Kahr Arms

[sirsaechao]

I own and carry a Kahr P380. It started to have some issues but I put about 800 rounds into it. Sent it back to Kahr and they replaced the extractor, guide rod and spring and worked the slide and now its been flawless. Kahr CS is amazing. Sent me a prepaid over night packing slip. Boxed, shipped and turn around time was about 8 days total.

[AKDoug]

My CW40 has been such a huge pile of shit that I have it in my safe and won't sell it to anyone. Started off with the first round fired. Fired the pistol and the magazine shot out. Since it's a fairly violent little pistol, I figured I was hitting the release somehow. Changed grip, same shit. Changed hands, same shit. Traced it back to the magazine release. Contacted Kahr and they said send it in. I said, send me a new mag release, but they wouldn't. So I just purchased one off their website. New mag release solved the problem and allowed me to get my required break in rounds done. Then I started getting random light primer strikes and failures to feed. Then it started dropping mags again. I finally just said screw it and threw it in the safe. My wife bought me a Springfield XDs (not much bigger than the Kahr)in .45ACP. I have shot 2000 rounds out of this little gem with not a single issue.

[Dienekes]

Bought a CW45 a couple of years back. Loved the DA, and accuracy was outstanding for such a small pistol. Early on I got feeding issues and mag drop issues. Short version is that in spite of its virtues, it was unreliable. After about 350 or so rounds I dumped it. I have clunker Model 10 S&Ws that ALWAYS work.

Bought a Gen 4 Glock 19 and got on with my life.

[Ned Christiansen]

I've been disappointed by what I've seen from Kahr in recent years. When the K9 first came out I got one of the first ones and wrote it up for ARMAS Magazine in Spain, and it was great-- making Expert in IDPA with it was a breeze. Something has changed. Peoples' guns don't work and when they send them back they are examined by (I believe) people that don't understand the problem. They have a checkbox form: Customer complains of X, change part Y (almost always the recoil spring, it would seem). Maybe they shoot it five times and "it works, it must be fixed, good job, team!". This is typical of the firearms industry. They made it, but they didn't make it right. They got it back to fix and the fixer does not know guns but has a form to go by. These are not bad or stupid people, they just have not been trained. Many companies in many industries suffer from this. They don't keep the people that designed and created the original good stuff. There is employee turnover. Eventually there's nobody left who really knows the product, but they keep making it, tweaking it for easier production and better margins, without knowing, or caring, about end-user consequences.

Last week at a class that had nothing to do with .380's, I had three officers bring me P380's that weren't working. One had been back to Kahr three times. Did I hear that right, I asked the cop. Yes, three times. Another had called Kahr and was told this: when you first chamber a round, it must be done by dropping the slide from the slide stop. If you slingshot it or rack it, the stack of rounds in the magazine can become misaligned and cause malfunctions.

'K. Maybe this officer did not translate that well to me, and maybe there is some perfectly good explanation for this explanation but, otherwise, "wow" comes to mind.

[TMS951]

I have a ~2012 PM9.

It has been flawless for me, about 700-900 rounds through it. Used it in some classes, accurate out to 50yards on steel.

[cynical]

Another had called Kahr and was told this: when you first chamber a round, it must be done by dropping the slide from the slide stop. If you slingshot it or rack it, the stack of rounds in the magazine can become misaligned and cause malfunctions.

'K. Maybe this officer did not translate that well to me, and maybe there is some perfectly good explanation for this explanation but, otherwise, "wow" comes to mind.

I've heard this many times and in many places. Never heard a good explanation for the why, but it's not a hard habit to get into. I suspect it has something to do with properly chambering the first round with the short slide and heavy spring, maybe with how the rim fits under the extractor? It's weird, but it doesn't bother me.

[oldtexan]

..........Last week at a class that had nothing to do with .380's, I had three officers bring me P380's that weren't working. One had been back to Kahr three times. Did I hear that right, I asked the cop. Yes, three times. Another had called Kahr and was told this: when you first chamber a round, it must be done by dropping the slide from the slide stop. If you slingshot it or rack it, the stack of rounds in the magazine can become misaligned and cause malfunctions.

