About to purchase a CW9, but want night sites. First post.

[davecustommade]

First post on this forum. Hello to all. :)

Just this past week, I sold a Springfield Armory EMP so I could purchase a Kahr CW9. A lot of people told me that the EMP is a [sometimes "much"] better gun than the CW9. Whether or not that is true, I am more interested in a platform that is a bit thinner, lighter, and still having a great feel to it. A local gun shop has a range and rental guns [who had a CW9 for rent]. After a few rounds, I discovered that the CW9 is very controlable, easy to shoot, and has decent accuracy, considering I hadn't had any trigger time on them, but the few rounds I shot with that rental.

So now that the EMP is gone [I didn't need two carry guns, and wasn't wanting a relatively expensive "range toy"], I will be getting a CW9. The only issue is that they never come new with factory night sites. I'm going to have to get them [front and rear] and have a local gunsmith install them. Kind of a pain in the butt, but it's what I want on a carry gun.

So, being new to Kahrs, and knowing that after I bring it home from the FFL it will be cleaned and oiled, . . . is there other things I should know about this gun? Again, what I really like is the light weight, thin profile, the way it sits low in my hand, and the overall feel. I'm excited about getting one! :hungry:

[jocko]

nice gun and no not really an issue, just buy the front night sight for the cw series. U really6 don't need that rear night sight in my opinion. U can easily7 install the front night sight your self . The back dovetailsd sight is an iffy one. Have u considered looking at the ckm9 kahr, smaller, lighter, one round less, super gun, dan near the same price. the cw9 though is just one hell of a semi, read up on the kahr tech section for two good threads that will help you alot with what ever kahr u buy.
\1 kalr lube chart

2 propper prepping of ur new kahr

then just shoot the fokker like u stole it.

again welcome aboard.

kahrs webb site sells night sights for the cw or cm kahrs, both use the same sights..

[OldLincoln]

Welcome to the forum. We have lots of well experienced people here who love to help - Jocko is one and others will be along shortly. The CW9 is a fine gun and you will like it. Since you are trading for a smaller, thinner lighter carry, I wanted to suggest you consider the CM9 which is the next step to smaller thinner and lighter. I don't know what the CW9 costs, but the CM is pretty inexpensive as guns go. I'm not trying to change your mind, just thought you may not be aware it's out there.

[davecustommade]

I have seen the CM9, but like the feel of the full CW9 grip. MAYBE if I got the pinky extention for the CM9 magazine that would make up the difference for me. I may look into that. I didn't get a chance to rent one of those, however. I have heard that they have noticeably more felt recoil.

[JFootin]

IMO, buying the CW9 and then spending money on night sights and an extra mag or 2 is not as good an investment as going a little more and getting the P9 exactly as you want it out of the box, with 2 mags. If you really want the night sights, why not consider going for a P9 with the factory ones. You could even opt for the black finish. A little more money, but the sights and extra mag narrow that a bit.

BTW, welcome to the forum!

[jocko]

VERY GOOD POINT mR. fOOTIN

[jocko]

I have seen the CM9, but like the feel of the full CW9 grip. MAYBE if I got the pinky extention for the CM9 magazine that would make up the difference for me. I may look into that. I didn't get a chance to rent one of those, however. I have heard that they have noticeably more felt recoil.

IS IN THE MIND OF THE BEHOLDER. U won't notice any ore recoil in the cm9 than in the cw9, both are just pleasant to shoot. 9mm kahrs are just very pleasant to shoot. I think you should at least seek out a cm9 or PM9 to test out, both are basically the same gun. If conceability is what ur looking for the cw and cm series are two different apples. Price of a cm9 and cw 9 are pretty close to the same. Personaly for jme the pinky extension defeats the purpose of buying a cm9. u bought it for concealability and that pinky extension puts you damn near in the same size class as the cw9 with one extra round. If u truly have to have all 3 fingers around that grip then buy the cw series.

[rkirk]

I have a CW9 and it is a great pistol. However if you want to add night sights Jocko has a good point about buying the P9 with a night sight installed. I have the CW9 and a CM9 very good pistols just as they are for the price! I have to admit that I am envious of my friends PM9 black slide tritium sight pistol that has it all, including an extra magazine. Shop around you may find a P9 with all the bells and whistles for less than $200 more than a plain CW9. As for me I like plain and the value line of Kahr pistols suit me!

