Lakeline magazine follower as a solution to my cw9 feeding problem?

[Redwood]

I recently posted about the problem I’m having with my cw9 with nearly 200 rounds through it. At least half the rounds apparently nose dive causing the slide to stop short about an inch from closing properly. Three different types ammo - all 115 grain brass FMJ. I saw a YouTube video from a guy who changed out the Kahr followers with metal (aluminum) followers by Lakeline and was a fan of them. Some commented they had improved feeding after using them also. I’m about at my wits end with this brand new gun and am wondering if I should spend the $20 the Lakeline costs before spending more to overnight ship this lemon back to Kahr in hopes it might come back and work as good as the guns I have that cost half as much as this cw9. I bought this as a concealed carry gun and I like the weight and accuracy but unless the gun has an internal switch that says “okay he’s wasted 200 rounds, you can work now,” I would never buy another Kahr that I hadn’t fired a few clips through first.

Have any other cw9 owners found Lakeline followers to be a solution to a feeding problem? Thanks in advance for your advice.

[jokester945]

I just got them. Not sure it will fix your issue though, however it might. What type of ammo are you using? Obviously if it’s +p you’ll run into problems with grip. Fwiw I have not had any failures in my P9 .


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[DavidR]

If this is a new gun it’s likely Kahr will pay for the shipping both ways. I would send it back.

The Lakeline followers are great and solve the problem of the plastic follower breaking from hitting the feed ramp but your gun should function with the stock followers.

[Alfonse]

I agree. Your gun should function with the factory parts.

[SingleStackNine]

My CW9 is early production with the crappy followers. I’d get a few nose dives every time I took it to the range. Always would happen when the mag near full. I just swapped out all my followers with the lakeline aluminum ones and now I can ride the slide closed as slow as I see fit and it chambers rounds smoother than I’ve ever experienced with this gun. No more nose dives with my standard 7 round mags.

My 10 round mags still don’t really like to feed the first 2 or 3 rounds, but after that, like buttah. With the 10 round mags I still gotta let the slide hammer those first few rounds in, but where I’d get nose dives before, I only get a split second hesitation where it appears like it wants to jam up and then decides to go. Not gonna trust the 10 rounders till a few hundred rounds go through without any nose dives.

[topgun1953]

I think Kahr ‘s latest followers don’t have that contour in it. They work better. I think Greg modified some followers a while back by sanding the hump/contour down.

[I_Like_Turtles]

I have Lakeline followers in two mags but have not tested those. I took the cue from advise here.

[getsome]

The weak link in a Kahr pistol has always been the magazine which I believe they outsource to another vendor....Kahr makes the finest gem of a pistol but the magazine looks to be an after thought....I was able to trade for a black base mag from the limited run "Thin Blue Line" PM9 guns that isn't available from the Kahr parts department for some reason and it looks so much better like it should have come from the factory but it still isn't up to par with the current market and is why we will never see a double stack Kahr to compete with a Hellcat or a Sig P365 because either Kahr is happy with their market share as is or doesn't want to spend the money to invest in a new product....It's too bad because I think the market is there but what do I know....I'm very happy with my PM9 now that it feeds correctly because a really smart, talented guy like Alfonse came up with a magazine follower that actually works very well and for a decent price but it's a shame a consumer has to alter an expensive pistol to make it reliable to carry.....Thank you Alfonse

[Cashflex30]

The problem may not be the magazine follower, it maybe the feed ramp. The problem you having sound like the problem I had. When I went to pickup my gun from my local gun store (after 10 days of waiting). I purchase some snap caps bought the Kahr CW9 home loaded up the magazine with the snap caps hit the slide release FTF what the heck... Drop the magazine, shook out the snap cap tried again same problem. Went down to Walmart brought some Rem oil and oil for lubrication. Gave the gun a good cleaning I noticed that their was black deposits (gun powder) on the feed ramp clean and polish it to the point it was shining. Oil parts of the gun that needed to be oil put it all back together and wipe it down. I loaded up the magazine again with the snap caps put the magazine in the gun hit the slide release "bingo" it was like butter. I was able to find ammo at my local ace hardware store I got two boxes, one 150 rds of winchester 124 gr nato the
other was 50 rds of blazer 147 gr. Took a trip to a outdoor shooting range I shot the 50 rds of blazers with no problems and 20 rds of the winchester with no problems. The mechanic side of me wanted to try something so I went to Walmart pick up some gun grease cleaned the gun, wipe it inside and out this time instead of using oil I used a gun grease. Went back to the outdoor shooting range fired the gun the 3rd shot FTF... Operating this gun with grease I was having all kinds of problems. So I decided to stick using oil so far I haven't had any problems. I hope this help

P.S. keep the feed ramp clean and polish

[dustnchips]

My three Kahrs and the one I gave my GF all run perfectly on grease. Cash flex, yours may work perfectly with grease after it has more rounds through it. I did polish my feed ramps with jewelrs rouge on a dremell linen wheel before shooting.

[Bawanna]

Mine run on grease as well. Should run fine after a few more rounds.

[SingleStackNine]

Alright ladies and gents, I spent a whole day at the range today. One of the guns I shot was the tiny CW9. What a truly great hand gun. The awesome Lakeline followers and the updated plastic Kahr followers have resolved my FTF and bullet nose dive issues completely in every way possible. I put a couple hundred rounds through the CW9 today and not a single FTF. Not a single malfunction of any kind. I used 5 different types of ammo from fmj target ammo to jhp defensive ammo. All different bullet weights and brass and aluminum casings too. I could not make the CW9 malfunction no matter how hard I tried. I tried riding the slide closed as slow as molasses. I slingshotted the slide normally. I did not ever use the slide release, as the factory instructs. A personal requirement of mine is flawless feed from slingshotting and riding the slide, if I so choose. A hand gun in good working order will do both smooth and clean. It's my requirement and it passed. I could not get it to fail. It ate ammo like it was starving. The iron sights are working perfect. Got the crimson trace laser dialed in real accurate out to 15 yards. This rig is ready.

[getsome]

Glad to hear it SingleStack, A good shooting Kahr is absolutely a keeper....The Lakeline followers make a difference and add to the reliability of the gun and I have them in all my magazines but I have to say that when my PM9 was brand new and before I did anything to it I got a free range pass from the LGS where I bought it and I shot 100 rounds of range ammo just to see if it would shoot and I limp waisted the heck out of it trying for a malfunction and it never missed a beat...When I got it home and cleaned it the thing was filthy but it never had any problems at all.....After installing the Lakeline followers it is easier to rack and after I guess 1000 rounds down range the little gun has never once malfunctioned in any way so she's my baby forever...

[SingleStackNine]

I put the Lakeline followers in my two original 7 round mags from 2008, original springs. Those two 7 rounders are now my best mags. Really will bet my life on those. The 8 round mag with Lakeline follower is a close contender, but sometimes it hiccups on a slow ride. So it will be downloaded to 7 rounds max for buttery feed. There's no slow riding the slide with the 10 round mags. You must slingshot hard and slam the slide shut if you expect it to load if the mags are topped off completely full. So those are out. I don't like that. I feel going beyond 7 rounds exceeds reliable feeding of single stack 9mm bullets in my CW9. Others results may vary.

If only have 7 rounds in the 8 and 10 round mags, they feed the gun as buttery smooth as the original 7 round mags. So what I'm saying is beyond 7 rounds the feed gets harder and harder the more single stack nine rounds you add. I have resolved myself to the fact this is a 7 round mag gun so I've ordered springs and base plates to turn my two 10 round mags into 7 rounders. The body of the 10 round mags are identical to my original 7's so that's great. Now I have 4 seven round mags and an 8. Keep two 7 round mags on my ankle (if I'm wearing pants and not cargo shorts with side pockets), 1 in the gun (of course). One in my left front pocket on a neo-mag. Oh and my Sig Sauer P365XL arrives this week. CW9 was lonely. Now it will have backup haha.

[SingleStackNine]

Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, let me tell ya. MagGuts for the win. Thank you so much to the gent who suggested MagGuts to me. What a winning product. I didn't think anything could get better than the Lakeline followers, but was shown it could. Feels great carrying around an extra bullet in each mag, plus zero failure to feed issues. The follower design seems even better than the Lakeline followers, if that's even possible. I ordered 2 more MagGuts for my other 2 mags for a total of 4 conversions to MagGuts. Perfect. I have a renewed love for this gun. Just in time for my new Sig P365XL to arrive. I see it's at the Renton post office this morning. Will arrive to the FFL in a few hrs and then I can go do the paperwork on it. It's a happy Thursday.