Range Report: Brand Spankin' New Kahr CM9

[RainDodger]

Ok, I went into this purchase with great trepidation, and it is with a bit of surprise and relief that I get to write this review.... believe me when I say that this is an unbiased review. Just because I bought this thing doesn't mean I'm an instant Kahr convert.

For a number of years I've been a distant semi-fan of Kahr pistols. The FEEL of Kahr pistols at least. They fit my hand better than some others, and I liked the trigger pull compared to other pistols in the same class. It's a subjective thing. I have some other compact pistols, among them a Springfield XDs (in .45) and all kinds of revolvers (I don't shoot them a lot). I decided I wanted SMALL and probably a 9mm.

Long story short, I narrowed my list down to the Glock 43 and one of the myriad models of Kahr 9mms. Since I've always preferred the feel and trigger of the Kahr, and it IS smaller than the Glock 43, I researched even more... then bought a Kahr CM9. To explain further, I'm not a Glock guy, but I was tempted by the 43 because I know it would be dead reliable and simple to use. There are many horror stories of the Kahr pistols, but after watching countless videos, I sort of thought many of the guys that were bashing them were not experienced users of pistols. Most of what appear to be knowledgeable guys were fine with the Kahrs. So, I narrowed my choices to the ultra-simple and smallest Kahr in the 9mm line: the CM9. 6+1 with a flush-fit magazine. No safety, no loaded chamber indicator. It's nearly $300 cheaper than the fancier PM9, but the guts are nearly identical. I won't go into differences here, but for my self-defense purposes, the CM9 meets the need.

I talked my favorite gun store guy into giving me a good deal and brought it home today. I did a quick clean, set up a target, spread out a tarp to catch my brass and went to town... as well as I could with the single 6-round magazine the gun comes with!

Kahr says to put 200 rounds through their pistols before considering them totally reliable. That's kind of irritating to me, but hey, I went with it. I also heeded their advice to use the slide release method of letting the slide go forward rather than simply pulling it back. All their advise is right on the money.

Three words sum up my experience after 150 rounds: Not one failure.

I thought I'd be nice and put only FMJ RN bullets through it for break-in. I did that for a while. It worked so well that I grabbed various hollow points. The pistol fed them all perfectly. All but one magazine were hand loads. Montana Gold FMJ RN bullets, various hollow points (2 different profiles), and one magazine of ancient Winchester Silvertips. Even mixed magazines with different bullet profiles loaded. Not a single hiccup. The first round out of the magazine fed perfectly every time, and the slide locked back on the last round every time. Sights were "pert-near" on point of impact (a couple inches left at 21 feet), and the trigger is quite nice. It's a long pull with a fairly long reset, but very smooth for the entire travel. This is a SMALL pistol and if you don't have miniature hands and fingers, your pinkie will hang off the butt. The gun is still controllable quite easily. There's a quarter (yeah, it's a dirty quarter, but it's a 1941!) in the picture to show you just how tiny the pistol is.

I have one single nit to pick (if I have to). The mag release button could stick out a little more and it might be better. I was using the very end of my finger to press it rather than the pad, but part of that could be because I was wearing a very thin leather glove on my strong hand. The mag pops out positively when the button is pressed. Overall quality of the pistol is very nice, especially for the price (~$360 in my case). Looking inside the stainless slide, there are no machining marks and everything looks great. The chamber is fully supported and the ramp is highly polished. Very nice all around.

I stopped at 150 rounds only because it seemed kind of monotonous! I'll shoot it some more this weekend. Here's how it looked after 150 rounds:

 

[22250Rem]

For a number of years I've been a distant semi-fan of Kahr pistols.

Me too...... Back in the 1990's I came very close to buying one, IIRC it was the "K 9".(?)..... I've always heard good things about 'em. Kind of regret not buying one back then. Thanks for the range report.

 

[bannockburn]

RainDodger

Well done Roger! Great review! Pretty much all the same reasons I went with a Kahr CM9. Back when I was checking out sub-compact 9mm.s I had narrowed it down to the CM9 and the Beretta Nano. Tried to like the Nano but the ergonomics of the CM9 were just that much better and right out of the box it had a much nicer trigger than the Nano did.. Have been very pleased with my decision especially in that the DAO trigger on my Kahr is a lot like the DA trigger on my two other favorite CCW guns: a S&W Model 649 and Model 638.

 

[vba]

RainDodger, my CM9 experience emulated yours. What 200 round break in, worked great right out of the box. This with hollow points, my 124 grain cast lead reloads etc.

