Kahr: The Reliably Unreliable Brand!

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Let's not get into the weeds of the personal religious beliefs of various firearm designers/firearm company founders. It's one thing to point it out/mention it, but if it becomes the focus of a discussion, things are going to get ugly pretty quickly.

In other words, we're not going to have a discussion about whether Mormons or Moonies or Communists or Catholics or Protestants or Atheists make better guns and/or the morality of buying a gun that is somehow associated with a particular religion.
 
I am quite pleased with my kahrs. I think their different trigger design and action separates them from the herd of common striker designs. This may or may not work for a particular individual, but it works for me in a very shootable thin and small package.

My 2009 PM9 was very tightly built nib. After about 1500 rounds it had the only two malfunctions in the same magazine it ever had. I was advised to change the recoil spring assembly and it never happened again.

Small pistols in service calibers can be operating in a tight envelope. I bought a used pm40 and it took me a while to get the lock back just right. But in over a thousand rounds it has never failed to feed, fire, extract or eject. I still marvel at the boom from so small a gun.

Different and maybe quirky, possibly. There can be manufacturing slip ups in any brand. I have a kahr tp45 that I bought nib for cheap online. I took the slide apart to deep inspect it and found steel shavings inside the striker channel, obviously from when it was milled. I cleaned it out and it has never failed in any way. I even grip chopped it to make it concealable with 6 round p45 mags.

Until the glock 43x, 48, it wasn't possible to get a production single stack that was as thin and felt as good as the kahrs. At least for me. The perceived and reality of glocks nib reliability is an important factor in going with my 48 as primary these days . But the kahrs still stand ready with their reliable, sweet triggers.

As for the owner and primary gun designer, he has my respect. And even though I personally was an on site repair man for computer gear at the newspaper run by the parent organization many decades ago, it never once entered my mind to connect the gun company with the paper or its background. It seems odd to me that this comes up in threads about kahr as often as it does.
 
One other issue I have against the Kahr is their trigger. If they are going to make such a long trigger pull, why not make it double action only like the Beretta Nano. I know second strike capability is one of the reasons for people carrying DA/SA. I, personally, would rack the slide and try a fresh round in a self defense situation. Not a fan of such a long trigger pull and reset.
 
I'm 50/50 with Kahr's. The first was a CW40. I liked everything about it except it's reliability. I would get random slide lock backs with rounds remaining in the magazine. Out of 10 magazine it would happen about 30% of the time. two trips back to Kahr with no improvement. Sold it with full disclosure to the new owner.

As I said, there were many things I liked about it so I tried a K40. That one was perfect. With the exception of weight it had all the positives of the CW40 and was 100% reliable from the start. Still wish the CW40 had worked out.
 
stephen426 said:
One other issue I have against the Kahr is their trigger. If they are going to make such a long trigger pull, why not make it double action only like the Beretta Nano. I know second strike capability is one of the reasons for people carrying DA/SA. I, personally, would rack the slide and try a fresh round in a self defense situation. Not a fan of such a long trigger pull and reset.
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The Kahr and the Nano/APX Carry triggers are very similar.
The trigger of the Kahr's is one reason of many that so many folks, like myself love the Kahr. It is a fantastic, DAO. And while it may feel long to those that only shoot a light striker fired trigger it does not feel long at all to those that train with them and shoot them on a regular basis. I will also say I have never ridden a reset in my lifetime with any gun and do not plan to. And again, as posted, no one is saying the Kahr is right for everyone. If you prefer a light striker fired gun with a short reset there are plenty of them out there. JMO.
 
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Frankly, there are enough other brands of firearms to choose from which don't require the additional cost of 200+ rounds of ammo to break it in
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My CM9 fired reliably straight of of the box, with no break-in required.
 
Lol, people act as if 200 rds is a lot of ammo.
Frankly I shoot that much ammo to make sure all my guns are broken in. And for sure 200 rounds is NOT a lot of ammo. And I understand that many people do not shoot that much ammo in a year.
And not all guns are have tight tolerances. Most people would know very well that the gun needs a break in. I do not see this as any big deal. And if you do not want a gun that states to break it in with a few hundred rounds, then simply to not buy the gun.
As I mentioned, I knew my CW380 would require a break in before I even bought the gun. And knowing the QUALITY of the product it was a simple decision to allow that. And the dividends paid off with great rewards. And my CM ran perfect from Day ONE. Even the used one I bought. Just shot it yesterday, no problem steel ammo or trying out the Defense ammo Speer Gold dot plus P. The little sucker ran like a sewing machine just like my other two.
 
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Carl the Floor Walker said:
The Kahr and the Nano/APX Carry triggers are very similar.
The trigger of the Kahr's is one reason of many that so many folks, like myself love the Kahr. It is a fantastic, DAO. And while it may feel long to those that only shoot a light striker fired trigger it does not feel long at all to those that train with them and shoot them on a regular basis. I will also say I have never ridden a reset in my lifetime with any gun and do not plan to. And again, as posted, no one is saying the Kahr is right for everyone. If you prefer a light striker fired gun with a short reset there are plenty of them out there. JMO.
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You refer to the Kahr as a DAO, but you have to rack the slide to pull the trigger. Wouldn't that make it similar to Glock? Glock has a partially cocked firing pin sin their "safe-action". Like I said, to each his or her own. I felt handicapped by the long trigger and low capacity of the Kahr PM9 at the practical range. While I have plenty of large high capacity guns, I believe in shoot what you carry and carry what you shoot.
 
I also stated it was a Striker Fired DAO. And I do shoot what I carry every single week. If you cannot shoot a DAO very well, that is fine. I have no problem with this. Lol, I get the fact that you think the Kahr sucks, that you cannot shoot a DAO. No problem. Tell us what gun you have that is great and all about the trigger. We are all ears.
 
My only experience with Kahr is through their Auto Ordnance line. The Tommy gun I got for Christmas was rough as a cob out of the box & has had multiple issues starting with the magazine that came with the gun wouldn’t even go in, failures to feed & eject, & last time out for a function check (running much better now) the rear sight came off & hit me in the face. Got the sight mounted with bigger screws now & it’s smoothed out a lot. I read a lot of forum threads with problems sending guns in multiple times for warranty service work & that made me decide that I’d be better off making things right on my own. I’m very reluctant to ever purchase a Desert Eagle or any other Kahr product & disappointed that a $1000+ gun’s quality was so lacking-Let the buyer beware.
 
I wonder if the Ruger GP the OP has ever had a problem? Of course there never has been one single issue with that gun right? Or any Rugers. Lol, I had a friend that had a friend.
 
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I had a Kahr MK40 in the late 90s for awhile. Many problems, but now I'll chalk up the problems to operator error. For about 20 years I said (to myself) I'll never buy another Kahr.

Last year I bought a used (never fired) CM9 after seeing positive youtube videos. It has been 100%, and if I could only keep one handgun out of the eight I own it would be the CM9.
 
I have experience with other gun makes and none has been as reliably unreliable out of the box as Kahr! I don't think Kahr even test fires their guns before they go out the door, instead waiting for people to send them back before correcting defects. rc
 
I bought my K40 new in 1997. I stopped counting rounds after 10,000. The only malfunction I've ever had was due to me reinstalling the recoil spring backwards after a cleaning. Khar fixed it for free and even polished the feed ramp. I did have the follower in one mag break after 17 years of use.

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My CM9 has been equally dependable since the day I bought it.
 
rc said:
I have experience with other gun makes and none has been as reliably unreliable out of the box as Kahr! I don't think Kahr even test fires their guns before they go out the door, instead waiting for people to send them back before correcting defects. rc
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Lol, so you do not think Kahr even test fires their firearms? I guess that says a lot about your other post as well.

Warhammer. Nice! That is a beautiful firearm. Solid!
 
Carl you seem to be one of those people that likes to troll the internet to bully and insult others until you provoke a confrontation. I really don't like your attitude. If you have had no problems with your Kahr that's great, please share your experience. If you want to mock me personally or those of us who have had really bad experiences with Kahr I certainly would appreciate if you just keep your rude comments to yourself but you won't because like a typical bully that's how you get your jollies.

I have experience with Autos from Smith and Wesson, Springfield, Glocks, CZs, EAAs, Colts, Sigs and Brownings. Some I've owned and some belonged to friends. Of these , a Colt 1991 takes second place to my K9 for most trouble prone pistol out of the box. Now that my K9 runs I can shoot it just fine. I never complained about Kahr's accuracy or the trigger. My gun has always shot well but wasn't reliable enough to go through a single magazine without a malfunction for hundreds of rounds until I cleaned up Kahrs product. The gun actually shoots better than a full size Smith and Wesson 915 I used to own. However, the Kahr out of the box was a jamomatic and the Smith and Wesson ran like a top. To imply I don't know what I'm talking about is asinine. The Smith and Wesson never jammed on factory ammo. Not once. If my experience causes someone to buy another brand of gun and saves someone else from frustration then I'm glad to help. If Kahr wants to sell guns, they should inspect them and shoot them and make sure they work before they leave the factory. Is that such a hard thing to do? Not if you actually test fired your guns at the factory and made sure they ran before shipping them out the door. Consumers shouldn't have to get lucky to get a Kahr that runs. They should make them that way like the other gun makers. rc
 
The whole point of this forum, and forums like it is to share one's experiences and knowledge and to read what others have experiences and learn from what they know.

That implies that not everyone's experience and knowledge is the same. If it were, there would be no reason for forums to exist.

Which means that people who participate in internet forums can expect to see different experiences shared and a variety of knowledge provided. Those who can't deal constructively with that reality should spend their time doing something else.

That's all for this one.
 
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