Range Report: the good (Kahr PM9)and the bad (XD9)

[ROCK-IT3]

The Good:
I finally had time to take our (read: my wife's) new Kahr PM9 to the range in order to "break it in". According to the owners manual , The pistol should not be considered fully reliable until after it has fired 200 rounds, so I had 200 rounds of Remington 115 Gr. FMJ ready to go. I must admit I was a bit concerned because the gun was difficult to operate manually. The slide would often not go fully into battery (if thats what you call it even when empty?), requiring a bump to fully close it. Well, I shot all 200 rounds without an incident. No failures at all!! As far as accuracy, I wasn't trying too hard, since it was kinda cold outside, and it takes some time shooting 200 rounds using 6 and 7 round magazines, but a 7 yards it seemed to group about 3" high and slightly to the left. Don't know if that was just me, I'm not very experienced. The rear sight is adjustable for windage, but I need to shoot it more before making any adjustments. I dont think it is adjustable for elevation. Overall, I am quite pleased with the results.
Now for The Bad:
I posted in a previous thread that I sent my XD9 back to Springfield to fix a FTE problem. They "refit" the extractor (whatever that means) and sent it back. This was the first time shooting it since getting it back. Again using Remingtons and WWB ammo, it FTE'd 4 times in 100 rounds Also, it ejected quite differently than before. It used to eject about 10 feet to my right and rear. Now it was just dropping them less than 2 feet to the rear. Many landed on my right arm. Good thing I had a coat on. I'm planning on another phone call to Springfield tomorrow AM. I was planning on carrying this gun, even purchased a holster for Christmas. Now I don't trust it, and don't know if I ever will.

[Legion_Prime]

. . . and the ugly

[knight0334]

The most probable reason why it wasn't going into battery was an assisted slide release. Despite popular believe, most of the time the extractor pops over the rim(thats why they are spring loaded or built to bend like a spring). Very few guns are perfectly aligned to allow the rim to slip up under the extractor during operation, most of those being top extractors. If you assist the slide forward, it doesn't have the kinetic energy to overcome the tension of the extractor, resulting of the slide is out of battery. If the slide releases or cycles in full speed operation the energy of the slide moving forward causes it to pop over the rim. When you have an out of battery condition like that, its because the head of the extractor is sitting on the rim.

Always pull slide back and let go of it. If it fails to go into battery there is other problems, possible due to the magazine or the ammo's nose radius.

[ar15jules]

. . . and the ugly

You stole my idea......
Jules

[Dredly]

I don't know if the PM9 is the same but the CW9's are designed to be very difficult to rack the slide if there isn't a round in there... some bullshit about a safety feature? no idea but it may be the same.


When I first shot my wife's CW9 my buddy and I were both hitting 3+ inches to the left every time, next time I took it out we were hitting pretty much in the center... no idea what changed but after the first 200 - 250 rounds the accuracy improved significantly.

[adobe1kenobi]

Sorry to hear about the XD. I've probably gone through 500 rounds with mine without a single issue. Hopefully they can get the problem resolved.
Good luck.

[Chazman321]

200 round break in of a brand new pistol? Nah... Put another 300 through it and watch the magic happen... It's still really tight, and it being cold won't help if it has a lot of lube...

-Chaz

[LowFlyer]

Get a set of these DECAL GRIPS for the PM9. They really add a more solid grip to the smaller framed gun. I have and like the 'rubber' version. I've had mine for over 8 months now, OC w/it EVERY day and they're holding up well.

[ROCK-IT3]

200 round break in of a brand new pistol? Nah... Put another 300 through it and watch the magic happen... It's still really tight, and it being cold won't help if it has a lot of lube...

-Chaz

Chazman,
The 200 rounds is through the Kahr, which worked fine today. I have about 900 through the XD, with about 30 FTE.

[Atomic Dog]

Actually, when I first got the K9 I was missing steel poppers at 10-15 feet. I'm hitting them now. Originally I just thought I wasn't shooting it well yet but it could have had a different zero I guess...