-- Richard

[davecustommade]

Well, I don't NEED night sites. Just felt that they would be handy in a low light situation. I suppose I could practice for it by the use of "muscle memory", it just seems like having those glowing dots would be beneficial, especially when you are responsible for each projectile that emerges from the gun. I will see what the P series cost.

As for size, I will give the CM another look.

Thanks for the replies!

[jocko]

Well, I don't NEED night sites. Just felt that they would be handy in a low light situation. I suppose I could practice for it by the use of "muscle memory", it just seems like having those glowing dots would be beneficial, especially when you are responsible for each projectile that emerges from the gun. I will see what the P series cost.

As for size, I will give the CM another look.

Thanks for the replies!

DEAD right, nite sights are certainly not needed on a gun. WE think we need them and if they are available we willbuy them. The nature of the beast so to say. BUT WE CERTAINLY DON'T NEED THEM. More than likely when SHTF and u have touse ur gun in a defense scenario, be it day or nite, U WON'T EVEN SEE YOUR SIGHTS.

buy thge damn gun that u wat, sights or o sights, if u desire night sights, someone makes um for any kahr out there, then go for it. as far as finish foes, u still can''t beat good ol stainless...:cheer2:

[Bill K]

Welcome to KahrTalk!

I'd give serious consideration to the CM9 without mag extension.

My three carries, PM9, Glock 26 & P3AT (and one of my two revolvers) are all short and are all gripped with pinky under. I've shot and carried this way for so long that I actually prefer pinky under.

[davecustommade]

Tomorrow [Tuesday] I will go to the gun store and check out the CM9 as well. At this point, I'm more interested in the slightly longer handle of the CW9. If I got away with a Springfield Armory EMP IWB, I know that even the CW9 will be much nicer.

As for the night sights and whether or not the sights would even BE seen clearly in a defensive situation, I may just keep the sights as they are and practice, practice, and practice to get that "muscle memory" with this gun.

[jocko]

heh, listen up, ur gonna be the ultimate owner/user,,, so u buy what you feel is best The cw9 is just one super handgun, it really is, if ur gonna waist band carry it, indeed it will work just as good as the cm9 will . Not enough weight difference to even sneeze about and yes one more round to, and a grip that u seem to want to have also. Our advice is just that advice and normally based upon what we ourselves carry... U know guns your springer emp tells me alot, so keep in mind your kahr isnot gonna shoot like ur springer either. accuracy IMO is not going to be as good, DA vs SA. big difference, but ur cw is what it is,, one hell of a great lightweight defense gun that will not let u down either.

[davecustommade]

jocko, I have an understanding of how the Kahr won't lend itself to accuracy like the EMP did. But as I consider a life threatening situation, how much would the EMP's potential accuracy come into play anyway? I came to the point that form over beauty when it comes to carry pistols. If I want to have fun shooting accurately, I have a custom CZ SP-01 that I can use for that! :)

I will see how the CM9 feels, but will probably end up with the CW9, just because it feels so nice in the hand.

[jocko]

ur dead right. when I truly want to hit beer cans at any distance I grab my G19, just makes the event more fun.

[rkirk]

The longer grip on the CW9 is exactly why I bought the CW9! While I like both pistols CW9 and CM9 I prefer the CW9 for the grip and barrel length. Both are light thin accurate pistols. I agree that the Colt style single action trigger is easier to shoot faster and accurately I have learned the long smooth double action trigger pull on the Kahr. I now prefer the Kahr as a self-defensive pistol! Draw and pull the trigger, nothing else to operate, very simple!

Shoot safe,

-- Richard

[davecustommade]

Well, after holding a CM9 at the store, I had to go with the CW9 for it's excellent feeling grip. I had them order one for me. Hopefully it will come in soon so I can do the "breaking in" period with it.

[MO_Soldier]

Dave, for low light shooting, or any for that matter, you might consider the Crimson Trace laser grips special made for our Kahrs. They can be bought for anywhere from 125-210 depending on your connections. IMO, a red dot on the target is going to be FAR more effective than distracting glowing dots near my face.

Welcome to the best gun forum ever!

[davecustommade]

Thanks for that bit of advice. I may search out one for the Kahr I get.

[davecustommade]

I picked up a CW9 today. Has an unusual serial number, which is pretty cool. It IS a bit stiff, so I imagine I will have to do the couple hundred round break-in period.

