MichaelGunner
01-28-2017, 06:18 PM
Hello from California. Kahr has always been on my "want list" since they have a good reputation and I like the look. My local shop had a CW9 in stock, I picked it up, racked the slide, pulled the trigger, poked and pulled (like kicking tires on a car), then on a whim said "I will take it". I had no intention of purchasing a gun that day but I am happy I did (wife was not so happy, but hey, I work and it's my money I spent).
I have only had it to the range once but I like it. I ran over 200 rounds with no flaw, that is zero failures through it's so called "break in period". I did do some prep-work on it before I took it to the range though (see bottom paragraph). Over all this is a fabulous gun especial in it's price range.
First range trip thoughts:
- The grips are great. I don't think I will put any grip tape or wrap. Most of the ammo I shot did not hurt my hand but the Underwood 147gr +P JHP hurt the palm of my had due t the aggressive grip texture. I was shooting Win. 124gr +P Bonded JHP PDX1 that did not hurt my hand and that is plenty for a defensive firearm.
- The trigger is nice and light but there is the long pull that everyone talks about. It doesn't bother me, I just stage the trigger and hold until I fire the gun. It's easy to get used to this and learn where to hold. But I was printing low and left and need to practice my trigger pull more. I purchased a lighter spring and think it will help some. Over all the trigger is smooth and breaks like glass.
- The sights are good. They are bright enough for daytime or afternoon use. No good for dark but the gun points well enough that close range hits are still easy without much effort. I don't plan to use this for HD so night sights are not necessary for my use with this gun. They do have some great aftermarket options, however, the front sight requires gunsmithing. But I like the stock sight enough not to change them for now.
- I used 4 different types of ammo, 147gr FMJ, 115gr FMJ, 124gr JHP +P, and 147gr JHP +P, and shot around 250 rounds with zero malfunctions. Total reliability. I was not impressed because expected nothing less. If this gun did need break in period I think I got all the kinks out by doing the pre-work. At the end the gun was really dirty, the feed ramp had a hard coat of powder residue and there was the typical oil/powder gunk along the inside of the slide, but the gun still ran without malfunction.
- The gun drops mags freely and they are easy to insert and remove.
A few notes, common misconceptions/misunderstandings and my opinions on them:
- I have heard people complaining that the top round will sometimes not position right in the magazine, it will "nose dive" and won't feed. I noticed this happens pretty easily. I fed several mags with the bullet in a nose dive intentionally, racked the slide (without using the slide stop), and they still fed just fine every time. I inserted the mag with the slide open with the top rounds in a nose dive, dropped the slide with the slide catch and still no malfunctions. I noticed that if you insert a mag into the gun with the slide closed it keeps the nose of the top bullet down anyway. So if people are having hang up it's not form the bullet nosedive. When I got home and cleaned the gun the ramp was black with powder residue, if it was going to malfunction because of a nose dive it would have then.
- Like I said above, I was printing low and left so I was going to adjust my sights. After some research I saw others posting about how to adjust for low and left and most replies said the just needed more trigger time and not to adjust the sights until they had bench rested the pistol. I did a few dry fires and can see that even without a flinching I drop the nose right as the firing pin drops and believe I need to work on my grip to over come this. I got a 5lbs spring from Wolff and hopefully that will help. I plan to do more polishing on the cam and striker sear points also. Still, very accurate as my groups were great, all in a 2-3" groups at 5 yards, just low and left. This trigger does take some practice especial if you are used to a single action or a short light DA (1911, Glock, MP9, etc). I have a FMK 9C1-G2 and it has a similar trigger so I am used to the long pull before it grabs the striker for the break. What I do is stage the trigger and then hold until I am ready to fire. But I was doing some double taps and had no issue even through the long rest. I would say if there was any room for improvement on the CW9 it would be in the trigger. I'm not saying it's a bad trigger, but there are better out there. Just like any gun you can practice and become proficient with stock configuration, but a little polishing and a lighter spring goes a long way.
