PM9 in Thailand

[PattayaPistol]

Hi,

Just wanted to introduce myself and say hi. I have a new PM9, bought today up in Bangkok. I brought it home and gave it the new gun prep as per Jocko and lubed it as per Johnh. Thanks for the tips. Hopefully tomorrow or Friday I will get to the range and begin the break-in. Thought you my like to see a pic with the Thailand markings on the gun. Apologies for my pathetic photography skills.

http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/161/kahrpm93.jpg

Regards
PP
http://www.kahrtalk.com/img718.imageshack.us/img718/161/kahrpm93.jpg

[Bawanna]

Well hi PatayaPistol. We've gone international, how cool is that. Glad you found us, I'm sure you can add some interesting insight.

I assume the markings are some sort of import marks required before distribution over there.

Are accessories and ammunition etc readily available or a challenge?

Hope you stick with us.

[PattayaPistol]

Bawanna45cal, things are available here, but everything is expensive. Actually range ammo runs about $24 for 50 rounds and defense ammo is about $75 for 50 rounds. Holsters need to be imported, and I am a bit embarrassed to tell how much I paid for the gun and an extra 6 round mag. All I will say is that it was far less than my HK P30 or my Les Baer, but more than a Glock or M&P 9

I believe you are correct regarding the markings.

I intend sticking around as the forum has heaps of info for someone like me who will never be able send the gun back to Kahr should an issue ever develop.

Regards
PP

[Bawanna]

I'm sure we're all curious about your firearms laws and stuff over there. What you can do with one as far as carry and what you have to do in order to legally own one.

You got a Les Baer which to me is cream of the crop. A fine gun for sure

We got lots of folks here to help if you have troubles with that PM9 or just about any other gun for that matter.

Your price doesn't seem too extrodinary, more than a Glock, less than a Les Baer, I dont know much about the HK pistols.

[gb6491]

Welcome to the forums and thanks for sharing the photo of your PM9; the Thailand markings are indeed interesting.
Regards,
Greg

[DriveMyKahr]

PP, Nice looking gun! Welcome to the forum. While you're waiting for a range visit, rack that slide as many times as you can. Based on my limited experience it will go a long way towards a successful first outing. Good luck and good shooting. Let us know how things go.

[armed pacifist]

Welcome. I'm fairly new here as well, but have found the members here to be helpful and friendly.

I too am interested as to what restrictions are put on gun ownership over there (owning, carrying, using it, etc.)

Also, do you have a translation for the markings on the side of the frame?

[PattayaPistol]

Thanks all for the welcome. Our gun laws are fairly restrictive. It is possible obviously to legally buy guns as long as one is a Thai citizen of decent standing. Myself as a foreign expat living there (been in Thailand 25 years) I cannot own a gun. Previously it was possible through my company. Now my guns are registered in my wife's name. She also has a few guns (Glock, Kimber, STI and Ruger).

Carrying is normally not legal for the general public, but there are some exceptions. It also seems that every punk, petty criminal has some sort of illegal weapon.

As for training, we use a local military range that is open to the public and my wife goes on regular courses. I have so far only managed to find 1 course in English and unfortunately my Thai is not good enough to attend a live fire course in Thai. We try to shoot every week, but with the cost of ammo we normally limit ourselves to between 50 and 100 rounds each.

I spent yesterday evening racking the slide, and today I will check with my wife and get an accurate translation of the markings. Yup, just confirmed it is the Thai registration #.

Cheers
PP

[jocko]

Now that is really cool. a gun in thailand, now isn't that just a few miles north of chicago????

[Bawanna]

Now that is really cool. a gun in thailand, now isn't that just a few miles north of chicago????

Boy you can be a dumb one sometimes Jocko. It's east of chicago, not north. Ya buy em books, send em to school and we still get stuff like this.

I'm gonna go look at a map so I can tell people I got a buddy in Thailand.

It is east ain't it. I'll be back.

[Bawanna]

Wow, Thailand is really really big. First 12 websites are pretty girls in Pattaya sites. Looks like some nice resort towns and white sand beaches.
Lot of tattooes on the pretty girls, more on that after further research.

It's really big! Kinda by Cambodia and North of Viet Nam, in that neighborhood. I think Rambo lives there.

