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View Full Version : My first Kahr experience - Taking on the CW380



KingWulfgar
09-09-2014, 09:34 PM
I think I must be too new to post raw pictures, but I've set up a Flickr album with the few pics I took so you can see them. It's here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrwheeler/sets/72157647436537445/

First off, this is my first experience with a Kahr. I fell in love with the trigger pull in a local gun shop and when Palmetto State Armory put the CM9 on sale for $299, I couldn't pass it up. Wait--what's that you say? This post is about the CW380? Oh yeah, the next day, I saw the 380 for sale for even less and decided if I couldn't pocket carry the CM9, I could certainly do it with the 380. So, I got both. ;)

So, on to that 380...The fit and finish was fine for the price point and the gun felt better in my hand than my friend's LCP. I have no 380s, so I ordered some remanufactured target ammo from PrecisionONe and (after I got lucky by emailing their customer service) also snagged some of the coveted 90gr XTP loads. The only thing the big box of target ammo had listed was FMJ, but when they arrived, they have a flattened round nose. I've heard the Kahrs aren't terribly fond of anything with a flat nose, but figured I'd try them anyway.

In total, I fired about 100 rounds (17 mags worth) of the FMJ target ammo. I only have the one magazine that came with it, so it was all with that one mag. Had a few issues, but considering these little guns have a known break-in period and I'm not necessarily using the most ideal ammo for them, I'm not worried at this point.

Round 16 - FTE
Round 38 - Failed to return to battery
Round 42 - Failed to return to battery
Round 43 - Stovepipe
At this point, most of the issues were that the first round in the magazine wouldn't go fully into battery. They were still feeding, the slide just wasn't closing. I never once slingshotted it--always used the slide stop lever. This happened 4 times total throughout the next 50 rounds.
Round 49 - FTE
Round 78 - Stovepipe

Not terrible for the break-in period, IMO. I could always just tap the back of the slide to get it to fully seat and it would be fine after that. I will also add that I never once had the slide lock back on a loaded magazine or fail to lock back on an empty one. That's pretty impressive in such a tiny pistol at this price point.

I then loaded up 3 magazines (18 rounds) worth of the premium XTP loads. 100% of those fed, went into battery, and extracted fine. I am 100% confident in carrying this pistol loaded with those rounds for self defense.

Accuracy was actually pretty good for such a small pistol (see the targets at my Flickr link). When I really concentrated on controlling the trigger, I could put them in the center of the target--even got a few bullseyes at 15 yards. When I was firing quick double-taps, they were still mostly within the 8 inch target. I feel like the CW380 is easier for me to control and handles better than the LCP, but I don't own an LCP--merely have fired a couple magazines out of a friend's.

I will clean her and then feed her another 100 rounds to fully break her in, but if she doesn't develop any more problems and I can smooth out some of the fail to go into battery issues, I'm pretty sure she's a keeper. I will definitely try to find some round nosed FMJ to finish off the 200 round break-in. I'd also like to get a couple more magazines.

I've been pocket carrying her every day since I got her with no complaints. Cargo shorts, nice jeans--both feel pretty comfortable and the weight is negligible. I'm using a Desantis Nemesis sized for the LCP (it was a big snug at first, but Amazon reviews complained about the sloppiness of the P380-sized holster and suggested this one). I'd like to try a pocket kydex holster too--I think it would be thinner overall. In summary, though, I'm really happy with the CW380.

On a side note, I got the CM9 out after this and fired about 75 rounds through it (including 12 rounds of 124gr HST). Every round was completely flawless in that gun. Spectacular. Need to work on my accuracy, though. I'm not sure if it was the heavier recoil, but I don't feel I was as accurate with it. Pretty sure this is a "me" problem, though, not a gun problem. :)

actionexpress
09-09-2014, 10:13 PM
I have an older PM9 and two CW380s for me and the Mrs. Both 380s have around 700 rounds between them. One malfunction early on with both of them. Though we tried some German made 380 ammo which they did not like at all. I think we had 38 FTRB with that stuff out of 50 rounds. Feeds everything else just fine.. My PM9 has around 1200 rounds through it, but I lost count. Not one malfunction, ever. Even during my learning to reload 9mm phase it soldiered on through that. ;)

I am looking into a CW45, but have heard there are some with issues out there. Needless to say I will need one as I stopped carrying a 1911 simply to go with a heavier trigger. Really cool the PM/CW45 uses 1911 mags!

TheLastDaze
09-10-2014, 07:49 AM
We all have opinions and the nets full of them, here's mine...

18 rounds from any manufacturer isn't enough for me to even consider placing my life and those I love on, Precision One and about any manufacturer loads vary and 18 just isn't going to do it.. Take a closer look at shootingthebulls video when he used Lehigh, that time Precision One falls very short, in fact it seemed like a completely different round altogether...