One thing. I was hearing something about the magazines not dropping free. Is this just on SOME of the Kahrs, or do most have this issue? I'm just asking because my magazine DOES drop free. The other one at the gun store released about 3/4" then stopped.

I'm looking forward to the break-in. I really love how low this gun sits in the and. Weight is very good. Thin profile, and nice feeling grip makes it a great carry gun, as soon as I'm done with the break-in. I will post when that is done.

Thanks for the input guys. :)

[davecustommade]

One thing I have noticed while playing around with this gun. After dry firing it, the slide sometimes [about 40% of the time] seems as though it is getting stuck on something inside and stops [about 1/2 of an inch into the pull back] when I pull it back [it is very hard to pull it back]. I can only assume that the striker spring is very stiff. If I don't dry fire, the slide pulls back without any resistence. It IS a tough pull, but not like after a dry fire. Is that one of the things that needs to be broken in too?

While I'm at it, is it okay to dry fire this gun without a snap cap?

[MO_Soldier]

I was told it was fine to dry fire our Kahrs with no snap caps.
I couldn't criticize the answer however, because the whole concept of damaging a firing pin by doing that has never been explained to me.

About that extra stiffness, I don't remember ever experiencing that and my Kahr PM9 is relatively new with under 500 rounds through it. I just pulled mine out to really analyze it. The ONLY difference that I detect after a dry fire, is a small click after pulling the slide back about 1/4 inch after a dry fire. I think that's simply the striker resetting on the striker block.

[davecustommade]

Does it seem like something that I should have sent back to Kahr for? In other words, best have it fixed before putting rounds through it?

I updated my post [above this one] with more clear words.

[MO_Soldier]

It sounds like the trouble you're experiencing is right where my striker resets. MY GUESS would be that's all you're experiencing. But I am new to this whole thing and would rely on one of the more seasoned fellows to touch base with you on this one.

[jocko]

nothinbg beats the actual BANG thing from making a gun work and smooth out. One can dry fire, hand rack the slide until hells freezes over but again nothing smooths out any high spots or ruffness than the actual cycling of the slide faster than the eye and ones hand can make that happen. So put a couple hundred rounds down range, shoot good ammo, the recoils springs when new are stiffer than a well diggers pr-ck but after a couple hundred rounds the springs take their designed set and u will b e able to hand rack with ease and more than likely shoot any type of ammo for range fodder.

If u get a few failures to lock open in the first 200 rounds, just ignore it, that normally is the cause of very stiff recoil springs that until they get that set in them might indeed cause failure to lock open. Many many onwers report that after a couple hundred rounds the gun totally feels different, and I think they are right. Call ur fi9rst 200 rounds or so what ever u want to call them. Most owners feel a gun should be shot anywhere from 100 to 500 rounds to be considered good to go. I call it also range fodder.

I can remembrer when I bought my Para carry 9 and was haiving start up iissues and when I called them to discuss it they basically said to call them back after 500 rounds through the gun if the issue persists. Funny thing, they went away earlier \than that.

It is OK to dry fire a kahr, I prefer using the snap caps just because I feel better about it. but rememberit only takes about a 1/4 pull back on the slide to reset the trigger system, so u can dryfire without totally racking the slide..snap caps are cheap and another thing or reason I recommend them is if u have a half dzen snap caps, throw them in with 30 rounds of 9mm range ammo and let someone load ur magazine for u where as u don';t now if u have one or 4 snap caps or none, TRUST me,this willshow your shooting ills real fast when u come upon that snap cap. Also it is great for the TAP RACK AND BANG DRILLS to..

[davecustommade]

Where my problem is. . . .is that about 50-60% of the time, the slide [after dry fire] will pull back normally. I can dry fire it again and then get that "it's getting stuck" feeling. If I muscle it back, it goes, but it takes a lot of effort. And when it DOES do that, on the way back, it seems like it doesn't come back as "clean" as when the pull is normal.

If it is just a part of the break in, I'm fine with experiencing some range issues for a while. I just don't want to break something [especially if it ends up being my own hand].

[gb6491]

One thing I have noticed while playing around with this gun. After dry firing it, the slide sometimes [about 40% of the time] seems as though it is getting stuck on something inside and stops [about 1/2 of an inch into the pull back] when I pull it back [it is very hard to pull it back]. I can only assume that the striker spring is very stiff. If I don't dry fire, the slide pulls back without any resistance. It IS a tough pull, but not like after a dry fire. Is that one of the things that needs to be broken in too?

