P9 selection and preparation

[godan]

This is about my seventh or eighth new Kahr. I had a spare PM9 and wanted a larger frame. Two K9 police trade-ins looked very "experienced" and were surprisingly heavy. One shop offered a good deal for my trade on a new P9. I cleaned the barrel, hosed out the lower, disassembled and cleaned the upper and lubed everything according to the useful chart here and my own experience. Break Free CLP and Shooter's Choice red grease have worked successfully on 1911's, Glocks, Sigs and now Kahrs for at least ten years in all conditions found in the Rocky Mountains. Tomorrow morning, the P9's barrel will be cleaned after each of the first ten rounds - we called it "seasoning" for silhouette guns - while I look for a 50-yard zero with favorite 115 and 124 grain rounds -- Speer Gold Dot, Corbon DPX, Federal 9BPLE and especially the 124 Nato round that is a good penetrator. I am confident that two or three types will group together. If necessary, a safe edge file or sight pusher will move the group to the center of the target . Knock on wood, but I expect to have a good zero within fifteen or twenty rounds. Others might do all or some of this differently, but to each his own. I am grateful for the friendly welcome and solid information on this site.

[7shot]

Good luck there Hoss...couldn't think of a better first date. :D

[godan]

Good luck there Hoss...couldn't think of a better first date. :D

Thanks for the kind words. Everything came together as I hoped. NATO hardball is the only 9mm I care to have in the wilderness, and just a bit of filing moved it to POA at fifty yards, Happily, both Speer Gold Dot +P's, the 115 and the 124, landed within three inches of it, all clustered around POA. Corbon DPX and Winchester Ranger 127 +P+ strung the group out vertically to five inches, but the greatest horizontal spread was under four. My other 9mm Kahrs with polygonal rifling also shoot hot 124's close to 115's at fifty yards. This is less true of conventionally rifled barrels. After finding the zero, I ran eighty rounds of reloads to bring the round count up to 100. The first two mags had an FTE and a stovepipe, but everything afterwards was smooth. Still, I think Kahr's recommended 200 round break-in is a good idea. You're right about luck. It's always a factor, but it seems that experience, preparation and discipline make me luckier.