['75scout]

I recently bought a very slightly used Kahr PM40. Monday was my first range session with it and I put 30 rounds of Remington UMC 165 grain FMJs through it.

First the good stuff. I love the trigger, much better than my GLOCK 26 I am now trying to sell. Very accurate for its size, its 1/2" shorter than my GLOCK 26 and I can shoot it better. Ergonomics are great. Very concealable. Recoil stout but not really uncomfortable. And shoots the .40cal which I now am starting to like. Quality of parts in the slide seems to be very high. Ejection was positive. Field stripping very simple.

Now my concerns. During my range time I had the slide stay back after firing, while there were still rounds in the mag. Will this go away after the first 200 rds or so? Could it have been the mags or was it most likely a rough edge on the slide stop lever? Also the slide seems to only ride partially on metal frame rails. The rear 1/2 of the frame has polymer frame rails. Should I be concerned by this?

And I need help picking a pocket holster. Should I get a Grandfather Oaks pocket holster or should I look into getting a leather holster? I think a pocket holster with little to no retention would be best.

 

[Redneck Repairs]

Double check your assembly procedure , there is a small spring in the frame where you put the slide stop in, the " ear " on this spring goes on top of the slide stop , bearing down on it . Many will accidently get the spring under the slide stop pushing up on it and this leads to mid mag lockbacks , other than that with the micro kahrs it is easy to get a grip where recoil will bump the slide stop up on your thumb so make shure your grip is well clear of the slide stop area . The Kahrs have two sets of frame rails a lower set up front and a high set in the back , both have steel inserts so no worrys there lol its just a bit of a different design than your used to ( glock ) A thing to remember is Kahrs like to run " wet" so use plenty of lube on the reccomended lube points .. and congrats on the little beaste

as to pocket holsters , i just went with cheap uncle mikes myself lol

 

['75scout]

I remember seeing the spring and I believe it is on top. I will check when I get home from work. I'll keep my grip in mind next Mon when I can get back to the range.

 

[George Brudank]

Kahr pm 40 pistol

HI, sorry to hear of your trouble, this is my story, wife and i just bought two new kahr pistols, hers is a p9 and mine is the p40, we took them to the range to fire the suggested 200 round through them, this should of been a clue that they were no good! Both of my magazine fell out of the gun after the first round was fired, my wifes gun did the same thing!!!!!, a police dept. armorer, who happened to be at the range,was kind enough to inspect both weapons, he advised us to cease firing them both as there was a striker problem with the 9mm and of course the magazine problems with both guns, these guns are poorly made and I fell will get you killed. I tried to return them, but of course that was impossible. I will try to get Kahr to repair them if that is possible, then I will quickly sell yhem at a loss, I feel like I have made a big mistake in not buying a glock, George Brudnak

 

[scmed]

Problems with Kahr PM40

New to the board but I do have some thoughts on the Kahr PM40. I bought a new one in Feb. I had a lot of problems with failure to feeds for the first 300 - 500 rounds after that no more failure to feed problems. However, I recently have had problems with the front lip of my followers breaking off and now my magazine release is faulty and is letting the magaizine drop out after every shot. I have spoken with the Kahr repair people about 5 times now..they say the followers and mag release problem are common problems in the this model.

Overall I love several things about my Kahr but I carry my Glock 36 until I can hopefully get these bugs worked out.

 

['75scout]

Yep the front lip of my followers were broken aswell. The mag catch seems to be very strong and I have had no issues with the mag falling out. I sure hope I can get this PM40 100%. It would surely be a great carry piece. I guess I could get a S&W J-Frame .38 Airlight for pocket carry or maybe a Kel-Tec P32. But neither one of these is as powerful and the I've had even worse experiences with KT than I've had with Kahr.

 

[palmgopher]

sorry to hear about all the problems with the kahrs. I have one and absolutely love it. Wouldnt trade it for anything. I am sure that if they have found that some of these things happening are common(to a certain batch) i am sure they are working on it or have fixed it by now. They should be able to either fix it for you or send you the parts you need if they are an easy fix. hopefully you get it fixed for good and you can enjoy yours as much as i enjoy my kahr.