[jocko]

u gotta remember ol wise one, I am from Indiana. We are part of the Northern agression!!! We speak of everything in terms of NORTH!!

[jocko]

Hi,

Just wanted to introduce myself and say hi. I have a new PM9, bought today up in Bangkok. I brought it home and gave it the new gun prep as per Jocko and lubed it as per Johnh. Thanks for the tips. Hopefully tomorrow or Friday I will get to the range and begin the break-in. Thought you my like to see a pic with the Thailand markings on the gun. Apologies for my pathetic photography skills.

http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/161/kahrpm93.jpg

Regards
PP
http://www.kahrtalk.com/img718.imageshack.us/img718/161/kahrpm93.jpg

Now I am convinced kahr has a bunch of illegals working there:target:

[AFVet]

Boy you can be a dumb one sometimes Jocko. It's east of chicago, not north. Ya buy em books, send em to school and we still get stuff like this.

Yes, Thailand...AKA Lake Michigan. :tongue:

[PattayaPistol]

Yeh, we're a little north, a little east, hell maybe even a little west and south. It all depends on one's state of mind at the time. My state of mind has had to make a radical adjustment this past couple of years since getting into guns. Pattaya is a serious party town which is why we all started here. Eventually the partying gets old and we settle down and gravitate back to the old suburban lifestyle, but then that is all relative as a suburban lifestyle here is not the typical suburban lifestyle.

This is a great place to party and / or relax. As I once recall hearing somewhere - "C'mon down"

Cheers
PP

[jocko]

C'mon down to us Northerners means SOUTH. and we do not do that. My compass says North, East, West and then North again..

I didn't realize Pattaya was actully a town. Sounds like some place in Bumfokk, Egypt???

wow 262 motels in pattaya. Indeed one hell of a party town.

[OldLincoln]

I considered moving to Thailand as an expat but first my wife wouldn't go and second they likely wouldn't have me. They had so many of us go there that at the time I looked they had severe limitations like you had to have a job and a paid for return ticket for when they kick you out.

Before I get called out for th8inking about it, I was only looking for a place where my social security would stretch. At one time the dollar was worth something but that's gone too, so may as well stay here.

[jocko]

what the hell u talking about lincoln. It is similar to a place in chicago, Once called Gabrinai Square, not need to go all that way.

I see your computer came from the same store I bought mine at, lots of glitcs in mine. course I got my $25 less as I didn't need the spell check version, evidently u bought one to.. (th8inking)

(th8inking )

[PattayaPistol]

I didn't realize Pattaya was actully a town. Sounds like some place in Bumfokk, Egypt???



Reminds me of the time I was living in Italy many years ago. My boss' wife had heard me talking about working in Bumfokk Egypt, and thought it was a real place. (There are some very strange to us sounding names around). When we had some North African clients come through, she asked them if they were based near Bumfokk, Egypt. I don't recall that it went down too well. Oh well....

Cheers
PP

[Dietrich]

Howdy Pattayapistol,it is waayy cool to have you here.

[jocko]

LOLROTF

My folks were from la canavese, Italy. Kinda sounds alittle Mafia, now doesn't it. If u give me your address I still have some old unused "fish" heads around. Years ago, around my area, we used alot of Horse heads to get the point across, but today, we are getting old(horse heads were fokking heavy to), horses are scarce and when they see me they just run like hell.

[TTPower]

hi pattaya, nice meet a fellow asian here in this forum:) how's the gun law there in thailand? are you guys allowed to concealed carry there? btw, guns here in the philippines also cost a fortune. a PM9 would cost around $1,250 including all paper works.

[PattayaPistol]

hi pattaya, nice meet a fellow asian here in this forum:) how's the gun law there in thailand? are you guys allowed to concealed carry there? btw, guns here in the philippines also cost a fortune. a PM9 would cost around $1,250 including all paper works.

Thanks TT. Looks like we are truly an international forum.

Concealed carry in Thailand is pretty much a no no, unless of course one is a criminal. I guess Philippines have similar gun laws to us. At least we can legally defend ourselves in our house. Sounds like the Philippines although expensive, is not crazy like Thailand.

Cheers
PP

[yqtszhj]

Boy you can be a dumb one sometimes Jocko. It's east of chicago, not north. Ya buy em books, send em to school and we still get stuff like this.

