My new Kahr CM9 - First Impressions

[WebSnyper]

View attachment 287858

WTF is "saudered?'' Do they mean "soldered?"

Stick the plastic peg in the hole and melt it, eh?

This company is a joke.

Yeah, I thought the same, but posted it exactly as it was on the site.

 

[Bassat]

Once more into the breech....
I got to Range USA w/my new (replacement) Kahr CM9 today. First off, please recall that my front sight flew off at last range trip. I had some Super-Glue laying around the house, and figure WTH, I'll trying fixing the front sight with that. I lightly sanded the top of the slide, the bottom of the sight, the holes through the slide, and the underside of the slide. I cleaned everything with 70% isopropyl, and let it dry thoroughly. Super glue applied to all contact surfaces and pressed for 24 hours. Re-apply glue around to accessible surfaces. Again, let dry for 24 hours. I am quite surprised that it held up through 150 rounds today. We shall see. If it doesn't hold, I'll get a screw-secured front sight.

I did purchase a Pachmayr Grip Sleeve for this gun; the grip is too small (thin) for my meat-hooks. It fits snugly when just handling the gun, dry fire, draw-practice, and such. All well and good until I start popping pills downrange. The grip does not move in my hand; that is good. It does move on the gun. After 3-4 magazines the sleeve has moved far enough down on the grip to impede ejection of the empty magazine. Not good. I am open to suggestions here. Glue it to the gun? Wrap it with some sort of grip tape? Try a similar Hogue (or other) same such device. As is, the Pachmayr Grip sleeve is unacceptable for a carry gun.

If you got this far, now for some good news. Recall that what I am shooting is a replacement CM9. The first one did not work properly out of the box, so Kahr sent me a new gun. That new gun now has 350 rounds of 3 different brands of 115gr FMJ through it with nary a hiccup. Full disclosure, I had 1 or 2 FTEject from the first few mags. That is classic limp-wrist, and I'll not blame the gun for my poor handling. So, at least 300 rounds without any kind of error (well, besides the front sight flying off). I do believe it is properly broken in. After completing the break-in today, I put 50 rounds of Hornady Critical Defense (HCD) through the gun, again without any type of malfunction. HCD has a straight-walled cone-shaped projectile. It fed, fired, and ejected just fine. I did take along 50 rounds of 147gr HST, which has a more FMJ-like projectile contour. I fired none of that as I prefer HCD in a 3" barrel. I know, I know, HST expands just fine out of 3" barrels. I am just a bit more comfortable with the added velocity and decreased penetration of HCD out of a 3" gun. More to come.

 

[Bassat]

Ok boys and girls, I am finally in good enough shape for a range trip. I took my trusty (really!) CM9 along for the trip. First off, to all of you naysayers, this gun has been reliable. Reliable through at least 700 rounds. Reliable with at least two different brands of 115gr 9mm FMJ. Reliable through 100 rounds of 147gr Federal HST. Reliable through 100 rounds of Hornady Critical Defense. Reliable. Period. Full disclosure: I did have one incomplete extraction in one of the first magazines full of FMJ ammo. That was most certainly in the first 50 rounds. There have been no other failures, of any kind, with any type of ammo, for at least 650 rounds. Caveats: at some point the plastic front sight flew off. My 'scuff it up and super-glue it' repair has held through about 300 rounds. I don't consider this a failure. I don't 'target' shoot; I shoot for minute of bad guy at 7 yards. Anyone worth their salt can operate a handgun they are familiar with without a front sight at 7 yards. Again, I don't consider this a failure. It has held, I expect it to continue to hold. If it breaks again, I'll put a screw-mounted version on... and superglue that in place.

As I mentioned somewhere above, after a break-in period (200-300 rounds?), I can now sling shot the slide on a fresh, full, magazine and it reliably loads the top round, every time... if I'm using the flush-fit 6-round magazines. The 7-round magazine continues to NEVER feed when I use the sling shot method. With the 7 rounder, I HAVE TO USE THE SLIDE RELEASE. Needless to say, the 7 round magazine is for RANGE USE ONLY.

I am happy with my (replacement) Kahr CM9. I deem it ready for EDC with the standard flush-fit 6-round magazines. It just works. The only catch is, the grip is too small for my hands. My last two range sessions have been with a Pachmayr Grip sleeve installed. It works well... enough. The sleeve does move around a tiny bit. It takes 5 or 6 mags (35 to 42 rounds) to make it move far enough to hinder reloading. Again, not a real problem. I carry 6+1 and 2 spare mags. I will run out of ammo well before the sleeve hinder and tactical reloads. Then again, Murphy says....

 

[Bassat]

Update on my Kahr CM9. I've been to the range 2-3 times since the last report. I put 100-150 rounds through it each trip. That puts my CM9 1000-1200 rounds without a mishap of any kind. Feeds fine, fires fine, extracts fine, ejects fine, locks open fine. My super-glue job on the front sight is holding up perfectly also. I have complete faith in this gun as an every day carry.

Interesting side-light. Today I compared my CM9 to my P365XL. I shoot the long-slow DA trigger of the CM9 considerably better than I shoot the P365XL. Shooting a colored paper targets from 7 yards, and pulling the trigger as fast as I can get the sights on target, I can keep 7 rounds from the CM9 in a 4" circle, centered on the point of aim. With the P365, I put 7 rounds in the same width, but they are stung out more vertically over almost 8 inches. I do notice that I can watch the front sight sitting on top the rear sight with the target at distance for the entire long DAO-like trigger pull. I see no such anything with the P365. Curious.

 

[Bluedragon]

It was my understanding you have to use the sling shot method on Kahr micro pistols after loading a mag otherwise you'll get nose dives on that first round

I was always led to believe from Kahr themselves recommending the use of the slide stop to chamber the first round from the magazine for the K9 series and that using the sling shot method could induce a failure to feed.

 

[Bassat]

After reading my own last post, it seems I may be jerking the trigger on the P365XL. No matter. I sold it yesterday. I prefer the long smoooooth pull of the CM9. Now considering a revolver. CA Off Duty and 3" Mag Pug are interesting .

 

[arty8]

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.

I still carry a PM9, great summer gun.

 

[Bassat]

I still carry a PM9, great summer gun.

After somewhere between 1,000 and 1,200 rounds without issue, I trust my CM9 enough to carry it. It functions perfectly w/147g HST, by the way. And I have tried slingshot method to load first round. It certainly did not work when the gun was new; I had to use the slide release, or it would jam. I've slingshot 2-3 times on the last two outings with no issue. That said, I KNOW it feeds properly with the slide release, so that is how I roll with this gun.

 

[yanmarguy]

I still carry a PM9, great summer gun.

I have a P9 myself and man I just love the fit and finish of that thing. Maybe it's already had a good breaking in prior to me owning it, but the thing is just so freaking smooth. I keep it right next to me at night when I watch TV. The P-Series seems to be a step up that is well worth the money in my opinion. The Machining on the slide is definitely visually more appealing as well.

 

[arty8]

Galco makes a great pocket holster for the CM or PM9. I've got 1200 rds thru mine, no jams, been loaded for 12 years.