[omaha64]

After almost 200 rounds, this is what I'm seeing:

The guide rod hole is no longer round, but slightly oval.
Is this peening or normal? I do have the washer installed, and also greased the guide rod. Should I send this back to KT yet or wait and see? Thanks for your input.

 

[Muddflap]

On mine, the guide rod hole stayed round, but developed a noticeable lip around it.

Dave

 

[JFB]

...I do have the washer installed,..

How do you have it installled.

did you tapper the larger OD so that it fits into the drilled bottom hole?

the washer will move the guide rods contact point back towards the trigger, thus there will still be rod contact with the slides metal when the ID was tight. once this normal point of contact is made during recoil, the washer should carry part of the force and damping any vibrations. If the slide's metal was insufficient at the normal point of contact, there will be some peening untill the metal achieves sufficient surface area or till the washer carries all the force.

so seeing some peening of a slide that had thin metal is to be expected. I can see where a washer MAY limit the peening on a slide that would fail or if a very thin (soft) slide just prolong before it fails.

from the photo I would say you are still in the first condition. Continue to watch, the peening may stop at that condition.

Is the washer still in good condition or is it showing any wear around the ID?

 

[adamsesq]

Some ridge around the hole seems to be common. It starts to form and then stays at that point. I believe that is what you are seeing. But, at least based on that picture, I do not believe that is peening at all. Not to say it couldn't form into peening in the future, but those that have had true peening have seen it very early on, often earlier than 200 rounds.

If it were me, I would continue to shoot it with the washer and be happy - oh wait, yours looks like a couple of mine and I am doing just fine with somewhere between 500-1000 rounds on them. Sorry to those who are anal particular about round counts - my Palm went into the bucket and lost my memos where I kept that info...

-Scott

 

[omaha64]

JFB,

I did make an attempt at tapering the end per the given instructions. However, I do not own a rotary tool therefore, I had to secure the washer using a tip of a pen and then grind down the end on a 400 grit sand paper. The end result did not look as perfect as shown in the drawing. Do you think that this could cause this end result? Also, I did not examine the washer for wear; I will have to do that tonight.


adamsesq,

I am pretty anal good about keeping track of the number of rounds. This gun has gone through 194 rounds exactly (not counting those fired by Kel-Tec of course).
I keep a spreadsheet of all the guns I own which has the number of rounds each gun has fired, what problems I encountered, and all the relevant dates. Obsessive? I think of it as resumes for the guns.

I think I will do a couple more range sessions to see if the problem gets worse. Thanks for the responses.

 

[adamsesq]

FWIW I like the washers just fine without beveling them in my weapons. I just put them in "Backwards" with the lip towards the front of the gun and everything works well for me.

-Scott

 

[wolfsburg_de]

Mine has had the slight lip ever since I learned about peening and checked for it (maybe 100 rounds in). Now with 500+ rounds under its belt, over half of them with the washer installed backwards, it still looks exactly the same.

 

[JFB]

JFB,... Do you think that this could cause this end result?..

No, I was asking more for my out of curiousity.

Well... not exactly no effect, but very minimun.  If the piviot point established by the innermost point of the washer, put in backwards and only inserted into the top of the slides tapper (back 0.2&quot the tilting of the rod at the end of the slide will change vertically about 0.005".  This change in vertical during recoil could then transfer point of contact to the slide (where it would normally be without the washer)  So this is slide wear that would occur without washer.  

The senirios that can occur

1) the slide metal will peen to a point where it can substain the rod impact with the assistance of the washer.

2) Once the metal is peened down to a point it is not touching during recoil, the washer will then see all the force.  Now can the nylon carry all the force becomes the next question.  The resilance should, but there is very little margin.

3) the slide cannot handle the impact forces of the rod and the slide ID will open and the washer will be pushed out.

 

[omaha64]

The gun has functioned flawlessly so far, no failure to feed, fire or eject. I would have no problem keeping the slide if the wear is contained to the current state. Hopefully, a couple range sessions and another 100 rounds or so will clearly indicate one way or another. I didn't know about the backward installation of the washer; I'm gonna give this a try because tapering those tiny things sure is a pain in the derier.

