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Girlfriend's New Kahr PM9: Range Report

4K views 34 replies 24 participants last post by  banana 
#1 ·
I took my girlfriend down to the local shooting range and gave her a few guns to choose from for her early Christmas present :santaclaus:. She looked at the Glock 26 and 27, the Kahr pm9 and pm40, and the S&W J frames. I tried to talk her into the .40, but ultimately settled on the 9mm. The place I bought the gun from also has an indoor shooting range, so we decided a break-in session was in order.

The good:
To my surprise, I was able to shoot tighter patterns with this little guy than I can with my Glock 27 with extended +0 mag. This gun has a much longer trigger pull than the glock 27, comparable to my S&W sigma 9mm, except much smoother. At 12 yards, my girlfriend (a novice shooter) was able to consistantly put 6/7 rounds in the center orange section of the silohette target. Recoil was less harsh than my glock 27, and about the same as my sigma. I was pleasantly surprised by how managable the gun was, even in my girlfriend's hands (5'5", 115lbs).

Ok,... the bad:
The 6th round FTE, followed by the 8th, 9th, 13th, 14th. Overall, out of the first 40 rounds, 20 malfunctioned. Forgive my lack of knowledge on proper terms, but several times, the gun would not fire the round in the chamber (winchester white box), and racking the slide back wouldn't eject the live round. After battling these problems, after about 40 rounds, the gun simply would not fire anymore. A gunsmith on site wasn't able to disassemble the gun, as something had broken off, or become lodged internally. Needless to say, my girlfriend was not impressed with the initial reliability of this gun. Over 500 rounds through my new glock, and nearly 1000 rounds through my sigma without a single malfunction. After inspection by the gunsmith, it appears that a piece of the primer became lodged around the firing pin. A Kahr specialist is supposed to come by tomorrow to check it out. I'm aware of the advised break-in period for these guns, but this gun will require a little more attention.

The guys at the gun range were very helpful, and knowlegdable, and eased my mind with their efforts to find a solution to my problem with the gun. Customer service makes all the difference. :yup:

While we were waiting for the pm9 to be repaired, we were given a pm40 to shoot. Whoa, whole different animal. I must admit that this would have been the wrong choice for my girlfriend. Niether of us were able to achieve the same accuracy that we had attained with the PM9. Recoil was much more noticable, although not rediculous. The PM9 was such a sweet shooting gun that I don't have any regrets about not going with the larger cartrige of the PM40. My girlfirend was excited when we left the range, and asked me about what was involved with acquiring a CCW permit.:duh: Made my day.



Thank you guys for this great site. :hand10:
 
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#2 ·
Congrats on the purchase & the heighten'd intrest of your girlfriend :congrats:
Dont worry about the PM9 they will correct the problem, I speak very highly of Kahr's PM series as I carry a PM45 & my wife (about 5'9 120) carries the PM9. They have proven to be great gun's & are extremely easy to shoot despite there small size & our's have been very reliable. Only a few FTF's ever & that was after extensive firing, which happened to be with Winchestor white box :confused: as well.
Just tell her to be patient they will fix it & she will love it, the PM9 is the perfect choice for edc especially for petite women :comeandgetsome:
 
#3 ·
Hope all works out well with your gun..sucks right out of the hole to have that happen, but, best place I guess for it. Small guns, big calibers sometimes don't mix for some shooters.
My wife, 5', 130lbs shoots my 45's and 40's like a champ, actually loves them. She shoots a Sig P239 and a S&W 642, which are her guns. She picked them and is indeed very capable with them.
Nice to have a significant other involved with your interests and takes self defense to heart. Luck.
 
#6 ·
A Kahr expert is going to look at it tomorrow evening. I certainly hope it's an ammo problem. I'm not really worried about it, as getting a properly working weapon should be the easy part. More importantly, my girlfriend has taken an interest in getting her CCW!! I could care less about the gun at this point:bier:

She liked the way the gun felt, and just called me a few minutes ago to tell me how excited she was to find a weapon that was easily concealable, powerful, and..........cute (as she put it). Hopefully the guys down at the range will fix whatever the problem may have been. Hopefully this gun will take the white box ammo, cause I bought a bunch of it.

