Thanks to Shiloh Shooting for being the best indoor range extant.
I recently purchased a Kahr PM9 to carry when I'm not carrying a real gun. Figured a bored Saturday would be a good time to write up a review.
This is actually the third Kahr pistol I've owned. I bought a K9 circa '96. It was just a little heavy for its size, IMO. Around 2000, I bought a P9. I was very impressed with the fit of the gun. I ended up putting XS Big Dot sights on it and it was a nice little package. Overall, I've been favorably impressed with the offerings from Kahr.
The PM9 is much smaller than either. It's also a handsome little gun. All flats, internal and external, are free of tool marks. Everything fits as it should. The combination of Stainless Steel and Black Polymer is striking:
My pocket pistols usually run to J frames or PPKs. I thought the little Kahr might be a good replacement. I sewed together a little pocket rig for it the afternoon I bought it:
The literature states that the Kahr should be subjected to a 200 round break in period. According to my shot timer, these shots were fired between .52 and .63 seconds apart. These splits are pretty quick for a pocket gun, IMO. Here are the first 7 rounds out of the PM9 at 7 yards. Sorry for the picture quality, range pics were from my iPhone:
I proceeded to put 200 rounds of WWB 9mm through the pistol using both supplied magazines. I'm happy (and a little surprised) to report that there were zero failures of the little pistol with either mag.
Here are a hundred rounds in a single group. Split times were similar to those mentioned above. Note that the Baer's group isn't that much better.
I also ran two mags of Ranger SXT +P+ through the gun and recoil seemed similar to the WWB. I expect no problems with JP ammo at this point due to a fair degree of polish on the ramp:
My overall impression is that this might be one of the best CCW guns available. Recoil is certainly manageable. It took me a few rounds to get used to the long trigger reset, but once I figured it out, I was fine. The best attribute of the pistol is that it is simply tiny. It's only .9 inch wide through the slide. The negligible weight is certainly nice, as well. Pending further rounds downrange and a little more pocket time, I highly recommend this gun.
I recently purchased a Kahr PM9 to carry when I'm not carrying a real gun. Figured a bored Saturday would be a good time to write up a review.
This is actually the third Kahr pistol I've owned. I bought a K9 circa '96. It was just a little heavy for its size, IMO. Around 2000, I bought a P9. I was very impressed with the fit of the gun. I ended up putting XS Big Dot sights on it and it was a nice little package. Overall, I've been favorably impressed with the offerings from Kahr.
The PM9 is much smaller than either. It's also a handsome little gun. All flats, internal and external, are free of tool marks. Everything fits as it should. The combination of Stainless Steel and Black Polymer is striking:
My pocket pistols usually run to J frames or PPKs. I thought the little Kahr might be a good replacement. I sewed together a little pocket rig for it the afternoon I bought it:
The literature states that the Kahr should be subjected to a 200 round break in period. According to my shot timer, these shots were fired between .52 and .63 seconds apart. These splits are pretty quick for a pocket gun, IMO. Here are the first 7 rounds out of the PM9 at 7 yards. Sorry for the picture quality, range pics were from my iPhone:
I proceeded to put 200 rounds of WWB 9mm through the pistol using both supplied magazines. I'm happy (and a little surprised) to report that there were zero failures of the little pistol with either mag.
Here are a hundred rounds in a single group. Split times were similar to those mentioned above. Note that the Baer's group isn't that much better.
I also ran two mags of Ranger SXT +P+ through the gun and recoil seemed similar to the WWB. I expect no problems with JP ammo at this point due to a fair degree of polish on the ramp:
My overall impression is that this might be one of the best CCW guns available. Recoil is certainly manageable. It took me a few rounds to get used to the long trigger reset, but once I figured it out, I was fine. The best attribute of the pistol is that it is simply tiny. It's only .9 inch wide through the slide. The negligible weight is certainly nice, as well. Pending further rounds downrange and a little more pocket time, I highly recommend this gun.