Ordered a Kahr in .40S&W. I like the feel and size as well as the weight. I shoot a lot of revolvers so the DA pull will be fine. Just curious what peoples experience are with durability of the polymer version.

I have a freind who brought a couple of 9mms he thought they would make a great ccw gun.

I like the way they felt but they turned out to be un relieable. So much he will not carry them.

My CW45 has been utterly reliable.

Jerry Liles

Once upon a time, I was asked to help in a test of several different Kahr .380's as a Dept. was considering allowing them for off duty and backup carry.

I was issued 4 Kahr 380's and a couple of cases of 380, ball and various HP loads.

I never had a single malfunction.

I relubed the handguns every few hundred rounds or so, and cleaned them at the end of the first day, and at the end of the second day when I turned them back in.

Since then I have shot other Kahrs in bigger calibres and never had any problems.

I borrowed my son's PM9 for a while. I used it for pocket carry in an Uncle Mike's holster (same as used for S&W J frame).

Liked it better than the J frame. Longer sight radius and thinner to boot. Trigger pull is like a revolver, but very smooth.

Ran the DROS on it today. To bad I have 10 days to wait until i can pick it up. I'm very happy with the feel of the gun. Looking forward to shooting it.

I have a PM 9 that sit sin my front pocket when I don't put my little gun in a jacket pocket.

I prefer my J frame for a jacket pocket.

PM9 has been totally reliable. Kahr recommends at least 200 rounds of break in before carrying.

Kahrs are nice but they're a can of worms.

The P380 was almost constantly failing to feed, even after hundreds of rounds.

A PM9 that I had was randomly unreliable.

A CW45 I had never ever failed.

A CM9 I have now seems to be reliable. Knock on wood.

So some are okay and others not. Don't know what their inherent problem is, but when I see that mirrored smooth finish feed ramp that means, to me, feeding has always been a concern of Kahr's. No mirror finish feed ramp and the thing quits working?

Certainly not a Glock but the Kahr CM9 is easier to fit in a pants pocket. If Glock would make a 9mm pocket pistol, I'd heave the Kahr.

I have carried a MK9 since they came out. Have no idea how many rounds of of mostly 'whatever was on sale' ammo with not a single malfunction. I carry it in a custom (by me)pocket holster. I rarely carry anything else. Has the best double action trigger pull I have of any of my guns.

Took it out and shot it last week. Had some jams out of one of the two mags. Took the sharp edge off the bottom of the extractor and refired today. Smooth like butter. I will get a few hundred rounds through it before i trust it but i'm happy. A great gun.

My son works at an indoor gun range in Los Angeles, and has access to dozens of brands and models of pistols. He shoots thousands of rounds per year on the range, with nearly all of the 62 rental guns they have, plus his own 5 or 6 pistols. One of his pistols is a Kahr, and he thinks it is a very good pistol. He says he's never had any malfunction, and that it is an accurate, easy to shoot pistol. For a CCW gun, he thinks Kahr's are great.

I carry a Kahr PM9.... great gun. Good trigger, small, and dependable.

Jim P.

As much as I would like Kahr's to be good, their quality control must be poor.

I bought a spare mag for the CM9 and the floor plate was so loose it nearly came off when I was loading it. Had to get out the pliers and crimp the thing.

Oh well.