 
#7 ·
Back about 5 years ago I bought 4 WWB and 1 WWB Winclean, didn't have a problem w/ WWB but had pieces of brass break off on 3 rounds in the one box of Winclean. Didn't stop the gun from working but one of the pieces hit me in the face. Never bought another box of winclean! I still use WWB at the range on occasion, and have never had another problem since. And I won't use Winchester ammo for carry. Guess I'm a bit paranoid gut I've never had any problems w/ Speer gold dots.
 
#9 ·
Congrats on your girlfriend's Kahr PM9! I am sorry to hear you are having some problems with it. What is the partial serial number (example: IA17xx)? I have had no trouble with WWB or Remington UMC as far as ball ammo, except for one round of UMC that had a crimped case.
 
#10 ·
Congrats on your purchase for your girlfriend. I think this will work itself out.

My first Kahr PM9 was a dog, also. I experienced many failure to feed problems and repeated failure to return to battery. Kahr customer service was friendly but without a good fix. I eventually traded it away after these problems were continuing after at least 450 rounds.

My second PM9 was a different animal. I super cleaned and lubed the gun before going to the range and it paid off. A liberal amount of lube on the rails is essential for proper cycling with Kahr polymer guns. I now have about 500 rounds fired without a problem.

After your technical issue with the ammo primer is resolved, I recommend you completely disassemble the gun and lube everything. Pay special attention to the rails making sure they are spotless. I'm sure it will pay off.
 
#11 ·
These polymers are a different beast, but once they are up and running, its hard to stop'em. Hang in there, and congrats on the g/f's attitude. you got it made now !
 
#12 ·
I just got a PM9 a couple of weeks ago and ran 100 rounds of Winchester white box through it without one hiccup. Then I ran 100 rounds of Remington UMC yellow box through it and the only trouble I had was when inserting a full mag with a closed slide, then trying to rack and release the slide to chamber the first round, the round was getting hung up on the feed ramp and would take some fiddling to get it to feed up. This happened on a few consecutive mags, then went away. But with 200 rounds through it so far, I have not had any failure to fires, or failure to feeds once the first round was in the chamber. Been working pretty smoothly for me so far for the break in period.
 
#13 ·
After inspection by the gunsmith, it appears that a piece of the primer became lodged around the firing pin.
If this turns out to be what caused the problem, I wouldn't worry about the gun, or using the WWB for practice. Faulty ammo happens, no way to tell what caused it. Just a reminder, as you load your magazines give the rounds a quick once over looking for abnormality's.
 
#14 ·
Before reloading I used a ton of WWB from Wal Mart and the only issues I had were with using the .45 in moonclips.

If you are not reloading I would also suggest you try CCI Blazer aluminuim cases which Wal Mart has cheaper than WWB and I feel is a better cartridge. You can also save more by ordering cases from Natchez.
 
#15 ·
I had a problem with an AR15 about 3 yrs ago,I was shooting reloads I bought on the internet from a reloader and all of a sudden the trigger locked up and wouldn't pull,so I popped it open after clearing the gun and lo and behold there were about 10 spent primers in the lower receiver around the trigger group,apparently the primer pocket on the reloads was loose enough that the primers were blowing out of the cases when fired,I actually had to remove the hammer and trigger to get them all out.
 
#16 ·
Thanks for the excellent advice. I'll follow up with the ammo and cleaning suggestions. I'm going to give the Wwb ammo another try before I make the switch. It's all I've ever fired through my sw9 and my g27. Neither gun have had a single issue through about 1500 rounds.
 
#22 ·
That was just one trip to wal mart. I have more. :image035:

mostly .223, .22, and 12ga.


I haven't heard back from the gun shop. I'm going to head down there tomorrow and see what they say.

I'll agree that the glock 26 is probably a superior gun, but a g26 isn't practical for my girlfriend. She wears girlie clothes, and the kahr is the only thing she can potentially carry that won't print really bad. I'd love to get her a kel tec PF 9, but they're LEO only in CA.
 
#20 ·
i recently traded my pm9 for a glock 26. i had only shot around 350 rounds but the bullet would get stuck while raking the slide. even after following kahr's instructions to lock slide, insert magazine and release, the slide still did not function properly. i called kahr and no help. i did not feel safe with the gun so i got rid of it. the g26 is a much smoother gun.
 