I'm gonna go look at a map so I can tell people I got a buddy in Thailand.

It is east ain't it. I'll be back.


Hey, If I remember right Jocko is a college graduate. If I remember right he said one time it was Bring Um Young University. I wanted to go there too.:D

[PattayaPistol]

So, I got her/him/it to the range and...........

Wow, I need to share the love. First range trip with my new PM9. I shot 100 rounds of locally made Thai range ammo – 135 gr RNL. I used 2 x 6 round magazines and 1 x 7 round mag. I was shooting at an outdoor range at 10m and 15m despite reading that shooting should be kept to 7m.

Firstly this is one sweet little gun. When I shoot my wife’s Glock 26 for a few rounds my poor old arthritic hands take a beating. I looked at the PM9 and thought “oh no, I am going to be in trouble here” This was not the case and apart from the grip getting a bit slippery towards the end of the session (it’s 90 deg F with 90% humidity here at the moment) there were no shooting issues.

I did have a few issues. Firstly for the first 2 magazines of both 6 round mags, the slide failed to lock back after the last round was fired. There was no such issue with the 7 rounder. I looked at my grip and modified it ever so slightly and the issue disappeared. The 6 round magazines then ran flawlessly. The 7 round mag had 2 FTF’s. This was when I loaded 7 rounds in the magazine, chambered 1 round and then topped off the mag. The second and third rounds of the mag (3rd and 4th round) failed to chamber, and the gun jammed. This required removing the magazine (with difficulty) and then clearing the gun. The round came out still in the mag each time. I will persevere with the 7 round magazine as a range mag.

Accuracy even at 10m and 15m was very good. I certainly did not disgrace myself and all I was really doing was having fun and breaking in the gun.

So, initial thoughts. I am really going to like this gun. I already feel confident that within a few hundred more rounds I will be ready to trust my life to this gun, using the 6 round magazines. Not so confident with the 7 rounder. That mag can be used for the range. I will need to head out of town to an unsupervised range where I can shoot defense ammo in a few weeks time and run a couple of boxes through it and it should be good to go. I have already checked the defense ammo for clearance to the slide stop and all is good. Oh, and the gun is already loosening up. Whereas I was having difficulty racking the slide before I shot the gun, it is now much easier.

Love love love. :D

Cheers
PP

[johnh]

All this talk about Thailand is making me hungry. Thai food is absolutely my favorite. Pad Thai, wonderful curry, spring rolls....

Okay, I know where I am going to eat tomorrow! Cannot be as good as eating over there though. Maybe after retirement I can wander that way. :D

[deadhead1971]

Welcome. With humidity like that, you will be glad the Kahr has stainless steel parts (slide & barrel). The trigger might be stainless too.

Regarding the slide lock, I think I have had it not lock back on the last round- maybe 2 times at the most. I have had it lock back with rounds still in the magazine--maybe 4 times. Mine has a little over 3,000 rds, and it ran flawlessly the last 300-400 rds. So I might have an occasional issue but the gun obviously don't have a problem otherwise the issue would be more frequent.

[PattayaPistol]

Thai food, yes it is pretty good. I actually only eat it about 1/2 the time but come over here and enjoy the food. We have food, weather and beautiful people (no I am not referring to me as I am an expat, but to the Thai people). And for old folk like me, the warm weather is sure good for my joints.

As for the slide not locking back, I am sure I must have been touching the slide lock. I looked at my grip and couldn't see how, but knew I must be so I moved my thumbs more forward than up and the problem went away.

I have some Thai friends shooting in Bangkok on Sunday and will go up and watch them and maybe put another few mags through the gun.

Regards
PP

[deadhead1971]

I just saw on the news you all are having problems with monitor lizards being smuggled. How big do those things get?

[PattayaPistol]

I just saw on the news you all are having problems with monitor lizards being smuggled. How big do those things get?

Sorry deadhead, but you are more up on the news than me. I can't say that I have actually seen a monitor lizard here in Thailand. I know that in Indonesia when I have been walking through the bush they have scared the cr*p out of me. I believe in Indonesia they get to at least 6 feet. I have been working in the swamps in Indonesia and they look just like a crocodile swimming by, just a little more tail swish.

Cheers
PP

[deadhead1971]

Here is the source of my info: http://www.wral.com/news/national_world/world/story/9407318/