Another (mostly) boring CM9 report

[Chowser]

Hello all, back at the beginning of the year, I had my sergeant preorder a Kimber Solo. He was told maybe December. So in late March sometime, I told him, get me a Kahr CM9 also.
Well, finally September rolls around and he gets my CM9 in. I got it on the 13th, but couldn't shoot it till the 19th (hey, I get free ammo and range time at work, so I waited till I got back to work so I could get paid to shoot the gun).
So after I got it, I took it apart and cleaned it (it was dirty) and racked the slide 500 times. I noticed that the gun had alot of flashing left on it from the molding process. Also, the magazine had the spring in it the wrong way and the baseplate slides off without depressing the dimple. (the mag is on its way back to Kahr now). The spare mag I bought (along with a Desantis Nemesis pocket holster) back in the summer also had the spring the wrong way.

This was after racking the slide 500 times, there's still a little flash molding left, but it's pretty much cleaned off.

http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/9504/kahrint3.jpg

I must say that loading those two 6-rd mags over and over again really made my thumb sore. I grabbed four boxes of Speer 124gr. TMJ (that's all we stock for practice ammo) and one box each of Winchester Ranger 147gr. Bonded JHP and T-Series SXT.

All I did for the 200 rounds of Speer was stand seven feet from a target and blast away without aiming. Absolutely no issues whatsoever. Gun shot everything just fine.

I then staggered the Winchester rounds in the magazines (that's how we carry our duty ammo as well) and proceeded to aim and shoot, strong hand only shoot, weak hand only shoot. Somewhere in the middle of it while moving back and forth shooting multiple targets, I had a failure to feed. I forgot to check which round it was so for the rest of JHP rounds, I didn't stagger the rounds hoping to isolate which it was. It didn't malfunction again, so I'm going to attribute it to my grip or something. I had no issues hitting COM or doing headshots with this little pistol.

So, after 200 rds of TMJ ammo and 100 rds of JHP ammo, I cleaned the gun and shot an email off to Kahr about the bad baseplate on the magazine. They emailed me a FedEx label and I packed it up and dropped it off (there is a FedEx station in the city I work for).

Originally, I was going to have the slide sent off to get it refinished in black, but I ended up sending it out for an electroless nickel teflon refinish along with the barrel. I'll post pics when it gets back. I really wanted to have an all black CM9, but I wanted to test this refinisher's electroless nickel teflon against Robar's NP3. (all my HKs are redone in NP3).

I'll be ordering a front night sight from Kahr to put on it once I get it back from the refinisher (Customized Creationz in MI).

I plan on pocket carrying the CM9. It's going to be the back-up to my Glock 33 which I will be moving back to the hip. It's too thick to pocket carry that all the time.

I promptly canceled my Kimber Solo. I might pick up another CM9 and have it refinished in black, but I've been waiting for Glock to come out with a gen4 32, so that'll probably be my next purchase.

http://img571.imageshack.us/img571/9066/kahrnemesis.jpg

[gundawg]

Chowser, looks great, and i will be waiting to see those pics when you get it refinished. That Nemesis looks perfect, is there any particular number for that holster or is it more of a universal fit.

[JBarbaresi]

good report and glad to hear your success first time out shooting. but how did you get rid of it so quickly for refinishing? i literally have not been able to put mine down since purchasing it on the 8th, so much so that my wife is started to get annoyed. no way i'd be able to send it off after only one trip shooting it.it must be nice to get free ammo and stuff, i'm down to my last case of 147gr winchester super x so i ordered a case of 147gr speer lawman from ammoman this week. should have enough rounds to last me a couple weeks at the rate i've been feeding my cm9.

[gundawg]

Jbar, how is the 147 doing for you out of the CM9. I have only shot 124 and 115 so far, but i am a fan of the HST standard and +P and think either of those combined with the CM9 could make a nice formidable combo.

[JBarbaresi]

Jbar, how is the 147 doing for you out of the CM9. I have only shot 124 and 115 so far, but i am a fan of the HST standard and +P and think either of those combined with the CM9 could make a nice formidable combo.

i carry the standard pressure 147gr HSTs in my glock 19 and now in my cm9. so far i've shot 200 of those through the cm9 and didn't have any issues. as far as ball ammo, i have been buying in bulk for the last several years so i really don't even shoot anything other than the 147gr rounds just to maintain a consistent feel with my carry loads (although i truly believe it probably won't matter in a SD situation). i've put 700 rounds of 147gr winchester super x through and didn't have any malfunctions of any kind, slide locked back on every empty mag, and the gun ran perfectly right out of the box. i have a case of 147gr speer lawman being delivered today, so i'll be interested to see how it compares.

i think a lot of the issues guys are having is with the lighter 115gr rounds, which also tend to be less consistent in terms of the QC process. if you frequent any of the other gun forums out there, the cheaper 115gr rounds tend to be giving a lot of users of a lot of different gun manufacturers a lot of headaches, including glock.

[jocko]

not sure I buy that 115 grain cheaper ammo as a problem. I have shot WWB walmart 115 fmj for over 32K out of my pM9 and 5000 out of my K9 and they work perfect. I don't think these ammo makers (american made) put out cheap ammo, just that they can get alot more for defense stuff, which maybe is way over priced where as 115 fmj is what the price should be. If a kahr won't shoot 115 grain ammo, then IMO there is somethinbg wrong with the gun. I don't defend foreign stuff as I and most of don't know what is in it or the age either but American brand ammo is pretty damn good stuff . they are all going down the production line faster than the eye can see including defense stuff. Not sure those machines decipher which is going to be a good round (cheap) and what is going to be an expensive round. Probably the reason we might see or hear (which I really don't either way) of things with the 115 gr fmj round over this defense stuff is because more than likely for every one round of defense ammo shot, there is maybe 250+ of fmj 115 grain rounds shot, probably alot higher. stastically it will show up more, but we jost don't hear of it. Gun makers love to blame the ammo, Ammo makers over to blame gun makers..

