pbagley
05-25-2014, 02:06 PM
Last week my LGS had a CW380 Blem in the case for an attractive price. I had a very good experience with the Blem CM40 they sold me, so no worries about the B stamped into the frame. Price was good. Sales guy tells me that they see very few CW380's Blems available, and they try to get them when they can. And I fell for the pitch and bought the thing.
Saturday I took it to the range for it's first session. I did nothing to prep the gun, just shot it as delivered. It was about 70f with a south wind (tail wind) at 10-20 mph.
I started with Blazer Brass 95gr. FMJ. I chrony'd the first 10 (@ 10 ft.), then chrony'd 10 in the Taurus PT738TCP.
Gun ........... Average ... Extreme Spread
CW380 2.58" ... 835 ...... 68
738 TCP 2.84" .. 860 ...... 43
The TCP shows a little advantage from the the longer barrel. Accuracy is not bad for something this size. Only two off the repair center at 25 yards.
http://i57.servimg.com/u/f57/13/62/95/74/20140522.jpg (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=683&u=13629574)
This was better than the TCP, which had three of ten off the repair center. I ran a total of 30 rounds of Blazer though the CW380 with no failures of any kind.
Next up was Winchester White Box 95gr flat points. These are good looking little bullets, and I want them to do well. The chrony results are as follows:
Gun ............. Average ... Extreme Spread
CW380 2.58" ... 880 ....... 60
738 TCP 2.84" .. 883 ....... 47
These are a little faster than the Blazer of the same weight, about the same extreme spread.
Sadly I am disappointed in the accuracy. Of course the gun may be getting dirty by this point.
http://i57.servimg.com/u/f57/13/62/95/74/20140523.jpg (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=684&u=13629574)
The Taurus put nine of ten on the repair center, six in the black. I will be returning to this load with the CW380 after it is broken in to see if it can achieve this kind of accuracy as well. I put 40 WWB's through the CW380, One failure to feed at round 33 - not acutally a fail to feed, but instead a slide locked back. From here out I stopped using my traditional Bullseye shooter thumb up grip and instead put my thumb into contact with my weak hand. No more failures of any kind for the rest of the day.
I had two reloads with me that I'd intended to test in the TCP. Now I have two guns to test them with. Of the 90 reloads I had with me, 70 were shot in the CW380. You can see the chrony and accuracy results in the Reloading section later - I hope to post them later today.
So final stats - 140 rounds fired, one failure due to suspected shooter interference with the slide stop.
In comparison with the TCP I find the CW380 grip more comfortable. I've compared the TCP to the Ruger LCP, and the TCP was more comfortable than the LCP in that comparison. I find the CW380 sights easier to use. The TCP was more accurate with the loads under test, but it also has over 700 round through it and has broken in well. We'll see how the Kahr is doing when it has sent more rounds downrange. For now, the accuracy is acceptable for the size, and I expect that SD ammo will turn in the best accuracy, just as was seen in the TCP.
I had assumed that the CW380 was larger than the TCP. Oddly, they are very close to the same size. and it looks like the grip width is actually narrower on the CW380. I'll need to measure to be sure. In any case, this little gun will do well for pocket carry. I'm very happy with the gun.
Saturday I took it to the range for it's first session. I did nothing to prep the gun, just shot it as delivered. It was about 70f with a south wind (tail wind) at 10-20 mph.
I started with Blazer Brass 95gr. FMJ. I chrony'd the first 10 (@ 10 ft.), then chrony'd 10 in the Taurus PT738TCP.
Gun ........... Average ... Extreme Spread
CW380 2.58" ... 835 ...... 68
738 TCP 2.84" .. 860 ...... 43
The TCP shows a little advantage from the the longer barrel. Accuracy is not bad for something this size. Only two off the repair center at 25 yards.
http://i57.servimg.com/u/f57/13/62/95/74/20140522.jpg (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=683&u=13629574)
This was better than the TCP, which had three of ten off the repair center. I ran a total of 30 rounds of Blazer though the CW380 with no failures of any kind.
Next up was Winchester White Box 95gr flat points. These are good looking little bullets, and I want them to do well. The chrony results are as follows:
Gun ............. Average ... Extreme Spread
CW380 2.58" ... 880 ....... 60
738 TCP 2.84" .. 883 ....... 47
These are a little faster than the Blazer of the same weight, about the same extreme spread.
Sadly I am disappointed in the accuracy. Of course the gun may be getting dirty by this point.
http://i57.servimg.com/u/f57/13/62/95/74/20140523.jpg (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=684&u=13629574)
The Taurus put nine of ten on the repair center, six in the black. I will be returning to this load with the CW380 after it is broken in to see if it can achieve this kind of accuracy as well. I put 40 WWB's through the CW380, One failure to feed at round 33 - not acutally a fail to feed, but instead a slide locked back. From here out I stopped using my traditional Bullseye shooter thumb up grip and instead put my thumb into contact with my weak hand. No more failures of any kind for the rest of the day.
I had two reloads with me that I'd intended to test in the TCP. Now I have two guns to test them with. Of the 90 reloads I had with me, 70 were shot in the CW380. You can see the chrony and accuracy results in the Reloading section later - I hope to post them later today.
So final stats - 140 rounds fired, one failure due to suspected shooter interference with the slide stop.
In comparison with the TCP I find the CW380 grip more comfortable. I've compared the TCP to the Ruger LCP, and the TCP was more comfortable than the LCP in that comparison. I find the CW380 sights easier to use. The TCP was more accurate with the loads under test, but it also has over 700 round through it and has broken in well. We'll see how the Kahr is doing when it has sent more rounds downrange. For now, the accuracy is acceptable for the size, and I expect that SD ammo will turn in the best accuracy, just as was seen in the TCP.
I had assumed that the CW380 was larger than the TCP. Oddly, they are very close to the same size. and it looks like the grip width is actually narrower on the CW380. I'll need to measure to be sure. In any case, this little gun will do well for pocket carry. I'm very happy with the gun.