CM9 going back to Kahr

[davec]

OK, the CM9 is going back. It's a year old with a little over 2000 rounds. Since I've owned it it would fail to fire every now and then - no strike on the primer - and I blamed range ammo. Last week it started doing it every 3 or 4 rounds. Tried several different kinds of ammo with the same results. Eject the round, put it in the next mag and it fires. I hate to send it back but it's not reliable.

I hear good things about Kahr service and really hope they can fix whatever is wrong with it. I'll let you know.

[tony k]

Maybe a dumb question, but have you been keeping the striker channel clean and free of oil?

[davec]

I have kept it clean using pressurized cleaner. Finally disassembled the slide for a thorough cleaning - it wasn't really dirty so I guess the compressed cleaner works ok.

[davec]

I filled out the online form on Kahr's web site on Sunday and got a return label two days later. Not bad.

The gun went back Friday with a note to allow two weeks to repair. I hope they fix it as I really like the little gun. It's going to take some rounds down range before I feel confident carrying again.

[Cymerej]

I really hope Kahr takes good care of you. As a new cm9 owner I am want to see how it all turns out.

[1stnamebassist]

Yeah I'm curious to see how it all turns out. I love my new CM9 but I get a bit nervous hearing things like this. Good Luck!

[yqtszhj]

Maybe a weak striker spring. I think they'll take care of you. Let us know how it goes.

[davec]

I thought about a weak spring so I bought Galloway's kit with springs and steel striker guide. It made the trigger a little lighter but no change in fails. Had to take it all apart and put factory parts in before I sent it back.

Got an email yesterday saying they had the gun so we see how long turn around is.

[greener2117]

yep, just bought a CM9 lat month. After 50 rounds the barrel plating started de-laminating. Kahr replaced it in about 10 days. now after 300 rounds both mags fail to lock back the slide after the last round. the 7 round mag's follower appears to be cracked. So the mags were shipped today. It makes me nervous too. I really want to like this gun. We'll see....

[Cymerej]

How did you like the change the Galloway kit made to the trigger?

[bugs]

cymerej,
I installed the Galloway kit in my EDC CM9 about two months ago and have had no problems;the pull weight was reduced by a small amount; still ok for EDC but not match quality by any means, that 's ok also. I shoot Federals and CD 115 gr. ;don't know about other brands.

NRA LIFER

IDPA BELEIVER

[Cymerej]

Good. I'm glad you like the kit. I didn't realize anyone made one for kahrs so it is nice to know its a worthy product if I desire to do the same down the road.

[davec]

IT was ok, definitely lighter pull but a little mushy. When I get it back I'll run some serious rounds through it to see if I like it better than factory.

[davec]

On 9/18 I got the email from Kahr letting me know they have my CM9. I was hoping it would be back by now but no word so I guess it's time to drag out the phone and see if I can get a status.

[tony k]

How long have they had it?

Thanks for the update too

[davec]

Almost a month - since 9/18

[mark7mod0]

Had a strange problem with my CM9 today...happened 3 times out of 100 rounds of ammo. Gun fired, empty ejected, slide returned , but no cartridge loaded in chamber. ???

[Bawanna]

Check the stripper on the bottom of the slide. I've not heard of it on the CM but early on some didn't have a bevel and it would ride over the cartridge without getting behind it, so it didn't pick it up.
You can lock the slide back, and insert a loaded mag and see if the round slips up in front of the stripper bar. Not sure that's a proper name but that's what it does. Might just need a bit more taper since it's not happening often.

[davec]

My CM9 came back today - just under 5 weeks. I suppose that's not unreasonable when I think about it. Multiple items were fixed (?) slide had to be wiggled to get it back on, fail to fire, excessive wear (in my opinion) on the frame. Everything is shined up and new looking, the slide release is very hard to operate but I suppose it will break in. The note included said replaced trigger bar and tested.
It goes to the range tomorrow ..

[davec]

One more thing worth mentioning - Kahr sent me a prepaid shipping label to return my gun and didn't charge me for return shipping so good mark for not trying to nickel and dime me on a warranty repair.

[davec]

Took my CM9 to the range and put 100 rounds of range ammo and a handful of +P through it and it went bang every time I pulled the trigger. I still need to put a few hundred through it before I feel it's dependable but so far so good.

[yqtszhj]

5 weeks isn't too bad I guess. Springfield is slower than that.

Good to here it seems to be working better now.

[tony k]

Dave c,
What did you think of it without all the distracting failures?

[davec]

Put another 150 rounds through it today and it fired every time. I'm starting to feel better about it.

I spent the last 5 weeks shooting SA and going back to the DA on my CM9 was a little embarrassing until I got used to it.

Overall I liked my Kahr, the size was what I wanted, the price was really low considering what I got. If I was going to nit pick little things, the magazines had some rough spots on the feed lips and bottom that needed attention and lining up the marks to disassemble took a little practice. All in all it was a nice pocket carry pistol.

[davec]

OK, I'm starting to feel a little better about my CM9 repair. Ran another 200 through it today bringing the total since repaired to 500. I've been feeding the it crappiest of the crappy to gourmet ammo to see what happens. Just for laughs I put some TulAmmo through it - 2 feed issues which I'm comfortable blaming on the ammo. I had one light strike on Winchester white, 2nd run through the round fired. I haven't cleaned it since I got it back so it doesn't seem to be fussy about firing dirty.

It seems it can go back into the EDC rotation.

[tony k]

So... I'm still not clear on what they did other than replace the trigger bar. Maybe I missed it. But I don't understand how that would cause light primer strikes.

Glad things are going well with your CM9. My Cm9 is my most reliable pistol.

[davec]

Me neither - the slide now goes on without wiggling, they cleaned up a ragged area on the frame where the slide was rubbing and the slide release is now really stiff. Seems like a lot more was done than just replacing the trigger bar.

[tony k]

I've got a cw380 that was having intermittent light primer strikes, primary with my reloads. Without going into the details, I eventually figured out that it was happening when the gun was out of battery in an almost imperceivable way. I changed one thing about my reloads (.001" more crimp) and the problem went away.

Maybe all the flash that was causing it to be difficult to put the slide on was also effecting the way the slide cycled just enough for it to be just a hair out of battery. Then, because your trigger bar was out of spec, it wasn't actuating the rest of the trigger mechanism enough to make the striker hit the primer.

OR...

And this is a strong possibility...

I'm just talking out my a$$ with wild speculation that adds no value to this thread. 😀

[davec]

To be fair to Kahr, the repaired CM9 has had another 500 rounds through it with no fail to fires.

[DJK11]

Kahr trigger bars are a soft stamped metal, I've broken two in half on my pm9 and replaced a worn one on my pm45. They brake at one of the bends and the reset tab wears. The rental Kahrs at my local range experiences a number of broken trigger bars.

Now that you have 500 through your pistol, it's time to check the striker channel and clean out the crud from primer smear.

[davec]

Gotcha DJK11. I was going to put the Galloway kit back in and will check everything when I have the slide apart.