Looking for reviews on the Kahr CW40

[crew590]

Hey all,

I'm in the market for a new gun foe carrying and have found the Kahr CW40. I would like to hear some reviews, good, bad, and ugly, on this peculiar gun. I am looking to carry OWB and possibly ankle if that would work with this firearm. Any suggestions are welcome. Also, what type of magazines does this gun take? The only ones I could find were, I believe, the K series. Anywho, thanks for reading (and hopefully posting).

Jay

 

[crew590]

No one has any options on this gun?

Jay

 

[renegade1alpha]

I owned one but I sold it after a month. I shot a friends CW9 and I loved it. It was accurate and was pleasant to shoot. The CW40 on the other hand, was not near as accurate. I tried every bullet weight from 135 to 180 from FMJ to JHP from just about every ammo company out there, and STILL could not get that gun to shoot any better than 5-6 inch groups at 7 yards. My Kel-Tec P32 did better than that! Maybe I just got a bad gun, maybe if you buy one it will shoot better for you. Good luck. My next purchase will be another Kahr but it will be a CW9.

 

[bannockburn]

crew590

I had one a couple of years ago. I thought that this was close to being the ultimate CCW out there at the time. Excellent ergonomics, lightweight, decent caliber, and very affordable. The gun was very manageable, even with some hotter loads, though I wasn't too thrilled with the accuracy, even at 10 to 15 yards. Took it through the 200 round break-in period: no problems, although I felt that during my initial inspection of the gun, the barrel assembly should have been finished better, rather than looking like it just came out of a casting mold. The slide assembly was also somewhat rough in its finish, and very hard to operate. At the time, I figured that it would just wear in and would over time, smooth itself out.
I went to the range one day to practice with it, and started to have a serious problem after the first shot. What happened was that the slide was locking back after every shot. I changed ammo and magazine, but still the same problem. Went home, took it apart and found that a sizable piece of polymer had come apart from the frame and was lodged in the area where the slide release lever goes. This was what was causing the problem with the slide locking back after each shot. But now I was faced with a bigger dilemma: why were parts of the polymer frame coming apart on a new gun. I thought about it for a while, and eventually decided to sell it. I found a guy at a gun show who still wanted to buy it even after I had told him about its shortcomings. So I would say that until Kahr does something to address its polymer composition, I would hold off from buying one until then.

 

[jocko]

bannockburn

Kahr has come a very very long way in the last couple of years with their polymer framed guns. They all seem to work great out of the box. You certainy got a lemon, it sounds. Never seen one gun company yet that made the "flawless" gun. I think they are all trying like hell to though. Look at the Ruger SR9, a great gun by most owners, but now in a recall due to drop safety issues. It just happens. As long as a company doesn't try to skirt around their issues, I am fairly tolerable. Being in business for over 40 years, we screwed up to...these products are still made by people. I just bought about 3 months ago a 24" plasma screen monitor for my computer. Samsung. It lasted less than one month and the screw went blank. they took it back gave me another one just like it and it has been super..

 

[bannockburn]

jocko

I'm not saying that Kahrs are unreliable, or that they can't occasionally turn out a lemon; but it does appear from other sources of a similar nature that there are issues with their polymer frame models. I also have a number of polymer frame autos, including a Glock 17 purchased new in 1986, that have shown zero wear to any of their polymer components. But to have a new gun suddenly start to have pieces of its frame come apart, with a very low round count, does give me pause for concern. That was a year and a half ago; I can't say I've heard anything that would indicate that Kahr has changed their polymer compostion, or that there are no longer any problems with their polymer framed guns. As for now, I would take a wait and see attitude. When they eventually get things sorted out, then I would consider them again.

 

[jocko]

not lately

I read the karh forum over on glock talk and you just don't hear the polymer issues any more. I truly think kahr has put that behind them and in the last few years at least they have been very very reliable guns. Most all who post of polymer issues on the kahr forum when asked about the serial numbers, it is usually a handgun made 2 to 4 years ago, not the later date ones. Not that one won't pop up now and then. I'm not trying to alibi for kahrs either, as my pm9 has 12,000 rounds through it and it shows zero signs of any wear anywhere. Mine is not a anomaly either. Most of all the reports on the kahr forum are positive and the cw series just keeps getting higher ratings from users.FWIW IMO

 

[Navy joe]

Too much for ankle carry. I boot carried a MK40 for awhile. I also had a K40. I don't care much for Kahr anymore. I got the K40 fixed by the factory so it worked and then sold it. Too many random quality issues with Kahr. G19, G26, G27, Sig, just go some other route.

