This is my Kahr CM9 there are many like it but this one is mine.

[Jeff F]

Finally broke down and bought a Kahr CM9 yesterday. Been looking for a smaller conceal carry pistol for awhile now and was pretty much narrowed down to the CM9 or the Sig 938. The 938 is a sweet little gun but Sig is way too proud of it and at $700 I had to say no thanks. So the Kahr at $389 is definitely affordable. The size is impressive for a 9mm and it handles really well. The sights are nice for a daytime sight. One of the things I noticed was that this gun has serious recoil springs in it. It is tight and I mean really tight and would probably be tough for most women to handle, maybe after breaking it in some it will be better hopefully.

So I broke it down last night and cleaned it and today while the wife and I were cutting a load of firewood shot the first 33 rounds through it. My first thought was that the recoil is no worse than that of my Glock 26. I was shooting Remington 115gr FMJ green and white box which in my opinion is one of the worst ammos on the market and was probably to blame for the rest of the story. I had a perfect mag for the first mag then I had failures to feed and failures to eject (stovepipe) on every mag after that, also the slide failed to lock back on the last round on every mag. The failure of the slide lock makes me tend to believe that the crap ammo was the problem and not the gun. I will put the Kahr recommended 200 round breakin through it and try some real ammo and hopefully the issue will go away and it will be the great little gun that I'm hoping it will be. Will it repalce my G26? Probably never going to happen but I think it will definetly fill a niche in the conceal carry rotation from time to time. Also failed to mention it is one accurate little gun and the trigger is awesome and dare I say it's better than Glocks

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[frankmako]

the cm9 and pm9 are well made guns. but for some unknown reason some of them don't work. not all of them, just some of them. a co-worker had a pm9 and it was a bear. it would not make it through one mag without some type of problem. no matter whom shot it and/or what type of ammo used. even duty ammo did not work right. he sold it after we put 600 plus rounds down range. it even went back to the factory, but came back with the same problems. so don't feel bad about the problems,,, others have had them too.

[Gideon]

It may very well clear up with a few more rounds but I suspect it's the gun; I have 4 Kahrs and love'em. Personally I think they're one of the best dedicated CCW guns you can buy. There's a crowd out there that hates them and that's fine. Frankly any new gun can have problems. I should white box ammo all the time in my Kahr's and have never had a problem. I'd recommend you shoot another 100 rounds through it and if you keep having the same problem with both mags then send it back. In the end, it'll be worth it when it's perfect and it will be. Nothing will conceal better; go from pocket to IWB or coat pocket. The trigger is the perfect CCW trigger; long so you don't discharge unitentionally under stress but as smooth as a ball bearing.

Enjoy it and don't sweat it if you have to send it back in. I had to do that with a Colt and a Ruger SP101 which goes to show you it's not uncommon to have a few problems with mass produced guns. Be sure to ask them to pay the postage!!

Good luck
Gideon

[Happypuppy]

Finally broke down and bought a Kahr CM9 yesterday. Been looking for a smaller conceal carry pistol for awhile now

I am looking too for a true pocket pistol. What's the diffrence between the PM and CM? I shot the Ruger and a couple others and didn't really care for the triggers. I understand the Kahrs have a good one.




Sent via Mental Power

[zonker1986]

I am looking too for a true pocket pistol. What's the diffrence between the PM and CM? I shot the Ruger and a couple others and didn't really care for the triggers. I understand the Kahrs have a good one.

Sent via Mental Power

PM 9 has polyganol rifled barrel, prettier engraving, dovetailed front slide, and more machined slide, and an additional $200 added to the price. I've shot both, and for a small pocket pistol, its tough to tell the difference. I went with the CM9.

BTW, to the OP.....Kahr recommends a 200 round break in before the gun is totally 100%. I saved myself the painful range session by racking the slide about 500 times until the springs loosened up a bit. Have not had one failure with any of my five Kahrs using this methodology. I've known people that had issues in what should have been a break in session and proclaimed the Kahr to be a POS, and sold it to someone else that broke it in properly and now has a perfect carry gun. I bought my CW9 from a person that warned me that the gun is not reliable. I said I understood that and offered him peanuts for the gun which he accepted. I have not had one failure after completing a good breakin period. I prey on gun owners that have no clue what they are talking about....and fail to read the instruction manual.

CW9 and CM9

[hfjeff]

Looks exactly like mine. Pound some more ammo through it and get it broke int. It is the best pocket pistol. You will like it. Congrats.