I'm breaking mine in now. Bought a CM9 last week-end. I'm following the break-in recommendations on the "Kahrtalk" forum. I also followed the recommendations I found there for lubing the gun. It appears to prefer to be run a bit "wet". First range session I fired about 175 rounds. My primary break-in round is a Europen surplus 9mm FMJ I have a bunch of. I would rate them as being on the "hot side" as factory 9mm rounds go. These were bought for a Sten Gun, and function flawlessly in that application. After the first couple of magazines of this round through the new CM9, it took them without a hiccup for the rest of the day. I also took several other types of 9mm rounds I've had lying around to the range, as much to use'em up for the break-in as anything. It was interesting to see how the pistol handled each one though. Mixed factory JHP's were no problem espcially after a few magazines had been run through. I have a cast load I make up in quantity for my Browning Hi-Power. It has proven utterly reliable in that pistol for years. Initially, the CM9 didn't handle it well. As the session progressed, the little pistol became more tolerant of those mild cast bullet reloads. At the beginning, it wouldn't function well with them at all...by the end it was taking magazines of the cast reloads without problems.
The trigger of the CM9 is suprisingly good for a DAO pistol. I've never had one like this before. All shooting was done from 15 yds. using a target with a 3" bullseye. Slow fire offhand, taking my time, I could reliably keep'em in or "next to" the bull. Shooting faster...bring it up to eye level and fire quickly...keeping them on the 8.5 x 11 sheet of target paper wasn't too tough. For a first session, especially with my old eyes...I'm satisfied. With regular range work, I'm confident I'll be able to hit "minute of bad guy" with the little CM9 if necessary.
In summary....these Kahr CM9's appear to work just fine if properly handled. They are VERY "break-in sensitive". The literature that comes with them tells you to expect a 200 round break-in period. I definitely saw it with mine. If you want a new gun you can take out of the box...load up with any 9mm on the market and be ready to defend your life...this isn't it. For me, the prep. and break-in issues do not outweigh it's inherent "carry-ability" which exceeds anything else I've tried. FWIW...I carried a borrowed Glock 26 for a little while, just for a test, and disliked it enough that I never took it to the range for further evaluation. Living in Florida....choosing a carry ALL THE TIME defensive handgun involves making some compromises. When you go down the "compromise road"..only YOU can decide which parameters you won't trade-off and which ones can be compromised. The Kahr CM9 meets my most important criteria, which are: being on me..ALL THE TIME and being utterly reliable. Those are my primary requirements. Yours may be different.

+1 on the Kahr P380. The pistol is small, light, very comfortable to shoot, and scary accurate. Do the recommended 200 round break in, keep it clean, and you should have no problems. IMHO, reliability issues usually are due to not gripping the pistol firmly and/or keeping fingers and thumbs away from the slide while firing.

quote:

Originally posted by RuarkReader:
+1 on the Kahr P380. The pistol is small, light, very comfortable to shoot, and scary accurate. Do the recommended 200 round break in, keep it clean, and you should have no problems. IMHO, reliability issues usually are due to not gripping the pistol firmly and/or keeping fingers and thumbs away from the slide while firing.

In most cases that is correct. That and poor weapons maintenance. I have now had a couple hundred rounds through this one without problems after initially a pile of problems. As someone posted above, the quality control was poor. I must have gotten a monday morning gun. Now that i tuned it, it is working well and shoots accurately.

Kahr has the best add going! That model is a hottie.

Heck I may just go out and get one ( a pistol, I'm certain I can't afford the model.....)

.

I carry a PM45, I cleaned and lubed it well right out of the box, and ran 250 rounds through it on the first day, I lubed after every 50 rounds and only had 3 ftf's during break in.

I cleaned and lubed it well when I got home and have been good to go since. I have over 1k+ rounds through it with no problems.


Kahrs have very tight tolerences, and have to be broken in, unlike alot of pistols. IMO they are the most accurate sub 4" semi in the world.

Kahr also has an unbelievable deal for NRA instructors, I got my Pistol 60% off retail.

Hey guys, I have a Kahr CW45 as one of my concealed carry guns. The break in was uneventful. It's remained utterly reliable. Accuracy is good. Concealability is exceptional. As a bonus, mine handles the ACT 7 shot 45 ACP 1911 mags w/o a hiccup, although is does NOT like McCormick Shooting Star mags.

Have three Kahrs. The stainless framed guns are by farrrr the most accurate of them all. The K9 being my favorite. The PM45 and P45 being my other two. The K9 will easily hit pop cans at 50 yards.
If Kahr made a K45, I would be the first to buy it.

Apparenly Kahr is tired of the anticrap and is moving to NE PA !! I wish NY and other north east states would wise up but that will be another 100 years.