 

[Otis]

I don’t really have anything good to say about the CW40 I recently purchased. The fist day I got it I took it home and took it apart. That was actually quite difficult. The pin needed more persuasion than I wanted didn’t really think much of it at the time because it was new and figured it would get easier as time went on. Upon taking it apart noticed that the polymer really did look like it just came out of the mold, no trimming or care was taken to make it look presentable. Put it back together and put a round in the chamber to see how it fed. Was good, I did read though that you don’t ride the slide down. Let the spring do the work to slam it home. Then came the biggest problem. The tolerance on the ejection port was not right, couldn’t get the live round out. Kept catching on the tip of the bullet. Called Kahr about it the next day and they told me to make it through the break in period and it should loosen up. Did that plus about 300 more rounds and still no go.
Purchased as a CCW but if I cannot get a live round out of the chamber then what is the point. Yes I can just shoot but if that round happens to be a dud. Then I will be a dud because I will not be able to clear it. I intend to call Kahr back but I just have not found the time. To say the least I am not impressed. I was when I was looking for one. Size was right, weight was around one pound, thought this was exactly what I wanted. If I had to do all over again I wouldn’t. I don’t know if I will ever feel 100% comfortable depending on it. Oh and by the way it kicks like a mule. If you are insistent on going with Kahr I would go for a 9mm. Same size as the 40 but obviously a smaller round so you will not kick which will add to faster recovery and you should not have the clearing a live round issue.

All in all I give the CW40 two thumbs down. Maybe i just got a lemon but by the looks of this thread there are too many lemons out there. The odds are not on your side.

Otis-WA

 

[crew590]

Thanks for all the replies. From the looks of it I would be better suited looking for a different gun. I didn't realize Kahr seemed to have that many problems.

Jay

 

[jocko]

crew

go over to glock talk and hit on the kahr fourm, read there, read alot, you won't see the negaitvity that you seem to think is being posted here and these are all kahr owners. If I told you hamburgers were junk food, would you stop eating them or buying them based on what I said. I sure wouldn't.

I can assure you, you can find negativity in any damn handgun made, be it kimber, Ruger, Colt, kahr, Smith, Sig, H& K, Glock. As someone once posted , it is a crap shoot when you buy any gun as if it is going to be reliable out of the box, Be it a $1000 gun or $300, seems to make no difference. I personaly don't think you can go wrong with a kahr and the cw series is their best seller but for total concealbility the PM9 just can't be beat. Can you get a lemon , sure can, will kahr take care of it, they sure will. Have to trust the system alittle ....

 

[HadEmAll]

I've got a 4 day old CW40 that I bought to be a lighter companion to my K40. I've put about 150 rounds of 155 grain Remington, Winchester, Federal, and Speer JHP through it with no failures of any type.

Like my K40, it is very combat accurate at 7-10 yards, if you pull straight through on the trigger, and don't try to stage it.

It uses the same magazines the K40 does.

My only negative comment is as someone else mentioned, the plastic frame was not "dressed" before shipping, and had a lot of plastic fuzz hanging off edges. A little careful work with a sharp knife took care of that, but it does seem Kahr should have.

I like it a lot. A little lighter for pocket carry than my K40.

Be advised, it is going to recoil substantially. But I like that, and equate it to power downrange. If you're recoil sensitive. look elsewhere.

 

[IdahoLT1]

I rented a CW40 before i bought my CW9. I wanted to make sure i could handle the CW40 and not just buy the CW9 first. Kinda like a, why get the one with a smaller bullet, when you can handle them equally, type of thing.

I found the CW40 to be extremely snappy. You got to realize it only weighs 1oz more than the CW9 and chambers a round that can potentially have 50% more energy. It was plenty accurate for what it is, but it seriously kicked like a light weight .357mag revolver. I found the CW9 to be much easier to control.

This is just me though. It can be a totally different story for you.

EDIT: I was reading through some of the other replies and to be honest, i would trust my Kahr with my life. Alot of LEO's are using them as back up pistols. And back up pistols are the ones that should never fail. I recommend Kahr to everyone, just as much as i do for Beretta, if not more. They make a fine pistol and for the size, weight, concealability, customer service and price; nothing comes close. There are tradeoffs to everything. Some guns hold more rounds, but are bigger are harder to conceal. Some firearms rarely malfunction and they have customer service that will give you their left nut, but they cost a fortune.

My advice also would to be to make sure you read up alot, and on different forums. I read some people saying on certain forums that Beretta makes the biggest piece of garbage out there, yet on another, dozens trust their life on them.