While I'm at it, is it okay to dry fire this gun without a snap cap?
Take the slide off, turn it upside down and depress the striker block (should depress very smoothly and without much pressure). Holding the block depressed, try moving the striker fully forward (tip should protrude from the breech face) and then back; there should be a small amount (3/16"?) travel between the the fully forward position of the striker and the point to the rear that spring pressure becomes evident. This small amount of "free play" should be just that, the striker should move freely between extremes without hindrance. Release the striker block and push the striker fully rearward: there will be spring pressure, but the striker should move smoothly.
Even if the above checked out, I'd be inclined to break the slide down and clean the striker channel, also giving the associated parts a thorough inspection; looking for burrs, damage, and such. There's a sticky in the Tech section that describes the procedure.
Regards,
Greg

[kahrinca]

Dave, for low light shooting, or any for that matter, you might consider the Crimson Trace laser grips special made for our Kahrs. They can be bought for anywhere from 125-210 depending on your connections. IMO, a red dot on the target is going to be FAR more effective than distracting glowing dots near my face.

...

I'd have to second that. Why get night sights for a CW9 when you can have the whole enchilada with CT LaserGuard, which I purchased recently? You can't beat laser on a SD handgun, IMHO.

Shoot a rental gun with suitably aligned laser at the range and you will likely be convinced of the foregoing.

[yqtszhj]

Yep, do what Greg just said and clean it up then follow Jocko's suggestion to shoot it. You have yourself a good gun there, the CW9 has the best grip of the 2 you mentioned, shoots well in my opinion, and you're gonna like it. I have had both. Had the CW9 and traded it for the CM9. Both shoot good. I sure miss the CW9 but love the pocket ability of the CM9.

Go enjoy it.

[davecustommade]

Not sure what I did, but it seems to be working correctly now. I took the slide off and checked it out. It doesn't seem to be having the issue with getting stuck. :confused:

After looking at this, with slide off, it is the most simple gun I have ever owned. What is the normal break point on these that has been discussed on this site? Or are they pretty reliable long term?

[MO_Soldier]

Not sure what I did, but it seems to be working correctly now. I took the slide off and checked it out. It doesn't seem to be having the issue with getting stuck. :confused:

After looking at this, with slide off, it is the most simple gun I have ever owned. What is the normal break point on these that has been discussed on this site? Or are they pretty reliable long term?

I've never owned many other weapons, and the one's I do own don't field strip.
However, I can say my Kahr is much easier than my M16A2 to field strip, and that I can field strip and reassemble blind folded in under 2 minutes.

About longevity I can't say much except to look at Jocko's signature. 32,000 rounds and counting.

[davecustommade]

Well, I was able to get to the range today and ran ~100 115gr. FMJ rounds through the CW9. . . . trouble free, no failures of any kind, and the shells ejected away from me. I ran ~15 124gr Golden Sabers through it as well. Again, no failures. It shot quite pleasantly and accuracy was very good. Concealing it is no trouble. No jabbing from this gun, good weight. Looks like things are going well and I feel I made the right purchase. :)

[jocko]

MO Soldier: whats to break on a kahr??? slide built like a tank barrel made by one of the best barrel makers in the country.. Lower section all polymer to my knowledge never seen one break. Total gun built like a brick sh-thouse. If anything goes bad I would bet on magazines bnefore all else and my two have been perfect as far as splitting since I bought them originally. Two broken followers in 32K+ rounds and those two followers actualy never stopped the gun from working either, actually didn't know they were broken until I took them apart for periodic cleaning and out popped a part.

[MO_Soldier]

MO Soldier: whats to break on a kahr??? slide built like a tank barrel made by one of the best barrel makers in the country.. Lower section all polymer to my knowledge never seen one break. Total gun built like a brick sh-thouse. If anything goes bad I would bet on magazines bnefore all else and my two have been perfect as far as splitting since I bought them originally. Two broken followers in 32K+ rounds and those two followers actualy never stopped the gun from working either, actually didn't know they were broken until I took them apart for periodic cleaning and out popped a part.

Did I mention something breaking?
I know I've heard of Slide Releases breaking from not sling shotting, but not specifically on Kahrs. I also know that Kahr claims to have made their slide releases extra tough since they recommend solely using them for chambering our first rounds.