I did trade it in on a Glock 43 only because I couldn't get used to the long trigger pull. I know, "don't get rid of a gun that works". Alas, I had a moment of weakness.

Thank goodness, the G43 is just as reliable.

 

[Ca survivor]

good to know, all I've been seen it's bad reviews on Kahr's, but Kahr have plenty of model to cover every CC requirement, it is great CC size gun

 

[Mike J]

Congrats on your purchase. Thanks for the pic with the quarter. I have been wanting one of these but I haven't been able to locate one locally to put my hands on. I may order one after the overtime job I'm about to go on ends.

 

[SeanSw]

I'm glad yours is working. My CM9 never made it through a single magazine without one or more failures. I loved the size and trigger system but it wasn't meant to be. Kahr customer service made sure of that.

 

[Kingcreek]

I bought a PM9 years ago. Never had an issue with it. Carried it almost daily and shot it frequently. Totally reliable.
I started hearing all these negatives about Kahr but couldn't say I had any. I took a chance and bought a CW9 at a good deal more or less on impulse but was also considering it as a possible CCW for my wife or for me if she adopted the already proven PM9. For some reason, The CW9 has proven itself to be just as reliable as its smaller partner.
My only concern- that little slide lock spring seems somewhat more finicky and vulnerable to damage on the CW9 but that is only a potential issue with reassembly.

 

[Shaq]

Great that the pistol is reliable. But as for the sights, "A couple of inches left at 21 feet" means much more left as the distance increases. Try bench-resting it at 30-40 feet. It may not matter at arms-length but it may mean the difference between a hit or miss at 20-30 feet. I'd see about moving the rear sight to the right a bit.

 

[rugmar]

Great that the pistol is reliable. But as for the sights, "A couple of inches left at 21 feet" means much more left as the distance increases. Try bench-resting it at 30-40 feet. It may not matter at arms-length but it may mean the difference between a hit or miss at 20-30 feet. I'd see about moving the rear sight to the right a bit.

Yeah, actually 4.72 inches at 50 ft.

 

[bgw45]

Mine has been carried in my pocket and shot regularly for 2 years. Same good report as the OP.

 

[RainDodger]

Sights - at present, I don't care where it hits as long as there's a group. I've ordered a set of Dawson Precision sights with a fiber optic in the front one. I'm also not going to adjust the sights until, 1) the pistol is well broken in, and 2) after I simply have more time behind the trigger. Then I will adjust to suit... and then it will become a regular carry pistol. As for shooting at 50'... I hope I'm never relying on any ultra-compact at that distance. I know, you can't always control that. I know because I carried a handgun for years as a Special Agent... and I carried and qualified with a 2.5" barrel and a 2" barrel. Part of the qual was at 50'. With practice, a 2" barrel can be mighty dangerous to a silhouette target... or whatever. But I'd rather have a rifle.

Update from this afternoon! - I put another 75 rounds through it without any malfunctions of any type. The more I shoot this little pistol, the more I like it. The trigger DOES take getting used to. There's almost no stacking of spring pressure - I don't know how they do that. It's a very consistent pull, so it will surprise you if you're not used to this kind of trigger. I ordered new sights because I don't really care for the white post below the rear notch, and the front sight on the CM9 is polymer. I prefer steel; just a subjective thing.

Bottom line is, I don't find much to dislike about the Kahr CM9, and I'd recommend it heartily... and the smaller your hands, the more you'll like it I think.

 

[C0untZer0]

I think they're the least picky about ammo of all the micro-nines. I shoot Winchester 115gr "Target" and Federal Champion out of mine all the time with no problems.

I did almost everything that Jocko on KahrTalk recommends doing for break in. I cleaned the CM9, including using non-chlorinated brake cleaner in the striker channel. The brake cleaner partially erased the paint on the rear sight. I went to Hobby Lobby and bought Testers Bright White paint and repainted the rear site with a toothpick. I manually cycled the slide 500 times. Yes I actually manually cycled the slide 500 times.
One of the things that you are supposed to do is double-check to see if the magazine spring is inserted correctly. When I looked at the magazine I noticed that I could see the spring coils. It wasn't until I took the magazine apart and a plastic piece fell out that it dawned on me that the reason I could see the spring coils was because the follower was broke. Yep I received a magazine from the factory with a broken follower. Kind of ironic that they test fire the gun at the factory and the test firing breaks the follower and they don't notice it and ship it out broken anyway. But obviously they're not test firing the gun to make sure it doesn't break followers, they firing it to make sure it feeds, fires and ejects. Maybe they should add another thing to their test checklist "Look at the follower after test firing"

My gun was knocking holes in the front of the magazine followers so I sent it back in to get a rampectomy.