[JFootin]

I must say that loading those two 6-rd mags over and over again really made my thumb sore.

Get a Butler Creek Universal LULA Pistol Loader (http://www.opticsplanet.net/butler-creek-universal-lula-black-pistol-loader.html). Best thing I ever found for saving my thumb, and it will work on every normal carry caliber.

[JFootin]

i carry the standard pressure 147gr HSTs ...

The recoil is not bad with these, either, right?

[JBarbaresi]

not sure I buy that 115 grain cheaper ammo as a problem. I have shot WWB walmart 115 fmj for over 32K out of my pM9 and 5000 out of my K9 and they work perfect. I don't think these ammo makers (american made) put out cheap ammo, just that they can get alot more for defense stuff, which maybe is way over priced where as 115 fmj is what the price should be. If a kahr won't shoot 115 grain ammo, then IMO there is somethinbg wrong with the gun. I don't defend foreign stuff as I and most of don't know what is in it or the age either but American brand ammo is pretty damn good stuff . they are all going down the production line faster than the eye can see including defense stuff. Not sure those machines decipher which is going to be a good round (cheap) and what is going to be an expensive round. Probably the reason we might see or hear (which I really don't either way) of things with the 115 gr fmj round over this defense stuff is because more than likely for every one round of defense ammo shot, there is maybe 250+ of fmj 115 grain rounds shot, probably alot higher. stastically it will show up more, but we jost don't hear of it. Gun makers love to blame the ammo, Ammo makers over to blame gun makers..

i agree to some extent, i think some of the brands of cheap cheap cheap 115gr (the ones you buy at walmart) have QC issues. for the most part i don't think its the 115gr loads causing the issues directly, but with the lighter and weaker 115gr rounds there is much less room for error on the shooter's part. i have never experiences a problem with any 115gr rounds i've shot through any of my guns with exception of a handful of bad primers that failed to detonate.

@JFootin, the recoil of 147gr 9mm is different than 115 or 124gr. its hard to explain but not really more or less recoil, in my opinion it feels slightly softer because there is more of a "push" behind it. my experience with the HSTs is that they are loaded pretty stout in any weight, but i still dont have any problem comfortably shooting them for a prolonged period.

[jocko]

do u think the 100 pak of WWb at wal mart are any different than what gander mt sells at about 50% more mark up or Dicks sports??? I sure don't.

[JBarbaresi]

do u think the 100 pak of WWb at wal mart are any different than what gander mt sells at about 50% more mark up or Dicks sports??? I sure don't.

no i don't, my mention of walmart was only to point out the brands that i have experienced less consistency with over the years. it is the ammo, not the price we pay. i'm not about brand bashing so didn't want to name them all by name, but since you brought up WWB, yes that is one of them.

[Chowser]

Customized Creationz was having a sale on their electroless nickel teflon refinishing since it is something new they started doing so I wanted to get in on the sale. I must say that I do miss it already (currently carrying my HK P2000 off-duty).

The recoil of the CM9 didn't seem to bother me (I normally carry a Glock 33 and shoot .357SIG primarily). On the Glock 33, I hate not having someplace to rest my pinky, but with the CM9, that didn't come up as an issue. I am waiting for my free 7-rd mag from Kahr so I will see if shooting it with that makes a difference, but for carry purposes, I will use using the 6-rd magazine.

The Nemesis holster is part N38BJMKZ0.
on the front it lists:
Kahr K9/40,P9/40,MK9/40,PM9/40,PM40
KELTEC PF9, RUGER LC9, SIG P290

For the few days I carried it in my front-right jeans pocket, it was great!
I'm hoping to get it back in another week or two, I'll post picks of the refinish then. I still want an all black CM9, so I might pick up another one in the near future.

We actually have some old Ultramax 115gr. FMJ in 9mm on station, when I get the gun back, I'll try running a few boxes through. I just shot the Speer 124gr. because we have more cases of that stuff. I don't know why we have 147gr. in hollowpoints and 124gr. in practice. I guess that's just what was on sale when the city bought it. After the beginning of the year, I am going to order in either the 124gr. +P or 127gr. +P Winchester Ranger stuff once I see what the distributor has in stock.
I think Winchester has a Ranger 115 gr. +P+ as well. We'll have to see how much money the bean counters at city hall gives me for ammo next year.

[Scoundrel]

not sure I buy that 115 grain cheaper ammo as a problem. I have shot WWB walmart 115 fmj for over 32K out of my pM9 and 5000 out of my K9 and they work perfect.

+1 - I have a couple thousand rounds of Federal, S&B, and PMC 115gr FMJ through my CM9. The only problems I have experienced were due to a bad 7rd magazine, which I have replaced with a 6rd.

That being said, I have seen some manufacturing issues with the Federal. For example:

http://bruteforcetech.com/misc/2bullets.jpg

[Markis82]

I think Winchester has a Ranger 115 gr. +P+ as well. We'll have to see how much money the bean counters at city hall gives me for ammo next year.
FYI I sent an email to Kahr, asking about running +P+ ammo. They said that +P was fine but they would not advise anyone to run +P+ in their guns.

[Chowser]

Been away awhile. Got my parts back (I decided not to make it black but did an ENPTFE (i.e. like Robar NP3, but did not use Robar) treatment on the slide/barrel, so it still looks the same, just a different shade of silverish)

Gun just had another 100 rounds through it with no issues and was quick to clean.

http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/271/dsc01976iu.jpg

http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/6981/dsc01975k.jpg

Will be putting on the Trijicon front night sight tonight when I get back to work.