A Tale From A Kahr Owner: WARNING LONG POST

The Back Story:

I purchased a Kahr CW9 back in Feb. to fill the gap in my carry rotation. Basically I wanted a gun that was of reasonable power, but lighter and easier to conceal than my G27.
Voila enter the Kahr CW9. I was a bit wary of the Kahr polymers, but the P9 and CW9 seem to have a decent reputation, and since this was a gun I didn’t plan on carrying too often, and it was $400 I took a chance.

By mid July I had close to 1000 failure free rounds down the pipe. After some back and forth I decided 124g Golden Sabers would be the carry round for this gun. Ok 125 expensive rounds later no issues. So at this point most of my Kahr worries have been abated, and I’m quite happy. The only minor concern I had from the day of purchase
was the side panel looked a bit bulged/deformed and loose. Not major just a bit sloppy looking.


Something Amiss?

It’s the end of July and I’m going to Ohio for the weekend to do some shooting and drinking(not together) with some new friends. I had a couple hundred 9mm’s screaming to be shot. So before packing up I decide to drop them through the CW9. When I was down to the last 25 rounds or so I had two instances of the trigger failing to reset. OK I was rapid firing, and the Kahr shoots like a revolver, so I told myself I short stroked the trigger(even though I only did this a couple times when I first shot the gun). Packed up a boat load of guns and ammo and off to Ohio. Alright a couple days later we get around to shooting. It’s a very hot day. All guns are laid out in the sun for maybe an hour. I hand my Kahr to a friend to try. The trigger won’t reset. Can’t even squeeze off one round. So I’m thinking for some reason I have a broken trigger bar. Can’t imagine how since it just fired fine two days previous(remember I convinced myself I short stroked the trigger). One would think that one round would go down the pipe before such a failure since the last previous round fired through the gun was fine.
Well I can’t get the slide off to investigate because the trigger won’t reset, so back in the box. It’s hot as hell and there is plenty of shooting irons to try.

The Fall From Grace:

I’m back home a couple days before I find time to clean and investigate the Kahr. I pull out the piece and low and behold the trigger is reset. Dry fire it several times. No problem. Hmm. The heat? Everything appears normal. Ok back outside with a 50 rounds to see WTF. I had three or four reset failures in 50 rounds. Now I’m convinced I did not short stroke the trigger earlier. Time to call Kahr.
Service is helpful they issue me a RA# and even pay for the shipping to them after I complain a bit that I live in a very rural area and would need to drive an hour to drop off the gun at a Fed Ex hub. So I’m annoyed, but shit happens. I’m not terribly worried. It appears to be a minor mechanical issue AFAIC. Well since it’s going back I figure time to investigate the loose side panel. After messing around I manage to get the trigger to fail while dry firing and rapidly racking the slide. Just prying slightly on the side panel I can cause the failure. Odd since the trigger bar and spring appears normal and needs to draw away from the cocking cam about .030 or more before the trigger bar skips off the cam. Maybe the trigger bar spring is distorting slightly because the panel if not a perfect fit. I say not perfect because it’s not bad just a bit “shakey”. I relay all of this to Kahr and include it in a note with the gun. I also made it very clear that I’m not a gun newb and I’m not short stroking the trigger. Off to Kahr and the wait begins.

Fixed Already?

Five days after Fed EX picks up my gun it’s back! That includes the weekend! Now I’m a bit skeptical. Tech support was unfamiliar with my issue and I knew it was going to take some shooting to replicate the problem and properly diagnose, but who knows. Can’t bitch about their turn around. I requested all replaced parts to be returned for my review. Well all they replaced was the trigger bar spring. No way in hell it’s the spring. The spring may be failing, but not due to the spring itself. I’m too busy to shoot so it lays around for a week or two. I’m in no hurry to shoot it because I know it’s going to fail.
A few days before Labor day and 150 rounds in hand….I give up after 80. About 30 rounds into the shoot the trigger failed. By about 50-60 rounds I lost count. I begin messing around with side panel, and decide perhaps the pin that stakes the panel is drifting out. I removed it replaced it. Failure, failure, failure bang. So now I’m methodically watching the panel while I shoot at 5 yds. Squeeze, no bang, light pressure on the side panel click goes the trigger bar, bang. Did that 10 or 12 times. The lightest pressure on the panel gun goes bang. Ok I have an epiphany. I’m a southpaw. The panel is on the right. So I grab the gun righty and my palm easily covers the panel enough to add pressure. So I begin shooting right handed bang ,bang, bang, Four mags later no failures. So I’m really pissed because Kahr failed to fix my gun, or even try in my opinion. But since most of the planet is right handed it is conceivable that the gun smith overlooked the problem. Still I virtually gave them a blueprint of the problem, but instead, who ever worked on the gun, shot it, it went bang, replaced a .10 spring to shut me up, and shipped back to the perceived newbie.

