dry-fired it about 10 times without snap caps (I didn't realize I was supposed to use snap caps at the time, I know better now, hopefully I didn't damage anything). Oh and I didn't dry fire it until I was already home with it and had taken it down, cleaned it and put it back together, so even if I did damage the firing pin by dry firing it, that wouldn't have been what caused the issue with failing to fire at the range.

Apart from that I liked it well enough, and it was fairly accurate right out of the box, though it did seem to hit about 2-3 inches to the left of where I thought I was aiming at about 10 yards... I'm guessing that an minor rear sight adjustment would take care of that, and I'm also guessing that has more to do with the way I hold the gun rather than the gun itself. I had rented a couple of firearms from the range previously just to have fun paper punching with. One was the Taurus 9mm which I was not impressed with at all, and the other was the bersa 380 which I was very impressed with but apparantly isn't made anymore, and that was part of why I chose the PK380. Right now though, I'm wondering if I shouldn't have looked for a used bersa rather than get the new Walther, but I don't know, I've never broken in a firearm before so maybe this is all just part of breaking it in.

Do you have any other thoughts, tips, suggestions, recommended accessories, etc.?

[KsThumper]

Your problems are common with a new out of the box gun that has not been lubed first.

It is advised to disassemble, clean and lube a firearm before first use. Look at page 20 & 21 of the Owners Manual.

Note how the guide rod and recoil spring are seated to hold the barrel in place and be careful because the spring will fly across the room. Getting the spring, rod and barrel reassembled is tricky - review this thread:

PK380 Recoil Spring Installation Tool Revealed

Shooting left is a trigger finger issue.

Target analysis

Pistol Group Analysis

[table42]

I'm left handed and I tend to punch the paper to the right. Last weekend my buddy was shooting my PK and he was punching paper to the left (he is right handed). I had made a sight adjustment soon after I purchased it and thought I may need to move it some more but now I think I'm right on.

And some people preach the gospel of never firing a new weapon before a good clean and lub. The reason is to avoid some of the things you've mentioned. But I know how it is, sometimes you just can't wait to run a few rounds thru it. There will be a break-in period.

On a side note: I have weapons in a safe but I also have two handguns strategically located, loaded and with a round in the chamber. Just flip it from safe to fire and it is ready. They are also out of reach of small children (if I had any). Your situation will be different and things I used to do I no longer do. Be safe but be ready.

[Walther_PK380]

Note how the guide rod and recoil spring are seated to hold the barrel in place and be careful because the spring will fly across the room. Getting the spring, rod and barrel reassembled is tricky

I took it apart, cleaned it and lubed it today, the reassembly seemed rather easy to me. I couldn't figure out how to disassemble the trigger/firing pin mechanism though, but I did add remmington oil to the firing pin through that little port in the side. Sorry I don't know the terminology for all this yet.

There was a lot of chunky crap (might have been GSR or maybe dirt from the manufacting process) throughout that I cleaned out before lubing everything with remmington oil... afterward the slide action worked a lot better, but it still jammed up on me twice out of about 40 times racking it, I'm not 100% positive I pulled the slide back all the way though, so I'll give it another chance.

Oh, one more question I have now that I've cleaned it, does anyone know what that blue tool is for? I read the manual it didn't mention it at all, just the takedown key which is the black one. The blue one has to be used for something, I just can't figure out what.

[GTIwarrior]

the "chunky crap" you cleaned out of there would be the packing grease applied at the factory. As far as the blue tool, the only thing I remember being in the case when I bought mine was a chamber block. You put it in the empty chamber and a piece sticks out the ejection port to show at a glance that the weapon is not loaded.

[Walther_PK380]

Oh, ok, that's probably what it is. Thanks.

[KsThumper]

Most of the plastic 'empty chamber' indicators I have ever seen are yellow ... but yes it is placed in the chamber or cylinder and the slide closed or the hammer dropped on a revolver. New in box handguns come from the manufacturer this way.

[hmott3]

My wife bought pk380 a few months go. We are also brand new to this. I've been doing a lot of reading though. I wanted to make a couple of comments.

You can dry fire your gun without snap cap as much as you like. As a matter of fact its GOOD for it, should clean up a gritty trigger and wear things in nicely. Snaps caps are nice for practicing things you need an actual round for. They aren't required for pulling the trigger.

Also I don't think its normal for your gun to not chamber the round correctly. I think I would give it one more chance now that you have cleaned it, but if its still an issue I would send it back to S&W. I know my wifes pk380 out of the box didn't have an issue chambering a round. We fired it without cleaning it first and it worked nicely. After a clean and lube its been perfect. Anything less I would send it in. You have a one year warranty, don't let it slip away as you try and figure it out yourself. Trust yourself, if you are doing what should make it work and its not, call S&W.

[heathenhawker]

Originally Posted by Walther_PK380

First things first, chambering rounds seemed to make them stick, like the slide didn't want to fully re-seat with the round chambered. This wasn't an issue when the firearm automatically reloaded after firing, but was an issue nearly every time I would reload and manually pull back the slide to chamber the first round from the fresh clip.

Just went over this in my introductory thread:
first time handgun owner

You're not supposed to manually load rounds directly into the chamber, this gun isn't designed for it.

[ns66]

sorry to hear about your problem
after i bought my new pk380, i clean it lube it, dry fire and rack slides maybe a hundred times before i fire any round, and when i get to fire it, no fte or ftf