The gun worked fine with the broken followers, I was tempted to just leave it alone, but anyway I have hundreds of rounds through it now without any problems to feed, fire, eject or return fully to battery. I only shoot it at 21 feet but I think its great for a pocket nine. This is 7 shots:

 

[CDW4ME]

To give you an idea of velocity, 5 shot averages from my PM9:
Speer Gold Dot 115 @ 1,092 fps / 305# KE
Remington HTP 115 +P @ 1,105 fps / 312# KE
Federal HST 124 +P @ 1,120 fps / 345# KE
Winchester Ranger T 124 +P @ 1,139 fps / 357# KE
Corbon 115 +P JHP @ 1,264 fps / 408# KE

 

[franco45]

I've owned a CM9 since they first came out several years ago. I bought mine because I had a CW9 that was flawless through about 500 rounds at that time. I was intrigued by the small size (and price) of the CM9. Both have been 100% since then. The same can be said for my CT9 their bigger brother.

 

[RainDodger]

Those velocities are higher than I thought they'd be from that short barrel. I called Speer a while back and asked them what velocity they really thought was required for the Gold Dots to expand (in a .45 ACP), as I was hand loading some. They said above 900 FPS should do it. I would think that Gold Dots moving above the 1K point should work pretty well in our little pistols. I definitely wouldn't stand in front of one.

 

[sabbfan]

No failures out of my CM9 either, accurate little thing and easily rides in the pocket of my cargo shorts. Love the trigger since most of my shooting is with revolvers.

 

[CDW4ME]

http://www.luckygunner.com/labs/self-defense-ammo-ballistic-tests/
Lucky Gunner ^ tested bullets from short barrel, my velocities are lower/comparable, good tests to see if bullets are up to par.
Speer Gold Dot 115 @ 1,092 fps / 1,143 fps / +51
Remington HTP 115 +P @ 1,105 fps / 1,171 fps / +71
Federal HST 124 +P @ 1,120 fps / 1,168 fps / +48 (This is my 2nd pick of the ammo I've got)
Winchester Ranger T 124 +P @ 1,139 fps / 1,153 fps / +14
Corbon 115 +P JHP @ 1,264 fps / 1,221 fps / -43 fps (This is what I've got in my PM9, only load to break 400# KE)

If I ran those over the chrono again it would not surprise me if the 5 shot average deviated +- from what I got before.

 

[Capt. Ct.]

I do a lot of research before I buy a gun. No matter what brand or type of gun you will get people that say how great they are and others that say what trash they are.I notice Taurus and Kimber tend to fall into these categories more than most. I am not bashing Kahr but I will tell you my personal experience.
I bought a Kahr P9 Covert years ago. Well so much for the 200 round break in period. It blew up before I got the first 100 rounds through it. The range owner said " oh, those things do that all the time". Now fast forward a few years. I still like the concept of the little gun and went to my local gun shop. I asked to see a CM9 and the owner told me he wouldn't sell Kahr because they are junk. I then went to a gun shop in a neighboring city. I ask to see a CM9. It took the guy about 45 seconds to get the slide to lock back. When I tried to pull it back I couldn't. I just gave it back to him. I personally have given up on Kahr. Yes, your mileage may vary. Glad yours works well. I hope you enjoy it. My new Kimber micro 9 works perfectly with all kinds of ammo even though it cost me twice as much as the Kahr.

 

[RainDodger]

Interesting - so many different experiences, as you'd expect on a forum. It's a bummer that you had so many problems. I put more rounds through mine with no problems at all. The new sights I picked up will go on this afternoon. The main gunsmith I deal with for pistols carries a Kahr himself, but that had no bearing on whether I bought one or not. He's never had a malfunction on his two Kahr's. One thing any potential buyer should be aware of - they ARE extremely tight when new! In fact at the LGS where I bought mine, they said they've had some that didn't go fully into battery even when empty, without a thumb-press. I would attribute that to the oil and goodies left on a brand new gun, but still, that's tight. Mine was tight too - I would bet the wife would not have been able to pull the slide back. I'm no weight lifter, but I didn't have a lot of trouble with it. After something like 300 rounds it is loosening nicely, although it's still tight... and still working just fine. I got the feeling that the guys in the LGS thought I was slightly crazy to voluntarily buy a Kahr, but of course they sold me one, and at a good price!