Back To Kahr:

After my latest revelation I relay all off findings and my disappointment with Kahr. I make it quite clear that this gun will not be shipped a third time for this issue, and that I expect this gun to be fixed. I don’t care if you need to replace every freaking part in it to be sure, or issue me a new gun. Fix the gun! You designed it. You manufactured it. I’ve given you a roadmap how to fix it. Oh and BTW regardless of the root cause I expect that side panel to be replaced. So I’m assured that the individual I spoke to would personally shoot the gun when it came in, left and right handed. New RA# issued, but it’s the Thursday before Labor day weekend, and I’m not going to be home, so it’s put off to the following Wednesday. Off to Kahr…again
Back To Kahr?

Wednesday afternoon Fed Ex rolls up as expected. The usual driver( the first time it was a fill in driver). We get our paperwork together and he asks who is paying, I told him. He pauses. He says what is it. I said a gun. Long pause. I can’t ship a gun from a private individual. It’s going to the manufacturer I said. He is adamant that Fed Ex will not ship a gun. He calls his boss. Nope can’t ship a gun. So I’ve quoted the law and regs three times by now, and he finally says well it may be legal, but Fed Ex policy after 9/11 blaa, blaa, blaa. You picked it up three or four weeks ago. Well it wasn’t me, and I’m not going to lose my job. So Of course I’m informing him he’s dead wrong and he might as well call his boss and tell him you’re going to hang out until this is resolved because if you leave you will be back tomorrow I guarantee it. At which time he informally bets my house that I’m wrong. I’ll take that bet. I call Kahr they explain the same stuff. No No my boss says I can’t. Finally he calls his boss again , and they patch him to someone with a brain in Buffalo. Yeah but, how can I, and how can he, yeah but, uha, uha, I see, Ok. So it appears that it must be shipped next day priority to the manufacturer only, adult signature required. Isn’t that what I told you. Oh and BTW when you come back with my gun bring some pictures of your house. I would like to see what kind of shack I just won. We have a chuckle and off to Kahr….again.

Is he an anti? Or just misinformed. He is from NY. Perhaps just over cautious. He has worked for FED Ex over 10 years.

Fixed Already? Part Deux


The following Tuesday I actually receive a call from Kahr informing me my gun is being shipped. It arrives Wednesday (no house pictures). For those counting, that’s 6 days including a 3 day holiday weekend. Once again can’t bitch about turn around. I can’t imagine they pulled the same BS this time. Open the box.. This time I have a new trigger bar, side panel, striker, and the aforementioned trigger bar spring.
I would feel better if the cocking cam and spring were also replaced. The side panel is very firm and well seated to the frame.

The Moment of Truth:

Two days ago I finally get some time to test the latest repair job. Put 200 rounds down range. No problem. I tried like hell to make it fail. I was knocking of rounds as fast as I could pull the trigger. I was quite confident that this time it would be OK. The question is how long?






Conclusion:

I have no gripe with customer service. I know some have had poor response time, but I believe they were mostly e-mail contacts. I’m old enough to know life before e-mail. E-mail is worse than voice mail. Just another bottomless pit of customer complaints. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Use the phone!


It’s possible that my situation was a unique combination of several parts slightly out of tolerance that snowballed. I personally feel the rather flimsy side panel, which Kahr claims is for gas release in the event of a catastrophic failure, is prone to bulging from the trigger bar spring, and since I am a southpaw, there is zero support on that portion of the frame. If anyone owns a Kahr with this type of panel I would keep an eye on it, and shoot a hundred rounds or more left handed. A gun shouldn’t function properly due to a fluke that most people are right handed Hey maybe it has nothing at all to do with it. Peculiar though. At this point my confidence with this gun is largely back on track, but will not be 100% until I get another 1,000 rounds through it. That likely will take quite some time. I have spoken with tech support to try and obtain some feed back as to what precisely was the problem. The fact that the striker was replaced, which was a non issue for me, made me wonder if they just added parts until it worked. It turns out that the striker was redesigned slightly to alleviate light primer strikes some were experiencing. So Kudos’ to Kahr for replacing it while it was there. In addition they claim they have noticed instances where the trigger bar is walking off the cam due to a light trigger bar spring. In my case the spring alone did not solve the problem. The trigger bar was just replaced for the heck of it. This still makes me feel that the side panel and spring were the cumulative cause.

All in all not a horror story, or a Kahror story as they’ve become known. I hope other Kahr owners can use this information. For now I’m keeping my CW9. Hopefully it will perform well in the future. It still has never failed in any other capacity. Not one FTE or FTF.

Posted below 3 pics.

View of side panel
Left handed
Right handed