New Kahr is very disappointing

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As I posted earlier, both my brother and I have PM9's, no problems at all. It was just my PM40 that was bad and I did give Kahr 3 chances to make it right, they never did.
 
I had the same exact problem with my P40. I loved the little gun, very small, easy to conceal, beautiful (IMO). But I paid a lot for it (didn't look online), like $650 with taxes and fees. I was really really dissapointed when I paid this much money and at least ONCE every other mag full of .40S&W I had the same problem... the slide wouldn't go all the way in. Had to tap it with the back of my hand. I polished the feed ramp myself and tried a few other things. When a buddy of mine shot it limp wristed it would do it EVERY round. So I thought maybe its just me getting lazy once in a while and held it as firm as possible and it didn't help.

Eventually I got sick of the gun and took a MAJOR loss and traded it for a Sig P230SL. We all know used P230's barely go for $300-350 anymore, so I lost about $300 instantly. I will have to say though that with an IWB holster, I carried that Kahr EVERYWHERE I could. It took me 5 seconds (with a clipon) to have it from drawer to on me. I'd honestly forget I was carrying it most of the time. It was so thin, so lightweight and so short, and this isn't even the PM-40, just the plain old P-40. Oh well. I'm not buying another one because I'm afraid I'll get screwed again. My pawn shop purchased Taurus PT-92 AFS has been 100x more reliable than that Kahr even though it's double the weight , twice the thickness and an extra 2+" long :(
 
Problems with pm .40 Kahr Pistols

Hello to all.
I have had a few of the .40 Kahrs. I have noticed that a slight polish to the chamber and a Wolf Higher Psi Slide Spring and BAM... NO problems in over 1000 rounds. I have owned more "pocket" guns than I care to count... and this is the best by far I have found at any price. Just my 2 cents... :D
Just make sure you hold on to her good and feed her quality ammo.
 
Unfortunately, what you described is quite common with new Kahrs. I had the same problem with my P9 -- shells get stuck at an angle in the breech. It's not a break-in problem or a lube problem, it's a problem with the feed path being hosed up.

The solution is to send it to Kahr and let them polish everything up under warranty. Since I got my P9 back from Kahr it's been completely reliable with standard or +P loads.

New Kahrs have a high rate of feed problems, but they seem to work fine once the problems are ironed out. I like mine a lot.
 
I have a PM9 and a P45. Both work flawlessly.
I have read a lot of threads on Kahrs, and their Customer Service seems pretty enthusiastic in trying to make good.
 
Mine has functioned with ZERO problems. Not one malfunction. I do however worry about the mags. WHen I carry an extra in my pocket the top round in the mag slightly moves it's way out. It won't fall out but I have tested loading the mag under this condition and it will not feed. You have to either push the round out of the mag or reseat it. The top round isn't retained all that well. Makes me worry that if I needed the mag in a bind that it might fail after being thrown around in your pocket.
 
I owned a P40 and had feeding and return to battery problems. Also, the slide stop spring screw stripped out on 1st dissasembly. Kahr Customer Service is good but you shouldn't need to call them for a brand new "premium" gun! I traded it for a S&W 360PD and never looked back.

It's too bad because the Kahr design is great but they turn customers into beta-testers and have terrible quality control. They K9/K40 seem to be the only one that runs well out of the box.
 
"but Llama dependability" :confused: Hey, don't confuse the Kahr, which has the highest ratio of advertising $'s than any of the competition with the Pride of Spain.....:D
 
I just got a CW9.. NIB.
Its friggin great!
extremely accurate. reliable for all of the 180+ rds Ive put thru it..

but I did have to push the slide foreward once bout the 5th-6th clip, to fully chamber the round.. it went off, and had no issues since..

Ive nitice a bit of the poly being shaved off by the slide, on the back of the gun.. not concerned yet.. I chalking it upto the tight config..

If this pistol can feed 3k without a hitch as did my NIB Taurus PT111 MilPro, it may be my new carry piece..

However.. I find it extremely rediculous that Kahr dont have their Shi* together enuff to have a flawless pistol, NIB, intended for personal defence.... pathetic.. they even recommend a 'break in period'??? *** is that?
for how much Money?!!

dont get me wrong.. Im happy so far with mine.. but if theres a problem, everyone and my momma will hear about it!

Kahr has set them selves up for disaster imo..

Peace.. ip9.
 
Send Dottie a note, she will get back to you within a few hours. I had trigger reset issues with my P45, one trip to the factory ~10days and it was fixed. A little disappointing to say the least, but my P45 has been running fine since.
 
AlaskaErik said:
I was wondering about the nose dive issue myself. I noticed that while the top round in the mag is angled with the top of the magazine, the rest of the rounds are more angled with the base plate. The result is a big gap between the top round and the rest of them. My other pistols don't have this gap. I'm going to give it a good cleaning and try again. If that doesn't work, I'll send it to Kahr. If that doesn't work, I'll try the fluff and buff on the feedramp. I still don't think limp wristing is an issue. I'm a pretty big guy and I hold that thing firmly.
Click to expand...
This is the design in all the Kahr pistols and is normal. If it's a new pistol with feeding or FTRB problems then send it back (theycouldn't make mine run after 4 trips and I got a replacement). If this is a new problem on an older pistol with lots of rounds then I'd fluff and buff AND replace the recoil spring. I would not stretch the old one...