I've also found there's a lot of polarity, especially with what some people would call a "temperamental" pistol. A love/hate thing, and often the opinions are held by people that have no experience with the guns. I've found the Kahrs to be very nicely made - far more substantial in my opinion than the little Rugers and many other small pistols. I almost bought a Kimber that was used - superb feeling pistol (I already have a Pro Carry HD in .38 Super), but I didn't want to inherit someone else's problem child. I figured a gun that had been traded could very likely have problems.

So there you have it. My experience with Kahr has been stellar. Other people haven't had the same experience, just as with most firearms. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another if it's what I needed.

Happy shooting everyone... and reliable shooting hopefully!

 

[RainDodger]

For those that might be interested, I thought I'd do a last quick report. I made some changes to the CM9. In an effort to make the stainless slide a tiny bit less noticeable and to make it a little more "mine", I did some Cerakoting and installed a set of new Dawson Precision sights. After finishing it up, I put a few more magazines through it and it's still 100% with no malfunctions of any kind. I'd say it's ready for carry and I feel confident with it. Here are some pictures... be aware, the color does NOT show up well on a monitor! It's not really an off-green color! It's Cerakote's Burnt Bronze color. I decided to do something altogether different and Cerakote the sights as well. The back face of the rear sight is done in black, as is the rear plate (I'd call it the firing pin retainer if it was a 1911!) on the slide. The pictures aren't great - in person, it was very well done by the certified Cerakote specialist at Greene's Gun Shop here, north of Seattle. I didn't know if I'd like the sights done also, but it turned out quite nicely I think. Of course I had to replace the fiber optic in the front sight, but that's easy stuff. Here's two pictures of how it looks now. Any of the cooties you see in the picture are "picture cooties" and not "Cerakote cooties"..

 

[bannockburn]

RainDodger

Will take your word for it that it's bronze colored and not OD green on my monitor! Like the new sights, especially how the back of the rear sight is black.

 

[RainDodger]

Yeah, it sure looks O.D. green on the monitor. Maybe it's the blue background. It's definitely not though. It almost looks like a metal flake bronze.

 

[Tirod]

Getting color rendition thru the maze of computer circuits is problematic. First, the camera sees it the way it was engineered, then translates that to the format file it records it in. Take that file and run it thru a different computer to display it on another manufacturer's concept of color rendition and we are lucky to see things as well as we do.

Surf Foliage Green AR's on the net. I've even taken pics of my AR in Foliage against backgrounds like a carpet vs multicam - it seems to change radically even using the same camera. Goes to the basic processing of the information and how it can be biased when saturated with large areas of contrast.

Why, I've even seen newspapers fall victim to it when publishing photos of suspected assailants. ; )

Anyway, the idea that any gun will work 100% perfectly out of the box seems to be pushed onto the Kahr expectation list - yet as noted Kimbers don't, and if you surf the 1911 forums there are legions of posts of $1,100 guns that won't feed, chamber or extract without being returned for further servicing. Yet they get a pass. I'm prepared to believe it's not so much a gun issue as the buyer's expectations for what the real purpose of the gun is - Kahr's are meant to be life and death, the expensive guns are just man jewelry.

I've been breaking in my CW.380 on cheap steel cased fodder and find it's quite reliable - shooting quality brass cased ammo no malfunctions at all at 150 rounds. What I am aware of is that there are a lot of new shooters now who never previously owned any firearms, and who have very high expectations of how guns should work. I am also reminded that Nordstrom is closing their doors and won't be picking them up at the airport.

Much like the review of a certain model fry machine I read last night, the only one who complained that the actual temp reached was 5 degrees less than indicated on the settings and that the "chefs" who tasted the results of the french fries made could tell a difference. Ah, really? Yep, I'm buying that fryer.

 

[RainDodger]

Many good points, Tirod. During my initial research before going with the Kahr, I watched innumerable youtube videos. Most of the negative reviews were done by people that had what I judged to be less experience with handguns in general, and expected perfection as you said. I didn't expect perfection and I was pretty surprised to receive it. Most of the guys that regularly review handguns (and do so thoroughly), had good things to say about Kahr. As a general rule even with the most expensive handguns, I've rarely experienced perfect functioning. I've had some interesting "luck" though... my Kimber in .38 Super has yet to malfunction. I've had it about 8 or 9 years now and it's a wonderful shooter. On the other hand, a relatively expensive Springfield TRP and a Sig 1911 both required some "adjustment", shall we say. Now they're fine, but just out of the box they were not. Handguns are machines and machines require care and maintenance and they can still screw up occasionally.