Old kahr k9 vs new kahr k9. New guy, need advice

[Adamt]

I just traded for a kahr k9. I've always liked them but don't know that much about them. In reading this forum, it looks like I have an older model -1996 or so. Have there been any changes to these over time? Anything I should look out for? I'm cleaning it up now. It was carried so it's a little rough on the outside. Any advice would be appreciated!

[ripley16]

Welcome to the forum. Yes, there were some changes but none alter the character of the pistol enough to compare. Enjoy your new K9.

[Bug Splat]

My local dealer who is also a gunsmith says the older models were built better. Is that true? I don't know, but I can tell you I have owned 2 older K40's and they have been awesome.

[voodoo54]

I used to own an older black K9 that would rust easily. You had to keep it oiled constantly. It was an awesome pistol but I got rid of it because of my personal dislike of 9mm. I recently purchased a newer black K40 since I loved the feel of the K9. I think it has a much better finish that holds up better to rust than the older models. So in a round about way I think Kahr has gotten better with their quality.

[flashman]

I purchased a black K9 used for 375.00 in 1996. AD0506. The finish was not that great but I did not have any rust problems. I did have a problem with the front sight coming off. I had a gun shop stake it back in. My wife had night sights put on it as a birthday gift. Best gun I ever owned.

Joe Flashman

[maxmanta]

My older K9 (1996 or so) seems to have a slightly differently sculpted slide than the newer ones. I may be wrong, though. The internal finishing seems to be better than the newer one I used to have.

[Alfonse]

I have an "old" one (2004) and a newer one (2014 or 2015). The old one is more banged up, but works great. It has the "old" style sight dovetails. The "new" one fits much looser on the slide to frame fit. It rattles a bit.

The slides are not interchangeable on the frames. Both slides will fit, and function, on the new frame, but only the old slide fits the old frame. Both pistols function perfectly and I don't notice any accuracy difference.

I have a couple of PM9s as well. One is 2009, with the blunt nose, and one is a few years newer with the tapered nose. Uppers and lowers can be swapped on those with no problems even though Kahr says they have a service to modify old frames to accept new uppers. I guess my old frame is not so old where it needs the mods.

I was a little surprised the uppers and lowers couldn't be swapped on the K9s.

[jocko]

the early k9 were of carbon steel friames, not stainless and thery had a different transfer bar, that my understaing, is no longer made or available anywhere, so if you have an issue with the transfer bar, your fokked. They can't modify that frame to the new style. Course also looking at the old style stanrsfer bar, IMO it is built like a brick sh!thouse to, sou should never give an issue. No reason each model of K9 should not shoot the same, the quality of each was super , at that time... Nuttin wrong with the old style, if you buy it right Just sayin

[jpshaw]

From what I've experienced (and heard) the older models had tighter tolerances and in many cases, too tight. My older model P9 would jam with the empty case caught between the breach and the slide always facing forward. The chamber block showed wear marks from the slide and it disengaged and engaged during firing. Once the block was polished down (with Flitz) until no marks were seen it cleared up. Poor thing didn't have enough slide speed. It's fine now. An older K40 had the same issues.

[gb6491]

the early k9 were of carbon steel friames, not stainless and thery had a different transfer bar, that my understaing, is no longer made or available anywhere, so if you have an issue with the transfer bar, your fokked. They can't modify that frame to the new style. Course also looking at the old style stanrsfer bar, IMO it is built like a brick sh!thouse to, sou should never give an issue. No reason each model of K9 should not shoot the same, the quality of each was super , at that time... Nuttin wrong with the old style, if you buy it right Just sayin
Sometime back the Colonel verified with Kahr that the old frame can be modified to to work with the current style trigger bar and spring. The old style trigger bar is, as you say, "built like a brick sh!thouse". The problem is that the old style trigger bar spring is no longer available. I was able to bend a new style spring so that it would work with the old bar, but let's just say that it is a less than elegant fix.

I'm told the springs for that trigger bar no longer exist. The entire inventory is gone.

They will do an upgrade, new trigger bar and spring and I believe he said the trigger was replaced as well, so it is doable if anything ever goes wrong.

Unless the spring actually breaks I doubt you'll have any issues.

I think he said it was 120 bucks. Greg might remember, I told him about it when I got the response.


Hey Bawanna!
That's correct, $120-125 to do the work plus $25 for shipping.
To fit the current trigger bar the frame will require some modification in these older guns. This would involve removing some material from the front and, possibly, the rear of the cutout in the frame where the dis-connector portion of the trigger bar rides (see yellow areas in photo). It might be possible to mod the new trigger bar instead, but I think that might weaken the bar too much.
http://i47.tinypic.com/154zmsw.jpg
Fortunately, the old trigger bar is well constructed and should hold up well. The new style spring can be bent to serve as an ad hoc substitute for the old spring. hangdog's excellent photo of the old spring (as installed) could serve as a template. My buddy and I reworked a current style spring and it has worked flawlessly through about 300 rounds in his early K9. It's not as svelte looking as the Kahr spring, but gets the job done.
FWIW, to lighten the trigger in these older guns remove the trigger, trigger spring, and trigger spacer, then replace them with their current equivalents.
Regards,
Greg

hangdog's photo of the old style spring:
http://i62.tinypic.com/nb98ac.jpg
Current style (Colonel's photo):
http://i58.tinypic.com/2wf2xqa.jpg

Regards,
Greg