[sensei2]

hope matters clear up for you. stripped and lubed my CM-9 prior to its first range trip. it has been flawless through the first 150 rounds of very mixed ammo, which included Blazer aluminum cased JHP's and Hornady Critical Defense as well as FMJ's. didn't do the "rack the slide many times" drill, because i didn't know about it (i hadn't joined DC yet). i did take a diamond file to the very sharp edges around the ejection port, and that part is fine now. and it shot exactly to where the sights looked (for me). i bought mine fairly soon after reading the Gun Tests review and i had to pay $400 for mine (plus tax). it's been my hot weather, pocket carry gun ever since.

my one complaint is that only two out of the seven mags that i've tried so far will drop free when i press the mag release button. the others drop part way out and stick. i would have thought that either every mag would drop, or that none would. so far i've tried five flush-fit six rounders and two extended grip seven rounders to find the two that work as they should. haven't talked to Kahr or visited the Kahr Talk site about this 'problem', but i would be very reluctant to send the gun back to the factory to correct a condition that i can easily live with so long as it continues to feed, fire, and cycle perfectly. suppose it came back with the mag problem corrected, but now wouldn't function 100%?

[Jeff F]

Well I plan on being optimistic through this process and again it was only 33 rounds. I did rack the slide a couple hundred times last night while watching tv. Also got the Dillon ready to crank out some 9mm that will be more to the power level that they should be compared to those sub-standard Remington. I don't even know what possibly made me buy them. I have had problems with them before in well broken in and reliable pistols that would not function properly with them. Hopefully I will be able to get to the range in a couple of days and run the rest of 200 rounds through it and see what happens. Again I'm sure this pistol will turn out to be great.

[tokerblue]

I agree with the previous posters. I own three Kahrs (MK9, PM9, P380) and I have the same "break in" process. I take the gun apart, clean it thoroughly with a quality gun cleaner and then apply some Mil-Tec1 grease on the rails. I then rack the slide a few dozen times. Everything has run well after that.

[hardluk1]

After being sure its lube well get some sold 124gr fmj for the first 200 rounds. With a new pistol and even at recoil spring change time some 115gr loads just don't allways generate enought recoil to fuction right with these small pistols. I have CM and CW and never shoot 115gr ammo and also try avoid "bad" labels. . Federal cheap stuff and magtec allways seem to run fine. Or mil spec 124gr ammo then is loaded to a +P level and that is fine in the kahrs.

My cw9 was bought cheap from a guy that "hated it" . Seemed to be a waiste of money to him and I got it cheap. Been a great pistol for me. I have right around 2200 rounds thru the pair I have a ZERO problems. Not a single thing go wrong. Most anythime you have a issue with a pistol think ammo first. My CC ammo is also a 124gr GD +P.

Your right about recoil. They do feel easier to shot than they should. I can tell you for range time with only two fingers it still is earier to hang on to for double taps if you put a couple pieces of bicycle inner tube on the grip. Helps to stick it to your hand and you can get those free from bike shops. Mountain bike size tubes.

[ncsu08ms3]

I also picked up a Kahr CM9 on Saturday, I plan on breaking it down and cleaning it tomorrow, then taking it to the range to put it through its paces on thursday at the range. What do you plan on carrying it in? I was going to do another crossbreed but after figuring out that it fits in my pocket pretty well I'm thinking I may got this route instead: Next Holster Secret Agent so I can IWB or pocket carry.

Phillip

[Gary T]

I prey on gun owners that have no clue what they are talking about....and fail to read the instruction manual.

Man, I wish I could find some of these folks!!

[zonker1986]

Man, I wish I could find some of these folks!!

Hah!! I got my CW9 from a guy I worked with a couple of years ago. You know the type. He was a self proclaimed firearms expert. No one could tell the guy anything that he did not already know.
Bought the CW9, fired one box of ammo through it, and had multiple failures and proclaimed all Kahrs total POS and would never own another one. I asked him if he would take $200 for the POS and he said he didn't want to sell me such an unreliable gun. I told him that I would try to get it to work and made him promise to take it back if it was a lemon. He agreed. D'oh. I still have it hundreds of flawless rounds later.
I already knew what his issue was and normally would never take advantage of another gun owner.....but this guy....this guy had it coming. :)

[rammerjammer]

I'm wary of Kahrs because of their breakin period/reliability issues. Plus they are owned by a whacko religious cult.

[tokerblue]

What do you plan on carrying it in? I was going to do another crossbreed but after figuring out that it fits in my pocket pretty well I'm thinking I may got this route instead: Next Holster Secret Agent so I can IWB or pocket carry.

- I carried my PM9 in a CrossBreed for a couple of years, but switched to the Remora last year. It's less material and easier to adjust than the CrossBreed. I also find it more comfortable.

Plus they are owned by a whacko religious cult.

- They're also American made and support American workers, but if the owner's religious beliefs bother you, then that's your prerogative.