#23 ·
Ahhh, ok, I was having the same issue, as mine was getting stuck when i tried to pull the slide back and release. I went back and read the instruction manual, and now see where it says to rack and lock the slide back, then release with the slide lever, and not to pull back and release as it may not chamber the round properly. Guess that was my problem...
 
#24 ·
Congrats on the purchase! I have shoot 1000's of rounds of WWB in 9mm, .40 and 45 cal and never a problem with it. You did the best thing in your gf intrest and let her pick out the guns she liked. Strong work on that!
 
#26 ·
You did the best thing in your gf intrest and let her pick out the guns she liked. Strong work on that!
It was hard to let her get the 9mm instead of the .40, but I'm glad I did. As it turns out, the 9mm was the better of the two guns for her. In fact, when I pick up a smaller gun It'll probably be the pm9.


The gun shop called today. The gun is being shipped back to Kahr. I sure hope it makes it back in time to put under the tree for her.
 
#27 ·
****update****



I went back into the range today, and the Kahr wasn't back from service yet. The guys at the shop gave me a brand new PM9 in place of the one I had trouble with. My girlfriend and I fired 65 rounds without a single malfunction. We're both very happy now. Customer service makes all the difference in the world. :hand10:
 
#30 ·


I went back into the range today, and the Kahr wasn't back from service yet. The guys at the shop gave me a brand new PM9 in place of the one I had trouble with. My girlfriend and I fired 65 rounds without a single malfunction. We're both very happy now. Customer service makes all the difference in the world. :hand10:
:congrats:

banana ,
I suggest you give this store owner a free internet plug by mentioning his name. That is a stand-up way to handle a problem that you don't see every day.
 
#29 ·
She was lacking the confidence to jump through the hoops required to carry a concealed weapon. However, with every trip to the shooting range, her confidence has improved. Yesterday, she called the sheriff and requested a CCW application (all on her own). I think she's finally realizing how vulnerable she really is without a weapon. The last thing she needed was a malfunctioning weapon, and with the help of the gun shop, we now have something reliable for her.
 
#31 ·
To my surprise, I was able to shoot tighter patterns with this little guy than I can with my Glock 27 with extended +0 mag.
Same, here. For whatever reasons, the PM9 is very, very accurate for me.

The 6th round FTE, followed by the 8th, 9th, 13th, 14th. Overall, out of the first 40 rounds, 20 malfunctioned.
Yup. The one PM9 I had experienced multi-dozens of failures to cycle properly over the course of 700 rds. After heading back to Kahr for parts replacement and tuning/polishing, everything was corrected. But, by that time, I'd lost confidence in that particular gun. I'm all for the PM9, but I could no longer trust that one.

Over 500 rounds through my new glock, and nearly 1000 rounds through my sigma without a single malfunction.
Some PM9's are reported by folks to do exactly that. Mine didn't, and that doesn't appear to be a unique instance.

I'm aware of the advised break-in period for these guns, but this gun will require a little more attention.
Until the first 1000 rds is burned through a gun, it's hard to comment on a specific gun's potential. Many different guns are cranky until they settle into a groove. Some start in a good groove from the outset. Doesn't mean that initially-cranky guns cannot be excellent and reliable shooters.

At some point, I'll have a PM9. It's the best example of that size/firepower, IMO. I currently have a CW9 that I'm toying with, to see if I can get my confidence back with the Kahrs. It's hard to not like these.

My girlfirend was excited when we left the range, and asked me about what was involved with acquiring a CCW permit.:duh: Made my day.
:congrats: :congrats:
 
#33 ·
Banana,

I've had a PM9 for almost three years. It's one of my most carried guns. I will tell the pistols are very tight and you have to "sling shot" the slide when chambering a round. If not the round will not chamber sometimes. You should also remove the magazine after chambering a round and ensure the top magazine is seated properly.

Although you have to do this to load it, I don't ever recall having a FTE or FTF with this pistol. It is accurate for such a small pistol and really can disappear about anywhere. My wife carries a G26 or Kimber UCII, and will tell anyone that it just takes some practice in finding what works for you to carry certain weapons.

Shoot the PM9 and let your GF get familiar with it. It just sounds like a fluke incident occurred with the first PM9. Good luck and stay safe.

VMP
 
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