RainDodger
Member
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:
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: