PM9 Shoots High

[48 OFF]

Bought a P9 several months back and love it so I thought I'd try my luck with a PM9 and to say the least my experience so far has been spotchy. As soon as I puchased the PM9 I went to shoot it and found out it would not eject a live round. Try all you may but the extractor would grab the rim as it should however when the ejector engaged the back of the cases the bullet would not clear the chamber. Once you fired the round it was no problem and I never had a single hiccup in 100 rounds. Well I sent the pistol in on my own dime and when it came back I noticed they had replaced the barrel. I shot it to check funtion and two things caught my attention. First the pistol shoots approx. 6-7 inches above the point of aim. The size of the group is about 2 inches at 15 yards, which is about all I can do with my P9 under the same lighting. The difference being my P9 is spot on at 15 yards while the PM9 is high, very high. It also groups about 2-3 inches to the right. The other problem is the mag dissconect keeps engaging when I'm shootin the longer mags. I'm sure I'm hitting it and it only drops the mag with the additional force from my pinky finger on the bottom of the mag during the firing sequence. This usually will cause a light primer strike due to the bullet not being properly chambered. The rest of the time I get good primer strikes. Don't really want to send the gun back if this is a common thing that I can fix with a taller front sight, drifting the rear sight over a little, and putting in a heavier mag disconnect spring. What is y'alls experience as far as poi with the PM9 and what suggestions comments do you have? I'm really lookin for a replacement front sight that would accomplish what I need. TIA.

[deadhead1971]

It seems like the gun was shooting ok with the orginal barrel. Why did you send it back? Seems like the gun was still in the break-in period. When I eject a live round, I remove the mag and turn the gun upside down and pull the slide back hard, and the round just plops out on the ground. I am not sure if I held the PM9 upright, the round would fly out the top.

Question--is the new barrel a loose fit or a tight fit inside the slide? Does the top of the chamber hood slide in place easily?

[48 OFF]

I sent it in for failure to eject a live round. If a gun won't do that while being held up right I have no use for it. How would you be able to accomplish even a simple tap and rack weapon clearing drill if your pistol has to be held upsidedown with the mag out? But to answer your other question the barrel lockup is very tight. Thanks

[deadhead1971]

Ok. If the barrel is too tight (the top hood bumping up against the back of the slide above the striker hole), then the barrel might be slightly angled higher causing higher hits on the target. Look at it from a side profile, and this might make some sense. For the barrel to be even parallel, for lack of a better word, with the slide, the barrel needs to fit loosely.

This thread may help explain things. Read the posts and look at the pictues. Specifically, look at the post & pictue by the poster Wagon on the 2nd page of the thread. Note how the tight fit causes the barrel to point up. http://kahrtalk.com/kahr-tech/527-replacement-barrel-frunstration-diappointment-2.html

I had a barrel replaced due to nickel plating flaking, and the new barrel was so tight inside the slide. I got a honing stone (80/60) and gently filed the top back of the hood so it would fit in better (more loose).

This tight barrel issue is the only thing I can think of for high shots.

[Bawanna]

Many here have found that you need to rack the slide briskly to eject a live round. You can't finese it or ease it out, you gotta rip that slide back like you mean it and it will eject. We've seen and heard of this many times here.
Since your shooting basically the same sights and nothing has changed in that area I have to assume your sight picture is correct. I don't say this to question your ability in anyway, it's just that sometimes different sights require a different hold. The XS's are a good example, cover rather than 6 oclock hold.
As Deadhead said it may in fact be a bad barrel fit and I suspect another trip back is in order. I'd have someone else shoot it to see if its consistant accross the board or something else contributing to it.

[48 OFF]

Deadhead ,I appreciate the link to that post and I suspect this to be the problem. I did notice the first round fired out of a fresh mag, not including a tactical reload, will hit 3 inches hight at 15 yards while the rest will group about an inch and a half exactly 6 inches high at 15 yards. This seems to contraindicate the tight barrel thing since one would assume the firing sequence would engage it better than me slingshoting the slide or using the slide release. I usually do my own gunsmithing. however, received a return shipping label so will let Kahr have another shot at it. Bawanna,as far as the not ejecting a live round issue they fixed this the last time I sent it in and it now works as it should. I have a good understanding of the amount of force required to cycle a smaller pistol such as the PM9 and exerted said force times ten to no avail. But like I said they replaced the barrel and this is no longer an issue. Thanks again for the info and will keep everyone updated with a fresh report once I receive the pistol back from Kahr.