First range trip with new PM40 Kahr

[Cal44]

I took my new Kahr PM40 to the range today.

I'm usually a revolver carrier, but I've become interested in semi's recently.

I tried to shoot the Kahr, and found it wouldn't feed when I racked the slide. Failed every time and jammed. Needed to take the mag out to clear the jam.

I let my buddie in the next lane try it, and he got it to fire a whole mag with no problem

Turns out, I wasn't racking the slide all the way back.

Man, this gun takes some force to rack the slide. It wasn't a lack of hand strength. It just took way more force than I expected. This gun is harder to rack than my other guns.

From then on, the PM40 gave no problems.

I'm going to like this gun.

I find I don't mind the recoil that much. But I need a speed loader to load the mags as I had trouble getting more than three rounds in by hand.

Next I shot my P238 Sig. Just the opposite. The easiest slide to rack of any I've ever tried.

The Sig is always very accurate in my hands. like it a lot. Never jammed for me. I let another buddie who was also shooting there try it and he had trouble with jams. Said he had a problem with limp wristing small semi-autos. I don't seem to have that problem

Last, I shot a few rounds with my S&W 3913ls. No problems with it, as usual. The mags are much easier to load by hand compared to the PM40.

I'm not yet ready carry any of these guns, but the P238 is close. A few more trouble free range trips and I'll be there. It's considerably smaller than any of the J frame revolvers that I currently carry.

I'd also consider the 3913ls ready to carry, but I'm only into pocket carry so far, and only a few cargo pants have big enough pockets for it.

Dave

 

[white cloud]

I have a CM9. There is a lot to like about Kahrs but I pocket carry a lot and I never draw the CM9 as fast as a J frame.

 

[LVSteve]

Kahr recommend that you NOT slingshot the slide but use the slide lock. I can slingshot my CW9 OK, but I would guess that the PM40 has a much stronger spring.

 

[Bill Lear]

Well, the 40 caliber is more powerful than the 9mm and about twice as powerful as the 380, so you have to expect a stiffer slide return spring, as well as a bit more weight in the slide.

Kahr mags have super long and stiff springs when new and require a few compression-expansion cycles to loosen up. This makes the mags hard to load and harder to load to full capacity. Combine that with 40S&W blunt nose bullets, and the rim getting interlocked with the rim below it, thus causing the slide to force the bullet nose down hard on chambering.

My solution is to load the top round slightly forward so the rim does not "catch" in the rim groove of the cartridge below it. Retract the slide and lock it back, insert the mag, then release the slide and it will chamber the first round. After that no problem, because the gun handles scootching the next round down forward!

One other thing to know about Kahr pistols before it catches you by surprise: After you have dry-fired it, the striker tip will remain protruding through the breech face. IF, you then retract and lock the slide back, followed by releasing the slide with the slide lock, the rim of the feeding cartridge will likely get trapped beneath the protruding striker tip!

The cure for this is to always rack the slide with the magazine out before loading to have the striker sear captured by the cam arm, and reengage the striker pin block!

Except for using a cam sear release instead of a cruciform, Kahr pistols operate much like Glock in that the striker is captured and retracted during slide cycle, with the trigger pull retracting it about another 1/4". Both pistols require the trigger be pulled to run the slide off the frame, and both will then end up with the striker tip protruding through the breech face. When reassembling, you must insure to run the slide far enough back to "re-cock" the striker behind the cam arm.

 

[hardluk1]

LVSteve I had 4 kahrs going back some 16 or 17 years and Never have a I used the slide lock as a release and never have I had a round not chamber and fire . I did not learn to rack a slide when 6 years old way 57 years ago and still do not use a slide hold open as a release on any pistol so maybe it has more to do with a person ability to pull back and get a clean release on the slide than something required !! Our oldest daughter has carried my first kahr , a cw9 for 7 years as her edc . The pistols are all tight chambered and heavily sprung and they eat +P or Hot loads like candy .

I will say after a few hand surgery's I had to give some of mine to family members buts till keep my cm9 next to my key board .