'K. Maybe this officer did not translate that well to me, and maybe there is some perfectly good explanation for this explanation but, otherwise, "wow" comes to mind.

I believe that the recommendation to drop the slide using the slide stop is in the Kahr manual.

I've owned a couple of K9s, a TP9, and a PM9. I still have the PM9, which is the gun I carry those rare times when I have to wear a suit. I find that my PM9 likes a new recoil spring about every 750-1000 rds, and will exhibit failures to return to battery if that's ignored. It's up to about 2500 rds, IIRC. It had to go back to Kahr for the recall a few years ago when it developed a severe peening issue on the barrel. I haven't had the problem with mags dropping out inadvertently. I don't particularly care for the Kahr long trigger stroke, especially compared to my Walther PPS, but the PPS was still years in the future when I bought the PM9 in 2005.

My PM9 will run fine racking the slide, but judging by comments on various forums, apparently many of them don't. If a particular Kahr couldn't be loaded by racking the slide, that could make reducing a stoppage a real problem.

And rounds seem to want to escape spare magazines if carried loose in a pocket.

[pinzgauer]

I've heard this many times and in many places. Never heard a good explanation for the why, but it's not a hard habit to get into. I suspect it has something to do with properly chambering the first round with the short slide and heavy spring, maybe with how the rim fits under the extractor? It's weird, but it doesn't bother me.

Same direction from Kahr on my P40. Very short recoil spring and stroke... Its very easy to mess up on a slingshot.

As mentioned, its an easy habit to establish and I've actually started doing on other pistols.

They are also difficult to seat a full mag on, and I think that leads to reports of mag catch issues. Firm tap and I never have an issue.

I can't speak to recent Kahrs, nor the cheaper models. But all the people I personally know of with P's have seen good experience once past initial break in.

I find it ironic that people will make excuses for Glocks that have issues in the 500-1500 round range, but give up on Kahrs in just a few boxes. It helps to have expectations set by a friend to plan on 500 rounds for breakin and possible a trip to Kahr but it will be solid from there out. And that has been exactly my experience.

[maximus83]

I've been disappointed by what I've seen from Kahr in recent years. [...]

Another had called Kahr and was told this: when you first chamber a round, it must be done by dropping the slide from the slide stop. If you slingshot it or rack it, the stack of rounds in the magazine can become misaligned and cause malfunctions.

'K. Maybe this officer did not translate that well to me, and maybe there is some perfectly good explanation for this explanation but, otherwise, "wow" comes to mind.

What you heard has been true for mine. I've had a PM9 for about 6 years and while it runs absolutely reliable if you use the slide stop to drop the slide, I found that you couldn't slingshot the slide reliably. Kahr CS actually told me the same thing you heard. Very odd.

[AR10TFn]

Hi everyone- I have a 97 model E9 that I purchased new in 97, did the 200 round break in and then some just to be sure that I could trust it, never had any troubles with it, ate and shot anything/everything I cared to stuff in the mags, even 115gn laser cast hand loads. In late 99 I sent it back to kahr to have night sight installed, they replaced the slide with a stainless k9 slide, and while they had it replaced the mag catch/release,[I had heard they had some issues with them-dropped mags] no charge. As of now I have appx 2500 rounds through it, no problems, the only thing I have done is replace the recoil spring. I have change my edc gun and now carry a G-19, I have large paws and the glock fits them better, I also found I prefer the glock trigger over the kahr, [similar but different]. I found that kahr had two different triggers early on, one a "NY" trigger long like a revolver, and later they came out with their "elete" series of K9's, which had shorter pull triggers, So in a effort to make the kahr trigger more like my g-19 I contacted kahr to find out what I needed to make the change, well it turns out I know more about my pistol than the guy I spoke with. All I could get from him was my pistol had the "standard" trigger in it, so, so much for kahr tech. help. But as for the pistol itself, it has run flawlessly for me, I still carry it when I can't conceal my g-19. So like some earlier said, if you get a good one it's great, if not you have a problem child!