Kahr CW9 Range Report

[WayniacKT]

Kahr CW9 9mm sub-compact: Range Report #1

Just wanted to share in my experience on Saturday with my new CCW gun.

Gun -- Kahr CW9 9mm polymer pistol. 2-7 rd magazines 2-8 rd magazines.

Purpose -- Evaluating for daily concealed carry.

Aug 16, 08 -- First range session.

Rounds -- 200-Independence 124 grn ball. 30-wolf 124 grn ball. 30-Win. 115 grn. ball. 16-Hornady 147 grn XTP

Goal -- Break-in this gun, to evaluate for possible use as a go-everywhere concealed carry weapon. Manufacturer recommends at lease 200 rounds thru the gun before trusting it for carry and I more than did so.

Initial Field Strip and Cleaning -- Fully disassembled and cleaned the gun prior to shooting.

Feel -- It's got a very nice, slim grip and when it's loaded the weight feels well distributed. Much better than my Taurus pt111 (1st gen) i previously carried.

Grip -- Very slim. Compared to the Taurus its a lot slimmer. It is a bit longer if you don't count the pinky extension on the Taurus' magazine.

Magazine Eject Button -- Convenient location, easy to push, and all magazines dropped free.

Ergonomics – I like the ergonomics. It's slim and light. The grip is the perfect length for my hand and not too long to consider for concealed carry. It was comfortable to shoot.
Will probably find some sort of slip on rubber grip for it in the future as the plastic tends to slip when my hands get hot and sweaty. Agrip makes a custom grip for this model.

Shots -- 276rds in all.

Aim -- At first the gun seemed to shoot low and to the left. This seemed to occur in the first 60 rds or so. Then the gun loosened up a bit and began to shoot much better. At the same time, I will say, I was not used to the bar/dot sighting system on this gun and it did take some getting used to. Most of my guns have a 3dot type. But after a bit, the gun started shooting better and so did I.

Ejection – Very consistent, sharp ejects. Brass ejected hard and behind me, slightly to the right. I attempted to make the gun fail. Shot it limp & sideways. Shot heavy ammo and light ammo both. Nothing caused the gun to fail. Shot everything I could put thru it from Hornandy and Win to cheapo Wolf Russian crap. It ate everything and kept on going.
The gun came with one 7 rd. mag. I purchased 3 more from a local dealer. Got a good deal as they were lightly used. 2 - 8 rounders and another 7. All mags feed flawlessly.

Slide Action -- Relatively stiff slide, but even before shooting it was not too bad. It was a bit looser even after just 60 rounds.

Trigger -- The trigger pull is listed as 7 to 9 lbs. But for a da trigger it is like butter! It was very nice and crisp on the break. It does not have the second strike ability like my Taurus did, but I can live with that. The second strike thing worked only occasionally on a round anyway.

Jams/failures -- None.

Holstering -- Fits snugly into my Uncle Mikes IWB for small autos that i used to carry the Taurus in. I have a Cross Breed Super-tuck IWB on the way.

Cleaning after shooting -- Not yet, but will come back if there are any problems there.

Overall, I couldn’t be happier. The feel of the gun is great, and I am so happy to replace the ole Taurus with this awesome gun. I sold the Taurus to a dealer and the proceeds went to a new Beretta Tomcat .32 for my wife. Anyway, I paid $449 for this gun. Not the best deal in the world, but decent as the price of this gun has been going up every since its release several years ago.

Anyway, just wanted to share my exp. on this great little carry piece.

Cheers,

 

[bcrowl]

I just picked up a used CW9 on Saturday for $355 with an extra mag. I went in to buy a new one but he had the used one for $50 cheaper and the extra mag so I grabbed that one. I haven't gotten a chance to shoot it yet, but it's good to hear you had no issues with yours. I love the way this gun feels and it's a lot slimmer then my Glock 27. I'll post a report after I go to the range.

 

[Steve 48]

Easiest gun to conceal I have and it shoots well also. Steve48

 

[usp9]

I too purchased a CW9 a few weeks ago and my experience mirrors yours with the exception of a few misfires I had. I am hesitant to blame the gun on this because the primers were dimpled. I suspect the primers were poor quality. I've had no other problems. Accuracy is good and the trigger is better than I expected. Quick follow-up shots are easy as the recoil is very manageable.

I purchased at a gun show for $328 and found two more mags there at $19 each. I also own a T9, so the longer 8 round mags I own for it also work in th CW9. At these prices the CW line is an excellent value IMHO.

I also purchased a Mitch Rosen Premier, made for the K9. The fit was pretty tight but a few days of fitting proceedure and a little Galco Draw-EZ and the holster is ready to wear.

 

[hksw]

What the heck? I also bought a new CW9 last Sat. after signing up for a CCW class. Tried it out Sun. against an HK P7M8 (police trade-in). The CW9 is indeed quite slim and light which I like. I was actually looking for one of the steel framed ones but none were available and when I had the dealer look one up for me decided on the CW9 instead due to price (which was nearly double).

Only ran about 80 rounds of Rem ball through it and did have a couple failure to feeds on the first round even when the slide was sling shotted (rounds nose dived into the mag). In one case, I did have an unusual failure to feed where the top round was stripped but the rear of the case hung up on the protruding firing pin. I've never seen anything like that before and didn't after that.

I was expecting low left issues until getting use to the DAO trigger as I'm more accustomed to target triggers but the gun was shooting POA however the group was larger than I liked. Eventually towards the end the groups kept getting smaller. Just a matter of getting use to the gun.

When I got home, I further examined it against an Astra A75 and and HK PSP (also a police trade-in). Smaller and much lighter than both of these. I do, however, like the squeeze cocking safety action of the PSP and the trigger is much shorter in travel but also like the compactness and weight of the CW9 and the single action capability of the A75 (though I think that gun is out of the CCW race. So for me, the race is between the PSP and the CW9 and 4 weeks to determine which before the class.

 

[GZOh_Jr]

So HKSW...what did you go with?

I, too, am a big fan of the P7. But I have also come to appreciate the CM9 for its virtues (torn between that and the PM7). Let alone I appreciate the price difference, at least for the CM9.

I am eager to hear how it stacked up against the PSP, and what you went with.

Time permitting, a full range report for the comparison would be nice.

 

[TT]

Love mine.

 

[hksw]

Practiced with both up until the Sunday before the class on the following Saturday. Shot about 800 rounds total for practice split evenly between the CW9 and P7 since the start of practicing after I signed up for the class. I eventually went with the P7 PSP. I was a bit more accurate with it and used it for the shooting portion of the class. The only issues with the P7 were the hot trigger area after about 15-20 rounds and my particular sample requires cleaning the gas cylinder after shooting to prevent the slide from locking up from the crud building up it in. Still have to get a holster for it.