 

['75scout]

Well the PM40 was sent back to the factory about 2 weeks ago. Still isn't back but hopefully soon. I can''t say how much I hope it comes back 100%. I love the overall package (caliber,recoil, erconomics, size, accuracy, capacity, sights, trigger).

 

[JimmyC4]

'75Scout, I recommend a pocket holster from Bob Mika...for $15.95 they are a great value since they work well. See http://www.frontiernet.net/~akim/

Not to stir things up, for I'm not some ranting Glockaholic. However, I've shot and carried a Glock 26 for years (also owned a 27 and 17) and have never had nor heard of Glocks having all the problems I hear some folks express about the sub-compact Kahrs and Kel-Tecs. Since your life depends on your carry piece, I say keep your Glock 26 and stop trying to resuscitate that Kahr! Best wishes whatever your choice.

 

[bluedog]

I've had no problems of any kind with my P-9. It's accurate, has a great trigger, and so far has been totally reliable. The best pocket holster I've found is the De Santis Nemesis. The gun fits perfectly and always stays in the pocket unless needed.

 

['75scout]

Jimmy I have already sold the GLOCK 26. I have only put a little effort and no extra $$$ into the Kahr. I'll give it a second chance. I have a SIG 220 to serve as my ccw.

 

[JimmyC4]

I must admit, 75scout, that it's "hit or miss" with those little Kahrs. I've got a shooter friend who has 3-4 members of his immediate family carrying the Kahr PM40 and they love them. I shot his P9 and had all kinds of trouble with the mag falling out, I'm sure because I don't hold my thumbs high and was hitting the mag release--for that reason it wasn't a good pistol for me.

Good luck with the Kahr, hope you get it runnin' on all cylinders.

 

[M1911]

these guns are poorly made and I fell will get you killed.

Sorry to hear about your problems. I've got 3 Kahrs - K9, K40, and MK9. They've been great for me. No problems, very accurate.

 

['75scout]

Its starting to sound like its kinda hit or miss with the Polymer Micro Kahrs. They seem to have the most problems. But the PM series is also they best for ccw for my needs. I must say the PM40 is quite accurate for the size and caliber. The smooth DAO trigger and SIG style sights might have something to do with it.

 

[msg usa]

Never a problem with mu K-40. Never.

 

[Marcus]

When people buy an $800 1911 and it doesn`t work 100% they send it to a smith and have hundreds (or thousands!) of dollars worth of attention lavished upon it to make it right and that`s okay but if a $500 Kahr has one weak spring that`s easily replaced it`s junk that`ll get ya killed. :blink:
I bought my P40 used,it`s an early one. It had the weak mag release issue. I called Kahr and they sent me a 2nd design release and spring for free. I had it in less than a week. It took about 2mins. to install and it`s been fine since. It also had an issue with failures to fully feed the last round in a mag from time to time. That turned out to be excessive extractor tension. With that fixed it`s been absolutely 100% for several years now. It`s become by far my favorite carry gun. It was worth a little effort to end up with a carry gun that carrys and shoots this well. Marcus

 

[JimmyC4]

Whether it's a $300 or $1,000 gun, if you're gonna stake your life on it, it better work right out of the box, not after applying baling wire, duct tape or whatever other fixes it requires!

 

[srfl]

Out of my three Kahrs (P9 Covert, PM9...both 9mm's....and P45), my P45 has been suffering some "teething" problems....related to extremely irregular ejection/extraction and failures-to-eject with Winchester SXT 230 grain .45 ACP ammo....it's going back to Kahr to get those issues addressed.

 

[M1911]

Whether it's a $300 or $1,000 gun, if you're gonna stake your life on it, it better work right out of the box, not after applying baling wire, duct tape or whatever other fixes it requires!

My first gun, a Glock 17, had lots of failures to feed during the first few hundred rounds. My Glock 34 had a bunch of light strikes when it was new. Both have been very reliable since then.

One of my 3, a 226, shoots way high. I'm sure that Sig will fix it up.

My point is that you can sometimes have a problem even with the best.

I understand your frustration. But mechanical devices aren't always perfect. It's your gun. I'm sure that you'll do what you feel best. I'm just trying to offer another opinion.

 

[srfl]

M1911....I'm PM'ing you.