The initial round chambered, the one chambered by hand when loading or reloading is difficult to acheive by racking the slide. Kahr recommends only dropping the slide with the slide lock lever but I have found that you can train yourself to do it but you must be very aggresive. You must start be yanking back with such authority that you smack yourself in the chest. After you get the hank of it you can stop abusing yourself...
 
a guy at my range is also having problem with his Kahr and is not too fond of the sutomer service there either. He is very knowledgable, capable shooter and gunsmith and he just bought it for ccw.

I always sort of wanted one but I am a little leary now.
 
I've been telling you guys that .40 S&W sucks... :rolleyes:


On a serious note: Sounds like you could fix your problem by getting a stronger recoil spring and polishing up the chamber.
 
Could the extractor spring be too tight? I wonder if this is what causes it not to close all the way.
 
I'm not a big fan of 40S&W,but I agree it's the pistol.I had an MK9,all steel mind you, that was extremely reliable with everything.Problem is it wouldn't hit the side of a barn from the inside. Now,I'm a shooter,but this gun was a wild card from the word go.
I've heard of all kinds of problems with the polymer Khar's but was lead to believe the steel ones were great.I got rid of that one in a hurry.
I really like the concept of the Khar pistols,and the design,and I wish all the problems could be solved. At this point,the only Khar that I would ev er trust would be original all steel K9. Havn't heard of any problems with those.
 
I am a big Kahr fan but only of the all steel pistols. The plastic guns that they make are not as well made or reliable as the steel ones. A K-9 is a compleatly different gun than a P-9 even though they look so similar. I consider my two K-9s to be among the best 9mms on the market. The P-9 I had was a piece of trash.

I hear the PM-40 is the worst of the plastic guns and many have problems. I hate to say it but Kahr has not worked the bugs out of the plastic guns yet. The worst part about it is, they are not even admitting that ther is a problem so they are not even bringing out better generations of the plastic guns.

Their actions with the plastic guns can kill this company. It is sad since Kahr started off with a lot of respect because they made a great product.
 
I've only run into 2 Kahr owners...one 9mm & the other a 40 cal guy. Anyway, the 9mm guy had his for a few years, lots of rounds & wore it at work so I know he trusted it to work. The other, hardly ever shot it, used it as his primary ccw but sold it to start a different project.
 
I had the exact same problem with both of the Kahrs I shot: the K-9 and the P-9. Slingshot the slide, and the gun sometimes would not go into battery.

I think they're nice guns, but I wouldn't carry one until I had 1,000 trouble-free rounds through it.
 
What happened to Kahr??

I'm reading horror story after horror story about Kahrs.

I happen to have an older MK9 Elite 98 that has not failed me. I stupidly, some how, broke an extractor, but Kahr sent me replacement parts for free and I had my own gunsmith install them. I've replaced the recoil spring on schedule and the thing just keeps humming along!!

What happened???
 
What happened???
Click to expand...

The Kahr has several unique design features in order to make a 9mm semi-auto that is so thin and compact. Unfortunately, the implementation of those features seem to work better in an all steel pistol rather than a poly pistol. I read few complaints about the steel models, it's the plastic Kahrs that seem to be so problematic.

As I said earlier, once I sent my P9 to Kahr and they worked it over a bit it has worked fine. The real question is why are they unable to solve their quality control problems at their manufacturing facility which results in so many P and PM models being returned for "tuning" (or whatever you want to call it)?
 
I've had a K40 that ran fine and shot well enough. I don't think I would buy one of the MK series or plastic Kahr, but I'm looking for a K9 for a carry gun. Once upon a time, the Kahr was a good deal but I don't think I'll be buying a new one under the current pricing.

David
 
I've been pleased with my older E9 (discontinued "economy" version of the K-9) and thought the PM9 would make a great pocket gun. It carries well, all right, but this gun wouldn't run. The slide would fail to go into battery -- actually sticking in the middle of its travel -- due to being pushed sideways on the frame and the striker block catching on the rear corner. I sent it back to Kahr, who replaced the barrel and recoil spring. That solved the problem -- the slide runs smoothly now -- but I still encountered failures to feed the top round in the magazine after firing the round in the chamber. As is my usual practice, I carry with a fully loaded magazine and chamber. I tried just loading the six rounds in the magazine, chambering a round and leaving it as a six-shot gun. That seems to have solved that problem, as it went through the last 100 rounds without a bobble.
 
I don't understand why gun companies do this (Kahr, Kimber). They build CARRY guns tight. Build them loose or less tight. It makes no sense to have a gun that needs a break in period that one will carry. Any SD shooting with these guns will be at 10 yards or less anyway.
Click to expand...
Agreed. Far and away, my best carry pistol has been a Browning BDM 9mm semi-auto. Once broken in, that is. And that took a long time. After 10K rounds, it was loose enough to not be failing at all, if it weren't for a slide problem. After replacing the slide, it just kept on tickin' all the way past 35K rounds. Never should have sold it. The last 10K rounds were error-free. Accurate out to 50ft as any handrun I've shot. I'm convinced the reliability was due to the extended use.

I've got a PM9 that's giving me some troubles, right now. Failure to go into battery; failures to feed; failure to eject a couple times. Bad news. I'm going to put another 1000 rounds through it before tossing in the towel, to see if it's merely the "tight" nature of the gun getting in the way. We'll see.
 
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