BTW, I was wondering about the ability of those washers to handle heat. The barrel gets pretty hot after tens of rounds; will the plastic deform?

 

[JFB]

nylon 6/66
Melting Point 374-500°F
Maximum Service Temperature, Air 135-311°F
Deflection Temperature at 0.46 MPa 180-435°F
Deflection Temperature at 1.8 MPa 135-194°F
Vicat Softening Point 482°F

 

[adamsesq]

nylon 6/66
Melting Point 374-500°F
Maximum Service Temperature, Air 135-311°F
Deflection Temperature at 0.46 MPa 180-435°F
Deflection Temperature at 1.8 MPa 135-194°F
Vicat Softening Point 482°F

A simple "no" would have sufficed!!! You engineer types always want to put in soo many facts and so much data. ;D ;D

-Scott

 

[Guest]

received my hc slide replacement . Lubed it up and shot 75 flawless rounds through it. No sign of any peening,This slide is very nicely finished also, not the noticable machine marks, and a very smooth finish. Looks like the outside of the slide even had some prep work done to it before the HC is applied.

 

[JFB]

The barrel gets pretty hot after tens of rounds

I know from dealing with realestate types, "tens" actually means 99 . 99 rounds at rapid fire might be pretty dam hot :

 

[adamsesq]

received my hc slide replacement .  Lubed it up and shot 75 flawless rounds through it. No sign of any peening,This slide is very nicely finished also, not the noticable machine marks, and a very smooth finish.  Looks like the outside of the slide even had some prep work done to it before the HC is applied.

Cool Jocko - you deserve something a little extra special! Thick guiderod hole?

-Scott

 

[RAT76]

Cool Jocko - you deserve something a little extra special!  Thick guiderod hole?

-Scott

+1, & inquiring minds want to know about the guide rod hole.

 

[omaha64]

Jocko,

Was your original slide HC? Does KT allow an "upgrade" (extra cost of course) to HC if my blued slide peens?

 

[TxCajun]

Yes Jocko, I am very happy that you appear to have gotten an extra nice one. I also am curious about the thickness of the slide at the guiderod hole. That is what counts.

 

[Guest]

nylon 6/66
Melting Point 374-500°F
Maximum Service Temperature, Air 135-311°F
Deflection Temperature at 0.46 MPa 180-435°F
Deflection Temperature at 1.8 MPa 135-194°F
Vicat Softening Point 482°F

Joe... You never fail.... Good thing the lil washers and the 3AT don't have to worry about that vicat softening factor!

A simple "no" would have sufficed!!! You engineer types always want to put in soo many facts and so much data. ;D ;D

-Scott

+1 Scott...You gotta love him!

But at least he can put it in english and he does not charge retainers, and outlandish hourly rates and such as certain lawyers have been know to do. :-*


Mitch... sneaking over to wikapedia to find out what the heck a vicat is and why you don't want it to get soft.


Oh... and by the way... that does not look like peening to me Ohmaha... this does:

 

[Guest]

Yes Jocko, I am very happy that you appear to have gotten an extra nice one.  I also am curious about the thickness of the slide at the guiderod hole.  That is what counts.

2 answers. The cracked slide I sent in was custom work by APW in HC. KT replaced it with a hc slide. It looks very nice

#2. the thickness,, kinda hard to tell tx, as I have not read yet where one hc slide has peened, so my thoughts are maybe, just maybe the metal is hardened more by the hc process and therefore maybe even being alittle thin, will not peen. My slide hole is tapered and it is IMO a medium thickness. 75 runds doesnt show anything, but would like to feel better after at least 250 flawless rounds, then it will ride in my front pocket. But this slide is very very smooth finished and grease on the rails and it was off and running. 12 corbon dpx with no problems also. Not sure it will be my 24/7 CCW as it orignially was, as since getting my kahr pm9 and shooting over 1500 perfect rounds, I am finding it very easy to conceal, although not as good as the 380 but I like the additional firepower of the 9mm. In my 5.11 tactical T-shirt it hides extremely well, as long as some type of button type shirt is over it..

 

[TxCajun]

Jocko! Put a washer in it...
just in case.