I have a couple of Kahr pistols, PM9 and CW40 and rather like them. But I've noticed on this forum they are often disparaged. Why?

Perhaps I overspoke when I said on this forum. I posted it here because I am visiting more often than other sites. Thanks for the replies

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 357p239,

quote:

often disparaged

Really? Can you point to the "often" scenarios?

Are you sure it is here? I want to know where as well.

I own several. Aside from the numerous trips back to Kahr to attempt to repair the failure to return to battery, slide stop assembly falling out and other issues that have plagued them, and the thousands of malfunctions they've experienced, one blowing up in my hand when firing out of battery, immediately after coming back from Kahr from repairs, didn't impress me much.

Neither did Kahr's repeated attempts to deny the problems, or their having lost my pistol at their facility for seven months.

Other than that, they're great little pistols.

When they work.

I too would like to see examples of this happening often. As far as I can tell the forum has a generally positive view of the brand, though they certainly aren’t as popular as many other brands.

I owned one and liked it, except for the fact that it sat weird in my hand and rubbed my thumb raw when shooting. It was totally reliable and carried very well. I would like to try out another model sometime I just haven’t got around to it.

I tried three(3) times to love the Kahr handguns.......it never happened. I gave up!!

Had 2 of them, neither would work thru a mag without jamming, sometimes it would cycle 3 rounds in a row if you were lucky.

I traded one of them to a guy with full disclosure that it wouldn’t feed. He assured me there wasn’t a gun made that he couldn’t fix. Two months later I saw an add in the same local forum where he was offering it for sale

I have mostly seen favorable article 's about them in more than a few gun web sites and magazine's, Don't recall a bad review about them.

I don't have one but I find them esthetically very good looking.

While I no longer have any KAHR pistols, I've previously owned several, both with polymer frame and all metal. I can honestly state that the only issues I experienced were with two PM9 pistols, and my own fault for not reading the owners manual.

During the suggested break in, KAHR says to use the slide stop. I didn't read the manual and used my usual hand over slide to chamber a round. The slide wouldn't return to battery. I sold the first pistol at a loss and later bought another. Same issue but this time I called KAHR customer service. I was enlightened by a very nice customer service representative and the issue was resolved.

There is a reason that owners manuals are included with their product.

I wouldn't say "so often," but a small but very vocal minority have had some lemons. This tends to skew things a bit. The all-steel ones seem to have fewer problems than the polymer. I have had one of each (E9 purchased 1999, PM9 2006), and the PM had failures to return to battery caused by a barrel problem, which they took care of. The E9 didn't have any cycling failures, but the extruded/staked front sight did fall off, and cases liked to "bean" me. They took care of that, too. I liked them, the E in particular, but not enough to buy another.

Have had a few Kahr pistols, and they were al great little pistols.
Currently I have a CM9 and a little CW380, both accurate reliable firearms.

Happy MK9 owner here. Given its weight I carry it in an IWB holster.

I previously had a standard K9 that was wonderful, shot well, accurate, never choked, and in one of those irrational moments TRADED it for something else. About a year ago I picked up a K9 Elite, and it has picked up where my 1st one left off. I have never had any issues with the 2 I have owned, and I really enjoy them as a carry option.

c4

The steel K9 is an interesting piece of unique engineering with build quality, as long as u don't get a lemon.

A Kahr makes the trigger on my Nano feel like a custom 1911.

I think the biggest peeve with Kahrs is that "officially" you need 200 rounds to ensure reliability (and it actually does take a lot of rounds to get it there). With the same problem being is that it'll take 200 rounds to even find out if you have a lemon that wont be reliable regardless of how many you shoot. That's a lot of rounds wasted to find out you are one of the unlucky people who gets a lemon.

That being said I have two Kahrs, a CM9 that's perfectly reliable with any 9mm ammo that I have shot through it, and a CW380 that is very picky about ammo. It's 100% a jamomatic with certain ammo, and 100% reliable with others. I can live with the dichotomy nature of "my" cw380 because luckily, it's 100% reliable with the .380 defensive ammo I find suitable to carry.

I've had nothing but positive experiences with Kahr pistols. I carried a PM9 daily before I switched the the P365.

I hate to admit that I have owned two CW380’s - One new and one used. Both of them had return to battery problems. I thought the first was just a lemon, so I foolishly bought the second one. I have one Glock 42, now, and I’m looking for a second. I would strongly recommend against Kahr sub-compact .380’s - the others may be fine but not worth the risk to me. I have had zero problems with any Glock I have owned.

quote:

Originally posted by wrightd:
The steel K9 is an interesting piece of unique engineering with build quality, as long as u don't get a lemon.

Have you heard of a "lemon" K9? Offhand, I haven't. All the problems seem to be with the micro-sized polymer guns...

My K9 has been great and reliable with everything I've put through it, probably 2-3k rounds.