- My one gripe is when charging the gun the slide serrations were so sharp they were hurting my fingers and leaving indentations. I'm not even going to tell what I did but it doesn't bother me anymore. I do plan to get a coating of some sort on the outside of the slide at some point, not sure what yet.
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ ___________
Prep-work:
- First off, I don't recommend you do anything more than a field strip clean and re-oil unless you have experience with working on pistols. The recoil spring and striker spring are easy enough o replace so if you want the slide to rack easier and the trigger a little lighter go for it. But the trigger is a pain to get back in so if you are not familiar with working on guns past a field strip, don't do it.
- Before I went to the range I stripped the entire gun apart (except the magazine catch), I cleaned it top to bottom, inside and out. Then I polished the trigger bar (where the spring hangs up), the cocking cam and striker contact points (sear points?), the ejector, and the slide rails on the front inside of the frame (they were sharp as a knife before). I use a small sharpening stone and with very, very little pressure I polish for a long time until smooth when I run my finger nail across the surface of what I am polishing. To much pressure will change the dimensions and that is not good (I learned this the hard way on the first gun I ever home-smithed). I didn't polish the barrel's slide ramp as it already looked like a mirror. Keep in mind most components have a coating on them. If you don't clean and oil your gun regularly I don't recommend polishing anything on this gun. I also cut the recoil spring about 2/3 of a coil. It made the slide rack much easier, but the slide doesn't come back with even pressure, it pulls soft the first 2/3 inch and then gets stiffer, but still lighter than ho it came. I just ordered a reduced recoil spring to accomplish the same thing but it will be the correct way to do it. So don't cut your spring, get the 18lb spring for a K9 from Wolff Springs. Last but not least, I oiled where appropriate and put the gun back together. I feel this was the equivalent to 300 rounds and probably did more than just shooting would ever do.
- Like I said, be very carful when working on guns. It is easy to screw something up and make the gun not usable or malfunction if you change the dimensions of parts. Most of the gun has very light tolerances and shaving even a very little off can mess something up. The way I work is, if I am not willing to replace it I don't do anything to that part.
To anyone thinking about getting a Kahr, I say do it. FYI, I am not affiliated with Kahr, just a fan.
I have only had it to the range once but I like it. I ran over 200 rounds with no flaw, that is zero failures through it's so called "break in period". I did do some prep-work on it before I took it to the range though (see bottom paragraph). Over all this is a fabulous gun especial in it's price range.
First range trip thoughts:
- The grips are great. I don't think I will put any grip tape or wrap. Most of the ammo I shot did not hurt my hand but the Underwood 147gr +P JHP hurt the palm of my had due t the aggressive grip texture. I was shooting Win. 124gr +P Bonded JHP PDX1 that did not hurt my hand and that is plenty for a defensive firearm.
- The trigger is nice and light but there is the long pull that everyone talks about. It doesn't bother me, I just stage the trigger and hold until I fire the gun. It's easy to get used to this and learn where to hold. But I was printing low and left and need to practice my trigger pull more. I purchased a lighter spring and think it will help some. Over all the trigger is smooth and breaks like glass.
- The sights are good. They are bright enough for daytime or afternoon use. No good for dark but the gun points well enough that close range hits are still easy without much effort. I don't plan to use this for HD so night sights are not necessary for my use with this gun. They do have some great aftermarket options, however, the front sight requires gunsmithing. But I like the stock sight enough not to change them for now.
- I used 4 different types of ammo, 147gr FMJ, 115gr FMJ, 124gr JHP +P, and 147gr JHP +P, and shot around 250 rounds with zero malfunctions. Total reliability. I was not impressed because expected nothing less. If this gun did need break in period I think I got all the kinks out by doing the pre-work. At the end the gun was really dirty, the feed ramp had a hard coat of powder residue and there was the typical oil/powder gunk along the inside of the slide, but the gun still ran without malfunction.
- The gun drops mags freely and they are easy to insert and remove.