My cw380 is the only gun I've had issues with since a LONG time ago when I had bought two off-brand guns, the problems I had yesterday I feel I can work them out in-house... However I would NEVER carry this gun until it was 100% reliable, as a permit holder I feel that's your number one priority, you wouldn't carry a dull or practice knife for that matter...

I agree I love the feel of the cw380 and was more pleasurable to shoot than my LCP, but I've yet to buy a BRAND name gun that requires attention.. My LCP has functioned out of the box and now has over 1200 flawless rounds!! That's the way it should be with any Brand-Name gun IMO.... A while back I bought a Ruger SR22 that has no prep required, nor suggested. It now has over 1k rounds with no failures whatsoever other than a couple rounds that wouldn't fire, and this is a rimfire gun for crying out loud...

I know I go off on tangents but seeing threads where people feel confident in carrying a gun where even the fans suggest to prep, dremel chambers, polish ramps etc just gets my juices going... There is ZERO reason these guns should be problematic and I'm personally appalled that Kahr hasn't ramped up their tooling dept, if they were a start up manufacturer the door-out would be within view amongst the gun community, guaranteed... Kahr has a great design and platform there's no doubt about that but I seriously think they need to rethink their tooling efforts and get with the program....

with that said I love my pm9 :) and I will remain hopeful that I will love my cw380 equally... (rant off)

take care,

TheLastDaze
09-10-2014, 08:21 AM
BTW, for those of you with 380's if you pick up your brass I will buy it from you....1K easily fits into a $5 priority mail box and I'll give you $36 !!! so you'll have more money to break your gun in... :)

seriously..... since we open carry now in OK the demand for 380 carry has significantly decreased, thus range brass is slim pickings..

DavidR
09-10-2014, 08:32 AM
TheLastDaze - I agree with your post on Kahr reliability. My Kahr CW380 feels like it is of better quality than my Ruger LCP but it doesn't perform that way. I know it's anecdotal but IMO there are way too many Kahr 380s that leave the factory in non-working condition.

KingWulfgar
09-10-2014, 09:50 AM
As I stated above, I think my issues were primarily ammo-related. Also, the biggest problem I had was the first round not chambering. This has never been an issue in the many times I've unloaded it and reloaded it with both Hydra-shok and POXTP. If I'd had more severe issues with the actual firing/cycling, I would be more concerned. Also, it had started smoothing out after that last stovepipe. I wish I had time to shoot more, but I didn't. This is also the first 380 I've owned, so there's a shooter learning curve as well.

I'm going to get some RN and try again when I can. Until then, I have no problem carrying it with the POXTP as they functioned fine. Sure, it was only 18 rounds, but it was 3 full mags. I'll shoot some more next time as well, but since it's the only gun I own that's carryable for me right now (until I get my CM9 holster from Vedder Holsters), carrying it/something is better than nothing. I'll run more through it as I get the chance.

And thanks for the offer of buying the brass. I picked as much of mine up as I could without being crazy about it (the RSO even helped a bit by pushing it back toward me when it was slow). I'm hoping to get into reloading in the future, but if I decide I don't want to keep all the brass around, I'll let you know.

TheLastDaze
09-10-2014, 12:45 PM
I don't hoard brass for the most part but my local guy that sells me brass takes a long time to accumulate 380 as they aren't as popular out here anymore, I only have about 550 of them and tend never to come home with what I've shot because the range grass chews em up and I don't like spending an exorbitant amount of time looking for them all.... While otoh I have thousands of other calibers that I use...

KingWulfgar
09-10-2014, 01:19 PM
I don't hoard brass for the most part but my local guy that sells me brass takes a long time to accumulate 380 as they aren't as popular out here anymore, I only have about 550 of them and tend never to come home with what I've shot because the range grass chews em up and I don't like spending an exorbitant amount of time looking for them all.... While otoh I have thousands of other calibers that I use...

Nice. I really need to find the time, space, and money to start reloading. I just don't get enough range time to make developing loads feasible. Plus, finding powder these days can be a full-time job. I actually shipped my dad an entire medium flat rate box of mixed brass (mostly 45 and 38 with a few odds and ends) about a year ago. He sent me back about 300 rounds of the same loaded, but I think his shipping cost was more. :cool:

TheLastDaze
09-10-2014, 01:30 PM
nah, powder is available... here locally anyhow the only thing I buy online are my bullets and primers, bulk is the way to go for primers to offset the hazmat, I buy 10k at a time and its worth while bigtime...

I can load 100 9mm in 8mins... safely... tis the only round I've timed so far.... 40 I take my time on though because of the high pressure cartridge... I got started really cheap, and can make 1k 9mm for $120 again the only caliber I've documented the math on.. I'm sure 380 is much cheaper to make as I'm using hardly any powder and 100gn bullet...:cool: