Kahr cm9, do you like yours and why?

[ajeandy]

Had one. Sold it. Too much perceived recoil for me.

 

[K_W]

My wife has one. I've fired it more as it is a bit too much recoil for her to plink with (she's 5' 6" 115 and wrists as thin as a pencil), but it's not meant for her to plink with anyway, it's to keep her safe.

I'm also 5'6" but a bit better built, I love it and it has gone bang everytime, and hasn't jammed once. The trigger is awesome and the stainless parts make care a breeze. So far we have nothing bad to say other than the slide spring is very strong and it has only 6+1 capacity.

 

[Punkinhead]

Sold mine. It fed reliably but I just wasn't accurate with it and hated practicing with it. I now have a Shield for IWB and LCP for pocket carry. Both are more pleasant to shoot and I'm more accurate with them.

 

[8th SPS USAF]

I never had the CM 9 , but did have the PM 9/45 Worked fine for me, now Shields and XDs

 

[wesnellans]

Not a fan of the design. It shoots well enough and carries small, but all Kahr polymer frame pistols suffer from the same malady - screws going into polymer. The slide stop spring is the biggest issue. External to the frame, held in place by a screw. When the screw backs out, the slide stop spring loses tension. Had a CW45 that would eject the slide stop pin during firing - rounds actually would touch shaft inside during feeding and pop it out. Of course, you can tighten the screw - but it would be far too easy to tighten too much.

I carry a Nano instead. Almost identical in size but built MUCH more robustly. The lack of an external slide lock bothers some folks - but nobody questions a Walther PPK having the same design. Nano is very bump and snag free because of it.

 

[Archer]

I had a CM9 I originally bought to keep as a BUG in my back left pocket while at work. I fired about 3-500 rounds through it, using both the supplied 6 round flush fitting mag and the extended 7 round mag. I didn't have an issue with recoil, even shooting left handed from retention.

There were alot of things that I loved about it: Lightweight, 9mm, slim, accurate, small enough for the pocket, etc. What eventually made me get rid of it though was the trigger reset. Being used to Sigs, 1911s and Glocks, I was accustomed to a much shorter reset than the Kahr (the trigger has to come all the way back out to the starting position). So I got rid of it and a Sig 938 took its place.

I did like all the other features of the CM9, however because of my muscle memory I found myself short stroking the trigger, which could have lethal consequences (for me) in the role I used it in.

If you make it your primary daily carry gun, then I highly recommend it. Just practice and train with it so you become accustomed to the trigger and it will serve you well. Best of luck!

 

[ru44mag]

I carry one daily. It is reliable. Accurate, and recoil is mild in my opinion. But what I like most is how small it is. I carry it all the time without any issue. Mowing, snowmobiling, canoeing, gardening. No issues. I don't worry about getting it wet. Cleans up easy, and I keep a spare in the safe. There are 3 other little 9mm pistols I really like, the P938, the Shield, and the XDs. But until I find a reason to get rid of the Kahr, it will continue to be my daily CC.

 

[Twangbanger]

I love mine. The size is smaller than comparable offerings, and still it has real, useable sights with a sight picture like you'd see on a big gun. I like that it has no safety. I also like the trigger pull. It is not a 1911 or Sig short reset style trigger, it is more like a revolver trigger that has no bumps, rolls, or sticks in it (good for me because I'm comfortable with revolver triggers). Mine gauges at 6.5 lbs. on my RCBS scale. If you like the trigger on a Ruger LCR revolver, and know firsthand how much better that is than most snubbies, a Kahr auto is even lighter and smoother. This gun is a new introduction to my carry regime this year, and I've fired several hundred through it at this point without a single malfunction of any kind. It's not the go-gun yet, but is on its way there and will replace my snubby in time as I see nothing but more familiarity standing in the way. Like any small pistol, you won't shoot it as accurately as a bigger one. It's a fighting arm and shoots like one, with good accuracy given the kind of gun it is. Noise and recoil are more than a bigger pistol, obviously. If you practice with it, you can learn to hit well with it.

Minuses for me are that disassembly is more difficult than other guns (no flip-switch takedown, it's more like a 1911 "pry out the slide stop pin" disassembly). If you're nursing any hand injuries, you're going to find it difficult to take apart without tools, not a biggie, just not as easy as others. The sights are supposed to be drift-adjustable, but they are a rhymes-with-witch to get them to move (you will need the Kahr disassembly tool to move them). It ejects more in the backward direction than other guns, could be an issue if you're a brass-chaser as I am. As I said the trigger pull and reset are on the long side, and where other guns are shorter and heavier, this trigger is longer and lighter. To hit with it, you have to be disciplined to roll the trigger all the way through and wait for the surprise break - if you're a trigger-jerker, you'll feel this is a hard gun to hit with. As soon as you start rolling through and waiting for the gun to go off, though, it stacks them on top of each other.


I've found little to criticize about it. It is well on its way to being my go-gun, and that's saying something because I've been a snubby person from way back.

 

[slowG]

I like it well enough for the cost . Very good value. A little more difficult to field strip then most handguns IMO. Heavy spring, a little tough to rack the slide for a smaller man/women. Agan, overall a good value.

 

[benzkomp]

I've had mine for over a year now and enjoy it. The only thing is that I really wish it had some sort of safety option. I know since it's a subcompact, you are not likely to find safetys but I'm just saying IMO, it would be nice.

 

[Erich]

Mine's a keeper, and I carry it quite a lot (if not quite daily).

My assessment of it: it's small and reliable, and a hell of an overall value. It's not especially accurate (my Ruger LCP is probably more so; my RAMI definitely is), but it handles powerful +P (and +P+) ammo. The barrel on the one I have is undeniably "slow" compared to other 3" 9mms I have. This is not my first Kahr, but it's the only one I've kept - frankly, the CM9 is a value: the right price point for the performance it gives.

 

[snuffy33]

Sold mine. It fed reliably but I just wasn't accurate with it and hated practicing with it. I now have a Shield for IWB and LCP for pocket carry. Both are more pleasant to shoot and I'm more accurate with them.

 

[alhambra lion]

I've really enjoyed mine. Around 1k rounds through it. I agree with others that the slide is very hard to manipulate at first - in fact in Kahr instructs you to use the slide stop rather than manually chambering a round. But it loosened up around the 500 round mark and the normal sling shot method can be used. I found recoil to be a little snappy but not so bad I couldn't practice with it for a couple hundred rounds at a time if I wanted to. Especially after putting some Talon grips on it.

As some other commenters have mentioned, the trigger takes a little getting used to. It is a DAO-like trigger. It is very long, but it is also very smooth. Very easy to get used to.

I find it is one of, if not the, most comfortable 9mm I have carried. It is on my hip right now, and during the hotter months is one of the three guns I carry daily (G26, CM9, and P380).

I did have some complaints about the gun though. I did not carry it for several hundred rounds due to the fact that I could not rack ths slide to chamber a round. That made me nervous about not being able to do a tap/rack/bang in the case of a malfunction. So until it loosened up I didn't carry it. The other issue I had is with the factory magazine. The base plate kept coming loose and would start walking forward as I fired. I swapped it out and haven't had that issue but it has made me inspect my mags on this gun often out of paranoia.

Other than those two things, I think it is a great carry piece. And I carry another Kahr often, my P380, so I guess I like Kahr pistols for what they are.

 

[hpclayto]

It's a fantastic little gun, especially for the price. It was just as accurate as anything else I had and such a tiny profile made it easy to carry. My only complaint was the trigger. Pull was very long, but very smooth. The reset is what made me get rid of mine. I'm so used to a very distinctive glock like reset and often I'd find myself going to pull the trigger again without it being reset. Ended up replacing it with an XDS9.

 

[BrewerGeorge]

I love mine. I had my slide cerakoted black and added Talon grips and CT laser. In summer it's about 50% TCP, 40% CM9, and 10% G26. (In winter, it's about 60% G26, 40% CM9.) It conceals like a dream IWB and I love the trigger. If I take time, I can put all six into a paper plate at 50 yards. (laser off)

 

[ru44mag]

Talon grips are a must!

With and without.
The without lasted less than a day. I had the grips before the gun.

Favorite picture. Rapid fire.

 

[BrewerGeorge]

I don't have a pic outside the holster, but you can see the Talon grips and the cerakote.

 

[scottka]

Absolutely love mine. I went through a few pocket pistols before I discovered the CM9, and now I have absolutely no intentions of getting rid of it. I shoot it far better than any other pistols in its class, and I shoot it about on par with any of my full-sized pistols.

 

[sliptap]

I have owned both a CM and CW9. I enjoyed my CM9. It was lightweight, easy to conceal, and pocketable. I broke the extractor on my CM9 but Kahr took care of it under warranty. Customer service was fine. I didn't have any other issues after that. My CW9 had no issues and was reliable as any of the Glocks I've owned (YMMV).

As far as "shootability" goes, my CW9 was hands down a better gun. If you aren't too worried about pocket carry/concealment, I'd heavily recommend a CW9 over CM9. If you're dead set on pocket carry (or can't carry a CW9), I think a CM9 is a solid option.

 

[vitamink]

Not a fan. I had a PM9 and had it all VitaminK'd up and I still didn't care much for it. I did like the grip, the sights, the accuracy and the finish. After having it stippled it was perfect as far as grip and follow up shots went. My issue was the trigger. The trigger pull is from terra haute to indianapolis and the lack of a reset made high stress shooting impossible. I kept milking a dead trigger after the first shot. You almost have to remove your finger from the trigger guard entirely to be able to pull it again and expect a bang. It gives a faulty reset feeling. The gun was incredibly accurate and a pleasure to shoot. I have replaced it with a shield which is a much better/cheaper gun.