A few notes, common misconceptions/misunderstandings and my opinions on them:
- I have heard people complaining that the top round will sometimes not position right in the magazine, it will "nose dive" and won't feed. I noticed this happens pretty easily. I fed several mags with the bullet in a nose dive intentionally, racked the slide (without using the slide stop), and they still fed just fine every time. I inserted the mag with the slide open with the top rounds in a nose dive, dropped the slide with the slide catch and still no malfunctions. I noticed that if you insert a mag into the gun with the slide closed it keeps the nose of the top bullet down anyway. So if people are having hang up it's not form the bullet nosedive. When I got home and cleaned the gun the ramp was black with powder residue, if it was going to malfunction because of a nose dive it would have then.
- Like I said above, I was printing low and left so I was going to adjust my sights. After some research I saw others posting about how to adjust for low and left and most replies said the just needed more trigger time and not to adjust the sights until they had bench rested the pistol. I did a few dry fires and can see that even without a flinching I drop the nose right as the firing pin drops and believe I need to work on my grip to over come this. I got a 5lbs spring from Wolff and hopefully that will help. I plan to do more polishing on the cam and striker sear points also. Still, very accurate as my groups were great, all in a 2-3" groups at 5 yards, just low and left. This trigger does take some practice especial if you are used to a single action or a short light DA (1911, Glock, MP9, etc). I have a FMK 9C1-G2 and it has a similar trigger so I am used to the long pull before it grabs the striker for the break. What I do is stage the trigger and then hold until I am ready to fire. But I was doing some double taps and had no issue even through the long rest. I would say if there was any room for improvement on the CW9 it would be in the trigger. I'm not saying it's a bad trigger, but there are better out there. Just like any gun you can practice and become proficient with stock configuration, but a little polishing and a lighter spring goes a long way.
- My one gripe is when charging the gun the slide serrations were so sharp they were hurting my fingers and leaving indentations. I'm not even going to tell what I did but it doesn't bother me anymore. I do plan to get a coating of some sort on the outside of the slide at some point, not sure what yet.
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ ___________
Prep-work:
- First off, I don't recommend you do anything more than a field strip clean and re-oil unless you have experience with working on pistols. The recoil spring and striker spring are easy enough o replace so if you want the slide to rack easier and the trigger a little lighter go for it. But the trigger is a pain to get back in so if you are not familiar with working on guns past a field strip, don't do it.
- Before I went to the range I stripped the entire gun apart (except the magazine catch), I cleaned it top to bottom, inside and out. Then I polished the trigger bar (where the spring hangs up), the cocking cam and striker contact points (sear points?), the ejector, and the slide rails on the front inside of the frame (they were sharp as a knife before). I use a small sharpening stone and with very, very little pressure I polish for a long time until smooth when I run my finger nail across the surface of what I am polishing. To much pressure will change the dimensions and that is not good (I learned this the hard way on the first gun I ever home-smithed). I didn't polish the barrel's slide ramp as it already looked like a mirror. Keep in mind most components have a coating on them. If you don't clean and oil your gun regularly I don't recommend polishing anything on this gun. I also cut the recoil spring about 2/3 of a coil. It made the slide rack much easier, but the slide doesn't come back with even pressure, it pulls soft the first 2/3 inch and then gets stiffer, but still lighter than ho it came. I just ordered a reduced recoil spring to accomplish the same thing but it will be the correct way to do it. So don't cut your spring, get the 18lb spring for a K9 from Wolff Springs. Last but not least, I oiled where appropriate and put the gun back together. I feel this was the equivalent to 300 rounds and probably did more than just shooting would ever do.
- Like I said, be very carful when working on guns. It is easy to screw something up and make the gun not usable or malfunction if you change the dimensions of parts. Most of the gun has very light tolerances and shaving even a very little off can mess something up. The way I work is, if I am not willing to replace it I don't do anything to that part.
To anyone thinking about getting a Kahr, I say do it. FYI, I am not affiliated with Kahr, just a fan.