Kahr CM9 first range trip

[Carmady]

A couple of months ago I picked up a "never fired" CM9 on Armslist. I did three things to it during that time before firing it: polished the feed ramp with 600 wet or dry and Simichrome; followed this video to smooth out the ratchety trigger pull, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t64ckeGGXPQ; and added the rubber texture Talon grip.

I've read about how finicky Kahrs are, and how they often require a 200 round break-in period, so I took five boxes of American Eagle 124gr FMJ to the range. Every single round, all 250 of them, fed the first time, fired the first time, extracted the first time, and ejected the first time. The CM9 ran 100%. I used two 6-round mags, each 21 times.

In another thread here someone was saying how his hand would be in terrible pain if he just thought about shooting a CM9 or PM9, because he shot one before and never would again. My experience today was 180* from that, the only discomfort I had was from the ear gargles, and that was minimal.

As James Brown said, Papa's Got A Brand New Bag.

[MarkCO]

Have two PM9s and absolutely love them. Neither has ever had a bobble, even full of dust.

[Carl the Floor Walker]

I have the Kahr 380 and love the mild shooting gun. I am a Nano fan, but about a month ago bought the Cm9. All I can say is I am a instant fan. I do my normal routine. I rack the slide and let it take a set for 48 hours. I then take the magazines and fill to capacity and let them take a 48 hour set.
This past weekend finally have put over 500 round of mixed ammo and totally flawless shooting. And was shocked this gun was so mild to shoot. The Nano is a very mild shooting gun, but this Little sucker weighs 4oz lighter and still so very mild. Love this gun. Next gun will be another Kahr. Thinking about the S9 or ST9.

[Cheapshooter]

I fully agree with your observations. My "unmolested" CM 9 has performed well from the first round fired. No notice of being finicky about ammo from round number one. The first time out was with some old Remington UMC fmj, Winchester USA "White Box" fmj, Winchester "NATO", some off brand forgotten about brass cased ammo, Winchester PDX- +P, Hornady Critical Defense, and Speer Gold Dot. All were 100% reliable. Accuracy was better than expected. Recoil, even with the 124gr +P, and NATO rounds was comfortable.
Not sure why it would require any trigger work, or polishing of the feed ramp.

[HighValleyRanch]

I can even load rounds from the magazine by using an overhand "slingshot" rack, instead of the insisted slide lock lever load!LOL

I even did a slow "ride the slide" load and it worked out fine. Over exagerated by the legal team, I suppose. Neither my K40 or PM9 have any troubles regarding this myth.

The PM9 worked perfect from day one, new. No failures during the dreaded break in period at all! Maybe just lucky, but both of them have been pretty flawless. The K40 has some issues with premature slide lock, but solved because the slide lock lever was old and defective and the seller didn't disclose this. But fixed the issue with a new slide lock lever and had been running perfect ever since.

[unclenunzie]

The Kahr micro nines are great little guns. I had about 1100 through mine of all kinds of ammo when I had two 115 grain gold dots hang up on the feed ramp while feeding from the same mag. I switch over to the 124 grain which I preferred anyway, never experienced it since, and that was about 10 years ago. At the time I spoke to Kahr and they recommended recoil spring replacement between 1000-1500 rounds, so I did that.

I never had the problem with first round hanging up by not using the slide stop to charge it. As a southpaw I forced myself to always overhand rip the slide to the rear with force, and it works.

I am entirely satisfied with mine, and the recoil springs are cheap. Stupid accurate for such a small pistol. As with any striker, keep the channel dry and clean it out once in a while. Enjoy yours in good health.

[Carmady]

Buffalo has put over 1,000 rounds through a CM9 and always (I think) used the slingshot method.

His first CM9 vid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57Gz-Vi0A6Y

And the 1,000 round update:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpnoubpeWBI&t=67s

[Carmady]

Not sure why it would require any trigger work, or polishing of the feed ramp.

If you cue up the video in the OP to 4:20 you'll see the trigger bar and a spring. He was addressing the squeak. Mine made a little noise, but the main problem was the little spring would snag in several spots along the bottom of the trigger bar as it was dragged across it. The smoothing of the trigger bar made the trigger pull much smoother, and quieter.

As far as polishing the feed ramp, I've had a tube of Simichrome for years and figured I might as well use it.

[OhioGuy]

The only Kahr I ever shot was a .380. It was a very sweet shooting little gun, but the one I shot had hangups and light primer strikes almost constantly. It was also a used range gun I was looking at buying, so who knows what kinds of abuse it had gone through.

The CM9 is a really small gun and I've considered getting one -- although I already have a single-stack 9 (larger) and a pocket .380 (smaller) so I'm not really sure what I'd do with it

[Charlie98]

Love the Kahr 9mm's... I have about 5 of them at the moment. None of the Kahrs I've owned have required any break-in period... or I guess the better way to put it would be I've not had any problems with any of my Kahrs in the first 200 rounds or so. I don't 'break in' my guns, I just go shoot them.

For those of you who carry them, what I've done is set up everything for the larger CW9 that I typically carry, and then swap in the CM9 or PM9 if I need something a little smaller... same holsters, same magazines (the longer CM9 mags will fit in the CM/PM,) same ammo, same manual of arms.

I know there is some Kahr dislike out there... sure. No, it's not a Glock or XD, it doesn't carry 37 rounds in the magazine, no safety, blah, blah... I have had a few marginal examples, however. I had a P45 with serious chamber problems, and I was buying a CW9 that had an abysmal trigger (there was something wrong with it. I told the dealer to swap it with another pistol.) Having said that, as long as you have a good example, and it fits the way you hold and shoot a pistol, they are very hard to beat.

[Fishbed77]

A few questions are raised by this post.

polished the feed ramp with 600 wet or dry and Simichrome

Was there an issue with feeding? If not, why mess with the ramp and potentially cause problems? I've owned a CM9 for about 8 years, and it has proven itself to reliably feed a wide range of ammo with no modifications.

followed this video to smooth out the ratchety trigger pull

Why was the trigger pull rachety? Kahrs have a reputation for having pretty smooth double action triggers. My guess is that yours would have broken in just fine on its own. If not, it's defective, and Kahr customer service can handle it.

I've read about how finicky Kahrs are, and how they often require a 200 round break-in period

All the 9mm Kahrs I've encountered have run fine from the start. .40SW and .45ACP Kahrs have tended to have more issues over the years, but the 9mm Kahrs are reliable pistols, as you have discovered. Most likely, the only reason people ever talk about these pistols being "finicky" is the fact that Kahr actually mentions a break-in period in their manual, whereas many manufacturers don't.

In another thread here someone was saying how his hand would be in terrible pain if he just thought about shooting a CM9 or PM9

That person must be prone to hyperbole, or just be very sensitive to recoil with all pistols. The 9mm CM9 is very light in weight, but recoil is no more fierce than other 9mm polymer-framed pistols of its size and weight. Certainly not painful unless you are shooting fairly high round counts, in which any of its other competitors would prove painful as well. It does have pretty aggressive backstrap checkering. Perhaps that is what this person was referring to?

[Cheapshooter]

Lots of great observations fishbed. I never had a problem one with the trigger on my CM9. In fact, I haven't had a problem with the trigger on the vast majority of my guns. I don't molest them with sandpaper and files. I learn to shoot them!
I too have never had a problem with any ammo n my CM9. FROM 115gr fmj to 147gr HP, they have all gone boom, ejected well, and loaded the next round perfectly.
The 200 round break in is something they say in the owners manual, but I didn't find it necessary.
The recoil complaint, like most recoil complaints I guess is a personal observation. But I'm thinkng it's mostly by newer shooters that haven't grown up shooting, and knowing what recoil is.

[Carmady]

A few questions are raised by this post.

Quote:
polished the feed ramp with 600 wet or dry and Simichrome
Was there an issue with feeding? If not, why mess with the ramp and potentially cause problems? I've owned a CM9 for about 8 years, and it has proven itself to reliably feed a wide range of ammo with no modifications.

Quote:
followed this video to smooth out the ratchety trigger pull
Why was the trigger pull rachety? Kahrs have a reputation for having pretty smooth double action triggers. My guess is that yours would have broken in just fine on its own. If not, it's defective, and Kahr customer service can handle it.

Quote:
I've read about how finicky Kahrs are, and how they often require a 200 round break-in period
All the 9mm Kahrs I've encountered have run fine from the start. .40SW and .45ACP Kahrs have tended to have more issues over the years, but the 9mm Kahrs are reliable pistols, as you have discovered. Most likely, the only reason people ever talk about these pistols being "finicky" is the fact that Kahr actually mentions a break-in period in their manual, whereas many manufacturers don't.

Quote:
In another thread here someone was saying how his hand would be in terrible pain if he just thought about shooting a CM9 or PM9
That person must be prone to hyperbole, or just be very sensitive to recoil with all pistols. The 9mm CM9 is very light in weight, but recoil is no more fierce than other 9mm polymer-framed pistols of its size and weight. Certainly not painful unless you are shooting fairly high round counts, in which any of its other competitors would prove painful as well. It does have pretty aggressive backstrap checkering. Perhaps that is what this person was referring to?

The answers to all of your questions can be found in posts #1 and #8, which prompts another question.

[Fishbed77]

The answers to all of your questions can be found in posts #1 and #8, which prompts another question.

I read those posts. They just didn't make much sense.

I've never encountered a "Squeaky"/"Rachety" trigger on a Kahr, and if it was something that didn't go away after a short break-in period, I'd be sending the defective pistol back to Kahr for them to correct.

Also, I have a closet full of spray paint at my house, but just because I have it doesn't mean I'm going to go try to paint my car this weekend, since the paint is in great shape and doing its job just fine.

But to each his own.

[Carmady]

I read those posts. They just didn't make much sense.

I'll try to make this crystal clear.

I polished the feed ramp because I had the stuff and I felt like it. It took less than one hour.

I smoothed out the trigger bar because the trigger would lightly snag in several places, and because the time to do that is BEFORE applying the Talon grips because the Talon grips cover the little access panel to the trigger bar...see the video.

Also, as stated in post #1, I bought the gun "never fired" on Armslist which means I have no warranty rights as far as Kahr is concerned. So instead of me paying postage both ways to have to pay Kahr to address the trigger bar AFTER they or I removed the Talon grips, I opted to take the senseless route and spend less than an hour to smooth the trigger bar.

After all that, I applied the Talon grips. Nothing has to be undone to correct something else.

Does it make sense now?

[Cheapshooter]

I read those posts. They just didn't make much sense.

Because unlike some people, most owners of pocket/CCW pistols like this don't try to make bullseye target pistols out of them.
any scratchiness in a Kahr trigger goes away quickly. Usually before the manufacturer recommended 200 round break in.
As to the feed ramp I can only guess they aren't making them like they used to. With mine I got new in box eight years ago I was very surprised at how finely polished the feed ramp was on the "budget priced" CM was. I thought they only did that kind of fine tuning on the PM model.
But then again, I guess some people would take a brand new car from the dealership straight home to tune it up..

[Carmady]

And I guess that there are some people who will criticize everything that someone else does no matter what it is.

[Cheapshooter]

Not criticizing, just trying to help fishbed understand. Some people are tinkerers. Believing nothing comes out of the factory just right.

[KyJim]

I own and sometimes carry a Kahr CM9 (I have all this week). When I bought it, I put a hundred rounds of FMJ through it with no malfunctions. Then I shot a couple of different types of hollow points (don't recall which ones) and had feeding issues. I then went back to FMJs until I finished the recommended 200 round break-in period. Since then, no issues with hollow points.

Obviously, not everyone has this problem, but I did. I also knew about the recommended break-in period before I bought the gun, so I didn't go crying about how terrible it is that you have to break in a pistol. I break in my cars, too.

[tomrkba]

I have the CM9. I don't use it because I have a SIG P365. They're the same size!

[wingman]

Originally Posted by tomrkba

I have the CM9. I don't use it because I have a SIG P365. They're the same size!

Both nice guns but the sig is slightly larger.

[Cheapshooter]

I have a CM9 so I didn't buy a Sig P365.