I picked up a new Kahr CM9 9mm 6+1 shot 9mm pistol yesterday, along with an extended 7+1 round magazine. Seller was the new Range USA in Mishawaka. It is worth noting that I paid $392 for the gun and magazine, all totaled. That includes a 10% discount for new-member-first-purchases. That is about $50 lower than anything else I could find online. So I start off happy with this gun.
FYI: this is not a shooting review; I haven't gotten that far, yet. Hang on for a week or so.
Initial impressions of the gun itself. Obviously, it is light and small. I expected that. The grip is very thin, but I believe it will be manageable. I shoot a Keltec P32, too. For frame of reference, a Glock 21 G4 fits my hand(s) perfectly. The first thing I did was rack the slide: STIFF!! Really stiff. Again, nothing I did not expect from a micro-9. It is stiffer than the P365, though. The trigger is my main reason for buying this gun; long, smooth, DAO. No stacking, no grit, no nothing. I rate the pull as fantastic. The reset is, as expected, long - almost full release. What I did not expect was the ambiguous-ness of the reset. It feels a little sloppy and imprecise. For the undisciplined, this may lead to short-stroking. I believe (hope) I will be OK. Reach to the trigger is short, and I have an almost completely curled trigger finger at ignition. Ideal? No. But better than my Keltec P32. It ain't no Kimber Custom II.
This morning I racked the slide about 25 times on an empty gun (no mag). I noticed that it felt 'gritty'. I don't usually clean guns before the first range trip. This one NEEDED it. Once apart, I noticed the entire inside of the gun was covered with a fine grey dust. I'm not sure what it was, but it looked and acted like fine machining, or polishing residue. And it was everywhere. After disassembly, thorough cleaning (including magazine which were also dirty), the gun cycles smoothly. I manually racked the slide (empty gun) 200 more times, yes, I counted them. I think the recoil spring has loosened up a bit, but not sure. The gun sure feels a lot better being cleaned and properly lubed.
Issue to notes. There are marks on the left side of the frame to line up for disassembly. They are needed. My old eyes could not see the little nub on the takedown pin. The small size of the gun and the stiff recoil spring add to the difficulty of disassembly. If you are used to a 5" 1911, be prepared for some grip strength exercises. Most of you will be aware the Kahr highly recommends using the slide release instead of sling-shotting the slide on a new full mag. My gun REQUIRES it. In fact, racking the slide on an empty magazine does lock the slide back, BUT removing the mag and attempting to rack the slide does NOT drop the slide. Read that last sentence, again. I hope this clears up with some use; it is a potential SD/Training issue, most certainly. I did some online research which suggests I need to be VERY AGGRESSIVE with manually racking the slide even with a full magazine. My initial thought is to forego that scenario, and use the slide release as the MFR suggests. Consistency and muscle memory and all that.
Speaking of magazines, I disassembled them and they were almost as dirty and gritty as the gun. The spring is stiff, and the internal base-plate (not locking cover) is incredibly small. Well, duh! It is a single-stack. Anyway, the combination makes re-assembly a bit more difficult. Also, the mag release is small, and I HAVE TO break my grip to use it. On top of that, magazines to not 'shoot out' of the gun. They just kind of fall. I hope that improves with use, also. In any event, that is another SD/training issue. Plan on manually extracting magazines, just in case they don't fall away clean. In the heat of a confrontation, an empty mag in the way is certainly a problem.
I have the gun and loaded magazine in my pants pocket right now. I am wearing shorts with an elastic waist band (no belt) and the gun is not pulling my pants off. IIRC, it is 5.3oz lighter than a 10+1 P365, which does pull my pants off.
All-in-all, I am happy with my new CM9. I have deciphered some of the vagaries of this hardware, and will train with it accordingly. It is not significantly different than the Keltec P32 I've been carrying for 20 years. I am looking forward to getting back with my first range report in the next week or so.
FYI: this is not a shooting review; I haven't gotten that far, yet. Hang on for a week or so.
Initial impressions of the gun itself. Obviously, it is light and small. I expected that. The grip is very thin, but I believe it will be manageable. I shoot a Keltec P32, too. For frame of reference, a Glock 21 G4 fits my hand(s) perfectly. The first thing I did was rack the slide: STIFF!! Really stiff. Again, nothing I did not expect from a micro-9. It is stiffer than the P365, though. The trigger is my main reason for buying this gun; long, smooth, DAO. No stacking, no grit, no nothing. I rate the pull as fantastic. The reset is, as expected, long - almost full release. What I did not expect was the ambiguous-ness of the reset. It feels a little sloppy and imprecise. For the undisciplined, this may lead to short-stroking. I believe (hope) I will be OK. Reach to the trigger is short, and I have an almost completely curled trigger finger at ignition. Ideal? No. But better than my Keltec P32. It ain't no Kimber Custom II.
This morning I racked the slide about 25 times on an empty gun (no mag). I noticed that it felt 'gritty'. I don't usually clean guns before the first range trip. This one NEEDED it. Once apart, I noticed the entire inside of the gun was covered with a fine grey dust. I'm not sure what it was, but it looked and acted like fine machining, or polishing residue. And it was everywhere. After disassembly, thorough cleaning (including magazine which were also dirty), the gun cycles smoothly. I manually racked the slide (empty gun) 200 more times, yes, I counted them. I think the recoil spring has loosened up a bit, but not sure. The gun sure feels a lot better being cleaned and properly lubed.
Issue to notes. There are marks on the left side of the frame to line up for disassembly. They are needed. My old eyes could not see the little nub on the takedown pin. The small size of the gun and the stiff recoil spring add to the difficulty of disassembly. If you are used to a 5" 1911, be prepared for some grip strength exercises. Most of you will be aware the Kahr highly recommends using the slide release instead of sling-shotting the slide on a new full mag. My gun REQUIRES it. In fact, racking the slide on an empty magazine does lock the slide back, BUT removing the mag and attempting to rack the slide does NOT drop the slide. Read that last sentence, again. I hope this clears up with some use; it is a potential SD/Training issue, most certainly. I did some online research which suggests I need to be VERY AGGRESSIVE with manually racking the slide even with a full magazine. My initial thought is to forego that scenario, and use the slide release as the MFR suggests. Consistency and muscle memory and all that.
Speaking of magazines, I disassembled them and they were almost as dirty and gritty as the gun. The spring is stiff, and the internal base-plate (not locking cover) is incredibly small. Well, duh! It is a single-stack. Anyway, the combination makes re-assembly a bit more difficult. Also, the mag release is small, and I HAVE TO break my grip to use it. On top of that, magazines to not 'shoot out' of the gun. They just kind of fall. I hope that improves with use, also. In any event, that is another SD/training issue. Plan on manually extracting magazines, just in case they don't fall away clean. In the heat of a confrontation, an empty mag in the way is certainly a problem.
I have the gun and loaded magazine in my pants pocket right now. I am wearing shorts with an elastic waist band (no belt) and the gun is not pulling my pants off. IIRC, it is 5.3oz lighter than a 10+1 P365, which does pull my pants off.
All-in-all, I am happy with my new CM9. I have deciphered some of the vagaries of this hardware, and will train with it accordingly. It is not significantly different than the Keltec P32 I've been carrying for 20 years. I am looking forward to getting back with my first range report in the next week or so.
