Kahr owners, need some help, please.

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mick53

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Hi,

Bought an older, hardly used PM9 this week. The seller said he probably had fewer than 20 rds through it. Said he just didn't like it so he cleaned it and put it away and it has sat in his cabinet since 2006 when it was made. I called Kahr and it was indeed made in 2006.

He let me bring it to a trusted gunsmith who verified it had not been shot much at all. We looked at it under magnification and he pointed out a lot of little "polymer hairs" along the internals and said it was not even near to broken in yet. He said the polymer hairs get rubbed off during the break-in.

So I bought it.

I had it to the range today and put 150 rds through it. No failures of any kind and it is wonderfully accurate. And the polymer hairs indeed were rubbed away.

But I also noticed two things that worry me and I'm wondering if the pistol needs a trip to Massachusetts to visit Kahr.

1. One of the rails is a kind of chewed up.

2. Slide and receiver do not meet flush at the rear. The receiver extends a bit beyond the slide. Do Kahrs normally overlap like this? Should the fit be more flush?

What do you guys think? Are either or both of these conditions normal?

Should I send it to Kahr to have it looked at?

Thanks.
 

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Yeah, I went there first but since I am so new there I did not have "permission" to post the pics. One needs "X" number of posts to be enabled to post pics over there.

I felt like I was being told to go sit in the corner so I came back to "ol' faithful," THR. :)
 
I've owned 3 Kahrs (2 cm9s and a cw9) and the polymer frame rails all had/have some level of wear. The slide and rear of the frame are flush/even on all 3. Not sure what could cause yours to be offset like that. Might be best to let Kahr have a look. Guessing it might cost you though.
 
Mick, I linked your pictures over there at Kahrtalk.

Dang! My first post HERE, too.

The rails are just guides for assembly and some get marked up more than others. You can trim the "tags" off with a razor or even sand some, but unless there's a build that impeded operation, no biggy.

The fit of the slide to the frame at the rear is kind of normal, too. The polymer to steel fit can vary back there. It shot well, so that's nice.

A work around for the picture posting is to use the picture icon on the top of the post/message window and insert the link that you right-clicked on the picture here or some other posting, as photobucket.

Wynn
USAF Retired '88, Wife USAF Ret. '96

Frédéric Bastiat’s essay, The Law: http://mises.org/books/thelaw.pdf

Thomas Jefferson said

“A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.”
and
"Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading".
 
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What Wyntrout said. The M size guns have changed a little bit over the years. Be sure to mention the date when you order recoil springs from Kahr. Shoot and enjoy that new Kahr.
 
mick53

I had a CW40, also made in 2006, that had similar wear marks on its frame. There was also a problem with small pieces of the polymer frame coming off, right around where the slide release was located. Not sure if this was from excess flashing being worn off or if the slide was possibly chewing up some of the frame. I also had a number of functional issues with the gun, even after the 200 round break-in period. Eventually I sold it and then a couple of years ago I came across a really great deal on a new PM9 so I bought it, hoping that the earlier problems I had with the CW40 had been corrected. Happy to say all is well with this Kahr and it's become one of my favorite concealed carry guns.

If you're concerned about the wear on your gun, I would contact Kahr to at least see if this a known problem from that year of production and what your options are in terms of getting it repaired or replaced.
 
Right after buying it, I cleaned and lubed it.

It did not need the cleaning but it did need the lube.

I used Remoil which has served me well over the years.
 
That is a lot more shaving than mine had, but it will almost certainly be self-limiting. The slide doesn't actually ride on the plastic. Look closely at the lower front section of the frame (the "dust cover") and you will see a thin steel rail on each side running the length of it. At the rear there are also small steel rails. The plastic rails in the center are guides to assembling the slide to the frame.
 
That is a lot more shaving than mine had, but it will almost certainly be self-limiting. The slide doesn't actually ride on the plastic. Look closely at the lower front section of the frame (the "dust cover") and you will see a thin steel rail on each side running the length of it. At the rear there are also small steel rails. The plastic rails in the center are guides to assembling the slide to the frame.
Click to expand...

This.

There is a common misperception that the slides on these polymer Kahrs ride on polymer rails, when, in fact, they run on steel inserts just like almost all other polymer-framed semiautos.

The polymer "rails" you speak of are just meant to keep debris out of the firearm, and a little wear on them is unlikely to cause any problems.
 
Anyone have an idea why the frame and the slide don't don't fit flush at the rear? Is it normal? Look at the pics and it's plainly visible.

Thanks
 
The fit, or lack there of, between the back of the slide and the back of the frame is a variable. As long as the barrel and slide assembly properly lock together the fit at the back is not that important.

Some of these guns fit very well, some do not. It sounds like your gun functions well. If it does and barrel/slide lockup is good, I would not worry about it.

I had a PM40 and still have a CW40. Both pistols "shaved" plastic up to about the 400 round count.

If you are worried about it send the picture to Kahr and see what they say.

Enjoy your new pistol.
 
The main reason I am concerned about the slide/frame fit on the PM9 is I also own a CM9. And the slide/frame fit is perfect at the rear end of the CM9.

So why is the slide/frame fit perfectly flush on the CM9 and, as you can see from the photos, the slide/frame fit of the PM9 is pretty far off?

Thanks
 
So why is the slide/frame fit perfectly flush on the CM9 and, as you can see from the photos, the slide/frame fit of the PM9 is pretty far off?
Click to expand...

If the PM9 functions properly, I can't possibly see why this would be an issue. Kahr has incrementally updated their pistol design over the years, and the PM9 frame is not 100% identical to the CM9 frame anyway.
 
Mine Is flush when in battery. I have only one question, did you reassemble the gun with the slide release pin on top of that little spring that sits in the hole? I traded a guy for mine, so never saw it from the very beginning, but what the gent said about the steel vs the plastic rails makes sense. It just is something to keep an eye on for the next few hundred rounds. But if you got that pin on bottom instead where it's supposed to fit, "in that little cutout", it might throw it out of alignment a little bit.
 
I never said the CM9 and the PM9 were "100% identical.

But they are close enough that my PM9's overlapping slide/frame fit when compared to the CM9 slide/frame fit, which is perfect, cause me to worry some about it.
 
Mick, if you can spare the gun, send it in, I would, just for peace of mind, unless you have a good gunsmith, I have one in Vero, I see you are in FL. His name is Bill Jenkins, at ten X Gunsmithing. he would tell you instantly. Maybe an email to him? it's listed if you Google it.
 
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